Dateline: Green Lake, Wisconsin. It really exists Green Lake, I mean. It's not just a figment of Andrew's imagination where Bobby Kermey lives. It's a real lake, large, clear and full of fish, jumping out of the water, and birds swooping down and getting the fish, and boats and weather changes and docks and swimming. A place for a real vacation, just to sit and unwind.
That's pretty much what we've done since we arrived, a few days ago. Andrew and Lur, Claire and Daniel and his friend Satchel had been up here for a few days already. Andrew had just heard that his request for separation had been accepted, and so he's finished with work. At Merck anyway. He's going to take a few months to assess the situation and then maybe look for something part-time.
Claire has had what looks like a very good first year of college, very busy with courses and music extracurriculars. We've seen Hope shirts and water bottle bottles and bumper stickers. Daniel is unrecognizable, tall and fit.
We've watched a few of the World Cup games, and played dominoes and had some great barbecues. A real vacation, and it all ends tomorrow. Sigh. Reminds us a little of those great beach vacations in Rhode Island.
The trip out was fairly easy, since we took it in a couple of legs, stopping first in Fairport to see David and Paula. We went out to eat at a great restaurant on the Erie Canal, and were joined by Matthew, Tina and Oliver. (Thank you David and Paula) Oliver, too, is unrecognizable, growing too fast. Tina looks as if she could have the baby any minute. They have, by the way, decided to name their son Donald Franklin, after their grandfathers. We saw Jeff and Melodie for breakfast the following morning. They had come up from DC for a baby shower for Tina and to register their car in NY. That proved not so easy, as we hear they had to stay on for a couple of extra days to get repairs before it could be registered. David helped me get my never-before-used fishing pole set up and ready for action at Green Lake. (Caught a few small ones off Andrew's dock.)
From Fairport, we headed for Toronto and stopped off at Niagara on the Lake which we had missed when we lived in Canada. Lovely little town with a Shaw theater festival each summer. In Toronto we visited with foreign service friends from our training who were in Mexico with us as well. We then headed for Wisconsin, by way of Lake Michigan, on a ferry, instead of driving through Chicago and Gary Indiana. Highly recommended, as was the cute little town of Luddington Michigan. We gave Andrew and Lur a day off, and took a day trip up to see a Peru friend (Jennie Burns) who we had visited in Wisconsin probably 12 years ago.
Before we left, we celebrated Marilyn's birthday with her children and grandchildren at a brunch with too much food and too much good food. You know what that means. Time for another cleanse.
As we write Annie is on her way to the Adirondacks for the weekend, and we suspect there are a few more get-togethers in DC and in New Jersey. We know David and Paula are having a crowd come over as well which we won't be able to make due to the long ride home.
Summer time seems to be more than just warm weather and greenness. It seems to be the season of catching up. We come out of our winter hibernation and check in and check up on family and friends, after hunkering down through the cold winters. All very wonderful.
Hopefully, you all are enjoying the summer in these special ways. Love from out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment