Relative Something

This morning it is quiet up at the lake, except for the waves strumming away on the beach and one distant rolling thunder. We easily slept in because the cloud cover obscured the rising sun that otherwise fills the room at dawn.

Yesterday morning, the last of family departed for the city, leaving Cyndie and me with the place to ourselves. As wonderful as this paradise is to share with family and friends, there is a complimentary specialness to being here alone. We lingered in the morning and did some reading. I played my guitar. Cyndie busied herself with polishing rocks she has collected. Cyndie fried up some “bullseyes” and we had brunch on the deck. Then we played a card game of “CrossCrib” in which I somehow skunked her in one hand of play. Yes, it called for a rematch. If you know the game of cribbage, I topped the victory-hand off by scoring a double-run in the crib.

By the time we had finished with that, we were both inclined to take a nap in the hammock, however, at the same time, the beautiful day was calling us to the beach. We decided to do a set of rehab exercises –her for the knee, and me for the back (which are not that dissimilar)– and then headed down for a swim. While we were in the water, an eagle made a low pass overhead, but then meandered away without further interaction. The swimming led to hunger, so after showering, we made a feast of cheesy nachos and salsa, with added garnish of cut-up leftover cheeseburger with fried onions and Coops pizza. We played a game of Scrabble on the iPad while we dined on the deck, and the opportunity for that nap in the hammock just faded away.

The mosquitoes offered a deciding vote on saving the nap for another day when they began to harass us in superior numbers to our ability to fend them off. We gathered all our things and headed for the shelter of the porch.

It felt like a day of vacation.