Where has the summer gone? Seems like just yesterday the whole gaping maw of a somewhat unstructured summer vacation was staring me in the face. And now, all of the sudden, it's nearly over. I've been working on the book and it's definitely evolving. The patterns are in and I'm going over each with my fine-toothed comb, looking for typo's, uncrossed t's (is that an archaic metaphor now that you would have to type an L to leave your T uncrossed?), and muttering "brevity is the soul of wit, people!" under my breath from time to time. As if the patterns weren't exciting enough, the knitted samples have begun to arrive and I'm so excited by the designs. I mean, I was excited when they were on paper, but being able to actually touch them, try them on, style them on the mannequins... now that's fun. And really, I have to say, that this is a great collection of stuff. Stuff you want to wear. Things you can wear without effort. And some really fun knits. Anyway, I'm eager for school to start so that I can be more singularly devoted to the project.

We did have a good summer though. Thing One spent lots of time in the gym. Like this week, if it were a job and she were being paid for it, she'd be getting overtime. And when not actually doing gymnastics, then watching gymnastics. Thing Two finally learned to swim. Hooray! You can tell she doesn't love it (yet?), but she's bucked up and done it. You have to admire that. We've had a bit of time to catch up with the neighbors. The kids have had various rounds of cat-feeding, dog-walking and plant-watering. Yesterday they went to walk the neighbor's dog (another neighbor usually walks the dog because the owner has mobility issues and can't, but she's on vacation, but she's trained Ella in the fine art of dog walking) and after a while I go to check in on them and they're enjoying some ice cream on the neighbor's patio with a bag of homegrown tomatoes to bring me and learning to take cuttings from herbs. So once again, I'm entranced with the fine feeling of old-fashioned neighborliness that I fear has been lost to so many. We recently returned from a reunion with my husband's mother's side of the family. 4 generations, 2 roofs, 7 days on the Eastern shore. We caught up with cousins and genuinely enjoyed one another's company. Meals together. Sand castle building. Even multi-generational karaoke. Definitely one of those times that you recognize that you are creating memories and a sense of belonging for your children, and also, I suppose, recognizing the common threads that travel from generation to generation. Familiarity. We also had the good fortune to welcome to the fold my first nephew. Zaven, pictured above, was warmly welcomed into the family.