Summer is almost upon us and foolishly, I have a slow, large-ish painting going at Sand Beach in Acadia National Park. Once the season gets going, painting there becomes problematic. At 8 AM when I started, the beach was empty, quiet. Gradually it filled and quite often people want to talk.

I met an older couple today, very pleasant conversation about traffic and our island’s unending road construction, etc. The gentleman was a painter. Very nice. And so on. They related that it was their wedding anniversary. For the last thirty years, they had returned to at first hike and in later years, just walk in the park They always came to Sand Beach to have their picture taken together on the anniversary of their wedding day. The woman remarked that it had rained on their last ten anniversaries. But this morning was glorious. Beautiful light, one could not help but to hold creation in high regard this morning at Sand Beach. And so after a bit they wandered down the beach and I returned to my canvas.

Just a bit later the woman came back and thanked me for our pleasant chat. She related that her husband had Alzheimer’s disease and that this was likely their last trip to Sand Beach.