Last week was busy--summer busy. Lots of dinners with friends, all very nice visits. How did I spend my days? It was hot and humid and I didn't do much. I stayed at the boat house a few times, have slept there for the last 3 nights because night temps were too high at home. I was there this afternoon when a big thunderstorm came through, which is a grand thing to watch from the boat house porch.
I've been reading a lot--there's not much else to do in the boat house if you don't want to swim or paddle. I read The orphan master's son, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Yes, it was good, but did it stay with me the way some really great books do? I don't think so but time will tell. It's a novel about life in North Korea, so you can tell it's a real pick-me-up. Well it was good.
Yesterday my cousin John (my only cousin on my mother's side), his wife and a former Hawkeye Trail camper came for the afternoon. The camper (Josh) was interested in seeing how the camp looks these days so we walked around the buildings and he really, really enjoyed it. Listening to his stories was funny because I could follow along, having been listening to camp stories for the last 20 or so years. After the tour we had lunch on the boat house porch, they swam, then they climbed Silver Lake Mtn.--the boys did--while Annie (wife) and I visited and had a nice time. It was good and I'm glad they came. Funny I wasn't nervous or hyper about their coming, I just felt fine about having company. Is this retirement? Maturity? Old age?
I got to spend a lot of time with Duncan and Sue while they were here, which was a real treat. They'll be back at the end of August and will stay at least through September. Yay!
I've been in touch with a second cousin, one of my favorite people. We were close friends as kids and now he's in California trying to figure out what he wants to do and where he wants to do it. He's a peach but has heart problems so has, I think, a very different feeling about life than I do. We enjoy our emails, comparing lives and interpreting the past together. I watched the lunar landing with him all those years ago.
I now have 8 healthy, active guppies. They're very pretty, all males. The man I got them from, who posted on FreeCycle, was very intense about these fish and the water they would be moving to. I didn't scream at him "THEY'RE JUST GUPPIES!" and was very respectful of his wishes. Until I got in the car to come home. Anyway they seem pretty hardy and are fun to watch.
The dogs are fine. Tess rarely limps but she sure does like to walk slowly, very slowly when we come home from walking to the mailbox. Yes, thanks to Duncan I now have a mailbox by the road and get my mail delivered daily. This was a big deal for me. I appreciate his help sooooo much, hating as I do to ask for or receive help. Some things I sure can't do on my own, though, and this was something I wanted desperately to have done.
This week is a quiet week. Spent a short time with Linda at her campfire last evening, then home for dinner. Tonight I'll stop by Pat & Jim's for a short visit then will eat at home. Tomorrow I'm having dinner with friends who are up for 2 weeks, along with Pat. Thursday Jim & Judy return so maybe I'll see them then, or else for sure later on. Sunday is busy with Bill's version of our Sunday dinners, followed by book group in the evening. Well I guess that doesn't sound too quiet, but it does leave me with a lot of time to do things like mow the lawn and get my house in order. I have 2 closets upstairs and haven't looked in them for years so I'm hoping to empty at least one of them. I know the dress I wore at my wedding is in one of the--a size 2 from Talbot's, and that can be tossed.
It's summer and it's great. I love this life. This thing called retirement is exceptional.
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