Postcards from the Lake -- The First Visit

With Rick in Dallas and my last physical therapy appointment for a few days under my belt, the time was right -- road trip to the lake for the first visit of the season.

There is something exciting about that first visit. Questions run through my mind. What has changed? How does the house look? Will there be neighbors around? What will the weather be like? Did I bring the right clothes? And then you wheel around the corner and there it is. Home.

It's good to be back. Things look pretty good. Rick did a lot while he was here a few weeks ago and there is still much to do -- lots of raking, picking up brush that had come down in the winter and homely things like dusting, cleaning mirrors, putting in screens -- but basically, all is very good indeed. I confess -- I didn't do a lot of it. Instead, I just relaxed. 

The good neighbors are here and it's nice to see them again. And the weather has been fabulous. Lots of sun and not impossibly hot with cool nights. I should have brought some long pants and not just capris for the cooler evenings but nothing unbearable. 

The odd neighbors are more odd than ever. They bought two fake wolves to put on their beach so the geese don't come up. It will be curious to see if they work. 

Lizzie is happy as a clam, even though she's not allowed on the porch till we fix the screens. She's found all her favorite spots and has snugged into each of them!

Masks are few and far between here. I went to the farmer's market (mostly crapht at this time of year but I did pick up a nice basil plant and some garlic scapes) and saw one mask. At the Meijer store (a superstore, for those of you not in the midwest, with pharmacy, grocery and all in-between) I saw only one -- and that was on a clerk. This is a town where Covid ignorers are more prevalent than in the city. I'll keep wearing the mask in crowds. 

(I had to make the trip to Meijer because my keyboard had a space bar that was sticking. It was time for a new one. If I didn't type by touch, I would be in trouble, so much type had come off the keys!)

I've painted a bit. Leslie Fehling had a wonderful free printout tutorial on mixing greens when she started her online studio so I spent a good deal of time playing with those and then chose a painting with a lot of them. I'm not sure it's right yet -- but I'm liking it. 

I've done a couple of other pieces too, just for fun! I still have to fix the right side roof on this one.

 

I'm very nearly done with my first offering for Paris In July, an annual blog event -- "The French Widow." Look for a review of it soon.

 

I had the first walk of the season -- a new house has gone up a couple of doors down.

 The swamp has practically dried up, our drought is so bad.

 

And these oak saplings worry me -- there is a whole row of them, all about eight feet tall -- and they are all dead. 

 

I did my long walk -- a little over two miles. The halfway point is a public beach where I encountered an artist. We had a lovely talk. I really admired her clouds.

There weren't a lot of flowers yet, but I saw some very cheerful daisies by the swamp...

...these pretty blooms...

...and this one. I don't know what this is but it's lovely.

I know this is a weed but it looks a lot like a petunia and I rather like them!

 The Little Free Library down the road was well stocked. Not that I'll run out of reading material but it's always nice to know it's there.

I leave you with a bit of art work. 

It's good to "bee" back.

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