Farewell, Summer

It's now in the mid-50's in the morning and late evening. It usually warms up to the 70's during the day - just perfect weather, really, I have no complaints, it's just that it's no longer summer. And we had such a wonderful summer. So while I'm appreciating the day that we have, and the new season to come, I have so much gratitude for our blissful, perfect summer.

We had many gatherings of friends and family and here we are celebrating the birthday of a dear friend.



One of the sweetest moments of the evening was G asking his friend if he'd like an ice cream cone. The kid loves to be a good host, just like his mom.



One of the highlights of the summer was when my dearest friend from high school came to visit with her family. Her daughter just turned 13 and during her early years I always came up to visit them. Now that I have a little one she says she is happy to return the favor. She's the best!



We managed to slip away to NYC for a long weekend and stay in my brother's fabulous Washington Square apartment while he was out of town. I think I mentioned it in another post, and it was exactly as we hoped - we got coffee and bagels from the corner cafe and spent most of our days in the parks. Here we are hanging out at the awesome farmer's market in Union Square.




On Sunday morning I got to visit with one of my parents' most long-term dearest friends. We used to crash on the floor of his tiny one bedroom apartment in Manhattan all through the 80's. He still teases me about when he and my parents would go out at night I would perch myself in a chair by the window watching the scenes from the street below with his opera glasses. I thought it was the most magical place back then and I still do. We had a perfect, quintessential Sunday morning in New York: we met at his upper East Side co-op, walked one block across 5th Ave and were in Central Park where we proceeded to jog around the reservoir and chat for over an hour. After working up a good appetite we had brunch at a delicious little deli. We then walked the few blocks to his medical office where we took this picture. Isn't it fantastic that I can call one of my parents' best friends one of my own?



G still loves to command the camera and many mornings are happily spent snapping pictures. I thought this was one was especially sweet.



Last Saturday we had the special privilege of getting to hear one of our favorite author/illustrators, Graeme Base, speak at our local book shop - something I never would have imagined would happen because he's from Australia! He even brought copies of his new book, Enigma, which will not be available in bookstores until October. Here he is reading from it and G is trying to break the code embedded in the book. Very cool.







Bubbles and the last days of summer are a perfect fit - they are both beautiful, luminescent, and fleeting. We are filled with joy and gratitude for every one.