Myrtle, the Cherry Ames & Nancy Drew books bring back such memories of my young girlhood! Would you set them aside for me, please?
Elizabeth, if you'll be at the cabin often, you'd better get Bandit his doggie life jacket! I bet he would love being out in the canoe...or jumping in the water when he sees something he wants to inspect!
Do the dogs there really wear life jackets,Mim? My dog was an excellent swimmer. (But I do think that it is a good idea.) I will be along shortly, when you open the wine and serve the wonderful dinner that Lindylou & bhv promised to cook! Hope that Mary will be back soon as I am sure that she will bring some good books.
Hi all, I dragged the gas grill from home and set it up not far from the door. All that was here at the cottage was the charcoal grill and that does not work so easily for a crowd that comes and goes. You have to keep refreshing the heat. Now we will be "cooking with gas", as they say. :) I really don't cook much in the summer, but I did brave the heat and made my grandmother's version of German Potato Salad (no sour cream - I'll have to try that version sometime). I also have macaroni salad, cole slaw, and marinated chopped vegetables that are wrapped up in aluminum foil and can be tossed on the grill any time. Hamburg, salmon, steak, and veggie burgers are in the refrigerator. Any that we don't eat can be taken home and stuffed in freezers. Now I've done all the work I'm going to. I'm grabbing an ancient kid's book from the shelf called "Castle Blair". Taking the book down to the dock so I can sit on the edge, dangle my feet in the water and read of days gone by. Actually I might grab an inner tube (remember those?) and float on the water while I read.
Started to cry this afternoon after providing the care my partner needed. Then realized I did not have to stay cooped up in this house all day, but I could go to the virtual lake side cottage and swim and swim and swim. And if that was not enough I could pull the canoe into the water and paddle out to the island and pick blueberries. So glad I have a virtual life in addition to my real one. Having both makes it possible to remain me. Love you guys.
Hi Lindylou. I couldn't bear to come last weekend, but am here now. I got a new float that is sort of a seat with cup holder for my drink. Sorry folks, wine is not enough today. It is rum and coke. Today is SATURDAY. The most dreaded day of the week.because not much on tv to keep DH occupied. I put on dvds but the machine froze again. Beyond annoying. He did mow the lawns this morning before it got hot. Surprisingly we got through that without argument. Usually I become really stupid when he is mowing the lawn! He worked for about 20 minutes. I worked for about 4 hours with string trimmer and cleaning up. Too much humidity. Came close to heat exhaustion. As I am stumbling in for water, he says, "you look tired." Like, um, ya think? So now I am floating in the lake with my bottomless cocktail, letting my mind wander. Daydreaming about a trip to see my brothers in NY. Reaching out for Lindylou's hand as we float side by side. It is so cool that we live on opposite coasts but, here, at the cottage we can hold hands and hug and smile together
Lindylou needs that hand at the moment bhv so keep holding it. I am holding your other hand. Hope that you mind will be eased by the "floating." And enjoy your drink sounds like you need it!
Floating in the lake with a nice cold cocktail sounds divine!! Lindylou, Cassie and bhv, I'm coming too! I know my way around a gas grill so I can definitely help with the cooking.
Welcome. Do you remember when we all floated on black inner tubes from the inside of car tires way back when? So glad you grabbed one. Sometimes this is just where you need to be. Floating and trouble free in a special place. Suitcases with all burdens packed and left by the door to be pick up at a later time.
Glad you know how the gas grill works - I've only ever used charcoal, but I figured with people coming and going a gas grill made the most sense. Everything we need is in the refrigerator. I just hauled in a watermelon and it just managed to fit. For ice cream you have to listen for the bells on the ice cream truck. If the canned music sounds far away its on the other side of the lake, if its close you just run, jog, or walk to the end of the dirt driveway and the truck will soon arrive. Always a happy sound in my memory.
And then they invented plastic. One summer we got tubes with clear plastic on top and a pretty design on the bottom. One was round and one was square. My brother and I were so excited. Then we magically learned how to swim. But we still used the tubes sometimes because they were so pretty
Yes, Lindylou, I remember!!! We used to float down the Ichetucknee Springs in Florida on those black inner tubes but they were from truck tires because they were a bit bigger. It was so much fun!! Being a Florida girl though I didn't dare venture into the water until July or August when it was good and hot since that water is 72 degrees (22 C). For us down in the south that's downright cold!!! I'm sure my Canadian and northern friends are getting a good laugh from this. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to water temperature. :))
I never learned how to swim, but remember floating on the old inner tubes. I always seemed to get jabbed with the stem (I can't think of the right word!). I just keep thinking lately how I would love to go somewhere away from the world at large, a place where nobody knows my name except for my friends. A place where I could just turn off my brain, absorb the peace & serenity...like the cabin! I might be there during the week, as long as it isn't too humid. A frosty iced coffee laced with a little Baileys...aahhh. Don't know who else will be there, but I'll find out when I get there.
Wolf, I'm bringing "Portrait of an Artist" by James Joyce for you to enjoy. Elizabeth, for you I have a collection of E.B.White's essays about dogs he has owned that his granddaughter has recently put together and had published.f Charlotte, I've had visitors, including my 4-year-old great niece (she spells her name Cassey), who pretended to be a dog named Vanilla. After she'd gone home to Boston, I sent her a video of E9 dancing in the rain and told her that's who I would like to pretend to be. Her grandfather, my youngest brother, worked in Richland as a physicist. For I'm taking a supply of notebooks and pencils for you so that you can keep on writing. I'm looking for other books to take to the lake, too, maybe a collection of poetry for Myrtle. For ol' Don, James Thurber's "My Life and Hard Times." Cassie, I'm not sure what to pack for you. You have so many fine Australian writers, it's hard to choose. Maybe one of the more recent ones by Penelope Lively, the one where an elderly mother goes to live with daughter and son-in-law.
I know its late, so I hope I'm not rousing anyone inside the cottage. I just felt compelled to come down to the dock and see if I could see the milky way. And ponder the vastness of things. What seems overwhelming at home is iInfinitesimal when considering the tiny bit of the universe we see here. I think I will just sit here and wait for dawn.
Lindylou. I was thinking about you this morning as I was cleaning the pool. Wondered if you'd like to take a little trip with me. I grew up on the South Shore of Long Island. We had an old wooden 34 foot sloop. Gaff rigged with old canvas sails. Since this is a virtual world I think we can quickly get over there and go on a sail across the bay to Davis Park. It is a quick walk across Fire Island on the boardwalk and we can go for a swim in the ocean.
Come back to the calmer bay side and go clamming with our toes. It is always a problem getting enough to bring home for dinner. I just keep opening them up and eating them right there. We are using one of those tire tubes to hold a basket to collect the clams.
We'll stop at a farm stand and get some corn and lettuce and peppers. My friend Glen has fish store and he picked up some lobsters for us too. We can have an old fashioned clam bake.
After dark, if you're not too tired, we can go for a little sail under jib only so we are barely moving. Smeone holds a flashlight on the bow pointing at the water. Someone else at the stern with a net scoops up the blue claw crabs as they.come to investigate the light. Tomorrow we will feast on every crab recipe we can think of.
Sounds like absolute fun. Full of things I love to do, and things I've never tried. I've sailed off the Maine coast some as a child, and know just enough sailing to follow a skipper's commands to raise the jib or lower the main sail, and especially to duck my head when we "come about". Never dug for clams or caught crabs, but think I'd be a quick learner. And eating lobster is one of the best thing ever.I've canoed in the night, but never had a midnight sail. I can imagine it though. See you soon, bhv.
I've been wiggling my toes off and on for the last few days. Long Island was formed by the last ice age. It is the debris pushed in front of the glacier as it moved south. The north shore is higher and rockier than the south shore. The south shore is primarily fine sand. So when you go clamming with your toes you are waist to chest deep in the water. You.have an orchard basket inside a car tire inner tube and tied to your belt or bra.strap. Bet those inner tubes are hard to find these days. You shuffle your feet in the mud like in FL when you do the stingray shuffle. The "mud" is clean and sandy and feels silky on your feet. Touch something hard and it is more likely to be a clam than a rock. Wrap your toes around it and grab it with your left hand. Bring it up and you have a shucking knife in your right hand. Check to make sure it s big enough. You drop the small ones because you want to sustain the population. Open the clam and enjoy. Better put every other one in the basket for the ones at home. Hope for some big ones (about the size of your palm) so we can make Eddie Rohrbach's famous baked clams.
They used to say what an afrodesiac (sp?) Oysters were. Those never did anything for me. Clams, on the other hand.....
Hey Wolf, do you want to come sailing today? It is windy. Coming from the Southwest. Perfect for racing the ferry boat across the bay. I need another hand because these canvas sails and wooden boom and gaff are heavy. In this wind I need a backup to make sure we can handle the sails. With this wind we will be sailing with one deck in the water. With wind power alone we will get to Davis Park before the ferry!
Sure, I'll come sailing with you. We'll 'show our bottom' right across the bay racing across in the stiff breeze like Winslow Homer's painting Breezing Up and beat the ferry to Davis Park.
It was wind power that erased the mountains that were New York before those glaciers moved in. There are remnants of them known as schist sticking out in Central Park and around New York.
So, I have a cottage at the lake question. When you're standing in water up to your waist out there wearing an inner tube and you're eating clams left right and center, how does that work that it's an afrodesiac?
I have an image of someone suddenly not eating any more clams but instead plowing their way out of the waist/chest high water with the inner tube dragging along because they suddenly realize they have something very important they want to do...with someone else presumably their partner.
You're not wearing the inner tube. The tube is keeping the basket afloat so you can bring home some clams for later. The afrodesiac effect is not that sudden. For me, I would just feel more mellow. The afrodesiac effect meant that if I had sex after having clams it was actually enjoyable. As opposed to painful or nothing at all. You wouldn't find me running out of the water leaving clams behind just to have sex. But my friend, Cindy, now she might do just that. She'd have that basket of clams dragging behind her across the dunes til she found a suitable partner. That's a funy picture. I might be giggling all day with that one.
I forgot to say it takes some practice to pick up the clams with your toes. And I will shuck them for anyone who isn't experienced. That seriously takes some practice.
"I forgot to say it takes some practice to pick up the clams with your toes" - I guessed.
I'm just watching a documentary on Britain in 1900 and it's on the part about women voting in the election that year. They weren't allowed to because, of course, they were women, and their minds weren't suitable for thinking as a man's was (despite the known evidence that their brains are identical).
I'm at the part where the medical science of the day was diagnosing "hysterogenic zones" which was the diagnosis when a women displayed any kind of public vitality or other kind of unwanted behaviour like expressing opinions, wanting to vote, or even (shudder) to hold public office.
I wonder if perhaps that's what your friend Cindy had - 'hysterogenic zones'. At any rate, I will change my picture to plowing out of the waist/chest high water with purpose dragging the inner tube behind. I think that was a funny picture too and - you know what? - we could use some.
If our friend Phranque were posting today, he would point out that the word is spelled with a "ph."
aphrodisiac (n.) preparation or drug which excites sexual desire," 1719, from Latinized form of Greek aphrodisiakos "inducing sexual desire," from Aphrodisios, "sacred to Aphrodite, pertaining to Aphrodite," Greek goddess of love and beauty (see Aphrodite), whose name also meant "sexual pleasure; a temple of Aphrodite." As an adjective from 1775 (earlier was aphrodisical, 1719). http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
P.S. This spelling may not be correct in Canada, where it's probably spelled "aphroudisiaque." Eh?
Well Phrankly my dear, I don't give a damnsiaque how it's spelled up here. Allow me to give you a very brief history of Canuckland. (The spell checker is going wild)
Newfoundland joined last by a 51% margin. That's exactly the percentage that want to be in Canada today. Quebec voted to stay by almost the same percentage just a short while ago. Alberta is full of rednecks who hate the east which has historically shaped policy to benefit the east. The entire Atlantic region (3 provinces) has a population smaller than the medium sized town I live in. Manitoba is an enigma. Saskatchewan is where some people come from. British Columbia is la-la land as seen from the rest of Canada. The only thing all the other provinces agree on is that they hate Ontario. Throw in that our national animal is a rodent with buck teeth and that we're all proud of the olympic snowboarder who's medal was stripped because he was stoned at the time, that our major export is comedians, and that's decent coverage right there. You're welcome.
Neither Newfoundland nor Quebec want to be part of you either. They want to be independent. The rest is family squabbling. We get along OK in a country that is basically 200 miles wide and 4,000 miles long. Well over 90% of Canadians live within 200 miles of the USA border. That's not you either actually - it's warmer and that's closer to the substantial trading we do with each other. Our border towns right across the country get along just fine. The NAFTA stuff is just about money. There are more Canadians emigrating to the USA than the other way around, but there is a decent number coming the other way. Besides, it all works out, we give you our freezing arctic air and you give us your thunderstorms and hurricanes. Local results may vary.
Ha, Wolf. I met someone from Manitoba years ago and enigma describes her.perfectly. I miss being able to just easily cross back and forth across the border. Now I will have to get a passport. No spur of the moment trips any more.
Myrtle, thanks for looking up the spelling. I knew mine was not right but was too lazy to look it up. And I was just thinking about you and Mim. Have you been holding down the fort here while I took Lindylou and Wolf out sailing? We are back at the cottage. I fired up Lindylou's grill. There is New England style clam "chowdah" on the side burner and some grilled lobstah and "baked" clams on the grill. Oh some lovely corn on the cob from a farm stand. Time for a peaceful glass of wine while dangling our feet in the water at the end of the dock.
So. CA had an uproarious thunderstorm this afternoon. I am "chillin" at the cottage trying not to think about how much clean up I have to do tomorrow.
I've got a fire going in the stone pit. There's a bag of marshmallows. The black sky is full of stars. The red glowing coals are crackling and popping. There's a slight breeze coming off the lake and there's idle talk of a midnight swim. But someone tells a ghost story and I swim in my room temperature merlot instead. There's a relaxed lull in the conversation and the aura of bedtime is in the air when suddenly a bright shooting star streaks clear across the sky which might have been the gods being angry in more primitive times but was more likely a small meteorite burning up in the atmosphere delivering it's cargo of space dust. Keep those cards and letters coming. Staring into the fire sipping the merlot, I think about the scads of time I'm saving not having to answer my fan mail - for the very good reason that I don't get any.
Thanks for bringing the marshmallows. That was a very pleasant evening. I had some Shiraz with you. I am trying to find a wine I like. Will try Merlot next. My friend Patty likes White Merlot. Which boggles my mind because it is not whit at all. You get lots of fan mail here. And you always answer thoughtfully. Brought tears to my eyes last night when you said you had been waiting for Lindylou.
Good morning Lindylou. Sorry it is already almost afternoon on your coast. I made blueberry pancakes for you and there is a mimosa in the frig. In our magic kitchen the pancakes are always warm and never stale. I put extra blueberries so no syrup required. Put a dollop of whipped cream, roll them up and savor on your walk back home. I have to go grocery shopping and then clean the pool, again, after the thunderstorm. So I made some salmon sandwiches. They're in the frig in case you come by while I am out. (((Hugs))))
I missed being at the cottage! I've been away recuperating from knee surgery and I'm so glad to be back. I'll get that recipe out for the German potato salad sometime this week and give it to all of you. I will be happy to make some to for all of you when I'm feeling a little stronger.
I can't go in the water yet but I can dangle my feet off the pier. I hear that loon again. I love that sound. In a way it's a lonely sound and at the same time a comfort.
Wolf, I wish I could have some of that merlot. Maybe I will when I'm off these darn pain pills. I'll have some hot chocolate instead. It will get a little cooler tonight so I would enjoy that.
Bhv, those pancakes sound so delicious. Can you make some for me? I love pancakes.
Bhv, I'm devouring the pancakes as if I hadn't eaten in a week! Bev, so glad to see you. And Wolf, wasn't that shooting star amazing? Its probably part of the Perseid Meteor Showers we see every year about this time in August. There may be even more tonight if the weather holds clear.
Bev, I just made another batch. There's plenty to go around. Good to.see you. Knee surgery can sometimes be tough to recover from. Make sure to keep up with the exercises and dont get discouraged. It takes longer than you would think.
I've always found the Wolf Blass label from Australia to produce nice reds if that's available.
The thing about not being able to have the merlot is to want to. Buy yourself a bottle of merlot at the first opportunity and tape a message to yourself right on the bottle and put it away until you're off the darn pills. The message reads: "Welcome back".
I remember trips way up north on Lake Nipissing to do some fishing. We stayed at a lodge and went out early in the morning after a hearty breakfast and trolled for Pickeral, Pike, and Muskie. We fished in the west arm which is shallower and has lots of rocks and small islands. Some time around noon the lodge boat came out and tied up on a small island and began preparing the shore lunch. That was our sign to stop fishing and come over to the island. We cleaned the fish we'd caught while they got the fires going and put two of the largest cast iron frying pans I've ever seen onto the iron grills. They also had a large pot of beans on the fire. They put two pounds of bacon in each frying pan, fried that up, and took the bacon out to pass around. In one pan they put a huge whack of potatoes into the hot oil and into the other they placed the fillets of the substantial amount of absolutely fresh fish.
We sat around on the rocks eating fried potatoes, baked beans, and our own catch before heading into the boats again to fish until dusk. That's where I learned how to fillet a fish and to this day, I use the knife I bought and was taught how to use on that day with my first shore lunch in it.
If the pancakes are always warm & fresh, I can eat them for supper....I like "breakfast for supper". Have to have bacon with them of course. Maybe someone has already described this about the cottage, but I hope there are woods nearby where I can walk, listening to birdsong (must remember my hearing aids!), watching sunlight filter through gently moving leaves, watching small wildlife scamper about. Then come out into the sunshine shining on the lake as it gently laps upon the shore, with a brilliant blue sky with puffy, marshmallow clouds....ahhh.
Speaking of marshmallows (I know someone brought them), maybe make S'mores....for some reason I've been thinking of those. Haven't had one for years. Catch ya'll later.
Yes, Mim there are paths in the woods, actually the remnants of old dirt roads that now lead to no where specific, but will eventually bring you back to the lake shore. And if you do wish to see larger wildlife I or someone can go with you in the canoe. We will paddle to the dam and portage over to the river - then we can float quietly and occasionally see deer, snapping turtles, and eagles. The current is so gentle we can paddle back with no strain at all.
Yes Mim, the paths are dirt roads with dirt so soft and no rocks we can walk barefoot. And the maple trees form a canopy above us with soft light filtering through. There are Robins and Cardinals. I even saw a California Thrasher there. It is a little bit bigger than a robin with a longer tail, and a long curved bill to dig for insects. Plain gray.with a little gold/orange on its rump. But when it lands on a fence post and starts singing you would swear there was a whole choir singing an Easter contata.
Morning Lindylou. I am having coffee at the end of the dock. It is silent. No one is touching me. I hope that lasts for a few minutes. It is silent here. Thank you, dear cottage at the lake, for this tiny pause.
I know Lindylou is busy with family this weekend. Just wanted to leave a message here to say I am thinking of her and her partner and hope things are not too chaotic. A few days ago she.mentioned the Christmas Lodge and I couldn't get that out of my head. It was hot the other day when I was vacuuming the pool so I took a jaunt over to the Christmas Lodge. Would you believe it? The pond is frozen! I went up to the attic room with the lavender flower wallpaper and there on the bed was a red coat with fur collar. Matching tailored hat with fur trim and a fur muff. It is exactly like the coat my Grandma made when I was three. She cut it out from a worn out ladies coat. I am now 63 and it fit me perfectly! So I went skating on the pond. You know, like in the Bishop's Wife. Since it is August, no one was here and it was so QUIET. I had a grand time. When I got back, the pool was done and it has even stayed clean for the last two days. Last night I nearly fell asleep floating.
I didn't see a California Thrasher, but I did have three Yellow Shafted Flickers spend an hour on my front lawn yesterday feeding because apparently whatever they eat, I have lots of. My poor field guide is really a stack of pages held together by rubber bands. It's 58 degrees out there also known as 13C (I think). Yesterday it was even colder. It's supposed to be almost 90 with maybe 70 degree nights. On the plus side it's rained so regularly that for the first time since I've been out here, the lawns are all green in early August.
I've spent five years sitting in the same wooden chair. I'm here right now. I've worked my way through all the seat cushions where I use two now because they're so flattened and tired of holding up the rear. Yesterday while I was doing laundry waiting for the dryer cycle to end, I opened a tall cupboard door right there and discovered I own a small stack of seat cushions along with two brand new pillows. I just bought new pillows after finally noticing the two I kept using (which I robbed from the guest room) are long past it. Bhv mentioned The Bishop's Wife. My life as a single male has been like Wild Kingdom (brought to you by Mutual of Omaha). I STILL haven't bought a new vacumn cleaner which I was writing about five years ago I need to replace.
I'm sure all those things are very, very important and I'm super committed to dealing with them where I'm giving 110% worrying about them, but right now I'm in the hammock at the cottage listening to the kids playing somewhere and the breeze going through the trees and I think I might drift off except the scent of coffee reaches me, where I can detect a single molecule of coffee in the air from a hundred yards and I realize I have a very serious decision to make.
I imagine the Wild Kingdom scene being narrated:
"The wary hunter can keep still for hours waiting for his prey. It has taken years to hone his skills to this point, where he can tell whether it's a Kuerig canister or freshly brewed from a mile away. Light as a feather, he rolls out of the camouflage. Ok. Try again. Light as a feather he rolls out of the native hammock. Oh my. Try again. Light as a feather he...rolls around in the hammock and gets stuck. That's not in the script!"
Yeah, so one of the other people at the Cottage just rolls her eyes and fixes his coffee and brings it over. lol Here you are, Wolf, and I even let you have my special NYPD mug.
How funny Wolf. I am literally laughing out loud. Thankfully DH didn't ask for an explanation.
We have flickers here too. They do not like to be seen. Got the best view on the golf course. They seemed to nest in the palm trees and they loved something in the grass. Must be tiny bugs. They have beautiful feathers.
Vacuum cleaners are too complicated these days. How does one choose? My DH bought a fancy Hoover on eBay a number of years ago. No bags. I worried about emptying the canister because of my allergies but it has not been a problem. This one is very heavy. I think it is an industrial machine. My tiny Swedish Grandmother (who made the coats) could never have pushed this thing around. It is nice because the hose is long enough to clean the stairs.
I bought a cheap one for upstairs but threw it away after about a year. It kept breaking and was difficult to clean and got clogged up all the time. I only used it for a couple of rarely used rooms upstairs.
Now I have.a.medium priced Hoover wind tunnel up there. It has a turbo brush for stairs. It is relatively easy to empty. I was going to splurge on a Dyson at my sewing/vacuum store but they have bags. Here in the semi desert we have so much gritty dust I would go through 3 bags just doing my living room. So forget that.
All is quiet on the home front. My d-i-l has come by to visit us for a week. Just thought I'd take a few minutes now to dip my feet in the water down on the dock. It is pitch black, the water is as smooth as silk, there are a million stars. Maybe I'll see a falling star too, before I return home.
Tried to get here yesterday. Got lost along the way. Taking a little break and even having a second cup of coffee at the end of the dock. Here it is QUIET.
The only sounds I hear is the occasional frog jumping into the water, the gentle waves against the shore, and the pine boughs sighing in the breeze. I'm going to try to bring some of this peace home with me. Nice to see that you are here too, bhv.
Hi, Mim. We can sit in these Adirondack chairs, let the warm breeze blow past us, have some iced tea or coffee or soda, and catch our breath from real world events. There is some magical strengthening that happens when we are here with friends. So happy to see you. So sorry things have to be so hard.
Ah! Just the place to go when I feel lonely. Everyone is already asleep and it's quiet and calm here on the dock. Stars are bright. All of a sudden I'm so tired. Trying to open the screen door to the porch slowly so it won't squeak. Someone has made up the the cot with fresh white linens. Is it OK for me to climb in? I think I will.