ANOHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE BERKSHIRES

I suck at photography, even with the user friendly easy access of an iPhone. My youngest took a perfect picture of the sun on Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington, Mass., earlier today (I guess technically yesterday, since it's past midnight) so maybe I'll get him to post it somehow to this tomorrow to give you an idea.

I always felt photographs were like recordings of live shows, whether music or plays or whatever, they never live up to the experience of being in the room when the show or event actually happened. But you know what a perfect summer day looks and feels like. That was today. Perfect.

It was just warm enough, but not so much to make you feel hot. The sky was just blue enough, but not so much to overwhelm the puffy white clouds drifting overhead. The people were friendly enough, but not so much it seemed fake. Like the nice man I met at SoCo, the local homemade ice cream shop I love, who had just moved up to The Berkshires with his wife and little kids from a town near ours in Jersey, having given up the rat race of commuting to Manhattan etc.. And best of all, my sons and grandson were all happy and healthy enough, but not so much it seemed impossible to maintain (and I assumed my daughter and granddaughter were as well though they were on Cap Cod).

Then tonight I stopped in The Gypsy Joynt to see a show by a band from New Paltz, New York, called THE BIG TAKEOVER, with a Jamaican-born singer and a reggae/dubstep vibe that got me swaying and dancing just enough but not so much that I embarrassed myself, or anyone else. They played over two hours straight and I ended up staying and swaying through the whole long set and grateful I did.

Life is good. For some of us. My heart goes out to those facing days that aren't so beautiful, like those poor children in Syria who suffered the chemical weapons attack and their families. I recognize my good fortune every day and will continue to attempt to do what I can to help those less fortunate despite the lack of will sometimes shown by those with the power to do so much more.