It is so weird when you come home from being away for a few weeks -- it is as though you are only half at home and the other part of you is still there. I am still thinking that certain things will be in the "other" kitchen, and I sure as hell don't want to see that kitchen counter covered with everything that was brought home and has yet to be put away. So I don't look.
The hardest part is how thick the air is. When I first arrived on the Vineyard a few weeks ago, I had never gone through a period of time where I had been so hot for so long. I dripped sweat, day in and day out, and the only way to get cool was to jump in the lake. The day we arrived on the island, it was as though we'd changed seasons. It was cool air and the constant sea breeze. In a word, I was in heaven, and the sweat took a vacation. Every day that arrived with temps in the 70's was a gift. I rode my bike and sat on the beach and rode my bike and sat on the beach. Some days I would sit on the beach then ride my bike.
Saturday morning the humidity returned to the Vineyard -- almost as a harbinger of what was to come! Instead of sweating though, we went to the beach where the wind blew and made us almost cold. Again, it was heaven.
We woke up yesterday morning to rain. That was nice. It is hard to leave, but it's a little easier when it rains. The entire two weeks we were there, it never rained at inconvenient times. Maybe in the evening for a spell, and one hilarious night up-island where we sat on the beach and watched sunset and ate lobster rolls, that was later followed by lightening in the distance. That drew closer. And closer. Until BABOOM, the storm was there in all its fury, and it created a sandstorm out of nowhere. The kids were in the back of the Jeep screaming GO GO GO while holding their hands over their faces to block the sand (the roof was on but not the windows) and we hightailed it out of there laughing in amazement as the headlights plowed through an actual sandstorm. It was an experience not to be missed!
So we had a rather bumpy ferry ride back to the mainland, and were almost a bit happy that the weather was as sad as we were to see us go. When I climbed out of the car in N.H. at the rest area, I almost died. Holy shit, I'd forgotten that pea soup air and suffocating heat. It was as though it zapped me of my will to live. I sat in the house last night just sweating. Oh no, not again, I thought.
This morning it wasn't as bad. I spent a few hours in the garden, A.K.A. THE JUNGLE. Geesh. Leave it for two weeks and it goes wild. The tomato plants are beyond my ability to tame back into the cages. They are just going to have to commingle with the cantaloupe (that sounds kind of fun, doesn't it?) because the branches grew straight out and they are hardy as all get out. Oh, and just for old time's sake, one of those big, creepy horned worm things was on one of the tomato plants. Without thinking I tried to tear it off the stalk, but it clung like a mo'fo .... and then I got all freaked out. Eww and ick. Then during weeding I dug up a night crawler and almost fainted.
Ahhh, it is good to be home! Love to commune with the garden wildlife. NOT! I am having a seriously hard time adjusting to the air, though. It is weird.
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