North Holland

I woke up this morning with cold symptoms that doubled down a bit from yesterday. We already planned a low-key day. After going out for coffee, we returned to the boat and I slept for several hours.

Yesterday, I talked briefly about the recently graduated student. He is very enamored with the Oregon Trail. He noticed Pete the Cat, and I explained to him about this storybook character and the photos we send to our granddaughter. Ben is a graphic artist, and he felt inspired to send me an image with Pete at the reins of a Conestoga Wagon as a gift to Olive. 💞

I woke up feeling significantly better. We enjoyed our immersion into canal life with no agenda. We heard the excited shouts of children in a nearby schoolyard. We watched young folks gather at a dock along the canal. We watched young boys jump off the foot drawbridge, and we waved to those riding by in their boats.

The experience causes me to recall a myriad of summer adventures near the water with friends and family when I was young.

I remember sunburns on top of sunburns and my mother slathering me with Noxema.

I think about staying in cottages in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Cape Cod. I remember picking blueberries in Truro when I was 6. I remember the merry-go-round at Watch Hill. I remember being the only one in the family to go in the ocean at Sand Beach in Bar Harbor, and being covered with blankets when my lips turned blue. I loved bodysurfing and playing with pinball machines at the beach arcade in Misquamicut.

I remember responding to the dare of friends to join then in jumping off a small cliff into Lake Erie. I think of times with high school friends at the Flaming Gorge in Wyoming.

What I saw today were people enjoying the promise and gift of summer. I know that being next to some body of water in the summer provides solace.

Another day of just being present was the perfect prescription for the day.

Thank you, Amsterdam. Next stop: Ireland.Read more