A Very Good Place to Be

The Northeast is having a heat wave. Except when I'm sweating from high humidity, I love it. Cape Cod is a great place to be -- as long as you're not driving around town, because traffic is very thick and slow.

But the beach! Ah, yes, we have beaches in abundance. This morning was hazy, gray and humid but I went for my usual walk on the beach, a breeze blew, hardly anyone was there, the atmosphere was romantic and suggestive of adventure -- alas, I had no adventures! Later in the afternoon I went to a popular beach which was less crowded than I expected, with R. and C. and the baby who got his first dip in the ocean and seemed to enjoy it The water was refreshing and delightful. People all over the rest of New England would love to be here, so I rejoice that I am so near.

A thunderstorm is predicted for the evening, that would be absolutely delightful. I'd love to be awakened at any hour of the night to flashes of lightening and the roll of thunder, it's one of summer's happiest pleasures. Yes, I know these are all mundane things -- such is 99% of most daily life. Enjoying them is the secret of true happiness -- the sort Buddhist meditators aim for. I don't claim their awareness and insight in any ongoing sense, but being in that mental space sometimes is one of the rewards of a long life.