The summer holidays are here, and you know what that means, don’t you? Men down to Mikey’s Meat Market buying meat. I was in there on Saturday getting some pork chops for supper, and it was a friggin’ mad house. Now, you don’t get this for your winter holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, even Easter, I go into the meat market and it’s mostly exhausted women trying to do higher math. You know, if we’ve got 14 people coming for dinner, how big’s the turkey got to be? Or if the rump roast weighs such and such, how long should I cook it and at what temperature? Man, they don’t ask questions like that on the SAT’s! Your …

The other day, I noticed I had a missed call on my iphone from my sister Irene. So, I unlock the phone, see if she left a message, when I accidentally facetime her. Oops! I hang up before she answers because it’s first thing in the morning, and frankly, I’m not exactly looking my best. You know those movies where the woman wakes up all tousled and sexy? She rolls over and looks at the guy next to her. “Hi,” he says and flashes that killer grin. And she smiles back and murmurs, “Hi.” Not high on the scale of witty comebacks, but he seems to like it because guess who’s late for work that …

My birthday was last week, though to be honest I celebrate all month. I always take the day off from work and do what I want to do. That includes bacon for breakfast and going out of supper (which we could actually do this year) with popcorn, candy, and binge watching something in between. Throw in a sunshine-y walk with Scamp and a little cuddling with my guys, and it’s a perfect day. As if that wasn’t enough, the best thing happened on Saturday. I got together with the Women Who Run With the Moose: inside with hugs. Yes! We’re all fully vaccinated! So we had a birthday party, not just for me, but for …

The day morning, I was walking Scamp. We’d had rain the night before, but the morning was crisp and bright, about 50 degrees out. We’re strolling around a little neighborhood nearby, and Scamp is sniffing things more than usual. A rain like that really brings out the smells, doesn’t it? Even I’m grooving on it, the grass, the flowers. Coming towards us is a mom with her two sons, probably about 8 and 10. She’s doing some sort of season averaging with her clothing. She has on this polar fleece pullover and a down vest and cropped leggings and flip flops. Winter + Summer = Spring, right? Meanwhile, I’m in LL Bean pants with a …

Have you had these weird thick, white rain events? (I refuse to call it snow.) They’ve stopped now, I hope. But I got caught in one a couple weeks ago. I was driving to see dad and all of a sudden, I’m in a white, whirling mess and can hardly see. Only lasted about two minutes. Still, it left me feeling strange and unsettled. I hate seeing white stuff on the daffodils and forsythia. ‘Course it’s spring in Maine. Anything can happen. Spring, winter, spring all in one day (or even one hour) is par for the course. Happened to Charlie last week while he was walking Scamp. Snow Squall Snow squall bearing down on …