sooner or later

Lazy would be an understatment. Before any time off I make lists upon lists in my head about morning walks, afternoon teas, museum visits, matinee movies and reading under a tree in a beautiful public park. When the time off truly comes I wake up late, decide that Regis and Kelly are way more important than a walk or bike ride and then I hit the downward spiral of channel surfing all day. It's bad, it's really bad. There have been summers where I refused to turn on the TV except, of course, to watch Jessica Simpson's married life "reality" show.

But, today is different (ha!). I'm off to Starbucks to get some true energy and then to a knit shop. You see I must relish a little bit today because tomorrow starts a part time babysitting job that will heavily interupt my reality TV watching life (at this point it's all repeats). I'll soon be hiking and sitting poolside with two young kids. Oh the tan needs to not fade away. Not fade away.

i’ve lost a few days

While last Saturday was the best day in New York that I’ve had yet, it was not the best homecoming I’ve ever had. You know when you leave your home and always in the back of your mind is the thought that your house is burning down while you're away, but you're too busy to truly fret about it so you let the thought go until you are pulling up to your building and the fear suddenly envelopes you and you just keep repeating “I hope the building is still standing. I hope the building is still standing.” Well, that kinda happened except this time it was about my car and when I said out loud, “Where’s my car?” no one could find it. That’s right. Welcome home- your car's been towed.

I recovered the car after doling out $185. I’m going to contest the very unfair towing that occurred during my 10 day vacation of which I was not previously warned. We’ll see how that goes. They might make me bring out Mean Anna or Teacher Anna or god forbid, Throw You Out The Window Anna and that one is bad!

Upon returning from vacay I had a housesitting job that began immediately and after recovering my car I went about my duties of trying to keep the dog alive and I was settling into my new digs just fine, pretending I lived in a four bedroom home with a hammock in the backyard when I got the flu. The FLU! Full on 101.8ºF fever, bodyaches, fatigue, sore, sore throat, congestion, loss of appetite. The poor dog just had to stare at me while I lazed about on the Pottery Barn sectional couch watching BBC America and drifting in and out of consciousness.

I’m not one to complain, but is the world taking it out on me because I’ve had two beach vacations? Really, people. I don’t live a charmed life by any means.

i did it again

Determined not to be a tourist and not to sit in an impossibly beautiful house, I went on another 15 mile bike ride, on my own this time and with my camera. I didn't take but four pictures because once I was riding, the notion of stopping just seemed daunting and so I kept on- willing my legs to "power through" with every hill that made my thighs scream against the pressure I was forcing them to exert. But it feels good in the end, to have accomplished something like that- and enjoyed it.

I'm sitting beside fresh lillies in the center of the dining room table. I say this because in a few days time I will not be sitting beside fresh lillies. Fresh lillies will be my past, a memory stitched together with open windows, cranberry bogs, grey shingled houses, tall green hedges, blue hyancinths and the sea.

It's so easy for me to fall in love with a place. I get enraptured with the age of houses, the direction the wind always blows, the people walking down the street, the accents and the food. But, Nantucket is different. I saw a t-shirt yesterday while shopping that said, "everyone should have a Nantucket." And they should, every last soul on this earth should know the spoiled and perfect life this island heaves upon you. I love places because they beckon you to return, or even to live there like New York or London because there is always something you haven't seen, places you haven't been. But Nantucket is a feeling as much as it is a place. And it's visual- the hyacinths, the shingles, the oyster shell lanes and the sea. Maybe I'm a visual girl. Maybe Nantucket needs to be on my calendar so that I can remember that life can be slow and still filled with lushishness.

All I know is that I don't want this to be the last trip I make here.

be

It's a hazy morning in Nantucket. The clouds have come to say good morning, but are making their stay a bit unwelcomed. I think hazy days are lazy days and I'm a bit happy for the reprieve. I did a 15 mile bike ride yesterday on a whim and my bum is a bit sore. I'd go again today, but I know that just 3 miles into it I would be cursing the bike seat and wishing against all creation that I was at home, horizontal and reading. I love Nantucket. There is no agenda here- just relax, play some tennis, go for a walk, ride your bike, eat a cookie, sit at the beach, go shopping, go kayaking, go fishing or just be. I plan to kayak. I never have before, but it is on my short list of things to do this summer and what better place than the sound in Nantucket, paddling around all the moored sailboats? Today though, after an impossibly delicous croisant from the Sconset Market, I am lazing it- taking the hint from the weather and just being- like the cloud that's hanging around outside and making the cool air just a bit too dense, so will I hang and maybe nap or read or play games or just be. I love it here. And yes, I wish you were here too, that would make it even better.

i'm going to take your bucket and chuck it

when I get off the boat in Nantucket. To say I love this place is to say, "Hi, my name is Anna" and yet I don't belong at all. This is an island for the priviledged that you cannot imagine. It's not like you see a few people that you don't see everyday and think, "Man, that's a nice pair of $400 sunglasses he has on." It's seeing those people EVERYWHERE and thinking, "What exactly am I doing here?" In town today, at Nantucket proper, I said, while passing a posh shop (one of hundreds), "Look at those people in there. I couldn't even have lunch with them." Oh this sounds so "them" and "me" and I don't mean it that way. I'm just so uncleverly and tiredly painting a picture. It's not well versed or even practiced. This is my poor man's version of what the human scenery is here, but ignore all that and Nantucket will romance your socks off. From the weathered shingled houses to the impossibly perfect oceans views and anchored boats lazily floating in the sound, this place is everything you could imagine your perfect place to be. I love this island and I don't miss home at all.

the thing is

The thing is is that I just am like a top spinning. I'm not sure when the wind resistance will slow me down and cause my spinning to stop, but in some ways I don't want it to. I like not knowing what end is up when those ends are surrounded by beach, breeze, full moons and flip-flops. I'm off to Nantucket and looking forward to every flip-flopping minute of it. Of course, up there flip-flops are a little on the "common" side. The thing is, I don't care.