Mary Oliver

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?"









Friday, June 24, 2011

Beach Week

Our family has been doing Beach Week for about fifteen years now; it's a gift from my parents to our ever evolving family and we all try to be there. As the years have gone by, the grandchildren have sometimes missed a year due to summer jobs or classes, but they come as often as they can. This is one of the reasons that Beach Week is so important to me; it's a chance for our family to spend some quality time together.


This is my very youthful looking mom and my youngest daughter, along with my mom's dog, Bailey.


And here they are having a lovely chat together, while Steve and I took a little walk. Although Melissa couldn't be there the entire week, she did have the weekend, which was better than nothing. And although most of us live within twenty miles of each other, we don't always get the kind of one on one time that we get during this week.









This year was wonderful! We had great weather, lots of family time, lots of resting, and lots of knitting! I got the stripe study shawl started, and with help from barefoot rooster, figured out how to do it. Now I've set it aside for my July train trip; I think it'll be a perfect traveling project.





I also got my niece knitting again. I had taught her a few years ago during another beach week, and she started up again this year. Does life get much better than this?


Steve and I visited The Island Bookstore in Duck one day during the week, and I saw this fabulous book.



I would have loved to buy it, but am trying to keep our expenditures down. I am putting it on my wish list however, and hope to get it for a Christmas gift. From what I saw of it, it's a great one.




Since I set aside the stripe study shawl, I decided to start a summer sweater for my mom. Knitting Addiction had their stock of Mission Falls 1824 wool and cotton on sale for 50% off, so I bought a sweater's worth of the cotton for her and about six skeins of the wool for future baby gifts. Actually, my mom bought the yarn, which made it a win-win for both of us: she gets a sweater and I get to knit it! I'm three skeins into it and hope to finish it for her within a week or two. It's actually more teal than this photo shows. It's nice having a bigger goal, now that I have the free time to work on it.Just as Steve and I were leaving last night to come home, we saw this gorgeous sight. There had been a rainstorm after dinner and we waited it out. I'm glad we did, because this was beautiful, don't you think?

Now it's back to normal. Which isn't too bad, since I have the summer off and I live at the beach!! Lucky me!

5 comments:

  1. Yes, lucky you! I love the beach.

    The sunset is gorgeous.

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  2. What an amazing gift your parents have given their whole family year after yaer. These are the special times your daughters will remember and build on in the future. Your yarn is beautiful and you are right your Mom looks youthful and full of life. Glad you had a lovely time,
    Meredith

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  3. Lucky you - so great to spend a relaxing week bonding with family! Love the shot of your mom and daughter on the beach - speaks volumes.

    Thanks so much for the congrats on our home in williamsburg. It's on a creek in a gated community with tons of amenities and while it's small i totally see it becoming our forever home one day. i was here before but i forgot to leave a message because i was so moved by your teacher poem links. by the time i printed them out and included them in our teacher gifts i completely forgot to leave a comment!

    i'd love to get together! August would be great. my kids will be done with most of their planned activities and you'll be back from your train trip. I'll have some dates once greg gets his aug schedule next week.

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  4. Glorious colors in that sky.

    I think your niece has figured out one of the secrets to laid-back knitting: find a pool and a chair in the sun.
    What a great week!

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  5. You do have a great life! All that beach time. I swear nothing is better for mental health than the beach -- unless it's knitting on the beach.

    I refuse to say I have summers off. Many of us teachers should count the summers as comp time!

    I am very jealous of your family get togethers. We'll have to talk about that more over coffee!

    Speaking of which, I'll be in Williamsburg Jully 13-17 roughly. I hope that isn't when you're going to be on your train trip!

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