Summer's End

I'm getting this in just under the wire. Since this was one of the busiest summers I can remember, I wanted to take a moment and try to sum it up for myself (reflect, ponder - it's one of my favorite pastimes).

It began in June with my trip to Orcas Island, which I meant to blog about at some length but never got around to. Suffice it to say that this island affects me like no other place and I came away, once again, with a different outlook and slightly changed. It still amazes me that such a place with unaltered natural beauty exists on this planet, never mind in our own country. It is a truly magical island, as soon as I step foot ashore, I feel IT. I had the time to really delve within and explore and came away with some new realizations - which I'm sure played a part in the progression of my life since then.

Chrys and I took a mid-week trip on the ferry to Vancouver Island and bussed it to Victoria. I've now crossed the border by boat, plane, bus and automobile. I think I've got it covered. Besides the fact that I was freezing, we had a wonderful adventure. We had no plans, just hopped the ferry and decided to wing it for the next 24 hours. It was a blast!



Up next was the July 4th annual weekend on Long Island. It was cold and rainy this year, so I never went in the pool. But that didn't stop the Scrabble!

I blogged about Lollapalooza in depth below, but before that was my daughter's Consortium Art Show. This is the real reason for this blog, it gives me an excuse to post her artwork.








This last one is part of the "Dark Collaboration" between my daughter and her friend. What I loved best about this is that outside the character descriptions which were on a huge piece of posterboard, there exists commentaries about the characters. In the original pic, you can easily read the commentary, but I will post it here:

"Goths can be patriotic too???"
"Marilyn Manson and Ziggy Stardust got drunk one day."
"He deserves to be drawn wearing a dirndl. It'd suit him."
"Now I feel like drawing him in a dress just to see how it'd look."
"Do it then! hahaha"




Ok, maybe that's a little too much insight into my teenager's mind.....

The summer wound up with a great, relaxing trip to Ocean City, NJ immediately followed by back to school and a big family wedding. Of course there were countless interesting moments in between. Now when I should be fretting about the onslaught of schoolwork and related events, I'm content to be back in my routine and not living out of a suitcase.