One of Bucky's favorite sayings was "after the Fourth of July the summer is over". It used to drive us nuts because summer was just starting, but I realize now there is some truth to that. The stores are already advertising back to school items. I read an article where a woman's father use to say on June 22, the first day of summer, "well, that's it, now it is going to get darker earlier everyday". Maybe parents just have to torment their kids.

But I do notice signs that summer is going fast. The baby birds are just about all grown up, the first batch anyway. You still see a few "baby Huey's" bigger than their parents flapping their wings, nosily screaming, waiting to be fed some of my sunflower seeds. And the squirrels are all fighting for a place at the feeders, little mean red squirrels and big gray squirrels, but no more babies. With no rain for days past the bird baths are getting a lot of use. I do love to see the chipmunks and the squirrels taking advantage of them and leaning way over to get a drink. So summer is moving ahead.

Next week we will be in Wellfleet. The whole family is going and we are whipping ourselves into a seaside mindset. Lobsters, oysters, clams, beach umbrellas, are all we talk about. "Don't forget to bring the games, some good knives, these houses never have a good knife, do you think four pounds of butter is enough? I mean we are getting into a frenzy. I myself think the oil spill has something to do with it. Spill is not quite the word, gush is better. The ocean as we know it is being attacked, under seige by our own greed for oil. Will that mess makes it way to Cape Cod? Will the kids be making sand castles that are black? Will the seagulls be dropping the clams on the stones, flying down and then going "yuck" and leaving them there? With that in mind we are acting like this might be our last time for the beach as we know it. Maybe it is. So Wellfleet here we come.