MID SUMMER MADNESS: GOOD EATS, READS AND GENERAL DRIVEL

Hi!  Just me.   Still at the lake.  I'm just going to stop giving my location like a GPS...I've been here since the end of May but for maybe 2 weeks.  I'm loving it.  We are having rain almost all this coming week so I may get more writing and blogging going rather than wandering around outside like a weirdo.  It's just so much more quiet and secluded here than my home in the city.  It's a slow sort of life but I always keep busy or find things to do.  I have been a little reclusive, most days my only conversations are with the dogs, and even they are tired of me.  I invited some lake girlfriends over for hors d'oeuvres and cocktails tomorrow so maybe I'll take my hair out of its permanent ponytail and throw on something other than a T shirt for that.  :)

Our 4th of July was fun.  We had family and friends come up as early as the Friday before.  The lake has a fun party at the sandbar the Saturday before where you can anchor and play in the waist high water while singing and dancing along with a live band.  The fireworks show is that night and we go out on the boat to watch from the water...it's a spectacular show in the sky and on the water.  So it was a few good long days of playing on the beach, grilling food, and eating tons of fruit, chips and dips, and taking long boat rides.  We walked the baby and dogs and stayed up late in front of the bonfire.  It was really great.  When the last of the lake warriors left on Wednesday, I had the slow but steady job of cleaning up sand everywhere in the house, even in the sheets.  Egad.  It was quiet and peaceful once again so I rolled with it.  

  

Madelyn really is a waterbug.  Emily bought a little baby pool that she filled up with a little of the warm lake water and that little girl could sit in it all day.  We kept it down on the beach where we spend most of our time.  The little fashionista had a different red, white and blue dress for each of the five days.  I don't think Emily ever got out of the doll dressing days.  And as far as Madelyn sitting in a pool rather than the water, we spotted a muskrat cruising by and that was it for Emily.  They are sort of nasty looking.

I share so many pics from our little cove, I'll start to post more from right on the lake.  This is a happy group:  Abby's boyfriend Tom, and nieces Grace and Tricia.  Fun in the sun!

One of the best parts of being here almost full time is getting a lot of time to fix up spaces we never have time to do on weekends, as well as shopping for new pieces to replace what I've tossed or donated.  We have a foyer and it's never seen much because we never use the front door.  So I started thinking about it and searched for a bench that would fit.  I finally found one at Pier 1.  It is actually part of a dining room table and man, I'd love to have the table, too!  Pier 1 is gaining in popularity with many of us who like Pottery Barn.  I styled it with a chicken wire basket holding birch logs (our tree came down in a bad storm, sob.).  I got the B and window from Hobby Lobby and the pillow from an Etsy shop called With Lavender and Grace.  She has a ton of really cute handmade pillow covers at great prices.  And finally, the rusty windmill and wire rack...Emily noticed a small shop that recently opened in the next town that I apparently missed when driving by.  It is so cool and I spent over an hour talking to the owner.  They paint all sorts of furniture to sell and have decor ranging from shabby to farmhouse to industrial.  Most is made by local artisans and priced really well.  There are also candles and cards and bits and bobs~~~I'm actually fearful of going back!

This looks like a picture from a website but it's just a closeup of the rack on the wall.  I wanted something with hooks but this was even better.  It was fun add a few cute things to it.

I'm also working on the balcony off our bedroom.  The wisteria still needs to be trimmed and trained up to the slatted arbor roof and I've been looking for comfy chairs that are easy to store in the winter, as well as an outdoor rug.  Another area I have neglected.  I finally found what I needed at Amazon and I'll share when it all arrives.  It's the same story with the big front porch.  I lost my furniture cushions which were stored inside when we had the flood.  I'll be darned if I can't find the right sizes for this furniture.  I'll keep looking but I'm afraid the house looks a little haunted from the front.  We had wind damage off the lake to the storm door so it's barely hanging on, and so much is overgrown.  So much to do as always around here.  

I loved this oak tree so much that we had the patio built around it.  I have about four birdhouses in it, a feeder and a hanging plant suspended off a branch (only me).  The Husband says that if I hammer one more nail in the tree I'm going to kill it.  And then I happened to come upon these solar light mason jars.  They mimic mercury glass so when they light up at night they really sparkle.  

I have really turned into a little old bird lady.  My neighbor is helping me identify them.  I have one feeder on this tree (that I'm murdering with nails), and another on the maple on the other side, which I can see from the windows in the corner of the Great room when I'm sitting having my coffee.   I also found a sweet birdbath, so it's just a feathered friend paradise here.  Cardinal, finches, wrens, tit mouses, nut hatches, woodpeckers...and even robins and orioles stop by for the birdbath.  Occasionally I get a little chipmunk but it hasn't been a nuisance.  We have been having a lot of critter sightings; two deer just ambling down the street in morning, a gofer that tunneled into my rock garden, the muskrat I mentioned, a mink, our swans that had 8 'swanlings' this spring, and some of the most gigantic turtles sunning themselves on the beach.  I mean their shells are as large as trash can lids.  Just call me Blondie Doolittle.  :)

I love this time of evening.  Sometimes I can stand on the dock,  look up and the sky looks like a carpet of stars.  

Emily did several photo shoots with Madelyn and her five dresses.  I love this one.  The Husband planted daisies here one year and they bloom just in time for July 4th celebrations and throughout the rest of the summer.  I have vases of them all over the house.  

I've had a few health issue this past stay and it limited me in doing some of the outdoor work.  Nothing major.  A head and chest cold (or maybe a revisit from that nasty virus) had me feeling terrible and then spurred on the asthma so I couldn't get around like I normally do.  I also think I got bit by something as my left ankle and foot swelled up a few days ago and really had me concerned.  The Husband came up for the weekend and I asked for some help in the garden, which had been severely neglected over the two summers we weren't here.  Well, he worked his cute little buns off weeding and edging and he even dug up all the stones that made a path, power washed them, and laid them back down.  Love him.  I went to our little nursery/market in town today and this is my load.  They really lower the prices of perennials around this time and I have a lot of spaces to fill in.  I bought a ton of lavender, honeysuckle, phlox, Coreopsis, and Artemisia.  I can't tell you how sweet my car smelled as I drove home.  And now I have work ahead of me in between the rainstorms. 

So I continue to enjoy each slow day as it flows into the next.  It's amazing how much more calm I feel when I'm not pushing myself to get this done or that finished and above all, worrying about the obligations of taking care of other people.  I wanted to pass on an Instagram feed I came across which led me to the woman's You Tube videos.  Perhaps some of you ladies down in Texas know of her, Dominique Sachse.  She is a newscaster in Houston and she puts out weekly You Tube videos ranging from careers, raising children, fashion, decor, health and make up tutorials.  I'm just really loving watching these videos on my laptop in the evening.  She has such a great 'on camera' presence, and she comes across very knowledgeable, honest and caring.  The video that recently inspired me and had me nodding my head the whole time, is titled You Deserve More,  Reset, Reclaim Your Life.  Her words truly opened my eyes to how far I've come from raising children, to feeling a little lost, and then finally identifying my dreams and goals and making them happen.  I hope you have a look at this video (and I think you'll like many others she's posted), and if you leave your thoughts in the comment section, we can go further into a conversation in my next post.

****Note:  You may not get to the video with this link but do try to 'search' You Tube by typing in her name.

Finally, very briefly, here is a little more drivel before I go:

I got a promotion at the Chicago newspaper!  Yay!  It's weekly and I will go from writing one column a month to three!  I am so, so excited.  Of course it's daunting and I have to really get disciplined but I've been changing my writing time habits.  I get on a roll writing day after day and then saving several articles to submit when needed.  Wish me luck---I'll probably always have that fear of not keeping up but at least I've lost the fear of trying.

I had to break out of the habit of sitting in the evening on my laptop night after night, but I've never really watched television here.  Years ago The Husband and I would rent a movie every so often but otherwise, no.  I've been in a routine though and sometimes I'll dwell on problems and conflicts in my life, so for a diversion I actually cozied up on the couch in the loft with a quilt and the dogs and watched mindless TV  this past Sunday night.  It was fantastic!  A huge, guiltless Real Housewives/Hallmark Movie party!

My eating habits are still a little different.  I can pat myself on the back for being able to piece together a meal or snack with whatever is on hand and I've definitely been eating healthy foods.  It's just that since I'm not obligated to make dinner as I do for The Husband and I, I can sometimes get lazy and have cheese and crackers for dinner or a can of soup for breakfast.  Anyway, in keeping the carbs down I'm still sticking with eggs, low carb toasted bread with avocado, nuts, berries and whipped cream, and a few slices of cheese for a snack.  I have also made stir fry with beef or chicken and veggies, as it's quick and you get everything on one plate.  

Having time outside with the dogs is great exercise.  I take them for walks but when the asthma kicked in last week I had to slow it down.  With Milo really becoming more deaf by the day, when he wanders off the property I have my work cut out for me hunting him down as he can't hear me call.  I have to talk to my vet for some tips.  Abby picked up these little battery operated buttons that light up.  You put them on the dog's collar and you can then see your pup in the dark.  This helps but I really don't let them out much at night unless we are just relaxing on the patio.  Too many nocturnal animals in the woods that I don't want them to tangle with.

Reading.  Still plowing through A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams.  It's hard to get into but since I loved her last novel I keep pushing on.  Also picked up a Mary Kay Andrews paperback at the drugstore which I haven't opened, as well as one by Elin Hilderbrand, The Rumor.  I thought they would be fun and keep up with the summer beach vibe.  All the stores I'm used to, including Barnes And Noble, are several towns away so I'm sort of stuck with what I have here.  I also get very distracted by the birds flitting around or a boat drifting past, and totally lose my concentration, so not much reading gets done anyway.  

I hope all of you are having a great week.  I'll be by for some visits soon!  Enjoy our mid summer madness!

Jane x