Posts Tagged ‘lake place’
Rainy Getaway
While a valuable soaking rain washed our world yesterday, Cyndie and I began preparations to drive to the lake. Delilah sensed something was up and lolled around, somewhat restlessly at first, and then fatefully. I think she figured out we had an agenda that didn’t include her.
She would be staying home to play with Mckenna, our house and animal sitter who has known our horses longer than the time we have had them.
Memorial weekend is the traditional work weekend at the lake place. Sounds like this year the main goals are cleaning up the beach area and preparing the water crafts.
The rain may have something to say about how much work actually gets done.
Shortly after noon, Cyndie and I were taking turns updating Mckenna with details of the latest animal escapades, when Delilah decided to help out with a demonstration of how she is becoming more aggressive in her dominations over Pequenita.
“Yeah, like that.” I said.
Check the pond, dump the dehumidifier, switch for the ceiling fans is over there, the door handles latch upward, animal food in the cupboard, ‘fridge and freezer stocked with people food, paddock gates can be left as is. Good to go!
Our drive north was painless, requiring windshield wipers about 60% of the time. Gray and wet is the pattern for the time being. We were the first to arrive and got the water turned on and a fire started in the fireplace. I changed a burned-out lightbulb and Cyndie prepared a late-afternoon appetizer for those who would be arriving soon after us.
About the time darkness fell, Cyndie’s phone rang. She could see it was from Mckenna, but couldn’t get the connection to hold. She tried returning the call using the cabin’s landline. After several misconnections, success revealed news that Pequenita had flown the coop and couldn’t be found.
Hours earlier I had been describing to Mckenna how surprised I was just a couple of days ago that ‘Nita had dashed out the sliding screen door before I even got my first foot out.
Seems our little feline might have been making a practice run with me. I texted Mckenna not to worry, but of course she felt horrible. I suggested that our sweet little cat may have finally decided she has had enough of Delilah’s repeated harassments.
Although I’m sure that it felt like an eternity for Mckenna, it wasn’t long before we received text messages that our escapee was home again, safe and sound.
Maybe Pequenita was just jealous that we went away for the weekend, and she wanted a getaway of her own.
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Perfect Day
I’m going to assume that you all guessed we are up at our lake place. We were able to secure coverage in caring for our home and animals for a few days, so we scampered up to our favorite getaway to spend the weekend with Cyndie’s parents and some of her brother’s family, in addition to the many other wonderful members and friends of our unique community up here.
We enjoyed an absolutely perfect summer day yesterday. Spent the majority of it on the beach of our lake, with friends and family, plenty of rambunctious kids frolicking on floating devices in the water, warm sunshine, gentle breezes, and an opportunity for a nap on a lounge chair during a lull in the activity.
The lake temperature was ideal for summer refreshment, without being too cold to get used to easily. I flirted with getting too much sun, choosing to forgo the sensible solution of applying sun screen, by limiting my time of exposure out in the water. I was able to enjoy the day without feeling greasy, but probably put myself at a bit of a risk. I could feel it on my skin last night, but it was short of actually being painful.
I put in a fair amount of effort to not perseverate over the work that was not getting done at home, but found myself unable to avoid fretting over the need to get home early today to mow the grass. I will be up against the challenge of somehow getting the job done in the short time left in the day after we arrive home, and despite a threat of likely showers and thunderstorms.
Time runs out when evening comes, because I have to return to work tomorrow.
It’s a problem that I am willing to accept, given the pleasure we enjoyed in being up at the lake for a couple of perfect days at the beach.
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Guess Where
Guess where we are this weekend.
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Taking a little break from everything, including writing, for a couple of days. It’s a tough life, but I’ll find a way to soldier through.
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Pure Joy
Even though there was much in the way of work being done on the main day of ‘Work Weekend,’ at the lake place we call Wildwood, there was no shortage of fun in the endeavors of the day.
After toiling away on the beach to reclaim the area from the unending processes of Mother Nature to take over our sandy little oasis, I pitched in, literally, to help others in improving the landscape in front of the lodge. The grass grows really well in the spaces near the building where it isn’t wanted, and I assisted with digging it up using a garden fork that looked like a very close relative of the pitch fork that has become one of my primary tools at home. A beautiful array of perennials were planted into the newly turned soil.
Throughout the tasks, conversations blossomed in an annual renewing of connection with members of the community who scatter to their city lives for most of the winter.
Taking a pause from the work, I stopped back to the house where Cyndie was resting her hip and reading a book. I sat with her for a bit, until I noticed she had nodded off into a nap. Figuring I might as well go get my computer to take advantage of the time, I climbed the stairs to our room, finding my laptop beside the great big bed. Since she was already asleep, I figured I didn’t need to take it back downstairs to be in her proximity, and so laid on the bed to check in with the world.
I awoke in a slobbery mess of drool, after a most delicious unplanned nap of my own.
Hearing the words, “soccer game,” I descended the stairs to rejoin humanity and rediscovered how much joy I get from playing the beautiful game. I think it started as 4-v-4, but soon grew to include more people than the space actually allows. Maybe that is why the decision gets made that we won’t use borders, and play continues regardless the fact the ball is within the jungle gym play area, around the SUV parked on the driveway, or even behind the goals, like a game of hockey.
Slowly, in a reverse of how the numbers swelled to the maximum, players wander off to other pursuits, often without saying a thing. After battling situations that feel a lot like playing short-handed in a game of hockey, the game is paused and a player volunteers to switch so play can resume with reasonable balance. In the end, it came down to me facing one last challenge from 6-year-old nephew, Beck, for some 1-v-1.
He said, “Go over to your goal.”
“No, that’s an awful long way away. Let’s just play a small game right here,” I encouraged.
He kicked the ball around me and headed the length of the field to ‘my goal.’ What could I do? I chased after him to protect my goal. He was a tenacious foe and I soon realized he would not quit until he succeeded in getting that ball in the net. I was tired and wanted to be done, so I provided an opportunity. He missed. The ball rolled wide. A few near-misses later, the ball found the target and he was satisfied. Game over.
Pure joy.
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Work Weekend
Awake at the lake! It is always interesting to arrive in the dark of night, and then open your eyes in the morning to see that beautiful lake out the window.
Back at home, the leaves popped overnight Thursday, and I was shocked when I stepped out to feed the horses yesterday and couldn’t see clearly through the trees to the paddocks anymore. Up here, a 2-hour drive to the north, the growth is a few days behind.
The trillium blossoms are just beginning to show.
Memorial weekend at our lake place is traditionally dubbed, “Work Weekend,” as it is the time when the community of families here clean the beach, wash the boats, sweep the tennis courts, and put things in order for summer activities.
It is funny to me now, to think of it as ‘work weekend,’ since it feels a lot like the effort I put forth every day. There is one big difference: the view of that lake makes all the labor feel that much less laborious.
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Ideal Day
Yesterday we experienced a perfect northern winter day. We were told that there is more snow up here at our lake place now than this region has received during December in over 20 years. Making the deep snow even more spectacular, it had gotten foggy overnight and the moisture was forming long whisker crystals of ice on every surface. The landscape was flocked in a silvery white sheen. The scenery was storybook perfect. I don’t think we could have provided our guests with a better winter experience than what this weather allowed.
The temperature was hovering near the freezing point when we ventured out into the deep snow to play. First order of business was creating a sledding path down the hill onto the lake. 
At the bottom, the boys put a “turn” (what has become our code word for: jump) which worked better and better as the day went on.
Then we started work on building an igloo with my framing device. At the same time, shoveling began to create a small rink for boot hockey. Cyndie and Dunia passed by on snowshoes, and after returning from a long adventure, they initiated rolling snow into large boulders. Soon, the classic form of a snowman appeared, adorned with a scarf and carrot nose.
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Memorable Weekend
Returning to work can really increase the feelings of longing for the pleasures recently enjoyed over a holiday weekend. Since I had Monday off, that made yesterday my first day back after the long break. Yikes, what a contrast. The day-job doesn’t have nearly the appeal of a long weekend at the lake place.
What a great time we had this year, with our annual batch of games, followed by dinner at the lodge and fireworks shot from the beach after dark.
I was in something of a hurry to get home and pick up where we left off with projects at Wintervale, but after arriving back to chores, the allure of the lake just became more enticing. Add to that, a dose of the day-job, and thoughts of returning to the lake become all-encompassing.
It says a lot when people in a community like that influence you so deeply, after just a brief visit, that all you can think about is finding a way to return to be with them again.
It’s too bad I don’t have a job that involves hanging out with friends and family for days on end. I think I would be well-suited for a position like that.
Relative Something 