For Blackbird's weekly photo anti-meme.

My favorite souvenir. A jar of black sand from an island in the middle of Androscoggin Lake in Maine.

We used to spend five days camping on the shore of this lake with a bunch of family. The kids would swim at 6 in the morning when the lake was still misty, we'd pick blueberries in the afternoon and make popcorn by the campfire by night.

The men fished, the women chatted and played games and swam. We all tried waterskiing (miserable failure here) and a yearly mexican feast was the order for Saturday nights.

The memory is bittersweet as one man, the cousin of my stepfather, died from pancreatic cancer two years ago. He was the glue for that part of the family, and he pretty much organized the entire thing - organized is the wrong word - but I digress. They don't go anymore and while we could still camp there I fear how differently it would be with just the four of us.

Still though, I am longing for summer.