Tag: lake

The pause that refreshes…

I’m sitting in the three-season room of mom & dad’s cottage at the Lake. Alas, elsaf‘s already left for the weekend, but judiang‘s still here and getting ready for the day. (I think the day will entail the two of us being here at the Lake and doing squat. Sounds good to me!)

The weekend began on Thursday when Judi flew in from Chicago. I picked her up and drove us to Piqua (a bit norther than necessary to get to my house) for a late lunch. We went to El Sombrero. Tasty tasty! Then we popped into Home Depot so that I could return the bathtub drain which (despite the recommendation from the Home Depot bathroom lady) was the wrong size, plus a pair of bullnose corners which I didn’t need after all. Then we zipped over to the tile section and looked for 5 more matte bullnose tile for my shower area. (The contractor thought it would look better going from the floor to the ceiling, so I was half a foot off on both sides in what I had picked up.) They had 7, so I picked out the cleanest 5 and we headed to my house.

Judi got to see the progress in the bathroom. Thursday was pretty much plumber day, so it didn’t look a whole lot different at the end of the day as it looked at the beginning, but I did have a working tub (sans fixtures) AND shower (for the first time since the house was built). Yay! I sent Judi next door to mom & dad’s house to nap since there weren’t construction people banging on things. (Oh how Lucy & Linus would have loved for me to do the same for them! Poor kitties!)

While they were working and Judi was napping, I played a little World of Warcraft and then stuffed my bike in my car (since we were going bike riding at the Lake when Elsa arrived). When the contractors were done, I returned to the folks’ to pick up Judi and then ordered pizza for supper. I had a coupon for free delivery – yay!

As the folks headed over to my place, Judi and I walked over to the gas station to pick up some chips and some pop. However, when I got there, I realized I hadn’t brought my ATM card, I’d brought my credit card. Whoops! We walked back to find mom & dad watching HGTV on my big ass TV, I apologized, and then Judi and I walked back, this time with my card.

Once we had chips and pop and were back at my house, I received a call from Aunt Becky saying work suddenly had gotten busy and she’d be a little late. And not to wait for her to eat. (Dad called out “We won’t!” It is his sister after all. Heh.) The pizza arrived soon after the call, so we ate and watched HGTV and then Suzie Orman. I’d decided to order the new steak ‘n’ shroom pizza – Angus steak, mushrooms, onions, special sauce, cheese – and a deluxe. And for dessert, a peach dessert pizza. The pizzas were all nice and tasty.

When Becky arrived, I put Penn & Teller: Bullshit on and the girls and I got to playing Pinochle. We learned an important lesson – don’t let Judi bid during the first round. We started out 590 points in the hole thanks to her. Despite this setback and a few other dumb plays by both of us, we managed to beat Becky and Mom in the end.

After the game, Judi and I headed off to the Lake. We arrived after 11pm and immediately put the A/C on. Then we vegged in the three-season room which was cooler than the cottage. By the time we headed for bed, it was cool enough in the cottage.

We slept late and didn’t get off until nearly lunchtime, but rather than go to the grocery on empty stomaches, we stopped into the lunch/breakfast cafe Haus der Eleganz that’s across the street from Wagner’s. I ordered a vanilla steamer and a chocolate muffin. Judi had a double-shot hazelnut soy latte and a carrot muffin. It was tasty and Judi was absolutely delighted with the shop inside the cafe. (What, they don’t have those in Chicago?) She even took photos! Heh! We decided that we must have lunch there on Saturday with Elsa.

We picked up stuff at the grocery and returned home. After a bit, I made a fire and we roasted hot dogs. Tasty tasty! We vegged while waiting on Elsa’s arrival. And when she arrived, we hugged and she joined in the vegging.

For supper, I grilled corn on the cob and a marinated patio steak (as I’d done a couple weekends before for mom and dad) as well as pineapple. We sat out at the picnic table and had a very pleasant supper. We vegged at the fire for awhile until it was time for Meerkat Manor, which Elsa and Judi watch. We then watched some more Bullshit and eventually got off to bed.

I’m going to start the fire for lunch, so will post about yesterday later on.

OMGWTFBBQ!

Ah, sitting in the dark in the three season room with my fellow geeks as the Raccoon Family Chorus sings in the background. It doesn’t get much better than this! Oh wait, the geese are adding to the warbling chorus – I guess it does get better. 🙂

Today’s biggest priority was elsaf making her barbecue country spare ribs. We had few other plans for the day, so most of it was spent here at the cottage enjoying the beautiful weather and the wonderful wildlife.

I slept in the 3-season room again last night, this time in dad’s chair. And it was quite a good sleep except for the Raccoon Family Massacre that took place at 3am (well, there wasn’t a massacre, but the sheer amount of screaming that the little suckers did made it sound that way) and the Goose & Gander sing-along around 6 in the morning. Apart from those times, I slept until around 8am.

Although Elsa and I got up at decent times (and even judiang woke up & got up at a reasonable time!) breakfast was a little late due to Elsa being distracted by a nice entry she was writing for DailyKos. But once she was done, she made us French toast and sausage. Mmmmm!

We rested and geeked until around 1pm when it was time for lunch (despite not being all that hungry for it). We picked up a grilling basket at the hardware store in Minster (Elsa needed two for the ribs and the folks only had one) and then went to Casadores in New Bremen. Elsa and I ordered lunch and gave a little to Judi so that she wouldn’t get hungry before suppertime. (She said she wasn’t hungry, but we fed her anyway – we’re cruel that way.) We picked up ice cream for the ala mode to our dessert for supper before we returned to the cottage.

While Judi and I read and rested, Elsa worked on her BBQ ribs and potato salad. The parental units showed up after a bit and brought the Market Day apple pie which I’d received as a free gift for my last order. (I thought it would be perfect for this weekend.) I started baking it right away.

More resting, reading, and chatting and even Elsa had some time to relax after a bit. But suppertime was looming, so I got to work on the fire for the grilling. Then I finished the lunch prep and set the table for supper while Elsa basted and then grilled the ribs.

Supper was wonderful. We all love that Elsa loves to cook. 🙂 She used the broth from the ribs to make a Japanese-inspired soup, which we started with. Then we had the ribs and potato salad. There was leftover foccacia bread and sour dough bread as sides as well. And I cut up the peaches we still had left and served them with a little sugar (and some fruit fresh) with a few blueberries for garnish. It was a lovely supper and photos from it are below the bird photos.

I shooed Elsa and the folks off to sit by the fire while Judi washed dishes and I dried & put them away. She’s a fast dish washer, but it still took us awhile to get everything cleaned up. Then we joined everyone at the fire for chatting and photo-taking. It was quite pleasant.

After a bit, Judi started muttering “pie! PIE!” so it was time to serve the pie. I was very pleased with the pie – when I cut it, it flaked just like an apple pie should. I served it with the ice cream and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Judi gave it a 9 out of 10. I said since it was free, it deserved a 10 out of 10. 🙂

More musing by the fire, and then some singing. We’re not as well-versed in camp songs as my sister or Rachel, so that petered out eventually. But then the baby raccoons started coming out of their tree and came over to see us. Elsa and dad took photos and Elsa’s posted some of the photos to her journal.

The folks headed off home and Judi and I tended the fire a bit longer. But then it was time to come inside and geek, so that’s what we’re doing.


Duckling Formation
Duckling Formation

The little ducklings swim toward the shore in a deceptively random “duckling formation.”
My Two Dads
My Two Dads

2 guys and a gal and their six ducklings. “Uncle Steve” is just like another father to these little ones.
Duck, Duck, Goose
Duck, Duck, Goose

Or in this case, “Goose, Goose, Duck.” It’s shame that, despite hanging out “together,” the geese all sit in the sun together and the ducks all sit in the shade together. So much for integration!
Mmmm, ribs!
Mmmm, ribs!

Elsa’s barbecued country spare ribs and potato salad. Yummy!
Pie!
Pie!

Pie are square. No, pie are round, cake are square!


Super Saturday!

Today was a busy day. And a great day too. After a night of little sleep (turns out the airbed for the cottage now leaks, so I wound up sleeping on the uncomfortable lounge chair in the 3-season room last night), I snoozed a bit on the sofa and got up around 8:15am. elsaf got up then too and started preparing her new electric griddle for making us pancakes for breakfast. After my shower, I nipped off to Wagner’s to get ice for the pop cooler and a shower poof for judiang. I returned around 9 to find our breakfast chef had disappeared mid-prep. (The plates were lovingly decorated with sliced strawberry garnish, but no pancakes were made yet.) Elsa was off in the shower. Heh.

Once she was showered, we woke up Judi with promise of blueberry pancakes and she, too, got all cleaned up for the day. My goal was to be on the road by 10:30am, and we managed it, even with me cleaning up the breakfast dishes. The goal was to head south to the Bookery so Judi could get her Doctor Who magazines, we could have Indian Fud, and watch Indiana Jones (at $7.25 for a matinée – gah! Gimme my $4 matinées from Piqua & Troy.) We accomplished the goal and included a stop at a used bookstore where I bought more Terry Brooks’ Landover novels and a stop at BestBuy where I bought dad the wireless mouse he wanted and decided to get one for myself. I’ll be interested to see if I use it much – I’ve become pretty used to my trackpad on my laptop.

We enjoyed the movie – it’s silly fun with some edge-of-your-seat action and really crappy science. But it played up to its silly science and was an enjoyable 2 hours. (I’ll still prefer the third movie because I loved the interplay between Ford and Connery.) Several of the trailers were entertaining too. I think we all agreed that Hancock will be our 4th of July movie when we’re in Chicago (where I’ll be wishing I was paying that $7.25 matinée price of today).

When we got back to the Lake, our guests for the evening were already here and enjoying nachos with salsa and guacamole. Aunt Becky and Deanna had come up for supper and to play cards. Mom and dad were also here for supper and cards (dad to avoid them, mom to play them). Even my Uncle Dean showed up for supper. I got to work on making the burger patties. Dad had already started a fire, so once the burgers were made, I could start grilling them and the hot dogs. I also grilled the leftover shrimp so that Elsa could have some – indeed, anyone that wanted to try the shrimp was able to. And it was just as delicious today as yesterday. Go shrimp!

My hostess skills are constantly improving thanks to these Memorial Day weekend gatherings. However, I didn’t remember tomato and, to my uncle Dean’s dismay, deviled eggs. However, I doubt that deviled eggs will ever be part of my hostessing repertoire. Never liked the suckers, even though they’re pretty to look at. Thanks to the brownies that Becky brought and the sugar cookies and no bake cookies that I’d bought, we had plenty of sweet stuff. Everyone got their fill and then some.

After supper it was time for some Shanghai Rum. Elsa isn’t much for card playing, but she condescended to join us for the game. She picked up the rudiments to the game quickly, but Judi had smelled victory early on and fought hard for the final win of the game. Becky decided that we’d have to have a rematch later this summer when Judi deigns to visit again. Heh.

Folks headed out once the game was done and Judi cleaned the dishes with me drying them. She’s now slowly downing an amaretto sour while playing World of Warcrack on her laptop. Elsa’s also working on her laptop (and most likely NOT playing World of Warcrack). I’m writing this.

Tomorrow is Relax Day. Our only real task is to make supper – with Elsa making barbecued country ribs and sour cream potato salad. I’ll be baking an apple pie (from frozen) for dessert. Should be another fun & food filled day tomorrow!

The First Lazing at the Lake for 2008

Ah, the sun is getting lower in the sky, the song birds are saying “night night!’ to each other, the geese are going “honk honk” as they pass each other on the Lake. Yup, it’s Memorial Day weekend at the Lake, 2008.

judiang‘s sleeping in the 3-season room. I’m sitting out by the fire (a very nice one I must say) typing on this. And poor elsaf is driving here from Detroit. She just can’t seem to buy a break today. Her intent was to arrive around 4pm. But we’ve received 2 e-mails and a text message, each stating yet another delay. Poor dear. She last figured 9:30pm. Hopefully that time will stand.

Judi arrived at the airport around 10:30 this morning and my folks picked her up. Since we’re into the last 10 days of school, by contract I wasn’t able to take a personal day even though, with the seniors gone, I don’t have students in the afternoon. Not a problem, since the folks were willing to help out, things went just fine.

They dropped Judi off at the school around 11 and I immediately showed off my Airliner tablet and the SmartBoard software. She was truly impressed and got a few lessons on optics. (She now knows the difference between diffraction and refraction.) I also showed her the current design plans for the new school building and my own plans for my chemistry classroom/lab. Then I drug her around the school so she could see some of the folks she went to Italy with. We couldn’t find Marcia, but she saw Jacki, John, Tammy, and Marcia’s hubby Gary (who gave her a big hug). We had a turkey sub from Indian’s Pizza (Jeff’s wife delivers to us every other Friday), some Munchies, apple slices and Pepsi. Tasty tasty. Then I drove Judi to my home, fixed her dessert (Betty Crocker’s new 150 calorie microwave brownies – very very yummy! Especially with whipped cream.)

I returned to work after I got Judi all nicely tucked up on the sofa. My brain was pretty much fried by then, so I helped out in the office moving boxes and stuff so they wouldn’t be in the hallway during graduation. It wasn’t until 2:30 that MJ remembered there was a calligraphy job she needed doing for the valedictorians. No matter, I grabbed my calligraphy kit and was done with the certificates in time to leave around 3. (We have 6 valedictorians this year. Out of a class of around 45-50. Before people shout “grade inflation” I’ll tell you this: 19 of the students are receiving various scholarships from universities – the total amount offered to those 19 kids is nearly $840,000. Eight hundred and friggin’ forty bucks! Sheesh, I wanted to get $160,000 to give ’em just to round it up to an even million.)

When I got home, I read the two e-mails from Elsa describing her late start and late arrival. So I didn’t rush us out the door as I had originally intended. Still, we got to the lake by 5pm, where upon I got the fresh fruit cleaned up (strawberries, peaches, blueberries) and made us amaretto sours.

Around 6pm, I started prepping for supper. I was going to surprise the girls with marinated shrimp on the grill. Well, Judi was surprised. Elsa will have to wait til she gets here to be surprised. And there’s shrimp left over which I can grill tomorrow for Elsa. I also had veggies to grill and some focaccia bread for the side. The veggies I bought were yellow squash, vidalia onion, red pepper, turnips (well, why not?), button ‘shrooms and shitake ‘shrooms (another new grillee for me), and marinated artichoke hearts. I skewered the shrimp & artichoke hearts and grilled the veggies in our vegging grilling bowl. The turnips and shitake mushrooms were a good idea. I’ll be grilling them again! I had also bought pineapple for grilling, but forgot to prep it, so we’ll have it later this weekend.

The shrimp and veggies were very tasty and I’ll have to make that shrimp marinade again. (It was garlic, rosemary, salt, and olive oil.) Indeed, I think I’ll probably use that marinade on other things.

So after I cleaned up the kitchen, I decided to get the fire going again and go sit outside. And that’s what I’m doing. Yay for my folks’ cottage at the Lake!

The End of Summer

Although Summer isn’t over in the Northern Hemisphere until mid September, for all intent & purposes in the US, it ends this coming Monday, our Labor Day. For me, Summer ended two Wednesdays ago when school began. But that hasn’t stopped me from having some End of Summer Fun this weekend.

Amy (my sister) and Rachel (her partner) arrived in Ohio on Thursday morning. I didn’t get to see them until I got home from work, but when I did, I gave ’em both big hugs. I hadn’t seen ’em since January. We took a nice walk in town and just outside of town heading down to the river. And for old times’ sake, we played a game of Pooh Sticks. Amy won, or so she claims. 😉 We agreed that it’s a lot harder to play Pooh Sticks on the “new” bridge than it was on the old one. It’s so hard to see over the edge.

We popped in to Indians Pizza on the way home and Rachel decided that maybe some ice cream before pizza was in order. None of us had our money with us, so we agreed to get ice cream cones on the walk home with the pizzas when we went to pick them up. We returned home to wait for Becky & Deanna’s arrival.

The goal was to play cards & eat pizza. But after our long walk, the girls and I were hungry for pizza already. With some discussion, we came up with what to order. A large deluxe, a large sausage pizza, half with green olives, and a small BLT pizza. Yes, you read that right – Bacon Lettuce & Tomato pizza. I’d heard rave reviews from it at lunch, so I wanted to try it. Others were willing to try it as well.

When the pizzas were ready, the girls and I walked back to Indians Pizza, this time with money. Rachel also ordered a Buckeye Classic ice cream cone and I got a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. The Buckeye Classic is peanut butter ice cream with little candy buckeyes and chocolate swirls. Of course, since we had ice cream cones in hand, that left Amy to carry the pizzas…

The pizzas were a hit, even the BLT pizza, which is basically a bacon & cheese pizza that, after baking, gets some mayo squeezed onto it, then is topped with lettuce and tomato. After we had our fill, dad retired to his little nest and we ladies sat around the kitchen table for playing Shanghai Rum. Amy sat out of the playing of the game, but she kept score and stayed in the conversation. Although we ran out of time before finishing all of the rounds, we had a lovely time. Mom won with me coming second. Becky, for a change, lost.

Friday was another work day for me, but as soon as I was able to leave, I did. There was a box of food on my kitchen table and a note on my counter. I was to take the food on the table plus some bags of perishables from the fridge and head for the lake with clothes enough for 3 days. This I did and I got to the lake around 5pm.

Mom’s brother Doug and his family were supposed to be joining us for supper, and they made it eventually. Dad grilled burgers & dogs and Aunt Charlene brought “wheels” (which was one of Grandma Anderson’s big family recipes – basically wheel-shaped macaroni with a milk & butter sauce). The wheels were good, as was the rest of the food. My cousin Gregg and his wife arrived even later, but we were glad they could make it. Amy hadn’t met his wife yet and Rachel hadn’t met either.

We spent the evening chatting & laughing and eventually we all gathered around the fire for more chatting, laughing, and singing. It was a very pleasant evening.

The main reasons the girls are in the area was that their friend was getting married and having a bit reception/party for friends. So Saturday was the day Amy & Rachel headed to Cincinnati for the wedding reception. They were picked up by another pair of friends who were coming down from Toledo. (They originated, like A&R, from the Twin Cities, but also like A&R, were visiting family while in Ohio.)

Once they were on their way, the folks and I headed off to the Piqua Heritage Festival. The past few years I’ve missed out on the festival because I’ve either been up in Detroit with judiang and elsaf or hanging out with A&R at home. So it was nice to get back to the festival. Although the crafts and recreations are neat, I mostly go for the food. I had a peach smoothie, crawfish etouffe, Moose Tracks ice cream, and a lemon shake up. I also bought a loaf of sour dough bread and some kettle corn popcorn for munching on at the Lake.

After a short hop at home to pick up a few essentials, we returned to the Lake where we’ve been relaxing ever since. The girls will be returning around 3pm and we’ve agreed we’ll let them grill supper. I wonder if they’re amenable to that… 😉 Belay that – they have just arrived! Woohoot!

This has been a very pleasant End of the Summer. Let’s hope The Start of Autumn is just as pleasant!

Evening Geeking – Trina & Judi’s Interesting Adventure

Ah, the joys of geeking in the wild. judiang and I are sitting out by the fire pit enjoying the fire and listening to the evening Cicada Concert. And geeking on our laptops.

So while I’m here, I’ll continue my tale about Saturday. When I last left you faithful readers, we had gone to the Toodleedoo Zoo. We found I-75 quite easily and headed down south. And we got to my house in just over 2 hours.

I wanted to stop home (which is further south than the cottage at the Lake) because (a) I wanted to check on the kitties and (b) I wanted to pick up the beer bread mix that I had from Tastefully Simple. Judi had tried the beer bread at the Vendors hall at the Fair and actually liked it. (She who poo poos anything beery.)

The kitties were just fine when I checked and I got the mix and some truffles (Russell Stover, not the really good ones from Trader Joe’s that I’ve been hoarding – I like these people, but not THAT much!) and we headed back north. And soon after we passed through Covington, I went to shift into 5th gear and the stick just keep going. And I didn’t go into 5th. Yikes!

My first thought was “This isn’t happening – I’m actually just dreaming” and the second thought was “Oh shit! I need to pull over safely!” and the third was “Crap, I just paid my college tuition and now my clutch has gone out!” We were very close to Ebbert’s grains, which has a big grain elevator, and I started to pull over. I was in panic mode and missed the driveway, but thankfully also missed the ditch. I pulled up near the house next to the grain elevator and stopped the car.

So, what’s a girl to do when her car has gone kaput? Call AAA? No, call her dad and he’ll tell her to call AAA. Heh. Of course, as I was packed light for the outting, I didn’t have both of my wallets with me. And my secondary wallet had my AAA card in it. Thankfully, dad gave me the number to call and the lady was able to look me up on the computer.

The AAA lady wasn’t sure I’d be all that easy to find and kept trying to get more information about my location, but a big ass grain elevator is a very noticeable landmark, so I wasn’t all that concerned. Eventually a dispatcher called to say that a tow truck would be by in 45 minutes, so Judi and I sat & waited.

After 45 minutes, an SUV showed up and the fellow inside asked if we were OK. Said that his parents were concerned (they lived in the house we were parked near) and called him to check on us. We assured him that AAA had sent us a tow truck, and just then, the truck arrived. It was a flatbed and the fellow running it was a master at flatbed tow trucks. He had the car up on it in 5 minutes, and that’s even with it resisting the pull since he couldn’t get it into neutral.

I get 5 free miles of towing and every mile beyond that is $2.50. So I had him tow it into Pleasant Hill to my auto shop and that was only $10. We rode in the truck as he zipped through Covington and then through P. Hill. It was an amazing ride.

I used the night drop off box to inform Baker’s about what happened to my car (and Judi was amazed – had never seen anything like it before) and then we gathered up our stuff and walked home.

Dad was waiting on me at his house and he gave me the key to his truck. Then Judi and I headed north again. And this time successfully. Yay!

The car, as it turned out, needed a new shifting cable. The boys worked on it today and it was done in time for me to come back & get it. So now I have my car back. And it wasn’t the $900 I feared it would be (they say the clutch is still good) but rather half of that.

Sunday was relatively uneventful. We had a Girls Day Out here at the Lake. Aunt Becky, Deanna, Cheryl and mom (with dad as an unofficial girl for the day – hey, he owns all this shit) came round for steaks and card playing. Becky beat us all at Shanghai Rum, but Deanna came in second, which we think is the best she’s done yet. And today was also uneventful and relaxing.

But now the fire is getting low and the mosquitoes are getting vicious, so I think I’ll wind this down.

Westing at da Wake

(For those of you who don’t speak faux baby-speak successfully, the title is Resting at the Lake.)

So yesterday I went to work for one hour to get the new account passwords printed off and update some announcements on the school website. And then I headed off to Columbus to pick judiang up from the airport. My timing was pretty good, I only had to go through the arrival loop 5 times before she popped up outside. (It’s a very small loop at Columbus.)

I drove towards home with a slight detour to the Ex-Evil Puppy Mall. It’s no longer the Evil Puppy Mall because the last time we were there, we discovered the pet store was no longer there. No more cute & evil Pomeranian puppies to tempt Judi. We shopped around the mall & had a snack at the Starbucks there to tide us over before supper. A stop at Best Buy and then the Bookery yielded some purchases, but then it was time to head back home.

As I turned onto my street, I saw mom sitting on her porch reading. She looked like someone ready for a pizza supper. Judi and I dropped some things off in the house, then met the parental units outside my door. We walked to the other side of town (surprising Judi that there was something of a walk) to Indians Pizza (named after our school mascot). Every ordered 10″ pizzas, so we all left with leftovers. And Judi and I got waffle cones with Buckeye Ice Cream (not made of poisonous buckeye seeds, but instead modeled after the candy buckeye – peanut butter ice cream, fudge swirls, and little candy buckeyes).

The walk home was a long one, because I wanted to convince Judi that Pleasant Hill *does* have a hill. And it’s a pleasant incline. Thus Pleasant Hill. But I decided to take her on the steepest part of the hill, just so she can tell there’s a hill. Trouble is, we’d had a powerful frog-strangler while eating in the restaurant and the humidity, we estimated, was 176%. So here we were, walking in 90+°F with loads of humidity, down a nice slope to the river, then up a not as nice slope into town. She’s only half-grudgingly admitted to there being a hill, but at least *I* know I’m not a liar even if she & elsaf suspect otherwise.

Once home, we cooled off in the central air while I finished packing (had underwear drying while I was going to the airport). Judi read Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book (highly recommended) while I got ready. Then we loaded up the car & finally headed off to the Lake.

We stayed up geeking & talking for hours after arriving (staying in the air conditioned part because the 3-season room was miserably hot & humid). Then finally went to bed.

This morning I got up and made us egg, ham & cheese bagel sandwiches for breakfast. And now Judi is FINALLY out of the bed and tearing it down so she can’t go back to sleep in it. And it’s only quarter til 11! Wow! (Ha ha ha! she says.)

Memorial Day Weekend – Lazy Day

So Friday & Saturday were actually pretty busy for me for a Memorial Day Weekend. But I made up for it today.

elsaf and I were once again the first ones up. And we booted judiang out of bed so that Elsa could leave at a decent hour. She made us pancakes again (yay!) and there were even some sugared sliced strawberries left over. But after breakfast, Elsa had to pack up her things and head north. Awwww. And she didn’t even get to see my hardwood floors or new bookshelves. I guess there’s always next year!

Judi and I geeked for a bit, then I finally showered & dressed and headed out to start the fire for lunch. Without our resident gourmet chef, we resorted to burned hot dogs and nuked baked beans. (There was only a jumbo can of baked beans, but Judi and I managed to eat them all!) ‘Twas a good lunch.

Afterwards, I read some of Special Topics in Calamity Physics and slept. Judi read & slept as well. It was a very laid back afternoon.

As it neared suppertime, I checked the weather radar and was afraid a storm might pop through later, so I’d best start supper. I made a wonderful fire and grilled us some steaks (with a sample rub that I’d gotten last year at Taste of Chicago) and veggies/fruit (onions, portabello mushrooms, and pineapple). Along with Elsa’s potato & bean salads, we had a wonderful supper.

The storm never came, so Judi and I sat outside awhile chatting and I made a couple of s’mores. But eventually the fire burned out and the mosquitoes realized it wasn’t going to rain after all and came out to have supper on us. So we went inside and geeked for awhile.

We finished the evening playing Rumikub and watching videos on Judi’s laptop. Judi was hoping to distract me with the videos (which finished off with a repeat of last night’s Doctor Who) so that I’d lose, but I won the first two matches with Judi finally winning the third. (The first match took almost an hour to complete – sheesh!)

Tomorrow will start out laid back, but around 2:30 we shall leave the comfort of the Lake and work our way to the Columbus airport (with a veering off to Fairborn for some shopping). And then, alas, our short vacation will be over. It’s been a lovely weekend and once again, I thank the girls for making it so!

Memorial Day 2007 day 2

Ah, what fun it is to have elsaf and judiang over for Memorial Day weekend. We got to bed late last night (I, for one, was wired on caffeine), but Elsa and I still managed to be up before 9am. Judi, meanwhile, was enjoying the Lake Effect and sleeping soundly.

So Elsa and I nipped off to Wagners for groceries. And an hour later, returned with Judi oblivious to our departure. In fact, I woke her up & she thought I was saying we were *going* to the grocery. I think she was impressed with how quickly we returned. Heh heh.

Elsa made some Hungry Jack pancakes and sugared up some sliced strawberries, so we had a wonderful breakfast. Then Judi snoozed while Elsa & I geeked. And suddenly, it was almost 1pm! I started a fire and then grilled hot dogs for the Judester and me, and grilled a chicken booby for Elsa. Elsa had also brought some potato salad and some bean salad, so we had that with our lunch. Everything was tasty.

I then drove down to pick up Papa so we could go to my cousin’s graduation party. We found the park just fine, but missed the cabin where the party was being held. A second drive through the park and we saw my cousin Deanna’s (very distinctive) car. Chris was there, ready to accept hugs and gifts. (He probably preferred the gifts, heh. Especially the flat ones that were green & papery.) It turns out his first cousin (no relation to me) is also graduating, so they were doing the party for both of them. We had cake & ice cream and chatting with Becky & Deanna. And then we returned home.

Once I’d picked up some things from home which I’d either forgotten or didn’t realize I needed, I returned to the girls at the Lake. After we vegged for a bit, dad showed up (I’d invited him to supper) and shortly after that, I started the fire for supper. First we grilled some veggies and pineapple. Then we grilled the pork tenderloin that Elsa had been marinating for a week. (I’ll let her tell the story if she’s interested in doing so.) She sliced the pork & then added a lime/orange/garlic sauce to the slices. Dinner was very tasty and we supplemented the meal with potato salad and bean salad. Well done Elsa! We topped the meal off with more of her pineapple upside-down cake (with me & Judi augmenting ours with ice cream).

Papa headed home and Judi and I cleaned the kitchen (with Judi doing the brunt of the work – you go gurl!) We then settled down to watch the new Doctor Who episode (Human Nature) and discovered that the sound was funky on the copy we, um, obtained. Still, despite the sound, we watched the ep and all enjoyed it. Here’s hoping the second ep is as good (or even better) than the first.

Once we watch Confidential tonight, we’ll probably head for bed. Poor Elsa has to head home tomorrow. Wah! But at least Judi and I have another full day at the Lake.

Memorial Day Weekend 2007

Well, it wasn’t as planned in advance as some of our other weekends at the Lake, and I completely forgot about setting up a card playing night for judiang (but with Granny passed on & mom off being a Bad Gurl with Amy & Rachel, that only leaves 3 card players), but the Weekend at the Lake is here. Yay!

I didn’t wind up getting on the road to the Lake on time as I’d hoped, and when I was 15 minutes away, I got a call from Judi telling me they were “kicking me off.” (At least, I think that’s what she said.) Apparently, there were bugs eating at them and elsaf had to use the ladies. They headed off to the local Grocery while I finished my trek to the Lake.

Eventually, we were all in the cottage and ready for a nice relaxing evening by the fire. But the rain had another idea. A real frog strangler of a storm came through and we began to discuss the evening plans. Well, Elsa and I discussed the plans while Judi got all confused thinking each idea was the finalized plan.

The finalized plan? Go out to eat at El Sombrero and then go see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I was going to order online tix when Judi decided maybe she didn’t want to see it tonight. So then I stopped ordering. Then she decided maybe we should see it tonight. So we hopped in the car and then I remembered – oh yeah, pre-ordering tix. The girls sat in the car while I bought the tickets online. (Let’s hear it for online movie tickets!)

As we headed south down I-75, we found out that it hadn’t been raining in Miami County. And when we got to the new El Sombrero location, we found out they didn’t have as much seating as they once had. After waiting 15 minutes with no one looking like they were planning on vacating their tables anytime soon, we decided to hop down the strip mall to W.G. Grinders for sandwiches. (Yes, Amy, there is now a W.G. Grinders in Piqua!) Ah, a good change in plans.

W.G. Grinders, a regional chain, serves hot sandwiches and deli sides. I ordered the “white pizza” which is an open sandwich with artichoke hearts, Italian dressing, and several types of cheese melted on top. I also got the broccoli salad as a side, and it was very nice. Judi got ham&turkey, Elsa got a turkey Reuben (AKA a Rachel). Supper was good, fast, and required no tip. We got to the theater at 8pm, half an hour before the flick.

The movie, as I suspected, was sold out, so pre-ordering = good idea. (Let’s hear it again for online movie tickets!) Judi got in line to order popcorn & pop, and I suggested she up the size on the popcorn. (If someone in my party gets popcorn for a movie, I wind up eating some too.) I ordered a Coke for myself, so I know I won’t be sleeping tonight!

We found seats on the right side of the theater (it was already mostly full) and still had 20 minutes to go before the previews. The commercials they showed were very quiet and the movie wasn’t that much louder IMO. Still I heard most of the dialog. Judi wasn’t so lucky, but in the car afterward, we got her sorted out.

So what did I think? Fun movie! Wonderfully convoluted plot that actually stands up to scrutiny afterward. And stick around for after the credits if you can. 🙂

When we got back to the cabin, we all hopped on our laptops and then Elsa cut slices of her pineapple upside down cake. Yum! I made Judi a margarita (the first I’ve ever made and I guess it wasn’t that good), too. (Blech, margarita AND pineapple upside down cake!) So now we’re vegging out for the remainder of the evening. Yay for vacation!