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Liz Gauffreau's avatar

This is my kind of summer! My dad used to take the entire month of August off, and we'd spend it at our camp in the woods. No electricity, no telephone. The pace of life slowed waaaaay down. It was wonderful!

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Jason McBride's avatar

Sounds perfect! We usually head to a family beach house in August, and the way time almost stops for those weeks is pure bliss! It makes me feel like a kid again!

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Liz Gauffreau's avatar

Exactly!

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Patris's avatar

We had those summers - broken up between Brooklyn streets - and boarding with relatives on the far reaches of Long Island. My father was working too hard to do something as magical as you describe.. he was the surprise visitor for a day who taught me that seashores were the starting point of swims out past the boundaries most people thought was reasonable- a gift I kept.

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Jason McBride's avatar

What a tremendous gift! That sounds like a beautiful childhood!

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Patris's avatar

It was. So fortunate.

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Leah Ferrell's avatar

Thank you for this beautiful piece. It will enhance my summer delights, I'm sure!

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thanks for reading, Leah!

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Negar Kamali's avatar

My summer will be spent mostly like last year (commuting between our home and our villa-garden), plus adding my German class in between these commutes. I can't describe the joy of picking summer fruits in our villa-garden, the joy of turning them into syrups, fruit pastes, jams, ... well enough, though (I'll try to describe these joys in series of haikus. Wish me luck !!!).

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Jason McBride's avatar

That sounds heavenly, Negar! I look forward to reading your haiku about it!

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Thomas Cleary's avatar

I like the idea of lying on the ground outside at night and viewing the stars. In my case, though, I live in the city alone without a car so I can admire the moon instead.

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Jason McBride's avatar

There's nothing second-rate about moongazing! And I envy you living in a place where not having a car is possible. I love where we live, but I often miss living in the city, walking to stores instead of driving everywhere

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Justin Deming's avatar

I love everything about this, Jason. This is such an inspiring post. “Do less and notice more” is something we all could benefit from!

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thanks, Justin! Do less turns out to be easier said than done sometimes, but totally worth it!

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Justin Deming's avatar

So true, Jason!

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Ann Collins's avatar

So many good ideas, Jason--I love them all!

You have such a playful imagination :-)

"I now hear the murmur of a distant river carrying wayfarers to distant shores and the plaintive cry of a ghost train looking for a way back home."

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thanks, Ann! For better or worse, I've never really turned all the way into a grownup.

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Ann Collins's avatar

💪💛

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Negar Kamali's avatar

Good. Then i'll write my haikus and share them on Substack every few days, starting next week. Btw, you can see my new art pieces the coming week (This time, i've been working on two art pieces instead of one).

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