Oh Donna, a Retrospective

We spent the summer on Long Beach Island, my preferred summer destination since September of 1960 when, as the story goes, my cousin Douglas and I were passed out the bedroom window during a fierce hurricane named Donna. We were 2 months old. The girls and I had all missed the Jersey shore and all it's indigenous treasures over the last few years because we have spent our summers in France or somewhere straddled between charitable relatives and friends.

With not a cloud in the sky all summer long, we hung out our laundry on the blowy clothesline each morning, took meandering bike rides to our favorite island cafe, ate fresh, juicy tomatoes, herbs and lettuce from Bowdie's garden, husked and gobbled sweet Jersey corn, relished soft-shelled crabs and lobster and savored slices of home-made chocolate cake from the Holiday Snack Bar. It was a perfect summer, in retrospect.