Postcards From the Lake: Fortune Smiles

Every day in summer is a gift -- at least, it is for me. It's my favorite season -- or rather, it is when I'm at the lake. Apart from a couple of rainy days, the weather has been lovely. Warm, but for the most part, not too hot. Sunny, but even the cloudy days are comfortable. 

 

We've had a couple of major temperature drops, which was actually refreshing. And it gave us the opportunity to have a fire in the fireplace. First of the season.

 

Our little house is looking great and the eco-mix we put on the beach seems to have been effective. It was hard work, first spraying and then raking out all the dead weeds, but worth it.

 

I've been going to the farm market every Friday. There is a very small one in the village of Waters, about seven miles south of us. There's another uptown in Gaylord but I'll give that a pass for a few weeks. My fruit guy is in Waters and he's the best.

 

Flynn Orchards is a family owned orchard that has been in the same family for three generations. I bought gorgeous strawberries from them at the beginning of the month and now it's cherry season. I can't tell you how much I love these sweet black cherries. I should not eat as many as I do but to be honest, I would happily live on them and forget all that other stuff like meat and vegetables.  Pretty soon they'll have their fabulous peaches, and of course some veggies too. But the cherries are the best!

 

 We've had our share of nature, too. The other night I counted 75 geese in this flotilla and I don't think I got them all.

 

Mama K and the baby Killdeer are still hanging around, though the babies are growing quickly and are almost as big as mom!

 

I loved this view as she turned around. I was pretty far away so I don't think she was pulling her "broken wing" trick, but she was so lovely. 

 

We had another house guest recently. Rick's friend John from North Carolina came for a few days. 

 

It was a happy reunion for both of them.  John was traveling north to visit old friends around Michigan. It was a treat enjoying good conversations with this interesting fellow. Fortunately, the weather was pretty good for his visit! Despite a chill down on his arrival day (we'd had a massive rain the night before), things warmed up enough that we could eat on the porch. It's always fun cooking in the summer when "summer food" is on the menu -- brats, pasta salad and deviled eggs. (John brought the pie!)

 

And one evening, we met friends of his for dinner at a restaurant up in Gaylord. They, too, were delightful people and we had a jolly time.

 

The only one who thought there was a downside to all this was Lizzie. She was again banished to the bedroom, but this time we passed up the back corner of the closet for her favorite chair or the bed. This was one of her classic places on the bed -- between quilt and sheets. What cat? I don't see any cat!

 

When John and Rick headed out for the day, Lizzie got a free reign. She managed to let me know exactly how she felt about things as she sat on her throne on the porch! 

 

Unfortunately, our often spectacular sunsets were a little less spectacular than usual, lacking the puffy clouds that always add dimension. Still, we enjoyed lovely evenings!

 

John took off for visits elsewhere and we have no more guests till Molly and the kids come up in early August, though I have to make a trip home for a few days for appointments. One thing I've eagerly anticipated was Cousin David's annual visit with his friends. This time he's was joined for the first time by a friend of mine, too -- albeit a distant one! Klum spent two summers at the lake during the college years  at David's cottage. He painted the cousin's cottage and water skied with us by day; by evening, we played lots of cards. Klum became part of the family. 

 

 

 

In fact, he became so much a part of the family that for reasons I cannot remember to this day, I asked him to be in my advanced directing class project, playing one of the fathers in "The Fantasticks." He was fantastic too! That's him in the red shirt, below. For about six weeks or so, he lived with my mom and dad, doing decopage with my mom by day and cycling to rehearsals each evening. (My prof said, "Where did you get that old man?" impressed by this newcomer to university theatre.) He said it started him on a long theatre career, first in New York and on soaps too, then later in San Francisco where he spent 20 years doing Shakespeare.

 

 

 

We haven't seen each other in more than 50 years! So, while I knew David and his gang of guys who come every year will be pretty busy, I greatly looked forward to a good long catch-up and I wasn't disappointed! 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, it's back to living and loving our summer life.

 

 

 

Quiet, very happy and full of good fortune and good friends.

 

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