The summer place

For some people, the idea of having a summer house somewhere conjures up bucolic if hazy recollections and a warm glow.  I can't count myself among them.  Some of you may know I have this kind of weird double life with 98% of it lived in a typical upper middle class way, but the other 2% is kind of over the top.

My father has a house on Martha's Vineyard. It's a very beautiful spot and the house is spectacular. There have been some easy, relaxing times, but those are just part of my cumulative memory. I like coming here, but there's a lot of baggage involved. I really enjoyed my time here last year and am mostly enjoying it this time as well, but my guess is that if you dig deep enough, you will find that many people with family summer homes have similar feelings, if for no other reason then because of family dynamics.

For the sake of privacy, I'll avoid that aspect of it and focus on how the design of this place contributes to my memories. Part of it is the design of the house. My parents, my father in particular I think, went through a stage where they resisted the idea of walls. I mean, there are walls around the outside, but the main part of the house is open-plan.

The room is a combination living room-den-dining room flowing into a large open kitchen. There is no cozy spot to curl up and read quietly if there are other people around. Or to have any privacy unless you want to retreat to your bedroom, which is down a very long hallway. They're nice-sized rooms, but not a place you want to just hang out. The outside is beautiful.

As you can see, it's huge. More like a resort than a cottage. The size worked very well when we used to have immense parties here, back in the late 80's and early 90's. Now it just feels kind of big. That's nobody's fault and it's not like there's anything bad about it. Just not a cozy cottage.

The thing I love doing here most is riding a bike. My sister, who lives closer and spends much more time here than I do, is an avid bike rider as well and keeps a good bike up here just to have something available for people to accompany her on her rides. I went out once before she arrived and then for a 25 mile ride together yesterday. She and I are well matched in speed and endurance, and a decent portion of that ride is on quiet roads where we can ride side-by-side and talk. Those rides are always a highlight.

Both of our kids and their boyfriends were here. That was nice. The days follow a general pattern where everyone does their own thing for a large portion of the day. I go out for a ride before others are up. We hang around the house, go to the pool, maybe the beach. If the weather is lousy we often will go to one of the cute towns and walk around. Sometimes we go to the local fish market (shout out to Larsens!) and do shellfish for lunch. In any event, by late afternoon there is always a trip to buy some fish for dinner. We eat a lot of fish here. I've heard that's good for you.

So now we're on our way home (which unfortunately gets its own entry). Even lacking a warm glow, it was a nice trip.