Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time. ~John Lubbock
Category Archives: Summer
Je me souviens
We are in Quebec city for a week of rest and relaxation. Our first day here we rode our bikes down rue St. Jean and observed a dog in the upper left window of the building pictured above. Here is a closer look:
He sits there calmly regarding the street scene below. I’ve passed by several times since, including once at about 9 PM, and he is always there.
The First of August
Today is the Swiss National Holiday. I grew up celebrating this holiday at a family picnic hosted by the Swiss Home in Mount Kisco, NY.
The Swiss Home was a retirement home for elderly Swiss Nationals. As kids, my brothers, sister and I couldn’t have cared less about the inhabitants of the home. The attraction for us was to spend the day running amok with the offspring of other Swiss immigrants.
There was bratwurst to eat, a roulette game that was so exotic to us, a large bell on the hillside just daring us to ring it and a band playing the Swiss Landler music that our parents loved to dance to. Best of all, at dusk we walked in a “lampion” parade from the bottom of the property to the site at the top of the hill where a bonfire was lit. It was magical.
Tonight it is too hot for a bonfire, but I miss it all the same.