summer, how do I love thee....?

1. Morning walks in a tank top, soaking in the sun.
2. Bare feet.
3. Taking a swim for a bit of exercise, just walking to the back yard and ahh.
4. Sitting here blogging with the window open, the neighbor across the road mowing his lawn, the tree branches waving in the breeze, the birds singing away...
5. The beach. duh, right?
6. Spontaneity. It's my favorite word, and it goes well with "summer".
7. Freshness....strawberries, blueberries, sweet corn, watermelon...and cherries.
8. Grilling. Yeah, I can grill in the spring and in the fall, and even in January if I can thaw the grill open after shoveling it off, but nothing beats barefoot grilling.
9. Flowers everywhere.
10. The deck. The huge new deck, filled with daughters who are on summer break, tanning and drinking iced coffee.


There are thorns among these roses, like mosquitoes and sunburns, and dentist appointments.

But summer, ahhh.

Tomorrow night, my eleventh child graduates from high school.
Tonight, Samuel and Grace and little Grant are arriving from Virginia.
Saturday, leaving for the cabin in the woods!

It's a different cabin this year, bigger...eight bedrooms! This fine morning, after doing some paperwork and some laundry, I am going to the store, again, for last minute cabin stuff.

Paul is so jet-lagged...he got home from Singapore on Saturday. The travel time to get there is stupendous - a short flight to NYC, then 5 - 6 hours to Cali, then 16 hours to Singapore. There are layovers in between, and the time change. It takes a toll on him. He comes home from work trips and goes straight back to work, and by the time he gets home in the evenings, he's exhausted. He's not ready for the cabin at all, but once he starts gathering up the fishing gear...:) I hope he gets good and relaxed, because he's going back to Singapore in a few weeks.

Incredibly, I have already lost the weight I gained on my last little vacation in Oregon. Maybe my body needed a huge reset, I don't know. Creme brulee, butter cake with vanilla ice cream, and watermelon margaritas...and the donut place. And a slice of pumpkin bread from Starbucks on the trip out there. Em said, "I won't tell anyone you spent that much on a piece of bread." It was too funny, because I thought she was going to say she wouldn't tell that I ate such a thing, so rich and yummy. It set the tone for the vacation, eating things I normally wouldn't. Homemade pasta, those rich mashed potatoes...oh dear.

I have mixed feelings about how I am going to navigate the cabin feasts. We have split into three dinner teams, and my team is: Margaret, Samuel, Mali Rose, Sonja K., and Charlotte Claire. We have to make dinner on Sunday and Wednesday. (also Saturday for me, but most of the kids are arriving on Sunday because they are going to a youth conference). On Wednesday, we are having grilled pork chops. I froze them in baggies of marinade- lemon and lime juice with rosemary, salt, and pepper, with olive oil. We are also having oven roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, thin green beans, and apple sauce. Dessert is to be determined. Our Sunday dinner may be a huge cheat on my part, because my mother-in-law offered to get us some barbecued chicken from the Methodist church in her town. In that case, we would just set out a huge salad bar, and make salt potatoes.

On the one hand, I know there are certain phrases that should never be listened to by one who is trying to lose weight, they are:
It's a special occasion/It's vacation
I'll only have a little

So the battle wages, but life is certainly enjoyed either way.