Last week, Dee and Clif were on vacation, and except for keeping up with all my lovely blogging friends, so was I. We played games—Gloomhaven is our current obsession—watched movies, and spent plenty of time on our patio on the edge of the woods.
But because we were on vacation, we splurged with a couple of day trips.
First we went to the ocean, to East Boothbay, to have a picnic lunch on the rocks. This is becoming a summer tradition for us. The views are gorgeous, and because East Boothbay is off the beaten trail, there are no crowds of tourists the way there are in Boothbay Harbor.
For the past few summers, great white sharks have been spotted off the coast of Maine. This is something new. The sharks are apparently drawn by the warming ocean water and the abundance of seals, their prey.
Dee and Clif scoffed at me as I scanned the water for a dorsal fin. But there was nothing. Just the gulls and the rippling water. However, the next day, there was a great white sighting at Popham Beach, not that far away from East Boothbay. In our younger years, we have swum at Popham Beach many times. The beach had to be closed until the danger was past.
“See?” I said to Dee and Clif.
They made no reply.
Here’s a little mood music from the great John Williams.
While I felt perfectly safe on the rocks in East Boothbay, I would not go swimming in the ocean now that the great whites have moved north. The sharks have become part of our ecosystem, and we have to learn to live with these big predators. For me, that involves staying out of the ocean and instead swimming in pools, lakes, and streams. Shark attacks are rare, so this might be an abundance of caution. Still…
Our next outing was a little more placid and a lot closer. We went to Hallowell, a nearby town, for lunch and drinks at Burano’s Wood-fired Pizzeria. They have a deck overlooking the Kennebec River, and it was a perfect place to have our lunch. (Because of Covid, we are still not eating inside in restaurants.)
The food was delicious.
We had pizza, of course,
as well as spicy fries,
and drinks.
This was a huge treat for me as we seldom go out to eat or order takeaway.
Now, it’s back to work, and that feels fine, too.
It’s good to rest and have special treats, but it’s also good to return to the regular routine.
And, in a week or so, I should have some exciting news about the cover for Of Time and Magic, Book Four in my Great Library Series.