Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Category Archives: summer


by 9 Comments

Blueberry mist

My aunt called me the other evening and suggested we meet midway between our homes and pick a few blueberries.  While it’s still blueberry season.

It’s been so hot.  Oh yes, I think I already told you that, but anyway…it’s been so hot I haven’t wanted to go out and pick any fruit, though as a kid we always went strawberry, cherry, and blueberry picking.  And as an adult I used to try really hard to carry on the tradition.  But picking fruit alone turns out to be less of a fun adventure and more like hard work.  Especially when it’s hot.  Which it is.  As you know.

Anyway, we decided to get there when they opened, early in the morning before the heat became intolerable and as luck would have it we drove into a heavy mist as we approached the blueberry farm.

And I confirmed once again that picking fruit with someone on the other side of the row is much more fun that wistfully listening in on other family’s discussions.

Yum!


by 5 Comments

Adrift

Did ya’ll see the full moon last night?  It made me nostalgic for the lake.  You see, the last night my husband and I were there we went “bobbing” at the end of the dock.  Bobbing is our term for floating using noodles.  You can sit on the flotation devise, water up to your shoulders, and chat or contemplate or just enjoy the warm water.

That last night we took a bottle of wine down to the lake, bobbed in the 80+ degree water and watched the moon rise.  We were tired and cranky from spending the day working on the house; cleaning, doing the laundry including sheets for all the beds, installing new lighting and a new ceiling fan, pulling the wave runner out of the water, locking up the other boats.  All jobs that sadly reminded me I was leaving soon.   So it was nice to take some time and finally relax together.

We decided to go down to the water with our bottle of wine in early evening when the sun was still up, but two hours later, having watched the sun set and the moon rise, even though we had turned into prunes, we were reluctant to get out of the water.  What is it about bobbing around in warm water in the dark with the bright moon overhead that makes life just seem so right?

Now I’m back in the real world and am resisting it, unsure of myself, not certain that I want to be here.  Tonight as I’m watching the moon rise, this time through the bedroom window, I remember how it was to be bobbing in silky waters of a lake in the deep south;  the shimmer of the moonlight on the water, the bugs humming in the trees, the ducks murmuring to each other in the shadows.

And I wish I was floating there under the moon this evening.


by 5 Comments

Morning discoveries

This morning I went out to the attic over the garage to look for an empty box that I could use for my brother’s Christmas present.  I figured it made sense to wrap it up here in the South and leave it with him rather than ship it down later.  On my way to the garage I noticed the normal spiderweb over the walkway that gets rebuilt every night.   Then I saw the smallest, most beautiful web being spun about 4 inches beyond the first, bigger and more rustic web.

Can you see it?  Look up near the eves of the garage, though it is really right in back of the bigger web.  It is about the size of a CD, and the sun shining through makes it glow.  I watched the tiny spider move around and around, making close, delicate webbing.  It was fascinating how quickly she was building it.

Then I went inside and up to the attic in search of a box.  Searching for an empty one I noted how organized Mom was, boxes neatly labeled, stacked under the eves.

Each box was inexplicably tied with twine that over the years must have loosened with age as none of them were tight anymore.

There is a box covered in wallpaper filled with my grandmother’s china painting supplies, duly labeled.  The box itself reminds me of the wallpaper in my grandmother’s front parlor in the big old farmhouse where my mother grew up.

Grandma’s box reminded me that I’d been wanting to look for my mother’s pastels.  I used to use them as a kid and somehow the pastels I’ve purchased since then just aren’t the same.  Given my mother’s organizational skills it was easy to find the box of her art supplies.  Maybe she was a librarian in another life!  It made me sad to think that these things were tied up in boxes in the attic, and that I hadn’t found them being used in the house.  But it made me happy to find them at all!

I’ll take them home and see what I can create, with a little bit of her spirit for inspiration.

As I headed back to the welcome of air conditioning in the house I stopped by to check on my little spider.

Her web was complete, absolutely perfect, shining in the morning light.  And right in the center the little spider sat, waiting for her breakfast.

I smiled as I headed inside to make mine.


by 7 Comments

Random Alabama photos

It’s been a heck of a week, so I don’t have any cohesive thoughts for you…just random things I found interesting.  I’ve had car trouble, leaking oil hoses and such and the truck has been in the shop for the better part of the last three days.  I had a “rent a wreck” type car that the dealership gave me, but I was afraid to drive it far, so I’ve been “stuck” at the lake.  Oh poor me! LOL

Meanwhile, here’s a couple of photos of life here in Alabama…the first is the local polling place.  Tuesday was a primary runoff election, so it was open for business.

You can’t see in this photo but besides having a big sign on the door that says “Vote Here” there are little signs on either side of the steps pointing inward that say “vote.”  Now I’m pretty sure all the locals knew it was an election day, and where to go, and I really doubt anyone needed the additional signage.  But it was cute!

Those of you not from the south might not know about kudzu.

It grows on anything and everything down here.  It was introduced from Japan in 1876; now it’s a continual battle just to keep it from over taking our homes!  It has a blossom that smells like grape jelly, and if it weren’t so invasive it would be kind of pretty.  It often looks like topiary..only it’s out in the wild.

Wednesday I took the boat out on the lake by myself.  I haven’t been the sole person in a big boat since I was in my teens, ferrying siblings to their swimming lessons across the lake.

Funny how on this trip I’m relearning skills I took for granted 40 years ago.  Being out on the lake was nice, though in the back of my mind I was keeping my fingers crossed that I didn’t have any mechanical problems.  I remember paddling the boat home as a kid, and the lake I’m on now is MUCH bigger!  So is the boat.

I even got the boat back into the boathouse.  I’m glad no one was watching, because it wasn’t pretty, but the boat is unscathed, and the boathouse is still standing.  So there.  I had to wait for the two white ducks to meander across my bow as I idled into the dock…but you know ducks…they were there first so I waited.

I took the jet ski out later in the evening.  The lake is beautiful then, with the low sun making the red clay on the banks just glow.

Husband is flying into Atlanta tomorrow morning, so I’ll have company for the rest of my time down here.  We’re driving back up to Michigan in the next few days.  Katie is at the kennel.

I’m pretty sure she’s forgotten she even has a mama by now.


by 5 Comments

Gulf Shores

This past weekend I visited a friend in Gulf Shores Alabama.  Turns out it was the same weekend as the free Jimmy Buffet Concert so you’d think things would be pretty busy.  But given the oil spill the beaches, those legendary beautiful soft white beaches, were virtually empty.  So sad.  Here’s just a couple of photos.

There were teams of people cleaning up the tar balls on the beach, looked a lot like sifting kitty litter.  But it was so hot!  98 degrees with heat indexes into the 100 + teens…glad it wasn’t my job.

And offshore were the booms and boats skimming oil off the surface….though it might be difficult for you to see this…

I’m sitting in the truck in the parking lot of the local library, using their wifi.  They aren’t open but it’s working OK.  Except that it’s HOT.  So I’m going back to the house where there is air but no internet.  I can’t really see what the photos looked like that I chose, but you get the idea!

Gulf Shores Alabama is beautiful, touristy, ugly, sad and HOT!  I had never been there before…and I think I’ll wait to go back until it’s fall or winter and the oil is gone.  If that ever happens.

On a good note, my friend has two black labs, so I got my dog fix for the weekend…but I’m really beginning to miss my Katie-girl.


by 11 Comments

Life lessons learned from water-skiing

When I was a kid we lived on a largish inland lake and we’d go water-skiing most summer evenings after Dad got home from work.  We had a little blue boat with a 35 horse power outboard engine and all four of us plus Dad and sometimes Mom would pile in the boat along with our skis and life vests, towels and other debris.  We’d ski till it got dark, then we’d head home exhausted, sopping wet and very happy.

Lots of time has passed, I haven’t lived on a lake in thirty years and now if I’m lucky I might ski once a year.  Sometimes not even that.  It has become more intimidating, less familiar and much scarier to try.  When I was a teenager I could stand on one foot ankle deep in the water, ski on the other foot resting on the surface, yell “hit it!” and pop up behind the boat with no problem.  I’d land back at the same beach barely damp.

Now we ski in deep water and I struggle to get the unfamiliar ski on my foot as the life jacket floats up around my ears and the ski rope slides by behind me and the boat idles as everyone waits on me to get ready.  I panic a bit as the line pulls taut and I’m not at all sure I’m going to be able to heft my larger self out of the water.  Different boat.  Different ski.  Different me.

This week I went skiing with one of my brothers.  I was kind of afraid to try, sure that I wouldn’t be able to get up, but it was just him and me, and the water was a sheet of glass, what we used to call “water-ski water” when we were young.  So I decided it would never again be a better time to try.  Into the water I went, but two attempts later I couldn’t get myself up.

Lucky my brother is ingenious and he gave me a different, flatter, less competitive ski.  Part of me rebelled because I had always been able to use the fancy competitive ski, but part of me was resigned to accept the changes in me that meant I was less athletic.  And of course part of me thought that if I couldn’t get up on this “beginner” ski, well… I won’t go there.   But even though I was tired from being dragged twice along behind the boat, I tried a third time.  And guess what?  YES!  I popped right up! *

It was magical.  Nothing but flat water, mountains and clouds reflected as if in a  mirror, nobody else out there but us.  It’s as close as I’ll ever get to flying like a bird.  You float effortlessly through the images of trees and clouds, soaring across the water toward freedom.  It’s a feeling that is almost indescribable. 

So here’s the lesson to be learned from water-skiing:

Sometimes if you just hang on you can fly.  And sometimes you have to let go in order to regain your freedom.   The feeling can’t be bought;  if you find yourself in a position to experience it – do it.

Even if you’re really really afraid.

*disclaimer:  these aren’t pictures of ME skiing, these are my two brothers who went skiing on a previous day this week.  It’s so much fun to watch them!  And I had my camera on a stupid low resolution and didn’t realize it…so they’re grainy…but you get the idea…right?  🙂


by 5 Comments

DUCK! Literally…

Just a funny…

My brother and I were what we call “bobbing” last evening off the end of our dock.  Bobbing is sitting on a flotation device, up to our shoulders in water, chatting about stuff.   We’ve noticed a female mallard duck that seems to be quite the popular lady with the male ducks; they chase her all around our little section of the lake.  Last night as P and I were bobbing the female started flying, low and fast across the water, a mallard in hot pursuit.  I saw her coming out of the corner of my eye and yelled “DUCK!  Literally!” at my brother just as they flew past inches above our head.

So cool and so funny all at the same time!


by 7 Comments

Into the "jungle"

This week my brother and I took the canoe up to the end of our slough.  A creek feeds into the lake there,  winding it’s way  through cyprus trees and grasses, then on back into the hills.

Want to come along?  Here we go!

I loved the shapes of the cyprus tree trunks…and the reflections.

It was fascinating how the dappled light played along the water and the trunks.

When we were inside a circle of cyprus trees I imagined what a great camp site this would be. – till I remembered that I was floating on 3 feet of water.

Then we paddled further upstream.

The creek began to narrow…

…and there were more branches overhead and below the surface.  We were taking lots of pictures…

…and we realized it was dark enough in there that our flash would go off.  Hmmm….wonder what that would look like?

The photo above is of grape vine roots.  The vine is above and the roots have grown down to the creek.  They didn’t show up well till I used the flash.  Very cool!  And even more spooky looking!

Now Diana, I know what you’re thinking…”there could be snakes in there!”  And you’d be right, but we didn’t see any, and trust me I was looking!

Eventually we couldn’t go any further upstream, so we edged ourselves around.  The trip downstream went much faster, as I had already broken through all the spider webs! LOL

Back through the cyprus trees,

with a look at their seedpods…

…and back out into the open water…complete with sunshine!

It was a really fun adventure, and reminded me of a time several years ago when the same brother and I paddled up another creek on this lake, but we did it after dark.  With no lights shining.  The sounds of the bugs (and tigers and grizzly bears and monsters) were SO LOUD I was totally freaked out and finally, even after my brother told me not to, turned on my flashlight to realize there was nothing there.  No giant snake ready to drop from the trees, no scary bug weighing at least 10 pounds ready to fly in my face!  I still laugh (sort of) when I think of that adventure.  This one was much more sedate.

But then – we’re much older now.