“Just living is not enough…one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”
-Hans Christian Andersen
Oh my, our cup runneth over in dogs. After we find homes for the rest of our Great Dane pups, we will need a nice, looooong doggie break.
Summer Camp Memories
Thinking today of the 10 years I spent atop Lookout Mountain in Mentone, Ala., at Camp Skyline Ranch. My parents used to drop me and my little sister Janna there every July for an entire month while they headed off on one golf adventure after another. Jan and I were oblivious to their plot; all we knew was that July meant camp and that was the best month of the year. Skyline and Mentone were my summers and both are forever, wonderfully etched into my memories. To quote an old friend, Barbara Ballin Newman, “I’m convinced…Camp Skyline Ranch in the 1970’s was the happiest place on earth.”
When Arielle turned 6, we carted her off to Mentone so she could experience the camp life–this time at Saddle Rock Camp for Girls, originally built in 1926 as Cloudmont Camp for Boys. We wanted Arielle to be with my former camp director, Marty Griffin, who by then owned the 80-acre Saddle Rock along the meandering Little River. Our girl camped there happily each summer until she was 12.
For all you parents sending your own kids off to camp this summer, writer Garrison Keillor offers this parent’s prayer, published in the Chicago Tribune on June 30, 2010: http://bit.ly/dq06dO
Here’s to all our summer camp memories.
We Interrupt This Blog…
Arielle is in NYC through early August working for CRT/tanaka (http://www.crt-tanaka.com/) and building her resume. What this really means is that Mike, Adrian and I now have a perfectly good excuse to go back ‘n’ forth to the Big Apple to check on her (and feed her, clothe her, take her to shows, sight-see, let her sleep in our hotel room instead of the NYU dorm, etc.).
Here she is in Coney Island with Adrian in front of the original Nathan’s Famous hot dog stand, after watching the Brooklyn Cyclones beat the State College Spikes 4-2. Adrian got a foul ball. 😀
Our City-Country Life
We’re now pretty settled into our life of contrasts: weekdays in the city…working hard, racing through the days; weekends in the country…working hard, strolling through the days. Here are just a few reasons why we love both.
Top 10 Reasons Why We Love Living in the City:
1. Morningside
2. Our C. 1925 house/fixer-upper (still working on it after 18 years)
3. Piedmont Park
4. Adrian’s soccer games
5. Alon’s Bakery
6. DeKalb Farmers Market
7. The oh, so many good restaurants
8. The Fox Theatre
9. Local friends
10. Fast pace
Top 10 Reasons Why We Love Living in the Country:
1. The stars
2. The Appalachian foothills
3. The frogs that serenade us to sleep at night
4. Waking up to the sun each morning, not the alarm clock
5. Our big, ole ’70s Gunite pool
6. Area codes aren’t needed when calling local
7. Folks just driving up your driveway when they want to talk with you, usually with a bag of fresh-picked tomatoes, peaches or okra
8. The Chief Ladiga Trail
9. Local friends
10. Slow pace
