best laid plans...

sunrise:  5:47

T and I awoke to a pink dawn on our last island day.  "I woke up and saw purple water," she said to me.  We don't really mind being awakened early by the sunrise, especially since we can loll back to sleep again if we like (which we usually do).  It is a lovely sight to feed the subsequent morning dreams that often come along with island sleeping.

It has been an itinerant August.  I've only been home a few scattered days - just enough time to get my Friday columns in, catch up a bit on mail, email, household upkeep, in between trips.

Now, with hurricane Irene on the horizon, we're supposed to travel into the teeth of the storm to move T back into college over the weekend.  The best laid plans may go right out the window.  Some creative adaptation may be in order.

Safe passage to all readers!

sunrise through an August mist

Aug. 14th dawn -- Sutton Island, Maine -- 5:34am

I have just returned from a lovely eight days's immersion in island rhythms.  There are limitations to life on an island, but they are more than made up for by the sense of natural pace that overcomes you in that setting.

It was especially productive for my writing life.  I think if I could leave the rest of the world behind for a couple of months and stay out there, I might be able to crank out the rest of this book in no time.  As it was, I made the most significant progress of the last couple of years, sitting at the same table where my biographical subject ate her dinners eighty-some years ago.

There was a strange gathering mist on the horizon that morning that made eerie, twisting cloud-shapes that curled around the sun and neighboring land masses.  Quite beautiful.