Walden Island 78 & 79

I've come to realize that I need to deal with the fact that Fall is coming. I am having such a hard time with it this year! I usually look forward to the Fall colors, warm home-made soups, Halloween & Thanksgiving and (most of all) pumpkin pie. But this year, I'm having a hard time letting Summer go. We've had such a great summer at the lake, we've had some beautiful weather and I'm just a happier person when the sun is out. I'll just have to hold on to those things until next Summer.

We've still had some nice weather...making things a little easier I suppose. Rather than just planning to put the outside things away, I've also decided to do a little face-lift in the backyard. I'm just hoping the nice weather sticks around for a while so that I can finish everything I need to. We leave for Maryland on Friday, so I'm not sure how much will get done anyways. No hurry tho...

I had a Relay Committee Retreat on Saturday morning (to which I brought yummy pumpkin bars) and then we headed up to the lake. Sadly, due to our schedules, we hadn't been up there in 4 weeks. When we arrived, one of our neighbors came out to tell us that everyone was getting worried about us - where had we been?!? We were missed. : )

After unloading the boat and eating dinner, Jamie went off to visit neighbors, Makena got out a book and I finished situating the shed. Then I waited (ever so patiently) for Makena to finish her book so that she could go for a walk with me.

are you done yet? are you done yet??

all of the plums had fallen from our tree

Later that night, Makena and I played a few games of Clue then read. Jamie said that we must have gone to bed pretty early, because he got back home around 11pm and we were sound asleep. The fresh, lake air must have been just what we needed!

Makena and I got up early on Sunday to do some more reading. Then football started (oh joy) so I made breakfast and went out to do some work. With Summer ending, there are a lot of things that needed to be put away or cleaned up. The yard also needed to be mowed, the garage cleaned up and sealed and some pruning needed to be done. Whewww...enough work to keep me busy for a few hours!

Once football was over, Jamie and I went down to bring in the floaty and the trampoline. Apparently, sometime last week, the winds were so bad that it pulled them out towards the middle of the lake. Gene kindly went out and saved them for us. Cleaning both of them took about 2 hours (much longer than we thought it would) and then we deflated them and put them away for next year. The neighbors are still talking about our 'parties' on the Party Float (the big yellow & white one that seats 6).

I do hope that we can get back up to the lake a few more times before Winter. I suggested to Jamie that we have Thanksgiving dinner there, just the two of us, but I don't think he liked the idea. He mentioned something about my mom's house being warmer - and if you know my mom, that means it's really cold at the lake! It will be another three weeks or so again before we get back up there tho. Jamie and I will be in Maryland (Jamie stays a week longer than I do) and then we are off again to another conference in Lincoln City. I'll be missing Walden Island until then...