On Labor Day it was like a cosmic switch was flipped: suddenly we could smell fall and a chill crept into the air. We’re totally down with Thoreau and thinking of ways to spark summer’s lovely feeling even in the dark days of winter.
We rely our melamine faux paper plates with little ants walking across them. They always do the trick, making us feel picnic-y, beachy, summery. At 5 for a set of four, here, they are a bargain (and a great gift).
Oyster shell salt and pepper cellars makes us flash “summer” at the dinner table…

Most powerfully, Ellen Silverman’s teeny video taken at Narragansett beach just a few weeks ago makes us FEEL the waves washing over our feet (We find that if we stand up and look down at it on a tablet with our feet in view, we are suddenly THERE). Video link here.
Albert Camus must have been reading Thoreau, 100 years later. Camus said, “In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” Every time I read it, I have an uprush of hope from the words “in me” and “invincible”. (Though, I too, seem to need some triggers to experience it in the winter. I can spend inordinate amounts of time looking at pictures I’ve taken on various lengthy Oregon coast beach stays over the years.) Nice to see some other ideas!
“An invincible summer”….even more powerful than Thoreau: it does create “an uprush of hope”…Thank you.