Happy Solstice!

So I'm a day late with the Solstice wishes, but that's because I was extremely busy yesterday. It was the longest day of the year and I made the most of it! I met up with my co-worker Carolyn and her roommate Lisa for the Mystic Aquarium's Animal Rescue Kayak event. It was a beautiful day: clear blue skies, warm but not muggy, slightly breezey to keep you from roasting out on the water. It was one of those days where I would have been perfectly happy to paddle around all day and flop into bed tired but satisfied. However, that was not to be. Why, you may ask? Because last night was also the Westerly Pops Concert in Wilcox Park! Aaron, Dan, Julie and I enjoyed yummy munchies, great music and cool fireworks all in one night. While I'm used to Wilcox Park being a quite haven in my busy world, last night it was transformed into a bustling, filled-to-the-brim, concert experience.

The music was great and included a neat version of Indiana Jones' theme. The finale, as always, is a wonderful fireworks display that inevitable ends with Pumpkin hiding under the couch for at least an hour!

One of the things I love about Wilcox Park is that they have so many fun things that go on there. Ian and I strolled around through the Virtu Art Festival, which happens every Memorial Day Weekend. There was a great turnout of artists and I felt the familar longing to spend more time creating. Of course, it's always a double edged sword: I see great ideas of things I would like to try, but can't ever find the time to do it all. While we were waiting for a college art student to finish our Manga portrait (Manga is the still life version of Anime) we had a Thai Pepper picnic by the fish pond.

My Field Day Birthday Party was a lot of fun as well. There are plenty of trees to provide shade on a hot summer day and we all took advantage. The park has a wonderfully flat center which makes it ideal for things like Frisbee and kickball. Lots of friends stopped by, chatted and shared food, played with the kids and just had a relaxing time. The squirrels, which can be very demanding and sometimes intimidating, were respectful of our boundaries and only came when called and tempted with trail mix. It was really my favorite kind of birthday party, mainly because the focuswas on having a good time...and not directly on me!

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the other big summer event that has occurred: Mick graduated high school! Congratulations! She's still working out the details of her Visa, but should be on her way to England soon.