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| My lake house office |
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.
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| 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.
