Monthly Musings-May

It's the last Thursday of the month which means it's time for the Monthly Musings link up with Holly (Pink Lady Blog) and Patty (Good Better Best). Feel free to play along...

1. What am I looking forward to most this summer? 

Lots of things...dining al fresco, lake floats, the 4th of July, sipping iced coffee beside the waterfall, sunset cruises...

...jumping off the dock hand in hand with my grands, homemade peach cobbler, and casual entertaining with friends and family. 

2. Any favorite summer traditions? 

Some of these overlap with my answers to the first question but...

I always jump off the dock holding hands with my oldest grandson to help kick off summer. Hopefully his little brother will join us this year.  I tell him he will never be too old. 

We'll have to see about Nana but so far so good. 

We always watch the fireworks from our dock and shoreline because we have the best view of my across the cove neighbor's spectacular show. 

I make one peach cobbler every summer because summer says you must. Same goes for home made ice cream. 

3. Any summer travel plans? Please dish. 

We typically don't travel in the summer months. We live on a lake so people travel here lol. 

We're a little out of the box this summer as we've rented a beach house for a week for the whole family, and I'm really looking forward to that. The trip won't happen until later in the summer so there will still be plenty of lake time before and after. 

4. How do you red, white, and blue?

First of all, I love the colors...so festive! July 4th is one of my favorite days of the year. We have the flag flying on our dock and on the boat too,  plus a windsock on the dock and flag bunting hanging from the deck of the house. 

I have several t-shirts with patriotic themes/colors so will wear one of those on the holiday. This year I bought cute dresses for the grandgirls and will probably find something coordinating for the boys. 

We typically have a crowd here on the 4th. My girls are usually here with their families and we sometimes have additional houseguests around that time too. Last year hubs brother and his wife came, and we're hoping they come back again this year for the holiday. 

There are a lot of firework shows around the lake, some put on by people who live here, and then the marinas have pretty big displays too, so we'll definitely see fireworks. Not exaggerating when I say the best show on the lake is the one my across the cove neighbor hosts. 

Boaters come from all around the lake and anchor, both in our cove and in the waters around it, and she does an amazing job. When there's an especially beautiful firework all the boaters honk and it's so much fun. It stirs up feelings of pride in America and I love that. 

Hubs will grill something, and I like to make some sort of patriotic dessert, sometimes a trifle since I feel like you need a lot of people to eat one and we'll have a lot of people around. 

Oddly enough we don't usually take the boat out on the 4th. The lake is so busy that day, and since we can boat anytime we opt out of the crazy this day can bring. 

5. Beach, lake, or pool. 

Since I live on a lake it feels wrong not to answer with that one. Plus no salt-no sharks so winning! We swim in our lake and it's crystal clear. 

6. Favorite summer sweet treat? 

Strawberry shortcake, peach cobbler, and homemade blueberry pie. Just give me all the fresh fruity desserts please. 

7. Favorite sunscreens and self-tanners. 

I don't use a self-tanner. I wear sunscreen every day and like a lotion as opposed to a spray.  We go through it here and I'm not particularly loyal to one brand. I've got Neutrogena Ultra Sheer,  Bare Republic Mineral,  Tula Daily, Coppertone Sport, and Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch which might be my favorite. 

8. Best flip flops or sandals? 

I need a little arch in my flip flops, and while they're not inexpensive I do love the Olukai brand. 

I think this is the pair I currently own. As far as sandals go I like mine cute. I also like cute tennis shoes for summer and have several pair. 

9. How are you staying fit this summer? 

Lake life means you stay pretty active. Hubs and I joke we make about fifteen or twenty trips going back and forth to the dock every day, and while it's not steep it's also not flat, so there's that. 

We have kayaks and paddle boards and I love to swim. We have a pool in our neighborhood too, and I like to swim laps there. 

10. Favorite summer themed movies? 

Here's my top five...The Parent Trap (the Lindsay Lohan remake), Jaws, Dirty Dancing, Mamma Mia, and  The Deep (with Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte). 

Come on summer...

We're ready for ya!

A Few Of My Favorite Friday Things

I wrote a post Monday (linked here) recapping our houseful, but wanted to share a few more favorite things from the past week on the blog today. 

While my youngest daughter and her littles went home last Friday, my oldest daughter and her family were here with us until Wednesday. On Wednesday we loaded up in two vehicles, that is the in-laws in one car with dad and the two boys, and then hubs and I in the other car with momma and her little miss, for the trek to the Atlanta airport and their flight to the UK.  

Two kids dragging backpacks of their own, momma wearing the baby pushing a cart loaded with three huge bags, dad pushing a wagon carrying a car seat and then pulling a cart with another two ginormous  bags, and whew! They're rockstars!  

They will be living in England for the next six months, and believe me when I say one of my favorite things currently is knowing I have a trip already booked and on the calendar. 

For the record, airport goodbyes are not my favorite.

Let's talk fun...linking up today with Andrea and Erika for this week's edition of Friday Favorites. 

1. A 'Grand' Summer Bucket List- I like to ask the two oldest grands what they want to do when they visit, and then I make a little bucket list/chart, hang it on the side of a kitchen cabinet, and they can check off as we go. They enjoy the checking and remind me when I forget. 

This year's chart included the usual swimming-boating-fishing type of activities plus a few newbies as well...paddle boarding, the jumbo Connect 4...

...a trip to the Fish Hatchery, and jello pie. 

2. Jello Pie-have you had this? 

In this picture I hadn't spread the whipped cream over the top yet, but you get the idea. Hubs has very fond memories of his grandmother making him jello pie as a child. He told me it was plain strawberry jello poured into a graham cracker crust, topped with sliced bananas and topped with cool whip. I wasn't convinced, but he really wanted the boys to try it. 

First of all, I don't do Cool Whip. I know some people love it, but homemade whipped cream is so easy and a thousand times better. Also, jello pie? I went to Pinterest and found a variation of hubs grandmom's technique, and the boys helped me put it together. 

I was out of bananas so used strawberries instead and they were yummy. Hubs assures me the bananas are possibly more delicious but then childhood memories are hard to beat. The boys helped make the jello, and my 'recipe' had you add a little cornstarch and less water so it was more like that filling you get in fresh strawberry pie. I think I really wanted strawberry pie and hubs had his heart set on the jello version. This one made everybody happy. 

We stirred the sliced strawberries into the mixture, then poured that into the crust. I'd purchased a large box of jello, but the recipe only called for 3 ounces so I mixed up the rest of the jello as directed on the box. Because the strawberry mixture only half filled the pie shell I went ahead and poured the rest of the regular jello on top to set. It worked. 

I have to say, it was so tasty. Surprisingly light and refreshing and the boys thought it was a big treat. Hubs too! 

3. Paddleboarding. Y'all. My six year old grandson jumped on the paddleboard on day one and navigated like a pro from the word go. Even the four and a half year old could manage without a lot of help. We made the paddles shorter after their first try and that was even better. 

The mancub had to literally be pushed off the board and into the water if you wanted a turn. He absolutely loved it, and while he used to spend all day running off the dock he's now spending all day on the paddleboard.  I mean he still loves running off the dock, but the paddleboard is his new favorite.

4. Water skiing-

Friday night we went for a quick boat ride so Daughter1 could waterski. She hadn't skiied in a few years, mostly because she's birthed three children in the last seven, but she is her father's daughter in terms of coordination. Popped right up without even thinking about it. 

Her children thought she was amazing. 

She pretty much is. 

5. My people-

We've had no less than nine people in the house, eating, sleeping, and playing since July 14th. The level of activity from sun up to sun down has been something like mach ten. The volume too. 

There's been swimming and boating and jumping and games and books and movies and outdoor showering and indoor legos and meals eaten...so.many.meals. We've talked and laughed and applied sunscreen and reapplied sunscreen and we've sipped a lot of coffee. We tried to take a few pictures too, but this crew was not having it so we let that go. 

Yesterday it was back to just me and the hubs, and the silence is deafening.  

The house needs cleaning from top to bottom, every sheet and towel is in the process of being either washed or dried and folded, the frig needs wiping down, the windows too because little hands and noses need to press against the glass for a really good look at the world around them. 

Not gonna lie...the transition from full to something less than that takes time. We give ourselves a lot of grace and space to reset the house and our heads too. It takes a few days to get back into the rhythms of regular life, but we'll get there. We always do. 

Girls who grow up and grow families of their own, who keep touching home plate whenever they can... definitely one of my favorite things. 

In The Good Ole Summertime

It's Monday so how about a catch up post? That's pretty much been my summer blog theme, and hey! it's still summer so there ya go. Daughter2 will greet a new classroom full of students today, but it's the middle of August on the lake and we've got the humidity to prove it.

My sister and her hubs were in town all last week along with my twelve year old nephew and his best bud. They got a kick out of prepping the pork butt for the grill.

The weather was perfection every single day which was a good thing because these boys lived in the water. 

We tubed (and by we I mean they), we taught them to water ski (and by we I mean hubs and the brother-in-law taught them to ski)-

Also the skier pictured here is hubs. They might have taught the boys to ski, but they're not looking like this just yet-ha!

We hung out on one of the island beaches, took a sunset cruise, and motored all over the lake while the boys each had a turn at the wheel.

We played tag at the waterfall...

There were a few boats at the falls, but nothing like you see on a hot June or July weekend. Weekdays are where it's at.

Also it was hubs and the boys who played tag. My sister and I chillaxed on the boat.

It was fun to have a whole week to swim and boat after being away from it for three weeks. This is the last of our summertime company, but not the last of our summertime fun. Lots still on the calendar which is how we roll here on This Side Of The Pond.  Enjoy your Monday everyone! 

A Great Gray Weekend

As evidenced by these photos it was a great gray weekend here in the southland. Also really, really wet, and I'm not just talking river water. It poured buckets, which put a damper on our plans to attend the Vols Orange and White game. Still, when life gives you rain make a rainbow. Something like that, right? 

Hubs and I trekked over the mountain to Tennessee to spend a couple of days with his brother and sister-in-law in their new lake home. My in-laws also live nearby and hub's sister and her family were in town for spring break,  so a mini family gathering occurred. 

My nephews had a couple of friends with them for the week and tubing was high on their wish list. We weren't sure the weather would hold, but it did so there was some fun tubing on the water Friday.  Hubs got to ski which pretty much makes his life complete, so he was a happy camper.

Here he is giving the teenage boys a heart attack-

photo cred-my sister in law

It's not just me y'all. 

My sister-in-law took this picture as he came flying straight at the dock we were standing on. He likes to ski towards the dock then drop the rope last minute so you might think he's going to plow into the dock, but he doesn't. 

We've been married more than thirty years, so I know. If I say he won't hit, he won't hit. 

Now that's not saying he's never come a bit too close to a dock, or a sailboat, or a cow, but that was long ago and far away.

I've stood on more than a few boat docks and watched him flying towards me (beaming of course because he loves it!), then dramatically slowing as soon as the rope drops. The teenagers on the boat hadn't done any skiing with him before this weekend, so they were sweating just a little. They'll learn-ha! 

In other boat news...here I am with my mother-in-law-

She wanted a boat ride and my brother-in-law was happy to oblige. Can you tell she loved it?

You know that boy on the ski up there?
Well he is his mother's son.

We headed home after church on Sunday (in the pouring rain), and opted to take the road through Gatlinburg instead of the Interstate. We wanted to see the landscape post fire, and y'all it's so sad to think of the destruction and loss of life that happened here. Chimney Tops is one of the prettiest places in the Smokies and the black swath that cuts across the mountains stands like a scar on this beautiful piece of land.

We crossed on into NC and my brother-in-law had given me the basic route we'd need to take. I did not want to take a wrong turn and end up on the Dragon (a crazy zig zag road through the mountains motorcyclists love and people who live on Dramamine fear). Anyway,  I guess I was either sleeping or talking (my two favorite car pastimes), we missed a turn, and next thing you know we're rolling along on the The Mountain Waters Scenic Byway.

Not sure how we landed there, but my goodness it was gorgeous!!
Also pouring rain but we stopped several times anyway. You just had to, it was that pretty.

We came around a curve and suddenly found ourselves on what I'm pretty sure is a road quite similar to the Dragon-incredible height with a teeny tiny minuscule little guard rail running beside the road to keep you from tumbling into the gorge and roaring falls below.

The first falls we saw were enormous, but since we weren't prepared for the overlook no picture. At that point we were trying to figure out how we got here and where were we anyway??? There was no backing up on the mountain, but the monstrous falls were absolutely breathtaking as we went by. We quickly realized we were on the road to Highlands, so I googled Cullasaja Gorge and falls when we got home. I read they're about 200 feet in height, but hard to see up close because of the blind highway curves and sheer rock cliffs. 

Yup.
That pretty much sums it up.

We were ready when the next one came up beside us, and we pulled over for a quick picture. This one is called Dry Falls-

Hmmm...these dry falls were a-rushin'! There was a really cool series of walkways and bridges down to the falls and it looked like you could walk behind them or close to it. We did not because did I mention it was raining? And cold? But we put it on our list to do on a return visit when we have the right footware and sunshine. 

A few winding curvy snaky twisting miles further down the road and we came to these-

Bridal Veil Falls. I think there's actually a series called Bridal Veil Falls, because I've read about hikes in there. We're adding that to our list of to-dos too.

Hike more waterfalls.
See them all.

I'm glad we went the wrong way home.
Sometimes back roads know best.
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A Conglomeration of Things

My plan was to blog this morning, but since it's now going on 8 PM I guess I'll need a new plan. I'm going to catch up a little, then tack this week's Hodgepodge questions on at the end of the post. I will no doubt get emails from people telling me they can't find the questions, but they'll be right here. Mixed in with whatever else ends up here
todaytonite.

So what's been going on here lately? Well, the house for one. Suddenly there are a million things to do and confirm and re-confirm and y'all I'm so over it. Today it was an insurance policy that needed tracking down, scanning, and emailing to someone. And you know our scanner doesn't work right in the apartment because the Internet connection is not reliable, which by the way is another thing I'm so over, but hubs took care of getting the doc to the correct recipient.

Did that sound whiny? Don't answer that! In my defense today is build day #307.

Let's talk about the loveliness of a sunset on the water, because we were treated to a beauty on Saturday night. Our realtors (a husband and wife team who also live on the lake) invited hubs and I to have dinner at their house, and since we're renting about 45 minutes from the lake they also invited us to stay over. Doesn't everybody's realtor treat them like VIP's?

We had a fabulous home cooked meal then headed out on their boat for a sunset cruise.

Almost makes you forget you're on house build day #307.

Our realtor friends have been wanting to take hubs water skiing, and believe me hubs has been wanting to go, so on Sunday morning they made it happen.

There was nobody on the lake (or our corner of it anyway) and the water was like glass. Hubs didn't spray any cows, hit a single dock, or ski as close as humanly possible to any bridges, but other than that he looked a lot like his 20-year old self.

His 20-year old self is lucky to have met my 20-year old self.

We all know the fearless need a rule follower to keep them
alivehappy.

Okay, gonna wrap this up before the clock rolls into build day #308. You'll find the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge below. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on WEDNESDAY to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your summer so far? Why?
(1=eh and 10=best summer ever)

2. July 26th is National Aunts and Uncles Day. Did you have many aunts and uncles growing up? Were you especially close to any one or maybe all of them? Are you an aunt? (or uncle for the men who join here on Wednesdays) Share a favorite memory relating to one of your own aunts or uncles or relating to a niece or nephew who call you Aunt (or Uncle).

3. What's your favorite food dipped in chocolate? What's your favorite food dipped in cheese?

4. When were you last astonished by something? Explain.

5. Surf board, paddle board, ironing board, Pinterest board, score board, clip board, bulletin board...which board have you most recently encountered?

6. What's your favorite story from scripture? Why that story?

7. If you were to travel from the east coast to the west coast in your own country, which five cities would you most want to see?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Gotta Start Somewhere

Hi blog.  Remember me?  I have a whirling twirling spinning spiraling mish mash of about a million things going through my head right now so I'm just going to dive in and unload a few of them here.  You're excited I know.

Hubs informed me last night that I hadn't been on my blog since September 4th, and that was the Hodgepodge which doesn't count.  I mean, it counts but not really.  No offense Hodgepodge!

Let's see...hubs had a birthday over the long Labor Day weekend and it was delightful. All except for the crazy hat-boat hair I had going on, but other than that delightful. I'd like my coffee here every morning please.

My sister and her hubs and their 7-year old son invited us to spend four days on their boat down in Chestertown Maryland.  That's pretty much our idea of a perfect long weekend, and my brother and his wife came too, so lots of fun.

Hubs finally got his feet back into a water ski which made him ridiculously happy. That's exactly how you should feel on your birthday, right?  The skis were too small, but he didn't even care, he was just so glad to be back on the water.

When we were first dating hubs skied a lot, and I gotta tell you it made me love him a little bit more than I already did.  He was always completely fearless on waterskis, and if you don't believe me, just ask a sailboat missing a chunk of its hull in an East Tennessee lake and a couple of cows who never saw him coming back in 1982.

At the ripe old age of not-23, he's still pretty fearless on the water, still trying to kick up a big spray, still making it look easy.

He gained a couple of new fans that day.

The weather was gorgeous the entire weekend, and the scenery was so beautiful.  We love this part of Maryland, and if you're water people like we are you'll love it too.

It's hard to beat a crab feast eaten with a view like that.
Unless it's a view like this-

I made these chocolate cupcakes which have a sinfully delicious blob of ganache dropped into the batter before baking.  So delicious! My nephew declared them the best chocolate cupcakes he'd ever eaten, and he's something of an expert on the topic. I copied a little boating theme for the decor that I'd seen on Pinterest and they turned out cute.

I've got more, but this feels like a start...

A peaceful easy happy summertime memory kind of start.