Back from Copake

For someone who said they were spending the whole summer in the city, I sure feel like I’ve barely been there. Maybe part of it is how long summer break is, but I would have a hard time telling you how I’ve spent my past few months. Still, even if the past few months have sped by, it feels like I never went to Montreal at all, like last year never happened.

I have a lot on my to-do list for when I’m back, so let me spell it out for your benefit and to organize my mind.

• Buy more stripe and polka-dot socks. I’m running low. I’m also incredibly violently jealous of Georgia’s red polka-dot socks. Sometimes I feel like vomiting when I see them on her feet or in the laundry.

• Buy two lamp bases for my shades and two lamp shades for my bases.

• Go to the library (the park slope one, unfortunately. It’s been challenging in the past couple of days to stay positive knowing the Carroll Gardens branch is closed)

• Put on my gardening gloves and get to work. (Actually, I don’t use gardening gloves at work most of the time. I am a water system installer now, after all).

• Practice my conversation starters for the next time I hang out with Mia and Sidney, so they think I’m really funny

I hope all of my recent list-making has inspired you. Remember that social media isn’t reality, and while you may be amazed at how productive I am, I have my faults, just like any other person.

Today before hitting the road, my dad, Georgia, June, and I stopped in town to get sandwiches. I’m not sure if any of you have been to Copake, but “town” is three shops.

The failures that would later confront us were not for lack of trying. Much like how I imagine the knights felt fighting battles in the Middle Ages, June Georgia and I had to psych ourselves up, putting on metaphorical armor before stepping into the general store. The day before, the employee's brother (?) overheard us saying she was a bit of a bitch, more or less. Oops! I found it hard to move in this armor, real or not. The weight of steel and chain mail kept my feet pressed into the ground, and I shuffled over the fridge.

Was it worth it, facing a woman that had the potential to be our very own Moff Gideon? (I hope this reference makes sense; I’ve never watched The Mandalorian. My social consultant told me the blog would benefit from connecting to the Star Wars fans who read HUPD). (Heads Up Phones Down).

Anyways, back to my original question - was it worth it? Not really. The fridge reached out its chilly long fingers and wrapped them around our bodies, pulling us in. My eyes flitted back and forth on the rows, hoping for a discovery, hoping for a victory akin to the beginning of the gold rush of 1848. (The gold rush was only in 1848?? In my mind, the horse and carriage migrations couldn’t have been later than 1800).

I did experience something like the gold rush, but instead of the end goal, the gold, it was more the journey. The three sandwiches inside the fridge immediately brought to mind the arid and uninviting desert encountered before arriving in California. They were the driest-looking sandwiches I’ve ever seen.

Thankfully, we hapless women were in the presence of a man, or THE man. My dad whipped out Yelp like his life depended on it, and we learned that, lo and behold, the third business in town was open and served sandwiches.

While inside, I got what I had spent the morning dreaming of. A BLT. More than that, June and I both got chocolate milk. It had been a while since the last time I’d had chocolate milk, other than a couple of days ago when June got one, and I had a few sips. Semantics aside, it ignited something in me.

Delicious!! We set off, one step closer to Brooklyn, one day closer to the next Summer I Turned Pretty episode. (How is Mia going to watch it at camp??)

Violet

Ps. No more than a week later, Sidney and I both had to endure a BLT crime. A diner served us BLTs WITHOUT MAYO.