Mom Knows Best

I could write about my walk this morning (I took the long route, in the direction of East Mountain), and the super cute dog I met named Saki, and the elderly couple on their porch in their robes talking about the plants in their yard, and how the hints of humidity and heat in the air along with the occasional mutant-giant-sized fly dive-bombing my head brought on some dread about the onset of summer, but turns out that sharing what my mom has to say about her experience with getting herself out for a stroll is going to be way more inspiring than me whining about Northeastern weather (there's plenty of time for that, afterall).

My mother has been diligently reading my recent posts about walking. Here's an email exchange we had. (She gave me her permission to share it.)

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Laura,

GM (Grumpy Mom) is putting on her arch-rocker flex-plus sneakers and going for an after-work walk around the clinic before heading home. Thanks to DL [Determined Laura]. Hrumph!

Mom

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Me: Fantastic! How'd it go?

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Mom: It went about the same as your walk. For the first quarter mile I contemplated walking faster so I could get it over with sooner, but then...I started noticing the cool breeze, and the orange daylilies, and the birds... So--I guess you could say it did what we all know, but try to deny, it's sure to do. Make me smile. Make me a little gladder to be alive.

****

I think my writerly inclinations must live in my genes. Thanks, Mom! I want to see some orange daylilies.

Summer in the Berkshires, Prairie Home Companion, and Mosquitoes

Today was a glorious day in the Berkshires.

In general, I love everything about summer in the Berkshires except maybe...summer itself. Summer itself = the heat, the humidity, the bugs, the finding the right summer attire, the bugs, and, then, finally, the bugs. But today has been an exception.

People flock into our hamlet-y towns (I say "our" like I am of this place, when in fact I sometimes walk right by my Subaru because of its new Mass plates...Honestly, I miss my old plates: New York, CDT 8981, oh where art thou?, but I am making the best of it) and aside from the annoyance of increased traffic and more people, it gives one some perspective, that goes a little like this: "oh, I live in the Berkshires. People come from all over just to be here and bask in its beauty, its pastoral magic, all the green lushness...it's a place where people literally summer." I mean to live in a place where "summer" is a verb is pretty...weird. And cool.

Saturday night, I went to Tanglewood with my friend KD, who treated me to an awesome seat at Prairie Home Companion...loads of FUN! At one point during the show the following people were on stage at the same time: Garrison Keillor, Martin Sheen, Steve Martin (go here to watch a YouTube video of Steve Martin playing banjo while a guy from the Steep Canyon Rangers—you can't see much but the audio is good), Heather Masse, and Arlo Guthrie...I mean, C'mon, that's pretty amazing. Both KD and I were lamenting the fact that neither of us brought a camera. But we clapped and sang. I felt like a true blue American by the end (and even a little wholesome...which is just...rare).

The woman sitting to our left asked us where we were from. And we said, "here". And she just shook her head, and said, "Wow. Lucky."

Lucky enough to be scratching my first ankle mosquito bite. Oy. My body's not a fan. Mosquito bites on my body are events. My skin is generally itchy and rashy anyway (that sounds scarier than it actually looks), so a bite adds a significant rise in the landscape. (Dr. Magic Pettus and I were hoping going gluten-free was going to help with the rash epidemic but so far, nada. It's only been three weeks so keep your fingers crossed).

But I certainly can't complain (even though I just did)... I've got it good.

Happy summer, everyone!