Making memories!

I hate to even mention this but in walking around the yard and woods this morning, there is a definite change in mood, in feel.  We have turned a corner into approaching, gulp, autumn.  Shadows are a little different, sun feels a little different.  You know what I mean…it’s that thing that happens.

However, there are loads of great days ahead.  I am not wishing away this summer thinking about the approaching fall…no, I am going to live these next few weeks up I tell you.  It started this past week, on Thursday, when some super loved family & friends shared one of their stay-cation days with us.  We had the best time with them, and it went on well into the night.  Love those guys so very much.   It was also the first day of a little getaway for our granddaughter and she had THE biggest time of all, sharing with her cousins and friends.  Oh my goodness, she was in heaven.  The only one of her immediate family to be here, she felt big.  She wasn’t, she was the youngest of the kids, but she felt big.  A perfect weekend before school starts next week for her. 

We sent her home after 4 days with super blonde hair from the days on the lake and swimming, swimming and more swimming.  She stayed up late, woke up early and was non-stop.  I wish I would have counted the number of times she jumped in the lake, swam to the ladder and jumped in again.  It had to be in the hundreds.  She did fall asleep on our night cruise when she had hoped to go for a night swim.  Maybe next time as that is a terrific experience.   

I love my lake home so much and the joy it brings to others.   Hubs and I have agreed we need to be more deliberate about what we have here.  Not too many enjoy a lake home, share a lake home.  We are dedicated to recognizing this special situation as not just another house.    It has always been home to us, and treated as such.  Maybe taken for granted in some ways…but no more.  It is not an “empty nest” but a lake home, and memories are made here!

Best laid plans.

So, if at first you don’t succeed, try something different.  

That’s kind of how our week went as my lumberjack proceeded to cut up the perfectly felled tree from a couple weeks ago.  Only he couldn’t.  Poor guy, he had more trouble with dull chain saw blades, wet wood, imbedded chain saw blades, old chain saws, new chain saws.  It is a mess.

One night, after struggling with it for an hour or so, hubs and I sat on the deck.  Me, trying to bolster his enthusiasm for clearing land of trees and brush so the shed building could commence, and him, gazing out in to the yard with a far-away look.   It did not seem to be going well.  A glass of wine might help. 

“What do you think about moving the shed to a new location?” I did a quick spit-take.  Gulp.  Wipe.  “What?”

The solution, after purchasing two new blades, having three blades sharpened and then purchasing a new chain saw, of not being able to cut up the big tree he felled so perfectly only a couple weeks back, was to move the shed?   “You really want to move the location of the shed because you can’t get that tree cut up?” “Yup.”  It was worse than I thought.

We had already jokingly determined it would be just fine to leave the dang tree there and build the shed in front of it, which would require moving it a bit forward.  This time he was talking about a whole new location in a whole different part of the yard.  This cannot be determined quickly…this might interfere with other plans that are brewing in MY head.  That’s kind of where I wanted the gypsy wagon, yet revealed, to go.  I told him I thought this a silly idea, and admittedly, scoffed.

Then a couple days later I walked the yard.  I looked from the deck, I looked from the woods, I looked from the lake.  Oh, it wouldn’t be so bad for the shed to go in that new location.  My gypsy wagon can go somewhere else, if it goes.   He’s frustrated, he works so hard, he has a new chain saw so those smaller trees that would need to go will be easier, he's got a nagging wife…there’s reasons why the shed could move.  I still get to decide color and windows so it’s not some utilitarian looking building stuck in the yard, but one with cuteness and character.  Okay, let’s move the shed.

Now it’s late July and our spring project is still in development and not a stick of wood for the actual construction of the shed has been delivered.  But, we do have a partially cleared space and a plan.  Progress!

Send a postcard. Something.

My son and his beautiful, fun-loving and ambitious bride are moving across the country.  I am going to miss them so…

Here’s the thing.  They live a little over an hour from us now and we rarely see them.  Well, rare might be a bit strong, but, we see them much less than we see the two girls.  I sort of “knew” it would be that way as I know we see the girls more than their in-laws do.  I’ve always believed that boys leave their mothers and girls just bring boys along.  I think that’s even biblical, right?  My son has always had one foot out the door but not until he met this wonderful girl did he get on the move.

So, she has accepted a position a half continent away and they’re off! I am excited for them as they plan their next adventure together.  Married two years and already a lot of miles in their captain’s log, they leave for the Pacific Northwest in just a few weeks.  Because she is ambitious and wants to learn as much as she can about her profession, she hopes to start her doctorate while she is out there, which, feasibility tells us, means they will stay put, perhaps, while she works on that AND continues her occupational therapy career in a school system.  That’s a good thing, too, as she will have the time to do so without the caseload she experienced in Cook County.   

I am a big fan of this couple, as are most everyone they meet.  They are open, friendly, giving, quirky, accepting at face-value people.  They can be ready for an experience at the drop of the hat and both love their families so much that they try to make every family event they can.  Sometimes they can’t, and that’s okay because it’s never that they didn’t feel it, it’s more like they have some opportunity to do something the rest of will never try, or see, or taste. Or it could be they have a new guest, a “couch surfer” coming in and they need to prepare for the arrival.  Look it up.  Couch surfing.  It’s real, and they are both users and providers of this service.

We will miss them being around, for sure.  The time we get to spend with them may be rare, and becoming more so, but, most of us, in small ways and not so small, want to BE them.  Carry on, good young people.  Live a grand life, a big life.  Just be sure to keep in touch. 

Sharing the love.

Today is a rainy day in my little corner of the world.  I have spent a few minutes this morning looking out on what could be considered a dreary day, thinking about the rest of the summer’s plans and reflecting on what will be remembered as one of my best weekends of all time. 

July 4, 2015 is history but brought with it moments of such joy, such fun that it will be fresh in my mind for quite a while.  We filled this yard and home with people we love so very much ~ our family and friends.  While it wasn’t quite everyone we love, it was a big portion.  I mean, you know, we have to share a little. 

So while it’s a bit of a dreary day, I look out on the yard and remember two little boys giggling and running, three old friends laughing and catching up, teenagers being awkward and goofy, little girls swinging, men watching the brats being grilled and talking home remodeling.  I see my brother and his wife, whom I spend too little time with, taking it all in from their spot under the tent.  I must remember to invite them over again this summer, for a cruise on the lake and something a little more intimate!

We partied this 4^th of July.  We had food fit for royalty, we had desserts and sweets and a huge bowl of popcorn…a family tradition carried on by my sister-in-law, with salt and fresh butter, legendary really.  Nothing brings people together like a huge shared bowl of popcorn. 

We will come together again, I’m sure, but this was a special 4^th it seems to me.  After raining most of June, we were given 4 days of glorious sun and gentle breezes.  While it’s back to drizzle and rain today, those 4 glorious days are cemented in history. 

As I look out on the yard, coming awake to a fresh drink from the skies, I acknowledge how very, very lucky I am, how very blessed, to live in such a place.  But my true blessings are the family and friends I have been given to love. 

Happy 4th everyone!

I am so busy getting ready for the 4^th of July celebration at our little lake house that I ALMOST forgot to write a blog post this week.  I have a list a mile long that keeps getting edited down; too much rain over the last month has prevented “must do” things from getting crossed off as complete…now they are getting crossed of as “eh, I’m over it”.

I had such big plans for my existing flower beds and that’s not happening.  I had huge plans for new landscaping and that is not happening either.  You all know I have spent a lot of time on tree planting and well, I hope they survive, but, they certainly did not get their every other day watering from me.  I only hope they got enough rain (Ha!) to meet the requirements my tree guy advised.  We’ll see next spring I suppose. 

Now, I am hoping to have room for the 70 guests we anticipate, which doesn’t particular unnerve me.  What unnerves me is where will I keep brats and dogs for that many people before they actually get cooked? I guess I’ll figure it out before tomorrow as that’s when I go to get them!

Hubs has started a vacation, which is rare for him.  It’s not like he doesn’t take most of his earned days off but he rarely takes them around a holiday because other people might have plans and he will typically defer to others.  Which is one of those really lovely traits about him.  However, sometimes, I wish we were the ones with the long holiday plans.  This year, it’s happening! He even has a couple days off at the beginning of NEXT week.  Good for him!

The boats are all “fixed” and running like they should.  The tube for towing the little people is to arrive sometime in the next few hours.  Children and grandchildren start arriving on the 2^nd.   I cannot wait to see their little faces.  I spent most of yesterday shopping with a lovely niece and while I probably shouldn’t have spent that much time, or that much money, I cherish every moment with her.   We have a wonderful weekend full of people, fun, family, food planned and I hope you do, too! Enjoy!