Hideaway

"Being here is just a way of not being anywhere." (John Banville, The Sea.)

While out walking around our 1/2 acre this evening with Casey, encouraging him to take care of his personal needs, I came upon this little tunnel my sister has taken the pains to mow through a profusion of wild grapevines along the back boundary. My first thought was, "How like my father she is," remembering the little pathways and cul-de-sacs he used to mow into our 6 acres in Geneseo (now impassably overgrown again in the 6 years since his death). Then I recalled the line above that I had read last night in a novel Jesse gave me for my birthday--a very good novel, by the way, that I recommend to anyone looking for a quiet, thoughtful read. The wild grapevine arbor embodies the spirit of this place for me: a hideaway, a way of not being anywhere. Or to say it in positive terms, a place to just Be. My parents bought this piece of cow pasture from a local farmer in 1962, the summer I was born. In the 45 years since, we've transformed it into a retreat that induces long sleeps and a hearty appetite. As another of my sisters put it last week while lounging on a lawn chair, reading a book, drying out after a turn in the lake: "Now I've had the quintessential Cottage Experience!" I myself have finished 2 novels in the past week, plus made my way through most of 2 nonfiction books and a mountain of catalogs that were on hold for my mom at the post office. Tomorrow is my last day here--Friday I take the train across NY to meet James and join him in Pittsfield to begin my life Somewhere again...