Shift change

I’ve been back from the land of beaches, boats, bookshops, boutiques, and Airbnb for a week now and it has already started to fade into memory. Vacations turn faster than seafood leftovers. Sigh. I missed out on NCPR’s big anniversary bash and came back to a big new website redesign, and to a half-empty shop. Everybody’s on vacation, or on the road for North Country at Work, or taking kids to college, or at a conference, or visiting family. I’ve started making just half a pot of coffee in the morning.

It’s the last chance to get out of Dodge. We know what comes next. The college towns fill up with new faces and overstuffed vehicles. They celebrate with fireworks, but the townies (and the faculty, perhaps) celebrate with Advil. The summer folk pack up to return to the things they do that earned them a nice place to spend the summer. It’s the big shift change, and a few deep breathes before returning to the hullaballoo.

Short and sweet – that’s the North Country summer. Can I sigh twice in the same column? Sigh.

But it’s a good thing to do good work, to be useful. At least that’s what I tell myself when the alarm goes off at 6 am, or when I’m working at my desk looking at warm sunshine and puffy clouds outside my window, or when something great is happening in Ottawa on a weeknight. Still, something in the back of my mind keeps telling me that there might be other things to do that are better than good.

Tags: listengpost