I arrived at midnight and awoke to birdsong. My visit is so brief that I did not even tell family I would be sleeping here, and so I do not know who is in the Little House with the blue pickup truck and the car with Maryland plates, I suspect it is family because both the driveway gate and the Big House door were unlocked, and hope they are not too surprised by my car outside when they rise.
I am here in this way because I had a late night work meeting in CT and an early morning non-work meeting here with Mass Audubon, which with its conservation partners has conserved a substantial piece of land adjacent to our own and is anticipating several more conservation easements from our neighbors in what we call the Great Neck Conservation Partnership. As we placed the Conservation Restriction on Windrock in December 2008, we put in the first link of a recreational trail on our land and I am meeting to help Audubon integrate it with the trail and parking area they are planning for the surrounding lands. Then I have to be back in CT before 4:00 p.m. to get sworn in as an alternate on my Town P&Z and attend a meeting at 7:00. Long day.
It is another cool, overcast day and everything is Summer green. I slept on a couch in the living room and so am writing this while looking out the picture windows at the gray waters of the bay and a tug and barge moving through the west entrance of the Cape Cod Canal. I will walk to the bluff in a little while and gaze out over the view that centers my soul, breathe in that cold, briny air and the scent of wildflowers, and feel the tensions of a busy week and complicated life drain away. And I look ahead to the next visit, alone or with those I love, and I know they need this place as I do, even if they have not yet had the opportunity to know it in person. It is a warm embrace, and always has been, and I know I will not shiver in the cool morning air unless with joy.
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