There's Always Something

Few vacations are without their challenges, but this trip is really starting to rack them up. 

To start with, Richard and Jordan can’t come, and Victor has COVID in Iceland. When Heidi, Emily, Josh, and I arrived at our rental house it was all locked up, despite the promise that the door would be open. When at last the agency returned our message from their emergency line and led us to the "secret key", we found that the place itself is sort of strange. 

The original part of the house was built in 1828 and the structure was added to over the centuries. The result is sprawling and warren-like, room leading to room. The decor is somewhere between museum and cottage, and after being closed up in the uncharacteristically warm June sunshine the place smelled 200 years old before we opened the windows and turned on the fans. 

But, when Heidi was opening one of the old fashioned storm windows, the heavy sash slipped and fell on her fingers. She’s in the ER right now, properly cared for and waiting for X-rays and possibly stitches, but it was a harrowing and bloody ride to the hospital with real fears of partial amputation.

And yet, here I sit on a comfortable bench watching the sun set over the eponymous Bar Harbor and its yachts, schooners, and lobster boats. COVID precautions prevented me from waiting with Heidi as she was treated, and with at least a couple of ours to kill, I walked the few blocks from the hospital to town. 

Emily and Josh are making dinner and caring for the dogs at our place: Treat and Nadika are on their way; Bill will be here tomorrow morning; Courtney and Annabelle will arrive tomorrow night; and fingers crossed? Victor and Emily will make it on Monday.

The world is a turbulent place, for sure,  but there is beauty to be found beside the turmoil, too.