A Year In Mill Valley

I grew up spending summers on Cape Cod. When I was three years old my Aunt Cayo built a house there, and we spent every summer, all summer, from the day after school got out, until the day after Labor Day, at the Cape, on the water. My last full summer was in 1976 when I taught sailing at Wild Harbor Yacht Club. Since that time other things have come first. Jobs. Travels. Life.

But now the boys are 9 and 5, and it’s time for them to learn to sail, and to experience some of that same wonder and excitement that marked my summers growing up.

We did a house swap this year, and spent 2 1/2 weeks on the Cape, and it was glorious. The weather was perfect. The water was warm and safe. Nathaniel and George (cousin from the UK) learned to sail. And I literally could not have asked for a more perfect summer (except maybe spending a little more time there).

Here’s a movie that shows some of what we did there. Here’s a link to a larger version.

Lunch

Tom Petty and Steve Winwood

Tom Petty

Went to the Outside Lands festival today and saw Steve Winwood and Tom Petty (and Steve Winwood playing with Tom Petty). Nice to see them — though being so far away we really didn’t see them so much as hear them. There were too many people for our taste…I much prefer something more like the Larmer Tree Festival that we went to in the UK.

The laser has been sitting in the driveway for a year. Rachel borrowed Paul’s power washer to clean the little house before giving it to Di, so I took the opportunity to use it too. Nathaniel and Sebastian had a turn with it on the house, but ducked out after lunch when they found out their buddies were home. Can’t wait to get it back in the water.