Little Tiny Baby Summer Vacations
my new friend, c.
No big vacation this summer, but lots of little ones, a kind of tapas approach to travel. Easier on the heart for a single girl and easier on the wallet and much much healthier for the writing life…I went for pages over miles this summer. It’s very difficult to leave the books right now. Like infants, they need my constant attention.
So I treated myself to Tiny Sweet Weekends. Only two hours to prep for, another two hours to get to, and only half a day to recover from. (Every one says, vaguely stunned, “Where did summer go?” I want to yell: You spent it! You spent your summer. People try to do too much! They plan to relax and do nothing. And they plan six thousand other things. And summer is gone. I think this has been the longest summer I have ever lived through….I spent it so, so slowly.)
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my long long friend, janet burroway
Last weekend I went to Chicago, met friends, met art at tiny fascinating galleries in stricken and stunning parts of town, Intuit (link) and Aldo Castelli (link), made new friends, went to see Blackbird, dinner with friends, such good old old friends, such a good sleep in Lake Geneva. I think I’ve never slept so well. Or felt so ready to move to a city and live in an art gallery.
This weekend it’s Kalamazoo and cycling, art walk, farmer’s market, elevenses, trying on the butterfly party dress, trying on the black lace thing, interviewing an artist, and following her around to see how she sees. With my notebook because that’s how I see.
Next weekend, a Tiny Sweet Weekend in my own house: my boys are here and it’s Cubby’s One Hundredth Birthday in Dog Years. I envision a bone-shaped cake, and lots of Advil. My sweet old dog walks in slow motion. He walks like a rocking chair would walk. It’s all going away party at this point….Cubby going slowly. Jacob going to the Navy. I’ll weep. Then, New York, then Sawyer…then the Latin Music Festival in Grant Park. Then Kalamazoo.
Then school will start. I’m already packed for that. I’m ready to go.
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Once my husband and I pretended to go to Bermuda for a week while we took “tiny little vacations”–day trips. No phone, nobody bothering us. It was wonderful. Even now, we prefer those little trips to a big, often overwhelming vacation (statistics–2 elderly cats, 1 rambunctious cat, and 2 people who hate flying).