“And already now behind the house the sun was rising. On the back walls of the house and through the branches of the trees, through the colored leaves of the trees and through the damp green grasses, the light of dawn was sifting. Summer morning. Cold clear water cupped in the palm of a hand.”- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
2. Blue Nail Polish
I’ve been going to the same nail salon in Brookline since I moved here 5 years ago. Seldomly, do I get my fingernails painted because I’m far too rough on my hands (and what am I a millionaire) so they only last, maybe, two weeks. However, every season I get my toes painted and they miraculously last a couple months. In May, I went into the salon saying hi to the owner who is there everytime without fail, as she tells me to pick a color off the wall. I hand over the blue polish that I’m sure has some very odd name as all nail polishes do, something weirdly sexual or a niche household item. But I pick it so it will match the ocean. For June, July, and August it did. It matched the sea waves up in Maine, the rough surf on that day on the Cape, the questionable bay in Southie, and the many trips up to the North Shore of Massachusetts. Each trip, the sand taking off fragments, leaving a portion of the paint behind mixed in with the pale grains. The ocean-blue chipped away. Now here we are at Summer’s End, only a fleck of the blue paint remains. This week I’ll make an appointment at my normal spot. I’ll pick a new color off the rainbow wall. I’ll sit down in the comfy, brown leather chair, testing the heat of the water. She’ll put the clear liquid that tickles my nose on the cotton-ball and finally wipe away the tiniest last bits of paint that remained.
3. "So on a summer’s day waves collect, overbalance, and fall; collect and fall; and the whole world seems to be saying “that is all” more and more ponderously, until even the heart in the body which lies in the sun on the beach says too, That is all. Fear no more, says the heart. Fear no more, says the heart, committing its burden to some sea, which sighs collectively for all sorrows, and renews, begins, collects, lets fall.” Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
4. Donut Seam by Adrianne Lenker
This whole world is dying
Don't it seem like a good time for swimming
Before all the water disappears?
5. In Demon Copperhead by Barbra Kingswood, one of the strings throughout the story is how desperately Demon wants to see the ocean. One of the more poignant parts is that we never know if he does. While, thankfully, I do not relate with the majority of Demon’s story, I do relate to growing up in a landlocked, rural area. I was privileged in a way that many from my area were not, able to take family vacations and trips to the ocean. I then moved to Boston in my 20s where I can smell the salty-air of the ocean while I’m walking to Target. Forgetting that there’s magic in those currents. I read Demon Copperhead back in the Spring and it’s one of those books where Demon’s voice has continued to live in my head. A piece of my mind pleading to see the ocean, to see the ocean shimmer under the glowing sun, the waves rise and fall, pushing back and forth. To touch the salty water, cupping it with my hands as I try to hold the sea. One foot. Two feet. The water at my calves. The water at my hips. The water at my chest. Despite the cold sting of the New England water my mind tells me to fully immerse, to go under, to bury myself beneath the waves, for Demon, for my family who never did, for all the kids who never will. Water on my lips. Water in my eyes. The crown of my head drives my body forward, splashing as I kick my legs as long as I can. I turn my body over, facing the sun. I float, held up by all the hands who can only dream of the sea.
6. Sunshine Baby by Japanese House
Sitting by the seafront, lying with my sunshine baby
Well, I've gone a little crazy
Surely someone's gonna save me now
7.
The electricity felt familiar
It was all familiar
Our sun stained legs grazing each other in the back seat of the car on the way back into the city
our eyes drifting in and out with the contentedness that comes only from long days spent next to the sea with salt stuck to our skin, bodies soft from sand
The summer haze allows our hard lines blur into soft waves as gentle as the calm sea
My head droops to his shoulder
With the ease that only comes with intimacy of familiarity
8. “There was majesty and grace in the pace of the swaying branches of the willows. There was kindness. Pain is not the only touchstone for growth, I said to myself. My sleep had worked. I was soft and calm and felt things. This was good. This was my life now.” My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Random things I loved this summer:
a cold lobster roll, mayo instead of hot with butter
learning to shuck my own oysters at an oyster farm in Maine
always keeping a swimsuit in my car so i was prepared to jump into a lake/pond/ocean at any moment
soft serve vanilla ice cream cones
having a car with a sunroof
finding a new coffee shop I love
FUN! summer pop music
Love your writing style. Your descriptions take me where you are.