by jphilo | Aug 19, 2014 | Out and About
The man of steel and I are back from a weekend at our rellies’ cabin on Spirit Lake. Here are the top ten delights we enjoyed, not counting the weather, which was perfect.
10. Reading a book on the porch while the water lapped on the shoreline.
9. Watching a young woman named Abby sing with the worship team during church on Sunday. She worships with her whole heart and makes me long to be more like her.
8. Lounging around with no make up, bare feet, and a swim suit augmented with a pair of my cousin’s shorts all weekend.
7. Paddling a kayak with a paddle so light my muscles didn’t ache after our ride.
6. A boat ride on a smooth-as-glass lake while the sun streamed down.
5. Eating hobo pies cooked over the fire. Why don’t hamburger and veggies taste this good at home?
4. Watching the sun set the waves to sparkling.
3. No internet access means a real vacation…except when three people over the age of 50 can’t remember a few cribbage rules and wish they could look them up.
2. Time spent catching up with delightful people we’ve known for decades.
1. An Iowa lakeside view out one side of the cabin and an Iowa cornfield view out the other.
What do you like best about lake weekends? Leave a comment!
by jphilo | Jul 20, 2008 | Out and About
Ginger and her husband Dan collected me from the Spokane airport Thursday afternoon and brought me to their home in Chewelah, Washington. And no matter how it might appear to the casual observer, we’ve been working hard on our mystery novel ever since.
Sure, we go to a friend’s lakeside cabin every day to brainstorm and write and organize and edit. Sure, the bald eagles entertain us as swoop down and catch fish in the sparkling blue waters. Sure, we break for lunch and then take the paddle boat out for a spin before we go back to the salt mines and slave over the book.
But in between those moments, we slave away. I’ve spent three days rereading the 400 pages already written, checking for continuity and looking for passages to cut. Ginger is writing the final climax scene, which involves orchestrating the movements of a cast of pesky characters. By late afternoon, our brains are fried and we drive back to town for supper at Dan and Ginger’s house. But after supper, I grab a pencil and the manuscript and sit in the low-humidity, mosquito-free shade, and make more scribbles on the manuscript.
It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Despite the sacrifice required, Ginger and I will persevere until I leave Thursday afternoon. So don’t let the best tan I’ve had in years fool you. We are hard at work.
