It's August already. The brilliance that was July is fading. The Fair will soon be here, and I've been working and working. So has Bob. Saturdays have found us putting in 10 hour days - he takes Sundays off, and I haven't been able to. The last couple Sunday evenings have found me totally depleted and in bed by 8:30. I saw the full moon come up last week over the hills at the lake, then crashed.
It's time we took a vacation. But then, we can't really go anywhere because of work. It's still there - maybe not as intense, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. I called an agent this past week to request a showing of a house and the message was that she was out of town and another capable agent would take her place - please call her instead. I can't seem to do that - and besides, I want to be here in the summer.
So we are taking a vacation conceptually. It's all about wrapping your head (as they used to say) around the thought of what a vacation really is. What do we do differently than we usually do when we're on vacation.
In general terms, it's just different actions and choices. We see new places or re-visit familiar ones we enjoy, eat out more, see friends and make the effort to do so. I walk more, taking the time for exercise as pleasure, not for sanity's sake. We leave it behind - the chores, the worries (although I have real difficulty doing that!), the constant computer checking. We do things we don't generally have the time for in our 80 hour work weeks.
Yesterday was the first day of our conceptual vacation. We had stayed at the lake, so even though the dogs got me up early I took the time to walk them - both of them, a rarity for me. Bob left for home and I snoozed on the couch instead of fighting through the morning with coffee. I woke up refreshed.
In the afternoon we went to the arts and crafts show in downtown Syracuse. We hadn't gone in years - what a marvelous show! It had grown into truly a premier event. We wandered around and ran into friends we hadn't seen, Bob bought a book on Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone, and rated the sidewalk art. One of my favorite exhibits that will stay with me was the paintings of Elginia McCrary - www.mccraryculturalart.com. I was fascinated with her work.
We wandered back in the sunshine, of course having taken Bob's new red Mazda Miata to the show. We had found $3 parking in a garage, too, for it, and felt like we didn't want the afternoon to end. I had been curious about Green Planet, the new healthy foods grocery in Fairmount that Bob had raved about, so he took me there. Just wonderful! Aisles and aisles of great food - healthy food. He had found his vegetarian hot dogs there a couple weeks ago. I loved the many types of flour in bulk, the beans and rice. Also all those great traditional medicine teas that help me get through the winter. It's just across from Fairmount Fair on West Genesee Street and definitely worth a look.
Bob took a nap after finishing a couple samples for a church, so I decided to take Koko and be a tourist in Skaneateles. We had a great walk, looked in store windows, walked out on the pier, pretended we were new to the village. I hadn't taken her into town for a very long time, but the concept of vacation pushed me to do it. I would have walked before dinner on the Cape or in North Carolina, where we'd taken the dogs previously - why not in gorgeous Skaneateles?
We ate dinner outside and I even cooked! I made garbanzo delight using the zucchini from Bob's garden and very few plates so washing up was easy. Instead of getting ice cream later, I "made" cottage cheese with fresh blueberries and topped it with whipped cream and nuts. A healthy sundae!
Our vacation will last two weeks, I've decided. It's a state of mind - so yes, the closings will all happen, my buyers and builders and sellers will be served, but I will have a vacation state of mind - kind of a Margaritaville in Elbridge. It's definitely worth a try!
