Summer in September

A little birdie told me it was time to update my blog, and indeed, it's been over a month since I posted any news - so here is the first installment...

When I returned from Europe, I spent the month of September at my home on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. I have never been able to enjoy it outside of the high tourist season before, and I found it a wonderful way to collect my thoughts about the research I collected overseas and do some serious reading, note-taking, and a little writing.

Since my "summer" spent in Europe was on the chilly side, the sunny days and warm temperatures (high 70's, low 80's) were welcome. The days intertwined into one another so seamlessly that I really lost track of time down there. The first week (immediately following Labor Day), there was plenty of extended family around, which made for pleasant company. The second two weeks of the month, I had the house to myself (with the exception of a very fun mid-week visit from a dear childhood friend). The last week, my son Colin came to visit and we spent most of our time there, the exception being a brief trip to Sussex County to visit family and some of my old stomping grounds near my hometown.

This trip to the shore made for some pleasant memories. I was able to enter the Forsythe Wildlife Refuge at the southern end of the island for the first time, since it's usually closed for the nesting birds (piping plovers and black terns) during the summer. I walked the length of the 3 1/2 mile beach (during low tide) to the tip where the ocean meets the bay. (One gets a distant view of Atlantic City from there.) I bought another used (ocean-going) kayak, and learned to use it, which is a whole different experience than kayaking on rivers and lakes! (That's all I'm saying in case my orthopedic surgeon is reading this...) I missed seeing the brown pelicans, but saw my first dolphins one morning at sunrise, at first mistaking their dorsal fins for sand sharks, where I had just been kayaking the day before. I also volunteered as "road crew" for the inaugural "Endless Summer Triathlon," which was a sprint race. (I'm not sure they knew what they were doing when they sent me to a street corner on the bicycle route with a reflective vest, flag AND STOP sign!)

Then, of course, I saw innumerable sunrises and sunsets, rode my bicycle almost everywhere I needed to go (I took my car out only twice during the month), as well as feasted on almost every kind of seafood known to humankind (culminating the last weekend in September with "Chowderfest"). I also tried to get back into some semblance of physical shape, since I had way too many full Irish breakfasts and not enough exercise in Europe (save for the walking in Edinburgh, which my hip flexor didn't enjoy as much as I did.)