A late summer mini-vacation

Kind neighbors gave us free rein of their house at Lake Weatherford while they were away on a family matter, so Jordan and Jacob were there for five days, and Christian and I had two or three (two nights). Jacob had a buddy for three days and yesterday a friend of Jordan’s spent much of the day here.

My lake house office

While everyone else was on the dock—sunning or swimming, and Jacob was whizzing around the lake on a jet-ski, I was inside, perched at the dining table with my computer and a marvelous view of the lake. Having had sunstroke as a child and sunburning easily, one of the things I least want to do is lie out in the sun. It makes me fuzzy-headed, and I can’t focus to read. I always says I don’t’ want to be in or on the water, but I love looking at it—part of my Lake Michigan heritage that carries over to Texas’ small lakes.

In the evenings, we had happy hour on the screened in porch where, although it was blistering hot outside, there was usually a pleasant breeze. Jordan fixed us some great meals—spaghetti one evening, a Big Mac salad another night, a chocolate-chip Bundt cake. Jacob complained this morning that the trouble with vacation is that you eat too much.

We had all three dogs with us. They are never allowed outside except on leashes, so they don’t really get “the lake effect” but they like the constant companionship. Dog-walking falls primarily to Jacob, though Jordan does some of it, especially first thing in the morning.

Two boys and a dog

It’s a lazy life, good for a few days. I have my computer but not my monitor, so much is hard to me to read on the small laptop screen. And I don’t feel I can really come to grips with some of my projects—somehow, I have to be home at my desk to dig in. So I spent much of the time reading a mysteries series that I’ve only recently discovered and am thoroughly, laugh-out-loud enjoying.

It’s Julie Mulhern’s Country Club Murders. I started with Killer Queen, either the eleventh or twelfth in the series and then went back to pick up The Deep End, the first. Narrator is Ellison, a mid-life woman of privilege who lives the country club life—bridge, golf, gossip—but sees it all with a jaundiced eye and a wild sense of humor. Ellison has a domineering mother like none you’ve ever seen and an unfortunate habit of finding dead bodies. IN the first book, one of those bodies belong to her husband, a nasty philanderer. Early on she tangles with a detective with the improbably name of Anarchy Jones, and the fun begins. (Hmmm—I digressed from our mini-vacation, didn’t I?)

We did have a tragic bit of excitement yesterday—while everyone was on the dock, a boat exploded at the marina across the lake. They heard a boom and then watched horrified as black smoke pillared up in the air and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles swarmed the scene. I was napping and didn’t hear a thing. Later we learned that four people, including a two-year-old, had been taken to hospitals by Care Flight and two others by ground ambulance. This morning it appears all will survive, but what a horrible end to their summer. When you see a tragedy like that you vicariously become part of it. If we’d been home and read about it, we’d have said, “Too bad” and put it aside. But being here, seeing it, everyone was anxious for any news last night and this morning.

Fitting end to our stay: a good rain last night. We enjoyed it from the screened-in porch, smelling the rain and watching the way it mottled the lake’s surface. The temperature dropped an astonishing twenty degrees in just a few minutes. But today it was back up to hot—something like 102.

We are so blessed to have friends who open their house to us. Grateful is not strong enough to express our appreciation.