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

PAINTING SOME FURNITURE AND MORE SUMMER FUN!

The "What shall I wear" dilemma I wrote about last week ended up with me choosing the color block dress with a cardigan also from Old Navy (from a few years ago).  It was a good choice as our evenings have been getting cold.  The other dress is great and I was going to wear it at the lake this past weekend but I found when I put it on that the top hangs very low.  Even with a flesh/beige bra, it fell pretty far down!  So I think I may do some alterations on the straps.  And thanks for your votes...everyone seemed to really like this one, I do, too.

This is Snow and her hubby Craig.  You might have "met" them before as they come up to the lake quite often. The Husband and Craig grew up with each other... went to the same grammar school, high school, college and law school.  Wow! And if you look closely, you can see that Snow is also wearing a maxi.  We had a great dinner on their deck and then sat on their front porch which faces a park.  It was a really nice evening.

This is Snow's little (big) baby, Cassie.  She wanted to hang out with the girls.  She is the prettiest, most sweetest German Shepherd I've ever been around.  She's huge but she's so graceful.  She would wind around our chairs on the crowded porch and you would never know she was there.  Isn't she pretty?

This is my July 4th haul from Deals that I mentioned in my last post.  I'm so excited to start jazzing up the patio.  I was going to do it this weekend and then I thought it might just blow away.  Everyone is emailing and texting about what sort of food and dishes to bring.  With breakfast, lunch and dinner and appetizers going all day, it's like A Taste of Diamond Lake.  

The lake fireworks show is Friday night.  I think I've told you, everyone goes out on the lake in their boats and anchor and the fireworks are shot off from the island.  We used to have a pontoon boat in addition to the speedboat but it was just too much to take care of so we sold it a few years ago.  But when we had it we could get all of our guests out on the lake.  Now The Husband makes sure he gets the kids out and the rest of us sit on the shore.  As for myself, I sit on my upstairs balcony with 2 shaking basket case sort of pups.  Even the random firecrackers going off now scares the daylights out of Milo.  And another thing we have that is so fun, a live band plays on the shore of the sandbar and everyone anchors and gets into the knee high water to dance and float and play Frisbee.  My sons actually drive our guests over on the boat group by group to drop them off.  Oh, it's so much fun!

I arrived this weekend to find my lady slippers growing like crazy.  These multiply like prolifically so I may divide them and bring some back here to the city once they're done blooming.  I should have neatened up the gardens a bit but I have all sorts of plans for after the 4th and we get into a routine.

This is what I busied myself with.  The Husband bought this used picnic table and benches years ago and it was the most unflattering shade of gray.  Gun metal gray as you can see (the benches I already have painted in this picture).  He would not let me get near them with a paintbrush and every spring would put this monstrosity in my pretty English garden.  And then he would defiantly sit at it with his coffee and newspaper every morning.  Finally this year, with said ugly paint peeling, he said, "Do what you want with it."  So faster then you can say Sherwin Williams, I was on that set.  I also hauled out a coffee table that I have in a corner seating area in the Great room and painted that.  I really, really do not like this table and don't know where I found it and why I've kept it.  So I thought I would give it a chance with a paint job and if I didn't like it I would put it down by the road.

This is the before...I already had the legs painted.

And here she is in the corner sitting nook with some fresh picked daisies and a basket of shells.

So...is it a keeper?  

Well, that's what I did all weekend.  I was smack dab in the middle of the garden with no shade but definitely my sunscreen and I got a little color.  The Husband worked on cleaning his grill and worked even more on the beach (he is obsessed with having the PERFECT beach).  And Milo met a 

few visiting dogs (not only do our neighbors bring their dogs, their friends bring their dogs so we always have a menagerie of hounds running around).  Milo promptly met a golden retriever,  "Edie" five minutes after we arrived Friday night and actually leaped through the creek to get to her.  It would have made for a great little romantic  video captured in slow motion with the Theme From Chariots of Fire playing. When I jogged over to drag his butt home, he wouldn't come back  via the creek.  I had to walk down the road 1/4 of a mile.  He did double duty on the lead line that night.  

 The Husband and I worked up quite a sweat laboring at the painting and grill cleaning and we spontaneously decided to go on our first boat ride.  The skies were blue and the water just perfect.  Believe it or not, this lake gets crowded with boats and people jet skiing, tubing and water skiing.  But it was wonderful Sunday.

So we are back home and dealing with the rain...more thunderstorms early this evening.  I was able to pull some crabgrass before it started...my backyard garden looks like a jungle and I just don't want to deal with it until next week.  

Well, I'm glad I squeezed in a post.  I still don't have internet at the lake and I may be going as early as Wednesday morning.  So I'm wishing all of you a wonderful and safe Independence Day.  Wave that flag proudly and celebrate!! :)

Joining Tweak It Tuesday at Brenda's blog, Cozy Little House.

XO,

Jane 

THE JOYS OF SUMMER

I hope everyone is having a great week and that you're gearing up for the weekend before the BIG weekend!  I have been stocking up on 4th of July decorations here and there for the past few weeks.  We have such a nice bash at the lake that I add a little more to the patio every year.  I'll share some of the stuff I've found later, from paper lanterns to banners.  We have a store close by called Deals.  Do you have one of those?  Very much like the Dollar Tree.  The prices are great.  I bought separate packages of paper plates in red, white and blue, fifty in a pack, $1 each.  Oh my.

So it was back at the lake last week and all I had left to do was clean up the little Summerhouse (or guesthouse), and that only took an hour.  We hung out with our neighbors a few houses down, they are sort of new friends,  They moved in about three years ago but it's hard to get together with having company or missing each other while on boat rides, etc.  Finally Diane and I exchanged phone numbers so we can text each other instead of yelling across the bay and over a creek, "Come on over and have a beer!"

And this is what's blooming in Michigan.  These are my Eden roses that are supposed to be climbing up the arbor but instead are flopping all over.  I need to pick up some of those fabric ties and coax these pretty roses upward.

I planted this, spiderwort, last fall and to be honest, when I saw it this year I thought it was dying.  The leaves are chartreuse colored and really pop in the garden.  

And then they get these deep violet flowers.  I think I may plant some here in the city...I just love the colors.  Are any of you familiar with it?  Does it spread well?

I forgot the name of this rose, my climber (who also needs some directional advice).  It's doing very well after last summer when something microscopic was nibbling on it's leaves.

With my extra time I made a pretty little tablescape on the patio.  We grilled on Saturday as it was turning to dusk and just as The Husband was taking the food off the BBQ, a storm blew in that almost took everything off the table.  Chicago and northern Illinois were hit much harder by this storm.  Abby had girlfriends over and they made a beeline for the basement when the wind picked up.  My friend Melanie from Comfy House posted pictures of the damage in her area northwest of us in Illinois.  And that's just how the weather has been around here for the past few weeks.  It can be sunny and bright and then 15 minutes later, the skies darken and a storm blows in.  One thing that is constant is the humidity.  Though we rarely go over 80 degrees and the nights are cool, the humidity just hangs in the air making it feel warmer.  Well, enough complaining, I'm happy it's not a drought.

One of the first things I did when we got to the lake was take away the lounge chairs and the palm tree that The Husband had added in front of my new gallery wall.  This looks much better.  We have some shingles we have to paint and patch but I am loving my new wall.

I don't think I've mentioned much that across the road from us are woods.  Back in the day The Husband would take the kids and our old dog Shadow out into them during the winter to explore.  In the summer the poison ivy is rampant.  Do you know that even if your dog walks in it and brings it into your home or yard, you can catch it?

As I said earlier, there is a creek that divides us from Diane and Tom's house so we take the road.  Here is The Husband doing God knows what.  Our house is just around that bend on the right and the lake just beyond.  

We arrived home Monday morning.  Tuesday was son Kevin's birthday and his wife, MC, had told us he had been wanting a bike.  He told us he was stopping by after work so I pushed The Husband out the door at around 4:00 p.m. to go buy a bike before Kevin got here.  He was back in an hour and we lugged it inside.  And promptly a pedal fell off.  So back in the car and to the bicycle shop it went.  Hubby was back and with the bike as good as new (don't ask me why we were so compelled to have it in the living room, now that I think of it we could have just had it on the sidewalk!).  Anyway, Kevin walked in and in his usual fashion didn't notice it for 5 minutes.  I'm sure he SAW the bike, it just didn't register that it was in our living room!!  He was super happy.  He wants to get in shape so this might be the ticket.  The whole family, including Papa, went out for dinner at a nice steakhouse that has been here since the 50's.  Papa has had a standing Friday night date there for the past thirty years.  It was fun.

So back in Chicago, I worked in my garden between thunderstorms.  I painted this old cabinet (or maybe it was a nightstand) a long time ago and never had a place to put it.  I never liked the color too much either but I'm finding it works well on the patio to store my birdseed.  And speaking of my adventures in feeding birds for the first time, I'm still filling the feeder everyday, which is no small feat as I have to stand on a rickety chair and unhook it way above my head.  Sometimes I'm cruel and let a day go by and once I refill it, they are back in less than 5 minutes.  Do they smell it?  I just looked out the window and there are about 10 sparrows eating the seed off the ground inches from a baby squirrel doing the same.  Harmony!

My Knockout roses are just that, knockouts!

And I just started tying and pinching back my container tomato plants.

This is the first year I've planted cleome and it's just starting to bloom.  It has a very spidery look when it's mature.  My SIL used to grow it around her built in pool where the sun beat down and it would reach five feet high.  And it drops seed and sometimes re~blooms the following year which is really odd for the upper Midwest.  I'll share a picture once it's further along.

Enough flowers!  I had Abby and Tom for dinner last night.  I didn't fuss with a table setting but I wanted to show you this Turkish towel I found in Asheville a few weeks ago.  It's the orange and white thing I'm using as a runner.  The girl in the shop said people were using them for everything.

My everyday dishes and the infamous Pottery Barn napkins that I sold my soul for.  My daughter calls them my "hippie napkins".  Anyway, I made flat iron steaks.  Have you ever had those?  They're long and flat and come out melting in your mouth although there is little if any fat on them.  I wish I had pictures.  I also made Smashed Baked Potatoes by The Pioneer Woman.  I peel and cut Idaho potatoes in 1/4 inch rounds, spread them out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (the key is the parchment paper that keeps them from sticking and ripping to pieces).  Season and drizzle with olive oil then bake until tender.  Mash each round with a fork and then you can serve or in my case I like to let them go under the broiler for just a second to brown the tops.  Steamed broccoli with shaved Parmesan and corn rounded it all out.  Next time, pictures!

 

Okay, I'm in the home stretch.  If there is one thing I will break my diet for, it's melon.  It wouldn't be summer without it.  Honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon.  On a low carb diet you can really only have blueberries and raspberries, so I feel some guilt but heck...it's fruit.  Better to cheat with fruit than a chocolate cake (which isn't a bad idea either).  Oh, and a generous slice of prosciutto wrapped around the melon is the ultimate.  Heaven.  My friend Snow always brings the cantaloupe and prosciutto every time she and her family come to the lake.  She cuts her melon in big long slices and wraps and winds the ham all around.  You need a bib!

And speaking of Snow and hubby Craig, The Husband and I were invited over to their place for dinner tonight.  They live just up the street but we never seem to get together as much as we want.  Snow is a real estate agent and Craig is a busy lawyer.  Anyway, they just added on to their deck off the back of their house and want to show off a little with dinner al fresco at sunset.

And this leads me into concluding this never ending post with, "What shall I wear tonight?"  Old Navy is having a HUGE sale, but you have to go online as most of these dresses are not in the stores.  And there are tons!  So I have this one...

...and this one.  I'd like to pass myself off as this headless woman but I still need to shed a few more.  By the time you read this I will have probably been there and worn it but which do you like the best?  I'm loving nautical stripes. And  I'm loving maxi's because they are comfy and light and forgiving in all the right places.  Dress them up or wear them at the lake.  I cleaned out the Summerhouse in one, barefoot and cool.  I have some light cardigans in case it gets cool.  And I'll take pictures tonight!!

Tomorrow, back to the lake.  I think I'll decorate for the 4th this weekend as people will be coming as early as Wednesday night. Abby grabbed one of my new flags yesterday and popped it into a potted plant on the front porch.  I told it was too early and she wisely said, "It's never too early to be patriotic!" 

 I may hitch a ride with someone depending on The Husband's work schedule.  And this year he is eagerly planning the 2nd Annual Rocky River Kayak Trip.  Just for the adventurous types.  I will be on my (imaginary) hammock sipping a Bloody Mary. 

Happy Weekend! :)

XO,

Jane

MY HOME TOWN AT ITS FINEST...CHICAGO

Hi ladies...I'm back so soon!  I don't know how to pat myself on the back enough for this.  But this will be (hopefully) short as we are leaving for the lake bright and early.

We were downtown (Chicago) today.  The Husband had some medical procedures done at his hospital here and everything came out A~Ok.  So we spent some time wandering around the city. Please bear with me as I share some of the things I treasure about my city.   I have always loved the flower beds surrounded by classic wrought iron.   And these repeat up and down the streets in this area in unified succession. So pretty.  Renowned gardening and landscaping people have designed our sidewalks for years...they are works of art.

 

This is a sort of juxtaposition.  All I want to say is the CPD is the best.

And in the same vein...look at the diversity between two guys...in my interpretation not together.  Something that makes me think of how and where  and when we learn to bridge gaps of all kinds.  Just happened to see it in one of my photos.   Very much everyday life here.

Oh, and lots of lux.  The Husband splurged and bought me diamond earrings here,  Not!

Gino's East.  The BEST place for deep dish pizza!

Our waitress serving the first pieces.  After that you are on your own.  After one piece of deep dish pizza, you are pretty much bringing the rest home!

Need I say more?  Chicago pizza...truly the best!

Ah!  Switching gears.  My baby...Abby, went on a 5 day vacay to San Diego with her love, Tom.  Planned and scrimped over many months..several days into she got a kidney infection and spent the last few days flat on her back. She found a clinic and got antibiotic shots and prescriptions...she also followed up with her doctor here at home, but she's still in a lot of pain and flat on her back. 

And me?  I'm hanging out working in my garden beds whenever the sun breaks through these random thunderstorms we have been having over the past five days.  The rain is great for the grass and plants and flowers, but also for the weeds.  I've gone out between downpours and weeded a but...it's endless, I think.  I spend the rest of my waking hours with those summertime reads...I lay on my bed and pretend it's the beach!  And speaking of that...off we go bright and early!  The hard part is done and we will be getting ready for our 4th of July bash!  Just some fun in the sun with my (healthy) guy and that's all I need!  :)

Happy Weekend to all of you!

XO,

Jane