Slothoughts Hypolite

Parker Pond, Casco, Maine, August, 2008

We had our annual two weeks at Parker Pond again. Normally, I sit down by the water and read. Occasionally, I'll swim a bit. Mostly, however, it's Brewster who does the swimming. In the evenings, I'll have a couple of beers and strum my guitar, trying to figure out what I'm going to do for music in church on the last Sunday of the summer. We have volunteer "musicians" to make up for the lack of choir. So I get "volunteered" for Labor Day weekend on the theory that no one much will be around for me to irritate.

This year was a bit different. I still read a lot and strummed a bit. But it rained and rained and then, rained some more. The state of Maine was getting into the Olympic spirit by trying to set a record of its own: the rainiest August on record. By the 10th we were halfway there. No surprise then, that the music I've selected for August 31 all has a "water" theme.

Most years, I take lots of pictures of plants and reflections on the lake and, of course, myriad pictures of Brewster playing in the water. This year, it's pictures of fog and clouds and water coursing down to our cottage and mushrooms, lots of mushrooms. The one thing that likes cold and damp seem to be mushrooms. This year's pictures of Brewster mostly show him feeling confused by the cold and lack of sun.

But, we did have one nice day; we had some interesting cloud formations; Justin and Kim came up for a couple of days and Brewster got to swim with a human; and I made eight mini-strings of cranes. I call them car cranes because they're just the right size to replace the stupid fuzzy dice and St. Christopher medals people hang from their rear view mirrors.

So now we're back and the weather is nice again. But I'll spend the next 11½ months dreaming of Parker Pond. Even a bad week up there beats all hell out of anything else.