Storytellers No. 6 - All Aboard

Special thanks to The Judge Ben Wiles and Crew for allowing us to photograph on this iconic Skaneateles Lake boat!

Thanks to Emma Bauso Photography for capturing the magic and to Max, Greg and Sidney for modeling on this beautiful summer day.

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Today we gather in the park, we ground our hands on the earth and comb her grassy tangled hair with our fingers. We laugh, we feast, we relish in the presence of the sun and of our friends. Too quickly the leaves will begin to turn, the harvest will be at her peak –  but for now I stay quietly present. I dance my toe in the water, I clink my glass to the warm earth, I slurp an oyster, I watch the boats set sail, I melt in the sun. We are all aboard - on the water, on the boat, fully committed to the season and all of her offerings.

August holds on to the last moments of summer. Like an oil painting, she’s full of movement - she mixes the best parts of the season into a masterpiece, a culmination of it all. With a stroke of her brush, she begins to wisp in tiny hints of fall. Shh, I hush her because I’m still floating in the lake with the sunbeams on my face. I imagine I’ll lay here, in summer, forever. 

Time, sometimes, feels as though she is slipping through my fingers. When I was young, summer felt like an eternity, now it's a blink of an eye. August holds the duality for us Northerners, we indulge in our summer shenanigans of picnics and potlucks and late night swims knowing the season will be near its end. As we slowly let go of her warmth, as the nights darken and chill, we open our hearts to the next season and then we wholly dive in.