poplar road

Thanks for your comments on the UnEvent, everyone! And Sharon, thanks for the great photo (shown here). Sorry I haven't replied. I scrambled to get the last post done and then we left town for a weekend in Washington State, after which Richard left me on the coast for 10 days with my family, spending time with my nieces and helping my sister prepare for a move to England, and working - though a fair bit less than I intended. After an intense visit and long drive home yesterday afternoon, I feel like I could sleep for a week...

So many fun gatherings this summer! And Richard tells me we have more visitors tomorrow night, though he's enjoying keeping secret who it is.

While away, I've been finding a little quiet time here and there to re-read Jane Austen's Persuasion. A wonderful novel, and like Pride and Prejudice, full of constant visits between relations, friends and neighbours. I couldn't help finding parallels as I thought about this summer. We had several visitors in June, spent the 4th of July on Marrowstone with the Lunds, had more visitors in July and entertained 25 friends on the August long weekend, travelled a thousand kilometers to have dinner with Chris and Dagny on the 14th, the Lunds on the 15th, the Webbers on the 16th, ate brunch with Rob and Jen after leaving the Webbers on the 17th, and I arrived at my parents' house by dinnertime that night. While with my family (both siblings having moved back to the Cove this summer for a very full house), my aunt Gudrun arrived from Idaho. And while I was visiting with all of them, Chris and Dagny spent Friday night here on their first leg of a cross-Canada road trip, and Richard got the news of visitors coming tomorrow - presumably for the long weekend, coming up so fast now. I'm exhausted just relating it all! Now I have a day to get the house and my desk in order before the next whirlwind.

I finished Persuasion last night and that's it for novels and visiting (once these mystery guests leave) for a while, at least until I get my business off the ground. My only regret is that I didn't get to see more of my friends while on the coast, but I'm no Austen heroine and one more dinner party might have worn me out completely! It has been a very abundant summer (aunt Gudrun reminded us what abundance really is), and I appreciate every minute we got to spend with all our loved ones this season. It's feeling like fall already, though, isn't it? These guests will help us extend summer just a little longer, then it's on to fall projects and the kind of changes - for the better I hope - that I always associate with September. Have a great Labour Day, everyone.