ABC's ONWARD...

 M = MOUNTAINS  My family did not go to the beach for vacation, nor the amusment park, nor Washington, DC, nor historical landmarks.....we did none of those, instead we headed for the mountains. It's kind of biblical when one thinks about it. 

We headed to Tionesta and spent a week doing serious camping, none of that glam camp fluff and surface stuff for the Snyders.  We hiked a mile over rock strewn terrain into the woods and set-up camp, tents, sleeping bags, fire pit and campfire.  

Years later what remains central in my memories are keeping the pop cold in the sandy bed of the stream underneath the big rock; how we each had our own walking stick crafted by our father; walking with my mother through a meadow strewn full with ferns; the more-than enogh-ness of the vacation; swimming in the Tionesta River; and roasting marshmallows.

There is an art to the well-cooked marshmallow; it is born out of patience in finding the right spot in the red-orange coals and cooking it by slowly turning the stick.  My mother liked her marshmallows with a crispy tan outer crust. I would make her mallows first and then with great pride and immense pleasure seemingly skip to her and present the well-cooked marshmallow made just for her.  Of course, my mother would respond as if being presented with a french pastry from Laduree in Paris. I, in turn, would preen and prance with pride.

N = NIGHT SKY  One of my favorite things in summer is to sit on my gravity chair (one of the grandest inventions of sitting stuff) in full repose and look up at the sky; the lush fullness of the trees and the bright blue of sky at times streaked with splashes of white. Even better is to do so at night. 

Clearly, we've become a very crowded and electronic-addicted lot.  These days it is an effort to find a place where the stars shine brightly and fill the sky.  Yet, any glance and pause toward the night sky is balm and blessing. 

I remember the night sky seen from the fields of my upbringing; the awe of stars stirring the romance on the mountain at Jumonville; and the one-could-stay-for-hours watching the sky over the ocean.  

A member of my Sunday School class sent this photo a photography friend of hers took of the night sky from the beach at the Outer Banks, North Carolina...

O = Old Shoes  The need and the timing intersect.  By summertime, the new pair of sneakers one had for the start of school are now worn and patchy.  Don't toss them!  Keep them on the ready for forays of creek walks and swims. Also, old shoes are such a grand metaphor for summer.....comfortable, broken-in, not a care about style or appearance, just something one can easily slip into and be off to enjoy the day!