Just a memory now

Back to life in Hawkeye and all settled in.  Last week was a rough one at work--I had such a truly wonderful vacation that it was hard to be back.  Ah, life is rough when you complain about what a great vacation you had.  We all really enjoyed being together.  We went to the beach nearly every day.  The ocean was cold but refreshing.  The water was mostly clear but there were a couple of days plagued by jellyfish hatches.  I don't know if it was eggs or jellyfish but there were billions of them in the water.  This happened another time but then it was much, much worse.  They're hard little things under water--Jenica said it was like swimming with ice cubes, which would be fine if you could forget that they're LIVE ORGANISMS.  We swam (briefly) in them and that was only twice.  The rest of the time we had good beach conditions.

We spent the first week with Jenica, Justin, Gwyn and Malcolm the GIANT DOG, all fitting comfortably in Liza's house.  She was nervous about everyone's comfort but it worked out well.  We had lunch at our favorite lunch place (Champlin's) and breakfast at Jim's Dock, spent a lot of time visiting and playing with the baby, and read a lot.  Very peaceful.

The second week was peaceful, too--much beaching and more reading.  We all read our books--I like lying on the futon on the front porch, where it's very comfortable and the dogs join me.  I also like sitting on the deck looking out at Liza's very green yard that's full of flowers.  It was good to read, I haven't been reading much lately so I wanted to get back in the habit.  I slept in the screened-in gazebo in the woods, a favorite place of mine.  I've wanted something like that at my house but don't suppose that will happen, and besides I have camp if I want to sleep in a screened-in place.

The dogs were good.  They didn't get much exercise, only one walk in the park.  They use the small pen attached to my mother's house and don't seem to mind much.  Maybe they know how lucky they are to get taken along...

The first weekend in August we had our annual family meeting.  It went well, without much discussion of anything.  What's new?  There's no money.  People don't do enough work at camp.  blah blah blah.  Always the same, always true.

Sunday of that weekend Molly cooked Sunday dinner for my friends.  I helped but she did most of it.  It was my turn for potluck and I asked her to do it for me.  It was delicious, of course.  After that we collapsed and packed for the trip to RI, leaving Monday after I went to the dentist to have my permanent retainer repaired AGAIN.  Easy trip.

When I got back last Saturday I settled in and unpacked, then visited with neighbors.  Everyone did just fine without me (no surprise) but all were happy to see me.  Sunday was Pat's potluck of meatloaf, which was delicious and filling.  Sunday night Linda hosted book group.  There were only 3 of us there but we had an excellent time sitting at her camp fire.

On Thursday night we had a wine tasting, conducted by Erdvilas and hosted by Joe with food by Bill's favorite chef.  Very fancy, very nice.

What's up at my house?  Not much.  Lots and lots of mice.  It's tempting to get another cat, but I don't think I'll do that.  I don't need another animal, and I sure don't need to worry about what will eat my cat.  I just set traps every night.  I've killed 8 since my return.  The year I got my cat I killed 21 before surrendering to the idea of having a cat.  Bet I have that many now, too, there just seems to be an endless parade of them.

Treasure picking up some food prep tips from Mark.  I couldn't get a good picture of her because her tail was blurry in every shot.  She wags her tail a lot.

Tess guarding Puppy and Teddy.  She's very gentle with them and carries them around proudly.  She has to keep them away from Treasure, who will pull the stuffing right out of them.

Watching over Puppy and Teddy is exhausting.

Our favorite spot for breakfast (on the right).  Good food and ambiance is excellent.

Ladies at the beach.  Liza went on our last day--there was a cool breeze (too cool) so we didn't stay long.

Justin testing the water with his daughter.  She thought the water was just fine.

Oh she's a cutie, all right.  She looks like a doll in this picture, but she's real.

I'm not in this one--couldn't get my camera to work because I was too stoopid to figure it out.  Anyway, this is the group from Week 1.

Off and running

My sister Molly took this picture as we were driving to RI.  The dogs are always interested in what's happening in the front seat.  They were very well behaved on the whole trip and visit with my mother and family.  I'll post pictures soon.

Heading out soon

It's my last day at work for 2 weeks--I'm off to Rhode Island next week with my sister for a nice long visit.  She's been here all week and we've had a very, very nice time together.  I hear plenty of people say "Oh I wish I could spend time like that with MY sister," and I want to tell them it's a question of arranging it, and it can happen.  Of course, my sister does the arranging part, flying to America and taking the train up here, but we both want it to happen.

I've been staying at the boat house all week with Molly (and the dogs), and it's been grand.  I worked this week but did take Weds. off and we had a good day.  We went to the dump then on to Pbg to get supplies for Sunday dinner.  We're cooking for 12 and it will be at J&M's house because our camp will be full.  Molly is wonderful at planning and executing things like this--thank goodness she's here or I would be struggling.  We've split the cooking this week, eating at the boat house on the porch.  Molly has done a ton of work, cleaning and arranging and painting there.  It looks really nice and is organized at last.

We have our annual family meeting tomorrow and it looks as if there will be a good crowd.  Some years we have a lot of people, other years not so many.  It's nice that Molly will be here for it.  Jenica et al. will come.  Many cousins will be there as well.

Work is fine.  I finished weeding the adult fiction, having handled each of our 8,000 books.  The stacks look good and I'm proud of the achievement.  Now I have to finish the non-fiction.  Yikes.  This will be my legacy--neat stacks.

Treasure is fine and pretty much back to normal.  She still coughs a bit now & then but certainly has enough energy.  Tess is doing well, too.  Molly & I were trying to scan something at my house the other day and having no luck getting it to work.  We kept hearing a sound that was promising, sounding like something being scanned.  Oh how hopeful we were, until Molly realized that it was Tess snoring and not the scanner.  How many advanced degrees does it take to make a mistake like that?  Very funny.

Bill hosted Sunday dinner last week, providing a huge Thanksgiving meal.  There were a lot of people there, at least 13 or 15, and there was plenty of food.  Molly & I left a little early because we were having problems with the pump at camp and people were due to arrive soon.  Finally got the water situation worked out and all seems to be just fine now.

I finished the book group book (Orphan train) and enjoyed it.  It's very good, but probably not excellent.  Better than Bees, that's for sure.  It's so interesting to ponder the things our country thought of doing in it's history--shipping orphans out to the Midwest on trains and doling them out like prizes to people who didn't have to prove they'd provide good homes.  Now I'm reading another Jonathan Tropper book.  He's always entertaining but this book is a bit gloomier than some of the others.

My Midwestern friends are gathering this weekend and I'm not there.  They returned to Lake Geneva and have a good crowd.  They've been posting pictures on Facebook so I get to enjoy the reunion from afar.

I'm looking forward to my RI trip, much of my family will be there at the same time (minus Molly's children and husband).  My mother is pretty tense about it, I think, but it will all work out.