That’s my drive log for the past three days, during which I went back to the city in which I grew up in order to attend my grandfather’s funeral. I haven’t much to say about that just yet — I am very glad that I went, but the trip was draining, and I had very little down-time throughout.
On Wednesday after the funeral and family gathering were done, I drove out to Presque Isle to see the sunset. Took off my shoes, walked in the sand, watched an intrepid wind-surfer catching the last of the waves–it was very windy, and high water had closed most of the beaches.
On the way home on Thursday, I stopped at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. The New York Thruway cuts straight through it. I’ve been past it dozens of times, usually in the winter. The meadows are flooded then for the use of migrating shorebirds, and there is a bleak beauty about the place. It looks very different in August than in December! I walked one of the trails, admired the monarch butterflies, listened to the wind in the aspen trees and cicadas singing the end of summer.
The month has been a total bust writing-wise, so I’m not going to post one of my usual charts. Hoping for a reset in September.
R Jean Stevenson 