The Other Side of Summer 2023

I thought I would write a life update post about What I Did This Summer after the long series of posts about my grand vacation. I think the Elvis Costello song title works well for the concept, but given the depressing nature of the song, it probably wasn't the best post title. Let me assure you this post is only about the other half of the Summer of 2023 and not about the dark side of my life.

So what kind of stuff happened once my plane landed in New York and I had to go back to real life?

Wait! I didn't go back to real life. The day after we returned from Iceland, Kevin and I packed our bags (actually, the bags were already pre-packed) and drove down to Chincoteague with Mom. I made no blog posts and didn't even post any food photos on Facebook because I decided it was time to learn how to stop feeling to compelled to share every detail of every vacation. Just because I don't share it on social media doesn't mean it didn't happen.  I still ate three meals a day even though I didn't share photos of everything I ate.  In fact, I rarely took photos at all.

I'll give a quick recap.  I saw the Pony Swim for the first time since 2018.

I went kayaking.

I saw the auction. I rented a bike and did a bit of exploring. I went to the beach every day I could. I ate a lot of ice cream. I didn't drink nearly as much alcohol as I did on the cruise (it's shocking how much less alcohol you drink when it's not included in the cost of your vacation anymore). Su Mei joined us for a day and a half.  We had a good time.  

**After fifteen days away it seems like real life would be a difficult adjustment, but somehow reality forces me to adjust with alacrity.

It was tough being away from the horses all that time, so we make sure we make it to the barn every day on the weekend.

In less happy news we had to retire Jenna from riding.  She has some chronic degenerative injuries in her leg.  While they can be managed, riding would only exacerbate them.  At 28 years old, she has earned her rest. She wasn't one to enjoy people sitting on her back and telling her what to do anyway. So with some Bute and some corrective shoeing, she is spending her days eating and lolling around.  Her attitude is still there and so is the deadly aim of her tail swats.  She has even figured out how to pull those new corrective shoes off.  (She now wears bell boots 24/7 in hopes they will help her keep her shoes on with mixed success.)

She also has some new special padding in her stall, which she has let us know she finds very comfortable.

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As this summer ends, new beginnings happen in my family. My niece and nephew left for college. Charles is a freshman while Penelope started her final year.  The family gathered at a restaurant for one last dinner together.  I didn't take photos because, yet again, I decided meals can still happen even if they aren't photographically documented. 

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I hate to see summer end. I love the long days, the good produce, and the hot weather (so conducive for swimming).  I do my best to milk these last few weeks as much as I can.  That means plenty of shopping at the farm market and doing as many summer activities as I can. I pester Mom often to come over and use her pool after work or after a day at the barn.  

Another activity I enjoy this time of year is to take a "daycation" day for myself to have what I call a "Lemonade Commercial" kind of day where I have a lazy day in the country.

This year I packed a picnic lunch and headed for Harriman State Park where there are a couple of lovely lake beaches.  They can be crowded and noisy on weekends, but on a weekday, it's mostly peaceful. I can read, eat, swim, and take in the scenery knowing the swim season is almost over (unless I can worm may way into an invite to the home of someone with a private pool that is left open after Labor Day) and I should take advantage of natural bodies of water while I can.

The unfortunate part of this day was the weather.  I didn’t do any real swimming as the temps that day were barely above 70 degrees. I felt chilly after doing little more than get my feet wet.  

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Time with friends is also key. For Labor Day it was Bryan and Jenny’s annual barbecue.  It was good company and insane amounts of food. Chicken, ribs, or brisket? St. Louis or baby back? How about all of the above?

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I tried to keep up with summer baking projects, although given the amount of time we were away, I didn’t have as many as other summers. I found a great recipe for brown butter espresso brownies that I took to an office Labor Day celebration. 

Also blueberry pie because, like cherry pie, it’s a summer requirement (no occasion needed).

For the Labor Day party I contributed a coconut Bundt cake with a pineapple glaze (can't recommend this recipe enough if you're a coconut lover).

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The weekend after Labor Day we had the honor of attending the premier of the movie Pressure Makes Diamonds. The movie was written by, and starring, our long time friend, and director of many of our local theater productions, Anthony Valbiro. He  has been doing this one-man stage show about his dreams of showbiz success and the quirks of his relatives for years.  Recently our fellow thespian friend and photographer/videographer extraordinaire, Stephanie adapted it into a movie. 

Kevin gave him some kickstarter money, so we were about to attend the premiere. We had some fun dressing for the evening, but I think we looked a bit too much like we were headed for the Barbie movie. There were serious Ken and Barbie vibes in our outfits.

It was such a joyous night. We were not only happy for Anthony, but it seemed all our theater friends were in one place. I said it was like a reunion of almost every show I have ever been in.

The pretty much wraps up the summer of 2023.  While it's still summer on the calendar, we're taking a breather from most major activities until the official start of fall. I am sure there will be many boring blog posts to come so I can tell you all about them.