Sunday, June 07, 2009
Finally, we got back
We finally made it back to LBL on Friday afternoon. It's lucky we went up early, because the clouds moved in just about sunset, and that was the last we saw of the sun. We did arrive just in time to see the lumberjack that Skip hired bring down a large part (one of four trunks) of a basswood tree (the trunk at the base was about 2' in diameter) that was leaning toward his place. Skip now has a project for the next couple weeks: cutting up and splitting the wood.
I got the salvia planted for the hummingbirds. (Thanks, Susan, they're great.)
The Jack-in-the-pulpit was blooming,
and a couple little trillia actually sprouted (but they haven't flowered, unlike all their big cousins in the woods). The wild gerania and the honeysuckle are blooming too.
On Saturday, the rain began. We all went to Cafe Wren for breakfast and to check e-mail.
Nance and I made a trip into Amery to get some groceries, a couple tools for N's project, and some red flowers for Red Tom. We spent most of the day reading and napping. N did try to determine which direction the blade on her circular saw rotated with her finger and found out that steel does cut skin. Luckily it was not cut too deeply -- just a frightening reminder. She said it had been awhile since she'd bled on a project. (And she's the one in the family experienced with power tools.)
I finished one book and read some of Snow Crash a cyber-punk novel that was on David's reading list. Really weird and interesting. "Second Life" is described there eleven years before it appeared online.
We got out a couple board games that evening: Upwords, which is a multi-level scrabble and "21st Century 20 Questions." The editor always has an advantage with word games, so David and I only played one. And then we discovered that the "21st Century" part of the 20 questions game was only an incorrect figure of speech. Anyone born after 1975 (like David) really doesn't have a chance. After one game, he read clues to N and me and we duked it out on trivia. Trivial pursuits would have been more fun for us, but probably not for the boy.
I had napped so much I was afraid I'd not get to sleep. However, at 10:10pm, I was tired and before 11:00 I was asleep, and I didn't wake up until after 7:00am. What's with that? Relax enough and sleep better?
While D and N slept in Sunday morning, I drove over to Luck to have my morning coffee and oatmeal with a bit of online news.
Later, between rain drops, I planted gerania in Red Tom and a couple other things in the terrace.
And Skip told us he remembers when the lakeside fireplace and chimney were built -- probably around 1953. And Red Tom referred to Tom Hoff, the chiropractor, whose wife owned the cabin at the time. I'll have to ask whether Tom Hoff was a red haired. It seems unlikely that in the home state of Joseph McCarthy in '53 anyone would label themselves "red" without a good non-political reason.
It was great to get away. I hardly ever spend so much time reading and napping when I'm home and bits of yard work (like trimming some tree branches this morning) always seem more like work at home. That's what the place is for. Now, if only we can make more time to be there. (After the 24th, we have only a weekend trip to Cleveland on the calendar for the summer. Hint. Hint.)
I got the salvia planted for the hummingbirds. (Thanks, Susan, they're great.)
The Jack-in-the-pulpit was blooming,
and a couple little trillia actually sprouted (but they haven't flowered, unlike all their big cousins in the woods). The wild gerania and the honeysuckle are blooming too.
On Saturday, the rain began. We all went to Cafe Wren for breakfast and to check e-mail.
Nance and I made a trip into Amery to get some groceries, a couple tools for N's project, and some red flowers for Red Tom. We spent most of the day reading and napping. N did try to determine which direction the blade on her circular saw rotated with her finger and found out that steel does cut skin. Luckily it was not cut too deeply -- just a frightening reminder. She said it had been awhile since she'd bled on a project. (And she's the one in the family experienced with power tools.)
I finished one book and read some of Snow Crash a cyber-punk novel that was on David's reading list. Really weird and interesting. "Second Life" is described there eleven years before it appeared online.
We got out a couple board games that evening: Upwords, which is a multi-level scrabble and "21st Century 20 Questions." The editor always has an advantage with word games, so David and I only played one. And then we discovered that the "21st Century" part of the 20 questions game was only an incorrect figure of speech. Anyone born after 1975 (like David) really doesn't have a chance. After one game, he read clues to N and me and we duked it out on trivia. Trivial pursuits would have been more fun for us, but probably not for the boy.
I had napped so much I was afraid I'd not get to sleep. However, at 10:10pm, I was tired and before 11:00 I was asleep, and I didn't wake up until after 7:00am. What's with that? Relax enough and sleep better?
While D and N slept in Sunday morning, I drove over to Luck to have my morning coffee and oatmeal with a bit of online news.
Later, between rain drops, I planted gerania in Red Tom and a couple other things in the terrace.
And Skip told us he remembers when the lakeside fireplace and chimney were built -- probably around 1953. And Red Tom referred to Tom Hoff, the chiropractor, whose wife owned the cabin at the time. I'll have to ask whether Tom Hoff was a red haired. It seems unlikely that in the home state of Joseph McCarthy in '53 anyone would label themselves "red" without a good non-political reason.
It was great to get away. I hardly ever spend so much time reading and napping when I'm home and bits of yard work (like trimming some tree branches this morning) always seem more like work at home. That's what the place is for. Now, if only we can make more time to be there. (After the 24th, we have only a weekend trip to Cleveland on the calendar for the summer. Hint. Hint.)
