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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
Summer of 2009: Homecoming
by Esther J. Perne Summer arrives, Maine-style, capriciously, magically, and with all the hopes and promises of some of the best days of life. Summer, this summer, brings welcome consistencies amidst a time of global shifts and economic changes. It offers a buffer against personal challenges and daily worries. It provides diversion from other places, other seasons, other schedules. Every summer is a coming-home, if even just to a gentler climate. Days are longer, expenses shorter, and survival more simple and sane. Peacefulness, especially through proximity to nature, is more attainable. Busy work and lifestyles are more tolerable. Giving of ourselves, to children, to area vacationers, to guests, is only a smile, a warm welcome, a greeting away. The summer of 2009, especially, with all of its seasonal rituals, is to be valued. Gardens are going in, wood lies piled in yards, posters announce a range of outdoor activities and festivals. Children already run barefoot and romp in the rain, fishing boats head out daily across the lakes and ponds, and soon - yes, any day now - the water will be warm enough to jump right in. 
There will be changes here, as there are everywhere, more visible with the season, more obvious to those who spent the winter away. More development, more posted property, higher prices, less traffic on the roads number among the differences since last summer. But there is also the changeless, the work ethic, the toughing things out, the arrival of the dedicated summer residents, the opening of camps, the seasonal rhythm of downtown festivals, of activity on the waterways, of crowded general stores. Like every New Year, every new summer invites resolutions. This is the summer to take a hike a week This is the summer to splurge on a special local outing with the whole family, friends, guests — a boat trip, a foreign film, a country fair, a dinner. This is the summer to enjoy solitude in the countryside and sociability in the towns. And, this is the summer to remember it all and share the memories by shopping now for gifts and souvenirs for celebrations and holidays and special occasions in the year to come. Summer arrives, unfolds, sends out an invitation of hopes and promises.
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