Take a deep breath everyone. We’re standing on the edge of summer. In another week or two we’ll have sculpture shows opening and summer art in the museums and the first of the outdoor plays in the theaters. Already, live concerts are starting up in the grass, and historic houses are opening their gardens.
It’s not a normal summer — if normal is ever going to be a useful word again, it isn’t yet. We’re cautious and fratchety and bursting at the seams. We want to get out and we want to be safe. We want to see people. We want talk and touch and sunlight.
I know we may be in many different places right now. We may have good reasons to be optimistic and good reasons to be afraid. As the summer begins, I want to hold a space for both and still to feel thankful for what we have held onto.
It’s a lift, a stirring of energy, when I hear that HiLo is booking shows for high summer and the Parlor has moved in there in the meantime — that Dottie’s Coffee Lounge has outdoor seating and music on Sunday mornings again, and the Berkshire Botanical Garden will be opening a new cafe. The calves are out to pasture at High Lawn Farm near the ice cream stand … and at Naumkeag, the tree peonies will be in bloom.
