Category Archives: pets

Knee jerk leads to what a jerk!

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Mr. Grumpy - courtesy of http://www.mrmen.com

It’s Saturday morning and I should’ve been writing for over an hour, but I’m just starting right now. I have successfully distracted myself with various interesting, but not necessarily important tasks this morning. It has been a crazy week and I should have done the smart thing last night and simply gone home, gone downstairs to the basement to my incredibly messy work area and tried to work before going to bed on a Friday night at a sensible time, say nine o’clock. But, I didn’t and I ended up making an idiot of myself and staying up far too late.

As I mentioned it has been a doozy of a week. Overall, it has been good and I can count several successes along the way. I have wanted to write several posts Continue reading Knee jerk leads to what a jerk! →

Saturday morning

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It seems the last two posts have been Sundays, so I decided to start a new day with the blog. But, to tell you the truth it has been very busy since school resumed in late August and I have been struggling to keep all of the plates spinning, or balls in the air, or even my nose above the water. You get the idea.  It’s not just for me but the entire family, including Ivy. Well, maybe not Ivy, but the rest of us.

Last week, as all of us were painfully aware, was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I can remember precisely where I was and what I was doing that morning. I know all of us who remember that awful day have those memories seared into the fabric of our being, the makeup of who we are and how we look at life. Last Saturday morning, I watched Olivia play softball and was incredibly distracted by the air traffic overhead. Continue reading Saturday morning →

Where have I been?

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Bags Fly Free

It has been crazy busy the past two weeks. Seriously busy and all of it self-imposed. I have been in South Texas since Tuesday morning and it has been hot. I grew up here so I should have know what I was in for when I scheduled the trip, but I haven’t lived here for over twenty years and you forget how hot it really gets until you visit. It is so hot it literally melts you or at least it melts me. Continue reading Where have I been? →

First Day New Month

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the last sunset in July, for this year

August the first sounds bad, it really does. It sounds like the end of summer vacation and the return to serious things like school, work, and responsibility. I read the quote in my Franklin Planner this morning and it read,

“There shall be Eternal summer in the grateful heart.” Celia Thaxter.

I had never heard of her so, I let my fingers do the walking and discovered she was an American poet and author in the nineteenth century. Her father was a lighthouse keeper and ran an inn and she lived her entire life in New England. In addition, she is known for running her father’s summer inn, which attracted America’s literary elite in the late 1800s, and hence she lived a summer-like existence, year-round. I suppose summer does live on in our hearts and minds. It is the motivation when the mornings are dreary, the workload enormous, or the chores unpleasant. Whatever is coming in a few weeks when school resumes will not be as much fun as summer has been.   Continue reading First Day New Month →

Friday and the past week

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Our finished mailbox - ready for postcards, letters, and mail

It is early Saturday morning. The sun has yet to peak over the horizon and all is quiet. Even Ivy has decided it is better to stay in bed and has returned to her place on the floor in our bedroom. It has been a great week – for all of us.

Beth finished planting the mailbox on Monday and it has been a reminder of how beautiful her gardens are at home. It certainly makes a statement at the front of the driveway. After Julie’s letter on Saturday, we received a few more items including a postcard from mom! I’ve been writing and sending postcards all summer and this is the first to arrive, here. It is great to get mail and hear how other folks are spending their summer. Continue reading Friday and the past week →

Reading and more reading

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Saturday always feels like a Saturday at the cottage. It doesn’t matter that we aren’t following a schedule it still feels like a Saturday. It is time for a few chores and mostly time for recreation. It is also a busy time on the lake. There are more boats and jet skis zipping on the lake, more water skiers, and more noise. You run into more people on the lane, up for the weekend arriving Friday night and leaving, or planning to, on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading Reading and more reading →

Running

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Yesterday morning, I roused the kids for a run. A group of kids had organized a ‘cottage running club’ and they wanted to go along. Up here, at the cottage, they probably don’t need it with all of the activity packed into their day; swimming, skiing, boating, and just being outside playing. They are far more active here than at home. Nevertheless, I got them up and thirty or so minutes after they left, they tracked back in from their run. They had plenty of time and physical activity ahead in their day. Continue reading Running →

Summer Reading

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Once again, it’s Ivy and I holding down the fort. We woke early. Actually, she got up after my alarm went off and I followed her out of the room. I could hear her whimpering as I quietly came down the stairs and turned toward the kitchen to start the coffee. I let her outside, where she seemed very interested in the sprinkler system and wanted to sniff around the yard. I stood and watched from the deck and looked out on the lake. I realized that visits from eagles were probably over if I had a dog in the yard but, I’d rather have Ivy.  Last night, before bedtime, the kids asked if I would wake them early, so they go running with the ‘running club’ this morning and I’ll be breaking our solitude shortly. Meanwhile, Ivy lies curled up on her pad sleeping, peacefully. Continue reading Summer Reading →

Driving games

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William's view in the sideview mirror

Wednesday was a travel day back to the cottage and the traffic and weather couldn’t have been better, clear and sunny all the way, all 350 plus miles. It was great going back to the cottage especially knowing Beth and Ivy would be leaving Versailles and travelling north to meet us.

We started later than I wanted because there were a few items I had forgotten when I went to Trader Joe’s, our family’s main grocery supply. While the storm had not affected our home two of the three closest TJ’s were powerless, sadly they were two of the 500,000 who had lost power in Monday’s storm. We have had two big storms blow through our area this summer packing winds of 60-70 mph both times and parts of Wheaton have lost power, but not us. Somehow, I think we are due. Continue reading Driving games →

There and back

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It is early Sunday morning and it is still dark out. It is quiet and I am sad, Ivy is not at my feet or curled up on her pad in the kitchen or whimpering because she wants to play and I want to work. She is in Ohio at the kennel where Olivia and momma are staying with grandma and grandpa – I know she is wondering if we left her, again. It has been busy and I have a fuller appreciation of the workings of the house, kids, and a dog. Granted, the week has been complicated by VBS and several doctor appointments, but nonetheless, keeping all of the plates spinning requires quite an effort and even more concentration. Continue reading There and back →