A Note from Jane, Memorial Day 2024
Simple Summer
Simple Summer
When I was a kid growing up in Augusta, GA my Dad was a teacher at the local college, so he did not work summers. My grandmother Jane Winchester had given my parents a house in Connecticut on the Winchester family land we call Johnson’s Point. It’s really an incredible old-school thing - a family compound on Long Island Sound where many family members have houses, and while a very few lived there year-round – it is where the family gathered for the summer (and still do). Town + Country did an article on my cousin where they talk about Johnson’s Point (read here) – it is more than a bit complicated to have a family history of firearms, but this place for me was not about that…it was just about being a kid with my family.
In June once we got out of school, my parents would load up our giant station wagon with 2 dogs, our cat Alice, my brother Ben and me…and drive the 18 hours from Georgia to Johnson’s Point. It was torture (with the dog drooling from the way back onto the middle back rest where my brother and I fought about where the ‘dividing line’ was on the bench seat.)…but we also loved it. We got McDonald’s for lunch! We would spend one night along the way, stopping at a hotel/motel, and our favorite part was swimming in the pool before dinner at some dicey Howard Johnson’s which now I would put my nose up at (but then I thought was the best!). I always felt badly for the truckers eating alone and would ask my Dad if he would have them join us for dinner. Once we got close my brother and I would start shouting out things that we recognized, getting so excited to finally get out of the car and arrive at what was for all of us: a very happy place.
We spent 3 months in Johnson’s Point every summer, and it was an incredibly simple summer. Our house was surrounded by rocks and water on 3 sides, and we woke up early to see where the tide was, running across the rocks to meet our cousins. We spent all day outside, from the little beach, to the dock. At low tide we went in the mud up the creek. At 12 noon a whistle blew from the town that we called the ‘cookie whistle’, which meant it was time to go home for lunch or have my mom bring us sandwiches on the beach. The food was simple, peanut butter and jelly wrapped in a paper towel eaten while riding a big wheel to the tennis courts, cut tomatoes from the farmers market for dinner along with lobster caught in traps off the shore by my cousin. We had a tv but never watched it, we went to bed before it got all the way dark (a great complaint). My grandmother Jane’s house was across the footbridge and I would run over to her house for candy from the candy bowl. I would play tennis with her and the other adults in the afternoon. I would swim with her in the afternoon from the dock to the big beach.
I was thinking about what to write about for my ‘start of summer blog’ and my brain was going a million miles an hour. Things have been so crazy lately – we moved offices and we have new hires (all very exciting!), but I have been stressed and my blood pressure is high (😅really high). Like a kid craving candy, I am craving a simple summer.
When my parents got divorced we stopped going to Connecticut in the summer. I was sent to boarding school and started spending summers on my Dad’s farm in New Hampshire. A different body of water, Lake Sunapee, different cousins. Honestly AMAZING – just as lovely and beautiful and filled with family and friends as Johnson’s Point. And my Dad was there, making simple meals, gardening, creating this breathtaking space that was a playground of nature.
When you have your own business, you can’t just turn it off. You know having Jane Win is an absolutely pleasure – I adore it. But I need to find some time, I need to MAKE more time, where I leave the phone behind. I need to read instead of scroll. All the kids come up to NH for the summer and it’s heaven. They are in and out for weekends filling our lake house with wet towels, music and so much laughter, and I want to squeeze them fresh orange juice on Saturday morning. I want to cut tomatoes from the farmers market and serve with French bread, summer fruit and something simple on the grill. I want to play our family games after dinner. I want to take the longest walks with Mr. Jane Win. Hike up to Lake Solitude where we got engaged. I want to swim a million times every day. I want to float on the dock. I want to be out in the boat with my cousins with no real destination in mind except to pick-up someone who wants to join us for a rose sunset.
In building Jane Win, in building my LIFE, I have learned that while there are a lot of happy accidents, what has worked best for me is being intentional about how I want things to go…setting goals…having a plan. So the plan is, to make time for no plan. I will work (of course!), but then be conscience about putting the phone away so that 2024 can be my Simple Summer ♥️.
Sending you so much love for Memorial Day. Thank you for making our Spring so FUN. I am forever grateful for our cool, funny, lovely customers for wearing Jane Win and being – just as into it as I am!
Before I go, here is my packing list for my Simple Summer…lots of dresses and sandals, sun hats and bathing suits. Tons of love and xx Janie
