The Lake is Always on the List

Every month I make a list of goals in my journal. This morning I checked the last couple of things off and the only thing left on June's list is 'go out to get the girls.' Very soon my days will be full of many of the regular things but with two little girls thrown in. This is a privilege we do not take lightly. Each summer we spend with our growing granddaughters adds to the memory bank and repertoire of who we are to them and they to us. How amazing to watch these girls grow with the backdrop of beautiful summer days. Yesterday as I swam alone I envisioned Emma swimming along with me. She will be so excited to hit the water. Paige will too but Emma's attachment to the lake goes further back and is strong. It was her who jumped in with her grandparents on a Thanksgiving weekend years ago and let out a collective holler before we ceremoniously said goodbye to the lake for another season.They both love Grampie's announcements of "Let's go for a late night swim".I have the garden all planted and look forward to my daily inspections of growth and plan to include the girls in the observations of each row as the plants burst through and take on their shape and size.My writing is done for the summer and will take it's place in the back of my mind . Ideas will simmer and wait for my return. I did not bring my WIP as far as my June goal set out but I know it will be there when I return.The work and the goals for July and August will replenish my heart and my soul and will prepare me for going back to my keyboard. The hours spent weeding, hoeing and marveling at the miracle of growth will fill me up. Hearing my girls laugh, tell stories, have fights and fits( hope there are not too many) will echo for months to come while we are separated from each other. Not every grandparent gets that gift year after year and we are so thankful. All our sleepovers are wrapped into the six weeks we have them so spending time with them and the activities we plan will take precedence on my goal list. And of course the lake will always be on those lists.Happy Summer everyone!

In the Lake Again

Two days ago I went for my first lake swim of the 2019 season.I recorded the date after finding the journal where the previous years first swim dates are written down. Not the earliest and not the latest but noteworthy never the less. Noteworthy for me anyway who considers a swim in the lake a spiritual experience. Each year that I am afforded that gift is another year I am given to live this blessed life. Yesterday I dropped the first seeds in this year's garden. I drop them with hopefulness despite last year's failures. I drop the tiny sunflower seed hoping for a towering plant to grow. Today I will devote the whole day to getting all the other seeds in the ground. Burton will devote his time to building a fence around the garden to keep out the roaming farm animals and pecking hens. In a bit more than a week I will bring our girls home for another summer. They arrive older and changed from who they were last year. Hopeful and thankful and believing in the promise of summer. The jump in the lake is always an effort that pays off.It always begins with the debate that goes on on my head as I wade in convincing myself to let go of the fear, the doubt, the discomfort so I can receive the blessing, the refreshment and the joy. Believe in the beauty and the bounty and let the worry go. Maybe we will not get enough rain, maybe animals will break down the fence, maybe we will not weed and hoe as much as we should but still we try.The lake ,the garden, the grandchildren, the wonder of a summer's day all worth believing in.So today do the work needed to start the process, drop those seeds and believe and later go jump in the lake. A garden from a previous summer.Granddaughters from a previous summer.

Summer Reading, Wind Down Writing,Swimming and the Like(and the lake)

It seems Spring has been hiding, Summer only giving us a brief glimpse and June is upon us. But today I see it looming. I see days ahead filled with summer preparation and planning. The garden has been tilled, seeds purchased and the time for tackling the outside has arrived. Instead of sitting at this keyboard I need to get outside. I will only take a few more writing days and getting my WIP to page 50 seems daunting.Finishing up a writing season to make way for the gifts of Summer.Yesterday I saw a Summer Reading Contest launched by the Chronicle Herald. I was thrilled to see Fear of Drowning in the array of book covers. How wonderful to offer it up for summer reading as this writer winds down and gets ready for the all that summer offers her. At the end of the month I will travel out and get the girls bringing them back to NB for another summer. We will take our road trips, enjoy our relaxing at home days, have our bonfires and late night swims. We will jump in the lake , snuggle and laugh; make memories and have adventures.We will plant the garden, weed and harvest. We will do some summer reading of our own. We will visit Mable Murples and choose books from the bountiful shelves. We will look out through brand new windows at the blossoms and greenery that surround us.We will sit on new verandas and breath the morning air.Sometimes the tasks seem overwhelming, the list too long but every other year the jobs get tackled and we do the best we can. Books do get written one page at a time, one word , one sentence growing and becoming the finished work. Today we will begin and see where the Summer of 2019 takes us. And for each minute, each day and each challenge we will be thankful.

My Windows on the World

Today is window day. Major renovations have begun, firstly with the replacement of all the downstairs windows. Most of the upstairs ones have been replaced gradually in the last few years. It seems strange that time has passed and the windows coming out are so old. I remember clearly the excitement of a new build, a long dreamed of and worked toward house that rose on top of this hill;the wonder and thrill each time I turned onto the driveway and could see the house I was coming home to.I remember the family we raised within these walls, the life we lived and the memories we made.So here we are thirty years later replacing weathered windows and covering our cord wood walls with insulation and siding. Change, adaptation, renovation, keeping up and making improvements.For some reason this fills me with emotion and my eyes fill with tears as I write this.I feel so thankful to be able to make these changes, to update and improve the home I love.But I feel a bit overwhelmed. Perhaps the deary weather, my weariness and a headache is making me emotional.I will get back to my writing. I will take this upheaval in my stride and refrain from delving any further into the sentimental side.New , clean , airtight windows. What's not to like about that?