Rainy day, I'm off from work today, the last leg of my 5 day break. It's 55 out, not conducive to much of anything productive. After Jenica left yesterday I weeded and planted in one bed and got quite a bit done until I couldn't stand the bugs for another minute. Only got 2/3 of that garden set--I really have a short attention span, it's a curse, I tell you. Combination of being bipolar and a video kid. I was sure I'd finish it today but it's cold and yucky and I just don't feel like being outside right now. The dogs are all curled up and snoring--being with Jenica wore them out with love. They adore her (and so do I). At one point yesterday (was it only yesterday?) I was lying in the warm, warm sun next to the water, on the big rock by the boat house. On one side was Tess My Sweet, on the other was Chances, next to her was Jenica. Chances had a smile on her face, lying next to Jenica. I said "I'm in hog heave, lying here with my three girls." We really had a grand weekend. Nothing but sun, boat house, dogs and fun. It was very sad for me to open camp, thinking of Henry the whole time, but it was great to get it done, get beds made, set to stay there. It was 34 on Saturday night so we didn't stay there, and 31 Sunday night so we didn't stay there, but the days were sunny and the lake was beautiful. We sat on my deck in the mornings for a bit, then had picnic lunches on the big rock at the boat house and enjoyed the lapping of the water and read/dozed/chatted in the sun. Cold wind on Saturday so we moved indoors and huddled under blankets until we were thoroughly chilled and finally rushed home to my house, where I'd had the heat on all day and it was warm. I actually lit a fire in the stove as well. I didn't cover my plants but brought in some of the most tender ones. Linda and Erdvilas drove through Tupper Lake on their way here and said the municipal plantings had all been covered with people's sheets to protect them from the predicted frost and looked really funny, all different colored and patterened sheets. Me, I live dangerously, close to the edge, and covered nothing. No loses, though.

I've planted lots of flowers but need to buy more, plant more, plus get my cukes and tomatoes. Buy more! Plant more! Keep going until I can't stand it for another minute!

What we discovered this weekend: Tess loves to swim. She discovered she's a water dog, a true water dog. She goes in the water and swims a bit frenetically but swims with joy, then comes out, wags and wags her tail, shakes, runs into the woods, comes back out and goes back into the water and repeats the exercise. Jackson, who was reported to me to love, love, love the water, was not at all enthusiastic about going in the water but splashed in the boat slip. The lake is high and water is up to the shelf in the slip right now. So Jenica and the dogs are the only ones who have been swimming so far this year. Me, I rinsed my hands in the water and that's it.

Last night I went to my friend Linda's camp to see her for the first time of the season. There was a crowd there, Bill and two students who'd been helping him open his camp, his cousin Joe and his wife plus son and daughter-in-law, and of course Erdvilas the Evil and the 4 pugs. I stayed too late, having a nice visit with Linda. I had a nice visit with Joe and his son because Erdvilas was lecturing Joe's daughter-in-law on the principles of photography for at least an hour (bless Brooke, she was very polite and listened, or pretended to listen). I'll see Linda a few more times this week. We'll go out to dinner at the restaurant they like to go to in Wilmington, she'll cook for Ken and me, then we'll have Sunday dinner together. It's fun to have things pick up right where they left off in October, the last time we saw each other. One season melds into the next year. Of course, the husband of one of our friends died during the winter, she owns a camp next to Linda's. She went to a psychic to talk to him after he died, and spoke to her long-dead son as well (they "came forward" to her, she wrote to Linda). hmmmmm.

I've dreamt of Henry twice over the weekend. Once he had a terminal illness, the second time he was helping Liza and then showed me how to help her. Jeez, not too obvious, that one. He's been so much on my mind, spending all those hours at camp. Jenica had a great time together, saying the same thing at the same time, something we always do when we're together. And of course she looks so much like him. It's nice to be with someone to talk about him with, I feel lucky to be near enough to her geographically (and of course emotionally) to have this be possible. Camp is a sad place since his death, but camp will always be camp, our home and haven, and a beautiful place to be. The lake is blue, the sky is huge and wide and the mountains right now are many shades of green and are just beautiful.