Novel Places

It has been hot here in OK and muggy. Last weekend we worked on the house getting up and out very early to beat the heat. Still, when I stepped outside in the early morning and in the shade, my clothes stuck to me with all the humidity mixed with sweat. I asked Toby if we could just work nekkid, but I guess that would not have been practical. By noon, it is just too hot to do much work outside. I think the Italians have it right when they close their business after lunch and don’t open until evening, if at all. We have been like that here – eating supper earlier so that we can work when it cools off. Last night we worked on the soffit and fascia. Yep, it is going slow, but that is okay. Chipping away is better than nothing.

For most of the summer I have been fasting – sort of. I quit reading romance novels to focus on other things. Romance novels may be silly, but they are just the thing in the summer when you don’t want anything heavy or serious. The fast has gone well, but I needed some light reading – something wistful and fun. I needed a Luanne Rice novel. I love her beach stories set on the north East Coast. Many of her books are set in a fictional town of Hubbard Point, Connecticut, which was inspired by a place where she spent her summers as a child. The town is a haven for artists and lovers. She describes the families and the relationships in a small town – intertwining character’ lives. Some characters are summer people and others live there year around, but they always seem to be drawn to the town by something mystical. She writes wonderful stories of sisters and girl friends and the strength they draw from one another. She describes the beaches, the boats, the water, and the landmarks as if they were magical. She makes growing up in such a place seem like the perfect childhood, yet there is always some tragedy to overcome.

Never having been a beach person myself, you might wonder why I love these books. Maybe it is because they remind me of life growing up in RR. As kids we had free reign of the mountains. My brother and I had "forts" and special places all up Bitter Creek. We played up and down the town as if we owned it. Later, The Island would become our very special place where a handful of us kids played. I’ve mentioned the Community House and how we gathered there to dance and be with our friends. The friends we made growing up, the bonds formed have been everlasting. Romances found and lost. The relationships and the strength we draw from one another – magical. Yet tragedy has struck many of the families. Life in the mountains is beautiful, but it can be harsh.

I get upset sometimes with the harshness of life in RR – the divorces, the alcohol and drug abuse, the financial difficulties of resort living, etc, but I cannot deny the pull of the mountains. Not just any mountains – it is the relationships and friends and the memories and bonds that bind us to RR. If I could write like Luanne Rice, I would write of the magic of the mountains and the friends and families there.