August 27, 2010 by Amy Elliott Bragg
Summer love hiatus
On Monday we came home from a long weekend in North Carolina, where cities and towns have pretty names that sound even prettier spoken in a come-hither Southern accent. Charlotte. Chapel Hill. Raleigh. We drove from Charlotte through red hills and mossy vales to a dairy and inn near Siler City, where a friend of mine from college married a kind and beautiful woman.
Since returning, I’ve been in a daze. My computer died; that hasn’t helped. I had a 24-hour flu and an 8-hour panic attack and that didn’t help either. I spent three hours working on a post that I ditched when I decided it wasn’t honest or even, you know, there.
But you know what? It’s August. There are weddings to attend, parks to nap in when you’re hungover. Up north is still there; there are many terrific ever-earlier sunsets to see. Patios are still open for business. Porch swings long for your company and the woods would like to see your face again.
For days after the wedding I felt full to bursting with love and happiness and that hazy summer feeling. Mosquitoes and bonfires and friends who’ve traveled long distances to be with each other. Crickets in the grass at dusk.
I want to really relish that for the next couple of weeks before getting all fall-wardrobe-serious and hitting the books to bring you more arcana from Detroit’s many-splendour’d past.
It’s also, tomorrow, one year to date since I moved back to Michigan on a wobbly express ferry from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It has bee nothing but the very best — one of the most whole, healing and love-filled years of my life. We’re celebrating this weekend and next with a houseful of visitors from Wisconsin and elsewhere, and so far Detroit has been grand and magnanimous to everyone.
So The Night Train is officially on hiatus through Labor Day. We’ll still be hanging around Facebook like we have nothing better to do. And we’d love if you’d write us an email and let me know if there’s anything you’re especially curious to read about in coming weeks.
Enjoy the rest of your summer, if indeed your summer is still in session. See you soon, cadets. (Maybe at Come Hear Belle Isle on Saturday?)
(Incredible photos from a Venetian Night party at the Detroit Yacht Club. Via Virtual Motor City.)