It's Summertime and the Living is Easy

This is just an update. I dont have anything special to write about so much. It is just summertime and for me, summer in Michigan means all is good. I've had friends staying with me most of the summer which has been nice. I've been swimming in the lake a lot which is also nice. Lots of hanging out, drinking beer, watching fireflies and the usual summertime pass times. It's all good.

Here is a photo of me from a couple of weeks ago. This is the first time I held my nephew Joey. I am not sure which one of us is more uncomfortable. I think I'll be a better Aunt when he is older. Then I do stuff like take him out and get him all sugared up on ice cream and overexcited about whatever activity I can drag him on before returning him to my sister. Ha ha.

Labrador Lessons

I just got back from the lake. First I stopped off at my sister's house to meet my new nephew. I didnt hold him though because he only weighs five pounds and is too little. People who are that little are scary. But I poked him and that made him cry. And I swear, he waved good bye to me when I left.

Then I went to my parents' house and went swimming with the dogs. When I adopted my five y/o Labrador last fall, I was kind of disappointed because she both didnt know how to swim and didnt know how to fetch. So this summer we have been spending a lot of time at the lake and she has spent some time with Larry the Labrador who lives at the lake. He's been very good about showing her how Labradors are *supposed* to behave.

Anyways today, even though Larry was no where to be found, Tasha fetched and swam all on her own. She even went WAY out into the deep. Then she and I and my sister's dog Buddy swam around together. It reminded me of how people pay money to swim with dolphins. I wonder if I can charge people to go swimming with the dogs. Haha. Probably not.

Oh yeah, I went to Art Fair today too. It is nice working downtown. I was able to walk around for an hour which is about my limit for Art Fair. It was hot but then I was able to go back to my air conditioned work place. And I get to do it again tomorrow. And Friday.

Blogging on Vacation

I am on vacation at the moment in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. I am just hanging out at the local library at the moment and I have just under a half an hour left of precious computer time. Yes, I have chosen not to go sailing again tonight so I can spend time sitting inside writing. True confessions time I guess. I am an addict.

But I am having a good time. My friends' house is a fabulously rustic old farmhouse. I'll post some photos when I get home. The time away from the internet has mostly been good for me. I have been reading some good novels and thinking that it is a shame that I dont make time to do that more often. I have been swimming in Bras D'or Lake (saltwater lake) almost every day. I have been stung by a jelly fish and although my friends offerred to pee on me, I declined. I think the kind of jellyfish here are kind of mild as jellyfish go though. The kids keep getting stung repeatedly and keep going back for more. I've gotten good at spotting them and swimming in weird zig zag patterns to avoid them.

I have been sailing in a small boat and have decided that I probably wont be reliving my teenaged years of sailing small boats all day. I think it is going to be keel boats for me from here on out. Keel boats and kayaks...and pontoons. It makes me feel old. But that is ok. I am old. Or maybe I'll just say that I am old-ish. A few days ago though, I watched a sailboat race with a finish in the harbor. That was unusual. I saw this one boat make the moves on another boat and it was beautiful. Seriously beautiful.

I saw a seal today in the lake. Well, it was either a seal or an underwater swimming dog. My vote is for seal. I saw a bald eagle in a nest next to the beach at the house. I had a partridge follow me for miles because one of the kids had fed it a cookie just before I happened along. I flipped out about the partridge. Yup, a bird smaller than a chicken apparently has the power to cause me to lose it. I called it a MOTHER FUCKER...to its face!

Tonight, after the library closes, I am going to go to a caleigh where my friends and I will just sit back and enjoy some of the local music.

And yet, I am homesick. I miss my dog.

What a Weekend!

Whew. I had a busy weekend!

Friday

I spent Friday night at my grandmother's house. She is pretty old and is having mobility issues and is in danger of falling. She cant even get out of bed on her own which is an obvious safety issue. So someone has to stay with her all the time. Usually it is my aunt who does that but she was on vacation so my sister and I were watching her over the weekend. It was nice spending time with her but exhausting too. I cant imagine being the primary care giver for an elderly person. My hats are off to anyone who takes on that role.

Saturday

On Saturday, I went and hung out in Detroit with a whole bunch of people who, like me, grew up there. A bunch of them still live in the city and some are like me and have moved out to the 'burbs.* We hung out at Brent and Gianna's house for a bit which was cool. My friend Anna was visiting from LA. I could go on and on about what a great person Anna is but I figure that the people who read this who know her already know that and no one else will really care.

I went to the City Fest at the New Center by myself because Anna wanted to go to a movie at the DIA and I didn't want to see it. I got really lucky because I ran into my friend Burton within about five minutes. Burton always cracks me up and makes me laugh. I went to middle school with Burton**. I must have met him in seventh grade which would mean that I've known him since I was 12 which means that I've known him for more than 25 years!

At City Fest, I got to see a band that I particularly enjoyed called Yo La Tengo. I had never heard of them. I don't usually indulge in too much live music because I am really cheap. But this concert was FREE which is my favorite kind. One of the best things about free concerts is that it allows a person to take a chance on something. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? I might not like them...in which case, I could just leave. But I did really like them! Now I might have to buy an album or something.

Eventually we all ended up at the Majestic where I had a pretty nice time talking to lots of people. I sometimes think of myself as being kind of anti-social and it is true that I do spend a lot of time alone and also true that I generally enjoy that time. But I am also a talker and once I get going...well..."blah blah blah"! It was wild being there at that bar with lots of people with such similar backgrounds to me. I mean, I have a lot of friends "from high school" but most of those people are from the high school I went to for my senior year, CHS in Ann Arbor. They are all fun people but none of them understand anything about the high school I went to for three years in Detroit, Cass Tech. It was kind of fun talking about Cass Tech and stuff.

Sunday

Sunday was hot. It was one of those days with a hot wind where you just cant get cool no matter what you do which, of course, means that there is only one thing to do: Go to the LAKE!!! I had quite a day there. I had my sister's dog Buddy with me and my own dog, Brooke. The evil dog hating neighbors were there so I put Brooke and Buddy out on the swim raft which worked really well until it was time to go back to shore. Neither one of those jerks would get off the raft. I thought about climbing onto the raft myself to push them off but decided it would be easier to just take the kayak out to them. I got on the kayak and both dogs were willing to get on it. Unfortunately, Buddy isn't much like Brooke who sits still in the kayak and he leaned over too far and tipped the kayak over. Brooke got stuck underneath it which was really scary for her. She could of drowned! But she didn't and later on I took her back out in the kayak and she didn't seem too scared of it so at least that didn't traumatize her.

The best part of the day though was when two loose dogs came by and went over to the horrible neighbors' house where they were all gathered. I am not sure but I think they had food on the ground like last time and I think the dogs went for it. It was awesome because this time I could laugh at them for keeping their food on the ground knowing that the really bitchy lady wasn't going to come yell at me for it. All I had to do was sit and watch the screaming and chasing of dogs and general chaos. Ah...sweet sweet schadenfreude!



* It is funny, though, because even though I am 1/2 hour from Downtown Detroit, I just don't think of Ypsilanti as being a suburb of Detroit. I think of it more as a suburb of Ann Arbor.
** At Burton International School (just another weird coinicidence)

The Hottest Day of the Year

I talked my boss into letting me take a half day off because I was worried about the dogs. I picked them up and we went off to the lake! It was a bit of a white knuckle drive though because the temperature guage in my car indicated that the engine was running much hotter than normal. But it didnt overheat and we made it there ok and it was fine on the way back. I guess it it was just too hot to run the a/c full blast in the car but I did it anyways because it seemed like it was too hot not to.

The lake was nice. There was a breeze coming off the lake that, while warm, was still cooler than any breeze in Ypsilanti. Sitting in the shade there was almost comfortable. I didnt sit long though because I really wanted to swim. The water was really warm so I tried to dive down where the cool water is. Usually, I have no trouble reaching it but today, I would barely get down there when I would run out of air and have to come to the surface. I finally got out the swim fins so I could get deeper faster. I think the cold water was about eight or nine feet down. It was nice and COLD though. There are springs that feed the lake with cold water and the lake is silty enough that the sun doesnt warm the deeper parts much. Anyhow, I dived down to the cold water several times and each time I would get a wonderful shock and then an "ice cream headache" Woooo!

It was 97F today according to wunderground.com.

Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot but I have the day off work so I guess I'll hope my little car can get me back up to the lake.

Everyone Talks About the Weather

Whew. It is HOT! It is supposed to be 98F today. People like to say that it isnt the heat, it is the humidity. Well, today it is going to be both.