Headvoice

Dress Up Saturday Night

T. had a wine tasting party last night.

Let's just summarize by saying that after the first round of four dry Prosecco's from Italy, the rest of the evening went pretty much off the rails... but lots of fun was had nevertheless.

Luigi is curious

The last weekend of summer

We crossed the border at five this afternoon, in the clear and unseasonably warm weather that was characteristic of our entire visit to Barnegat Light.

This road trip has been google mapped and map quested for years. We have taken at least seven different routes, but finishing at ten hours today we achieved a minor milestone. Leaving at eight in the morning we passed the Delaware Water Gap by noon. The car was loaded with pretzels and chips only available in the mid-Atlantic states, but the border guard was not interested much when I mentioned them. We were home by seven in the evening.

Most of the trip was blissfully sunny and dry, and both our spirits were buoyed more than any point this year. We roasted on the beach in the cloudless blue sky. I shopped, chopped and cooked a lot. We had a birthday party for my Mom, with a surprise guest that made the whole time special. New friends were made and our family was made more connected.

We swam at the beach too, despite the date. I cooked every night but for the party on Sunday. People came from Georgia, Florida, California, Canada and from other parts of New Jersey.

A sublime ending to the summer...

A voice like no other...

I remember the evening to this day. And a torn ticket stub rarely lies.

Helen and I went and he left us all waiting for awhile, but when he eventually started to sing it was mesmerizing.

The chills did run up my spine that evening. His voice left his body so willingly, and so easily.

Farewell. And thank you, Luciano

Bring it on!

So, the resumes started going out yesterday and it feels great, which is somewhat surprising. Instead of hunkering down in the bunker of my mind, I am going forth again, just like I did in this photo from some years ago...

Blue Suburban Bubble

What a beautiful long weekend! It was as if Mother Nature had blessed the past four days with perfect temps and brilliant sunshine. We didn't really go any place or see anyone... just kept to ourselves in anticipation of the changes that fall will bring shortly.

Both of us have stiff backs and sore legs from cleaning up the yard, littered with so many apples it was hard to believe. We have two old apple trees, one in the front and one in the back. In fact, our neighborhood is sprinkled with aged apple trees because the land used to be orchards.

When Mark was a kid he remembers bushels and bushels given to friends and family at this time of year. And, even as old as they are now, the numbers of apples produced by these two old trees is still surprising.

They drop from the highest branches, hit the roof and roll down the driveway... sometimes so loudly they have woken us up!

Friday Family Outing