Lunch at the lake

This is the second Friday in a row Hali and I have taken our lunch out to the lake. The weather has been splendid! The water is so beautiful since they drained and filled it. We sit on the dock, eat, talk and laugh. Then we lean over the edge to watch the fish. The water is so clear. Today a dad and his son were fishing off the jetty next to us. It sure makes it hard to go back to the office.

Books and Doodles

Two days of meetings produces a page of doodles. And since I haven’t posted any pictures of them lately….

And now for the books portion of this post. I finished Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman the other night, certainly not one of her best. Now that the summer reading season is over I was thinking of what I enjoyed the most, definitely Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. And if I had to pick a second, it would be Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, but a distant second. I think my problem might have been that I only read one non fiction book this summer. I went for a long period of time when I only read non fiction. Maybe I need to mix it up more. I started a book by Eduardo Galeano yesterday. I heard him interviewed on NPR the other day and found him very interesting. I’m reading Walking Words, Latin American folklore. I’m really enjoying it. But I need some book suggestions……

I think our president is

I think our president is an incredibly brave and moral man. … “Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.” … I listened to the president speak last night. And now today I’ve read it again word for word. So I don’t understand. It’s not like we are asking for the moon here. If you have a problem with the bill, what are your ideas to fix it? But fix it and fix it now. What is wrong with trying to eliminate waste, abuse, and fraud and trying to eliminate the practice of padding profits? No, it might not fund the entire health care plan, but isn’t it a step in the right direction? And that’s the problem. It’s time to take a step forward. I would like to send a message to congress. Be brave and lead. You ran for the office. You took the job. Now do it.

Photo credit: last week I saw this moon through the living room window and my camera wouldn't do it justice so Paul shot it for me. He literally gave me the moon.

The un-official end of summer

I love this time of year when all of the festivals begin. Friday night was First Fridays where we saw a giant dress of rope. Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival.

Sunday we went on a bike ride and the catfish were drifting on the surface of the river.

I had time to make a collage.

And time for a lemon pie.

And I bought this bird whistle from a booth at the Ren Fest. We tried it out on Sunday. Paul had one little guy answering him. But all the rest of the birds seemed to shut up. Hmmm. Maybe this has the opposite effect. Or maybe we better learn what we're saying. It sounded pretty all the same.

And finally, I made this list not too long ago of things I wanted to accomplish this summer now that it's over ..... maybe I can finish up with Indian Summer.

summer list

√ garden, (our best one ever)
√ run, (but not up to my goal)
√ tennis, (only twice, need more)
√ swim outdoors
√ bike
archery
√ pick strawberries and make jam
√ cherries, (pick, freeze, and bake into pies)
√ eat and cook seafood
√ eat peaches and cream
√ make peach pie, (made a grilled pie and a cobbler)
√ badminton
√ sewing, (could be farther along on this one)
√ hammock
√ clean and organize, (yikes)
√ start a quilt
√ tomato spaghetti
√ vacation, (San Antonio, Florida, and Maryland)
√ go to a county fair, (2)
draw
√ meteor/star gazing
√ bon fire, (only one)
roasting marshmallows
√ read lots of books

I saw this on CNN

I saw this on CNN last night. I know I'm being played. I can't help it. I love it!

Summer's Last Hoorah

The sunflowers are here. Fields and fields of them.

So now the kitchen has some
and some zinnias from the garden.