The last month of school seemed to pass slowly, but the final week absolutely flew by. Friday arrived so fast that I hadn’t even finished writing end of the year thank you notes or tidying up my desk. Neither of these circumstances prevented me from leaving work and jumping right into summer.
My first summer vacation Sunday was spent at one of my favorite hot weather places, Victoria Pool in Saratoga. It was the perfect afternoon with friends, tasty snacks, the newspapers and refreshing, cool water. It was a really wonderful way to begin the season and I’m looking forward to going back there, despite the new $10 parking fee this year.
The rainy Monday that followed the sizzling Sunday was great. The house had cooled down enough that turning the oven on for a pan of macaroni and cheese was welcomed and dinner on the deck ended only because the night air was on the cold side of fresh.
Tuesday began with some excitement. Rocco the cat has been loving life and spending much of his days on our second story rear deck. On this particular morning, however, he came tearing to the screen door to come back inside. When he realized the door was not left a smidge open for him as usual, he stopped dead in his tracks and proceeded to do a quick lap of the deck in the time it took me to slide the door open and for him to enter.
As soon as he got inside, he raced through the dining room and kitchen, up the stairs and into an attic crawl space where he proceeded to hide for much of the day. As Rocco presumably caught his breath, Jeter and I headed out to the deck to water the flowers (me) and randomly bark (Jeter) at the noise coming from a neighbor’s backyard. I glanced over to where the clattering was coming from and noticed they had a new dog, a large black one…except it wasn’t a dog.
It was a bear.
As I was processing what I was seeing, the bear continued on its path to Arcadia Avenue and beyond. Hopefully, it will find a safe, more appropriate habitat – and Rocco will regain his joie de vivre in hanging out on the deck.
Later in the afternoon, we headed to Kinderhook to spend some time at a friend’s cottage on the lake. The weather was lovely and we enjoyed a boat ride around the lake followed by a fantastic and indulgent meal. It’s such a cute area and the time spent there has piqued my interest in perhaps finding a place to rent for a late summer long weekend. Any leads for a dog friendly rental, friends?
Wednesday morning, bright and early, I was on the train to NYC with my oldest son to finally celebrate his 25th birthday. It seemed we timed our trip well and Hugh Jackman was recovered from Covid and in fine form for the matinee performance of The Music Man. I was disappointed to not see Sutton Foster shine in her role as one of musical theater’s most famous librarians as she didn’t appear at our performance, but her understudy was terrific and we loved the show.
What followed our time at the theater was a blur of walking and eating with a side of shopping. We stayed very close to Times Square, not my usual neighborhood of choice, but spent as much time as possible downtown. It was a fun and exhausting 36 hours.
Summer, 2022, week one down. Now it’s time to pack for the next couple…
DelSo 