I think these two images summarize summer (sorry, couldn't resist) in Maine reasonably well. In one, we find two boys (as it happens, my two boys) making Mud Angels. Mud angels are, of course, the summer equivalent of the famed snow angel.
The trick to making mud angels is finding nice, large expanses of mud. Luckily for my sons, their grandparents live on the coast of Maine and the harbor is a mix of granite ledge and mud flat...perfect for clamming and mud angels.
The trick, of course, is getting up without disturbing (too much) the fine quality of the angel. One of the great advantages of mud angles is the quality of the detail possible. You can actually make out the texture of the shorts the boys have on in the finished product. The downside of mud angels is that they are made it...er...mud. With snow angels, you get up, brush your self off and are one your way. Mud angels require a long hosing off period followed by an equally long bath...both to get the mud of uncomfortable areas and to get rid of the smell (if you have never smelled hot clam flat, you can not understand what this means...urgh). Both, however, are extremely fun.
The other great thing to do in Maine in the summer is to find a good place to sit and read a good book. Here we find Thing One in the crook of a red pine with Heinlein (have I mentioned how pleased I am that my 9 year old is reading Heinlein...). There are several other places about the house and schoolhouse that are great reading spots (e.g. hammock, benches, Adirondacks set in the middle of day lily gardens, etc.), but can anything really beat the crook of a tree.
Not now, not ever.
More to follow...stay out of the mud.
Labels: random bits
