THIS is how summer should feel:

On Thursday I got a facebook message from Marj inviting me to join her and Trish at some place where a person could float on a body of water or sit on the shore and read.
We decided to meet at the cabin on Friday morning.
And we all know how mornings work out for me.
When Drew and I got there at noon, I saw, in the distance, on the shore, 2 women, a buncha stuff and the wheelbarrow.
These be farm girls. Practical.
By 1:30, Sandra was floating with us.
Our afternoon together was as close to perfect as a summer day can get. Just lazing about on air mattresses, talking, reading, suntanning.
At 4, we packed up ...
Trish and Marj left.
Sandra and I decided to stay for the night.
And Drew?
Was just about as grumpy as a person can get under circumstances as trying as this. No internet connection for his brand new laptop. (He bought this with his birthday money while I was at work on Thursday. $300 from a pawn shop.)
And no TV.

Just hours and hours of bagfarting and solitaire.

The three of us had chicken ceasar salads for dinner on the deck...
Oh yum...
And then settled in for a long evening of playing Mexican Train Dominoes.
Clint surprised us by showing up at 9 pm, and then humled us with his reading material:

He was in the mood to talk theology.
Sandra and I struggled to keep up.
Thankfully at 10:00 pm, Clint's friend, Jeff, dropped by so heavy conversation was dropped in favor of James Bond.

On Saturday morning, Dane and Stacy showed up around breakfast time, and for the first time this season, it felt like summer.
"Real" summer.

Like the summers of old. Where me and my kids and various friends and such, spend the day hanging at the lake.

It was good.
This is Sandra in her happy place:

Dane and Stacy, having fun in the water:
Sandra, tossing an umbilical cord, errhm, rope to Dane:

Rope in the air. A beautiful action shot.
Poetry in motion.

Dane caught a tiny piece.
Stacy thinks this is funny.
Meanwhile Sandra is calling out, "Get the rope! STACY! Get the rope!"

Stacy did.

And they all lived happily ever after. Sandra towing. Dane being towed.

In the afternoon, Sandra tied herself up to a boat bouy and read.
I put my lawnchair in the lake and read.
Honestly.
It really felt like summer today.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Summer weekends. How come there are only 8 of them?
2. My kids. Why'd I have only 3?
3. Warm evenings where I can sit outside and blog, and facebook and play Mexican Train Dominoes under a full moon, next to pots of geraniums.

Shalom,