Lake Magic

Did you think I went away? And was never coming back? I did take a nice, long break. We had two weeks at the lake with family. I took my computer, thinking I would post something while I was there. And then I never took it out of the bag. That's what a vacation should be. 

In this strange year of the pandemic, we had a different kind of lake time. Sadly we had to cancel the big family July 4th gathering that we have hosted for over 30 years. Our immediate family came—but at different times. One family is able to work and school from home. They have taken "stay home" seriously. The other family has to be out and about more because of work. So they worked out a schedule to come spend time with us at the lake, one family at a time. There was literally 5 minutes between the first ones leaving and the next ones coming. They waved at each other on the narrow road to the lake house as they were coming and going. But any potential germ mixing was avoided.

Our old lake cabin has so many memories baked into the walls. Layer upon layer. Daddy-O learning to ski when he was growing up. His high school and college buddies who spent lots of time there and still won't tell us all the stories! Our own babies growing into teens. This is even where Daddy-O and I met as teenagers. And now the grandchildren also call this place "ours." Four generations. Baby Girl told us that "one day Little Lady (new baby) will come here and bring her daughters and then her daughters' daughters." We hope so.

It wasn't our usual family time. The little girls didn't get to visit with their new baby cousin. Or, their big sister who is spending part of her summer doing some nanny duty with the baby. We didn't have as many people crowded around the big table on the porch for meals. No need to squeeze in extra chairs. But the lake can still work its magic. 

The little girls live in a suburban area where the yards are small. So the freedom to roam and run and wander was a major treat. "Daddy-O! Come see the dead bug we found yesterday. It's still dead!" There are geese and osprey and cranes to watch. Plus lots of lizards and squirrels to see. We even saw a few bats at night.

There was fishing (no fish were harmed during the process), boating, swimming, hammock time, kayaks, and terrific food that was all cooked at the cabin. 

This family would have planned a much bigger vacation and traveled further in a typical year. But maybe we all learned a lesson about loving what you already have. How fortunate we are to have this get-away spot.

When they packed up and left the lake, Mommy and family relocated to the farm for another week while we stayed at the lake with the other half of the family. Here at the farm the little girls could ride bikes and skate and run in the sprinklers and pick the garden every day. They ate just-picked vegetables every night. Their daddy helped them create the solar system—to scale. They calculated and measured to set out each handmade planet. The furthest planet was way out in the pasture. Can you think of anything much better than what went on at the farm?

The best was when Baby Girl told her mommy just before bedtime that she wanted to go on a midnight ride. Mommy said, "Tell me about this midnight ride." Because Mommy had no clue what was going on in that little head. And Baby Girl replied, "It means I would go out in the dark and ride my bike around the house." Mommy told her, "Be careful!" It was deep into dusk and Baby Girl hopped on her bike and rode by herself around the house three times in the almost dark. She came back in, so happy with herself and her "midnight ride," ready to climb into bed. Good times. 

And I must tell you about the surprise waiting for us when we got home last night. We saw a Post-It note stuck to the back door. Now, it's not unusual for the little girls to leave us a note when they leave. But when we went inside and began to unpack, we started finding notes EVERYWHERE! We have had great fun looking for these. The first 20 were pretty easy to find. Then the next dozen were hidden deeper. Yes. We are up to 32 notes. The last one was deep inside Daddy-O's boot. What a happy thing for them to do for us. I have no idea if there are more, but we are still looking. Someone had a genius idea! Thank you, little girls, for making us smile.

Next blog post, I'll share a little of week #2. There are recipes, too!