Archive for July 2011
Don’t Fret
Don’t ever give up. You just never know what will happen next, and if you stay engaged, and in position for what lies ahead, there is always possibility for reward.
Can you tell I have been watching Women’s World Cup soccer and the Tour de France cycling race? Yesterday, I witnessed the underdog team from Japan as they stayed in a game that went into extra time, and eventually they got a late goal to defeat favored host team, Germany.
This year there have been so many crashes in the Tour de France bike race that big contenders are suffering delays or even dropping out all together, which will mean opportunity for some lucky rider who successfully avoids future calamity.
This morning I have already completed my walk and the exercises for my back, and we are watching both the Tour and the Cup games. A special treat for me! Unfortunately, even though I have tried to hang in there in the latest Scrabble challenge from Cyndie, I did not meet with success this time. Just as well, since I really got her goat last night when I made the last play, using up my tiles to end the game, stealing a 2-point victory from her unused tiles penalty.
In a few minutes, the US Women will try to upset Brazil to advance to the semi-finals of the World Cup. I’m trying to not fret.
Saturday Banter
So this is what it has come to. I sit on the porch at the lake with my computer in my lap and I type in one window while an adjacent window displays a live feed of video from le Tour de France with French-speaking narration. The young children up here have command of the television in the main room right now. The wind is blowing at a constant rate, due north, straight off the lake. A minimally definable clouded sky doesn’t seem to deliver the rain that appears on the radar image of our region, but the day doesn’t invite one to make a substantial plan for outdoor activity.
It suits my mood just fine. I would like to lounge with family and pass Cyndie’s iPad back and forth in a leisurely-fought Scrabble competition. My computer keeps giving me messages about Google+ which I accepted an invitation for, (thanks, Jake!), but the only thing I have read about it suggests that it is comparable to Facebook. That never held appeal for me, so I don’t know whether this will become something of value for me, or not. Most of my discretionary online time is spent in my virtual community, Brainstorms. So far, the main thing I did with Google+ is add names of my Brainstorms members to the one circle I created beyond family.
The closest thing to a chore that I have demanding my attention today is to cut branches that Cyndie and I have been storing for a year in the rafters above the garage of the little cabin. We collected them from the woods because they have special knots and knobs from a virus that creates spectacular patterns in the grain of the wood. A couple of the branches have been infested by an insect that is slowly tunneling through, creating mounds of wood dust that piled up on one of the cars that we pulled in for cover last week during the dramatic storm.
The branches are too long to store with ease, so I will cut them into shorter sections. They could become small bowls, bracelets, buttons, or just sculptures of my imagination. It would be prudent of me to actually finish the bracelet that I started last year out of a piece from this same batch. It has suffered a long period of neglect.
A Thought
There really is a point to trying something pointless from time to time.
Don’t you think?
Two Roads
We are not still there anymore. Made the trip home through some fascinating clouds that eventually coalesced into a heck of a downpour. Now it is back to the grind. I’ll miss the views of my walks at the lake. This is a nice comparison of two different roads.
Still Here
We are claiming an additional day for our Independence Day holiday weekend and are staying up at the lake place. We have survived the annual games and the local fireworks extravaganza and are looking forward to a return to the calm, quiet pace of life up here. We are living in the lap of luxury. I get to walk in the woods, Cyndie gets to sit on the beach, we are playing card games with nieces and nephews and with Cyndie’s parents, and we are eating like royalty. Dinner, last night, was served on the deck, overlooking the lake. Our cup overflows with blessings that we find difficult to justify deserving.
New Toy
Thank goodness for the easy resource of the internet. I knew nothing about mandolins at the time I received this wonderful gift from my family. One of the first things I did was search for sites that offered chord charts. That worked easy enough for G, C, and D. But as I moved up the neck I couldn’t get things to sound right. When I played individual notes on higher frets, it sounded out of tune. I wondered if there was something wrong with the way the instrument was made. The intonation was off.
A quick study of online resources provided me with a wonderful video of the proper set up of the adjustable bridge on a mandolin. This was all new to me. By following the instructions, I was able to correct the problem and suddenly it was like a whole new instrument. What fun!
One thing that I believe will aid in my learning how to eventually become proficient on the instrument is that Cyndie claims to like the sounds she is hearing, even though, so far, it has been more misses than hits, as I hunt and peck for the proper notes. Seems to me that when I briefly attempted to master a fiddle –trying to figure out both the trick of having no frets, and using a bow– my struggles toward mastery were met with much less appreciation.
Short Version
This is one of those moments when I would like to be able to tell you all about the exciting adventures, not the least of which included what went on in my dreams last night, that have occurred for me over the last few days. However, I am still living the adventures, and unlike my studious chronicling of bike trips, Nepal treks, and Portugal paradise visits, I have not been keeping a keen journal of events.
The short version is that we are at the lake with Cyndie’s family and our wonderful community of friends that serve as extended family, playing and relaxing in the beauty of the woods that surround us. Friday we survived a terrific storm that knocked out our electrical power for about 12 hours, mostly the hours we slept. Finding our way to bed was the hardest part, in the total darkness.
The storm released us from oppressive humid heat and the weather is now luxuriously ideal. Today will be the annual games of the US Independence Day celebrations, and the evening will bring a community feast at the lodge.
Otherwise it has been lake play, with boats pulling kids on a variety of fancy floating rafts, resting in the new hammock, walking with Cyndie in her wheelchair, watching cycling and the Women’s World Cup of soccer, and Scrabble games on the iPad.
It goes without saying that the food has been spectacular and plentiful. We are enjoying ourselves immensely. If I had time, I’d tell you about it. The only thing we can think of that could out-do this would be to have successfully landed in Portugal and be visiting our friends, the Rowcliffes, at their Forest Garden Estate.
Yesterday afternoon, Cyndie and I were lounging together on the hammock overlooking the lake as all manner of glee was audible from the kids down on the beach. She had a book and I brought out my laptop. I noticed that our friend, Ian, was logged into gmail, which would support a chat. We were overjoyed to find him available and spent over a half hour visiting, getting a taste of what we were dreaming of achieving before the calamity that postponed the trip. What a pleasure that proved to be for us. We woke up this morning feeling the joy, still.
The amazing power of friendship.
Something Special
There is something special about waking at the lake.
Last night, around 8:40, we finally got everything packed for a long weekend and headed out on the night-drive to Cyndie’s family getaway in northwest Wisconsin. By grace, we were allowed to hurtle through the darkness at deadly speeds, while being blinded by headlights of oncoming traffic, to reach our destination, safe and sound. My thanks go out to all the deer that didn’t try to cross the road just as we were flying past. I realize that I am not supposed to be imagining the worst that could happen, but it seems to be my natural inclination. So, all the more remarkable that we don’t experience that kind of calamity.
Actually, last night, it was a vision of a drunk driver crossing the center line and smashing into us that I needed to dash from my thoughts more than once. Thank goodness my frantic corrections, in which I visualized our successful arrival, worked to clear my mind of those distressing images.
As we neared the “cabin,” in jest, I mentioned that we should put the air conditioning on when we arrived, since the weather conditions are so stiflingly hot and humid. Tropical weather here always seems so bizarre to me. What a surprise when we opened the door and found that the closed wood and stone structure was successfully insulating from the extreme humidity. It actually felt like walking into an air-conditioned building!
I slept incredibly soundly. When I woke in the darkness of early morning to the sound of Cyndie getting up to use the bathroom, I was confused to hear a door opening. I didn’t realize I wasn’t in bed at home. As may be apparent by today’s late post, I had no problem sleeping in a bit. That was a real nice treat, since we didn’t arrive until almost midnight.
All that, leading to something truly special: waking at the lake!
Relative Something 