HAPPY BELATED 4TH OF JULY AND SOME "BIG NEWS"

This is a post that will not be all over the place as per usual.  In fact, we will be at the lakehouse and I hope I can make my 4th of July celebration be a little more interesting to tell other than the usual hamburger, hotdogs and fireworks recap.  But first...it was The Husband's birthday on July 2 and I made him a special breakfast.  Actually, I made a very simple breakfast with what I had on hand...Fried Bananas.  It's very simple.  Heat up 2

Tablespoons of butter on medium heat in a non stick pan.  Add 2 sliced bananas (about 1/2 inch thick...I did my mine on the diagonal) and sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.  Cook until slightly soft, tossing bananas occasionaly to get covered in butter and sugar.  Serve with a squeeze of lemon over them.  Heaven!  Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

 

  Now I take you to the lake.  I left on Wednesday with daughter Abigail and her boyfriend Tom.  We made a pizza and sat around and talked, got to bed early.  Thursday we made an early morning run to the grocery 3 towns over.  Veggies for salads, fruit, ingredients for appetizers and side dishes and breakfast sweets.  The fridge and cabinets were stuffed and that didn't even count what everyone else brought!

This is the tablescape I worked on that day.  I know, it's very much like last year (and the year before, ha!).  I save everything.  The daisies are blooming big time so I had them everywhere. 

I found this tray at Michael's a few weeks ago for a couple of dollars.  It will work all summer long.  Almost everything was found at The Dollar Store and another one called Deals.  And I was able to save everything.  I actually have a cabinet in the garage just for 4th of July decorations!

As always, I do my red, white and blue in mason jars, just simple food coloring in water with...yep, daisies!  They are blooming like crazy but I'll save some flora and fauna for another post. :)  I have two jars, one on the right which were  gifts from my SIL a few years ago.  Filled with sand, you put a tea light candle in them.  So pretty.

Nothing escaped my patriotic enthusiasm.  I found these paper fans that open up into circles of red, white and blue and they were hung everywhere.  I found the fish (which looks like its been filleted) at HomeGoods last year. 

Okay.  The food.  Not many pictures here because we all dig in fast.  This is a half eaten tray of bruchetta that my daughter in law Mary Clare (MC) made.  Gone in 5 minutes flat.  We pretty much had sweets for breakfast and one day some lovely people actually made eggs, bacon and pancakes for the crowd.  Lunch was simply hot dogs and hamburgers, and dinner was always something different.  One night we had a great dinner that daughter Emily made with a pork shoulder over onions and garlic, sprinkled with brown sugar and then, get this, a can of Coke poured over.  It roasted in the oven for 6 hours and the delicious smell filled the house.  She shredded the juicy, flavorful pork and we had it on rolls with potato salad and pasta salad. I can go on and on about the memorable food.  And I'll include that shredded pork recipe in my next post.  Make it for your family or double it for a crowd.  You can even freeze it.  Delish!

We try to come up with a signature drink every summer.  This year it was a sort of margarita that included orange juice that gave it kind of a sweet rather than tart bite.  Abby's friend Ashley also made a great concoction of orange juice, lemonade, cranberry juice and vodka.  She went light on the vodka and it could have made a really nice punch.

Of course most of the fun was on and in the water.  Here's the captain (The Husband) overseeing the departure of the S.S. Blndy.  As you can see, the boat is tied up under a canvas awning and up out of the water on lifts.  This is what I'm referring to when I say our boat is in a "shore station".  

And off they go.  You're looking at the front end of the boat, or the bow.  Because of the tight quarters in our little cove, we have to back out first.  Boating isn't the easiest of things to do.  I'm pretty confident at this stage of the game, but I still don't have the skills of dealing with mechanical issues as The Husband does.

For the most part, son Kevin filled in for The Husband as they cruised out to the sandbar for some fun in the sun.  The Husband and another person would take the wave runners out to give the kids a ride or take anyone back to the house.  And sometimes, beverages had to be replenished.  Sort of a pony express system. :)

And here we are at the sandbar (I actually wasn't there, I like to leave room on the boat as I can go out any old time.  Here's Abigail and her longtime love, Tom.  Interestingly, this was the 'Year of the hats'.  At least five of us had them and they are not only cute, but very forgiving when you've been swimming and neglecting your hair.  I'm a little surprised that I'm not in one single picture!!  I guess that's a good thing, I would have fretted over posting myself in a bathing suit with bedraggled hair and little if no makeup!  Ha!

Sister in law's Karen and Meg, and DIL MC and her Mom, Peggy.  Peggy and I are the matriarchs of the group.  We get along famously.

I'm including this pictures of my two cutie pie nieces to show you how the sandbar looks with so many boats anchored.  You just hop off and you are in water as low as your knees.  It's really fun, very social (you meet a lot of people), and we always loved to bring our dogs out to teach them to swim.  Great times.

Switching gears here.  The masses left on Sunday.  We had a total of 24 people, 14 who stayed at our house and the rest at a Hilton in a town a few miles away.  I won't bore you with the rest (lots of eating, swimming, boating, kayaking, games of bean bag, basketball, and sitting by the outdoor fireplace at night).  Wonderful memories and you know, I was truly relaxed this year.  I didn't strive for perfection, I let others take over and yet I kept busy and did my fair share.  I chilled a lot and just  had a ball.

We (The Husband and I) stayed until Monday morning but daughter Emily and her husband Mike stayed until Monday night.  Of course Emily cleaned the house from top to bottom...that's just her bag.  Washed sheets and towels, swept up the sand, and cleaned the bathrooms.  But she did a really great thing for me, something I had neglected for so long.  She cleaned and dusted and rearranged the furniture in our master bedroom.  Remember the antique trestle table The Husband found to use as a desk last summer?  He also found these gorgeous stained glass windows.  We had some help from the guys to carry down an old and heavy chest that sat in the corner of our bedroom with an outdated TV on it that didn't work...that's where the desk is now.  The Husband hopes to do some work from the lakehouse so we can have more days there.  Doesn't it looks great?!

Here's another view.  We are so lucky to have such a large room.  I think it's twice the size of the one we have here in the city.  Thank you Em!  I owe you a lunch or a little shopping spree (within monetary limits!).

Finally, last year at this time I was bowled over to see a little blurb about my teeny little blog in Romantic Homes magazine.  This year is a whole different sort of happiness.  I'm going to be a grandmother!!!!  Yes!!  My son Kevin and MC are expecting a baby!  The Husband and I are beyond excited.  Everyone is excited!!  This was the icing on the cake of a great holiday.  I am walking on air and I just can't wait to get my mitts on that little creature.  I may never give him/her back!! :)

I have some free time over the next few days and I am definitely going to do some serious catching up on my blogging.  I recovered from the festivities on Monday by not doing a darn thing.  Yesterday I did a lot of errands and grocery shopping.  Today I alternated between putting this post together and tidying up my garden.  Can you say Burdock weeds?  Ugh...

Happy Summer Days to all of you!

XO,

Jane