September Vacation

I’m on vacation.

It’s September.

I came now because I knew that the world had returned to its post summer routines.

But I have not returned to these things.

I’m on vacation.

Extending the summer.  It’s too short.

Adding September helps.

I have promised myself to leave my to-do list at home.

No to-do lists on vacation.

I will focus on other things.

 

Reading.

But not the books that are home on my bedside table.  Book club books.  Heady books I bought at the writers’ conference.  Books that I’m not embarrassed to tell you I’m reading.

I brought none of these.

I brought a lazy beach read about the island I’m staying on.  A gossipy movie star’s book about his glitzy life.  And a romance novel written by a woman I always like cozying up with.

None of these I would admit to reading if you asked me.

They are my vacation books.

 

Drawing.

Now , don’t be confused.  I can’t draw.  Never could.  But I can see.

And I love taking a pad and following the lines of what I’m looking at.

A wicker rocking chair not rocking.  A garden pot stuffed with edible flowers.  My dog lying by the front door.

I think it brings me focus.  Allows me to quietly be in the moment.

 

Writing.

At home, in my studio, at least lately, I haven’t been able to find a thing to write about.

The world has interfered and nothing is funny or meaningful.

But out here, in the middle of the ocean, I am untethered.  It doesn’t matter what I write.  Like this mindless piece I’m writing now about what I’m doing on vacation.

The words come easily.  Because I’m safe.  And, besides, we’re just talking.

 

Eating.

At home, I’m always on a diet.   I go out to eat with friends of course.  But then I do a day or two of Lean Cuisines.  Very unhealthy I know.  But I’m counting calories.

Out here I’m not counting.

There are food memories here.  Lobster rolls from the place on the town dock.  Espresso ice cream in a warm waffle cone from the corner juice bar.  Clam chowder from the beach shack.  These are vacation memories I need to revisit each year.  No calories.

 

Seeing.

I’m trying to savor every little thing I see.  This morning we passed two swans on the pond near our house.  We didn’t pass by.  We stopped. Got out.  Watched.

Yesterday, on the beach, we spotted a seal.  It looked just like our Labrador, Emma.  We sat and stared. Emma the seal didn’t move for a very long time.  She was staring too.

The hydrangeas in the yard are blue. Turning to purple.  Is that the ocean soil or some additive cocktail? I will have to look that up.

Reading. Drawing. Writing. Eating. Seeing.

That’s what I do on vacation.

In September.

No to-do list allowed.