The Vintage Reader

Well, this will probably come as no surprise to any of my regular readers (all three of you!), but the Vintage Family is pulling up stakes in Buffalo and moving back to Oklahoma. In some ways I'm looking forward to it, but in some ways I'm dreading it. I will miss my neighborhood, and my house, and the friends I've made here over the years. I won't so much miss the winter that lasts until May, although I will miss the times like Thanksgiving a few years ago, when we went over to a friend's house to feed the cats and walked back through the twilight with the snow falling gently past the old, old street lights of our neighborhood, and everything smelled like roasting turkey and wood smoke. And say what you will about the winter weather here, but I may never again see anything as amazing as a chunk of ice the size of a minivan being dashed to bits on a rock in the middle of the Niagara River, headed for the falls, on a sunny 15-degree February day. Or as wonderful as fireworks reflecting off three feet of freshly fallen snow at Delaware Park, like the time a couple of weeks after we moved here when we heard fireworks and grabbed our brand new snow boots and took off running (well, trudging, anyway) to see where they were, and ended up at the park. And I must admit that I will really, really miss 75-degree days in July, because after all, there HAS to be a payoff for the six months of winter.

Posting will be even sparser than usual, if you can believe it, as we pack up and put our house on the market and move back across the country. Have a great summer!