Camping

I took Friday off work and took my sister Fiona and four of my cousins camping instead. The girls ranged in age from 14-18 and we all had a blast!! I was referred to as "The Adult" all weekend, which was rather amusing :) There were moments it made me wish I was 15 again... and then reality set in and I remembered my own experience in those tumultuous years... and suddenly I remember why I'm happy I never have to relive them. Still it was fun to see them enjoying it so much. It struck me again and again as such a carefree age- little responsibility, summer is for having fun, etc. and yet, even with few responsibilities and real cares, they care so much about so many little things. Sigh. Yeah, I'd never go back there.

We drove 3 hours to Muskegon, got a campsite next to Lake Michigan (you had to walk to see the lake, but it was at the same park), set up camp, ate lunch, and then went canoeing. The canoe livery lady was pretty funny and talked a mile a minute all the way to our drop point, she and her husband run this livery, live off the land, etc. I basically got her whole life story while the girls giggled in back. Calling it canoeing almost seems silly, since it was a very calm river and really if you just steered, you were fine, no paddling even required. Still great fun and very lazy - nice. And Fiona and Elisabeth somehow managed to flip their canoe in sight of the end point, so that added some excitement helping them gather floating stuff and paddling back upstream to the landing. Dinner was great - we figured out my $3 garage sale stove, made fajitas, hot beverages, and enjoyed the beautiful evening. Sunset at lake Michigan was breathtaking, as always. I sure love Lake Michigan and the beautiful evenings there. We went back to the campsite, and finally got the damp wood to light enough to make peach cobbler and roast marshmellows. Then around 11.30 pm we went back to the beach for a romp under the moon- very peaceful and beautiful!!

The real Michigan camping experience began at around 5 am Saturday morning when I awoke to the sound of rain on the tent, and the splashing of rain on my face. Awesome. I've had my tent for around 5 years, and have camped in many a rainstorm without a problem... but apparently it's ready to be re-waterproofed. Half of the tent was definitely not waterproof anymore (the other half slept quite well). I think mine was the wetest spot, which is probably good since it was my rainy tent. But it definitely didn't help me sleep in... or sleep at all after the drips began. After laying there counting the minutes between water spurts for quite awhile, I decided to get up and figure out a shelter outside and make breakfast while the girlies slept.

I rigged up a tarp shelter and started on breakfast, while watching the camper behind us pack everything up and drive out - wimps! while the people in the tent stuck around... seemed strange to me. Eventually pancakes and eggs and hot beverages were ready, so the girls came out, served up and ate in the car. We then played games in the tent for awhile, hoping the rain would end. It did and we took down the tent and cleaned up. Everything was pretty soggy but at least the rain stopped. We went to Grand Haven state park for lunch and hung out there for awhile, walked the pier, a few of them went swimming in Lake Michigan, etc. Then we packed back in the van and headed for home.

All in all, I had a great time with some terrific young ladies, and all the while was very aware of what a blessing it is to be part of their lives, especially at this tender age. God is good!

Garden Update

What is growing in the vegetable garden??

-tomaotes -lots of them, lots of kinds

-sweet bell peppers

-jalepeno peppers (look you can see a tiny one in the pic)

-green beans

-sugar snap peas

-carrots

-lettuce

-onions (but only about 2)

-tomatillos (i've never tried this before, so it's my experiment of the year)

-cucumbers (pickling and slicing)

-basil

I think that's about it, other than the millions of weeds that I can't seem to get ahead of this year. Grrr. I need to get some wood chips down in the path areas especially, since I've been concentrating on weeding the planted areas so the aisles are now like weed beds. I guess it's always something.

It's exciting to see everything growing really fast now- and as usual, this is the time when it seems perhaps I went overboard... oh well, too late now. Almost everything is flowering now, and I've seen the first tomatoes and peppers form, although they aren't ripe yet. We'll see what comes of all of it.

one more day of weekend left!

I sure do love three-day weekends... especially if you've got a wedding on Saturday, it makes life seem more manageable overall.

Friday was glorious, the weather was mid-seventies and incredible. I managed to get the yard work done, the shed cleaned out and reorganized, and made a bit of progress on the house. I stayed up late finishing a wedding gift for the Saturday wedding. I can't say I did anything particularly "patriotic" but getting a lot of work done outside was certainly what I needed for my own sanity. And I saw a few fireworks out the windows... that's almost like celebrating the 4th for myself :D

Saturday I got up early, returned a bunch of bottles and picked up a few groceries. Then got ready and headed out to Livonia for my cousin's wedding. My cousin married a great guy and it was great to hang out with the extended Cousino's - some of my favorite people on earth. So today officially begins wedding season... one down, four to go. I got home around 7 and took the dogs for a bike ride. And now I'm sitting here thinking I should do some cleaning and some laundry... and yet, I'd rather just sit and do nothing. Ahhhh, it sure is nice to sit still for a few minutes anyway :D

Tomorrow will be my day of rest... I plan to go to Mass, lounge around, have a few friends over for dinner, and just relax (and maybe throw in some laundry if I don't get off this couch soon).

Happy Independence Day!!

The Weekend Forcast - the short, pictoral version

The grass needs to be cut:

The garden needs to be weeded and tomatoes staked:

Naomi (my cousin) and Jeremy get married on Saturday:

It's the end of an era (by which I mean I don't get to see this daily anymore)

But thankfully, I'll still see this every day:

And what I'd really like to do is this:

And maybe some of this too:

Strawberry fields forever

**oops, I wrote this a few days and forgot to post it**

I could write a long boring post about my insane day yesterday (by which i mean last Thursday) attempting to clean, mow, and get the house ready for commpany... or about the co-ed showers at my house yesterday... or about generally being exhausted... or about the game of Suzie and Killian that keeps me entertained... or the marvelous thunderstorm with the swirling clouds yesterday... or that my basement leaks slightly... or that Maryn is finally back from Mexico and has a sausage fest on her head... or that in 4 days I am hosting two wedding showers and going to 2 others... or about the baby rabbit that barely escaped the jaws of death this morning...

Instead, I'll share my new favorite domestic trick - keep in mind, I deserve no credit here, I found it on the cake mix box, but since it's cool- I'll share:

For the co-ed shower I threw for Donal and Lindsey last Thursday (and Friday), I decided to start the day picking strawberries for the shower. Really, is there anything better than freshly picked strawberries?? I was planning to have ice cream sundaes so fresh strawberries are perfect for that and I also decided to make angel food cake (my favorite dessert when combined with strawberries and whipped cream). Anyway, I was debating about the angel food cake- do I make one or two for a party of 30? Do I cut it ahead of time? Will people eat it? Is it going to be a crummy mess? Hmmm... and then I pulled out the angel food cake mix and on the side it gave directions for making angel food cupcakes!! BRILLIANT!!

I must say, these were AWESOME and a big hit. It's a very easy and neat way to do angel food cake. You grab a cupcake, take off the wrapper, and voila! instant serving of angel food cake!

Angel food cupcakes are right up there with the cupcake in ice cream cone trick for kid parties. Way cool.

WARNING: trivial matters

So much to say and yet so few words to actually describe, explain, express myself...

Yesterday I was feeling: claustrophobic, concerned, overwhelmed, exhausted, ineffective. Sigh. I wish I could blame it on just one thing happening, but instead it's a collection of things all happening at once. I know it is a reaction on my part, and probably an over-reaction. It doesn't help that I had an insane weekend and am exhausted so I know I'm not fully functioning to cope with all of it... so I'm just reacting on instinct and I hate that since I should know better!!

Today I am feeling: filled with grace from getting to Mass, grateful for a good friend who helped me get a little perspective right when i needed it yesterday, ready to keep moving, still over emotional, still reacting, and yes, still a little overwhelmed - but combine that with some grace and perspective and it is a much better day overall- thanks be to God!

Things that frustrate me: the awkwardness I seem to attract from the four corners of the earth (I really don't know how I do it!), weeds, that I can't say no, the uncertainty of the life.

Things I love: that God is in control even if I am out of control, that my toenails are light pink and shiny, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the tomato plants are getting huge, Suzie my constant companion, Maggie (even if she does want to eat my cat), Killian (the cat and the beer), the long weekend coming up, all the munchkins- born and unborn- in my life, good friends, and much much more.