Summertime Hues

The sun is streaming in my window lending a ray of warmth. The humidity has finally dissipated. It's a perfect summer's day and it's been a perfect summer (for me) so far. Plans, possibilities, good times swirl and waft into a delicious myriad of summertime happy. I am looking a long weekend in the eye - and it's hard to think about anything else. We're heading to our cottage with a couple of kidlets in tow. My girls are all grown up now (including Kidlet) so I suppose I am going to have to lose the "kidlet" moniker. *rephrase* Two of my daughters are also going up North and will be seeing our little cottage for the first time. It's a tiny  cosy little cabin and with 6 adults and 2 dogs, I am just praying for good weather. No cabin fever please!

My recent travels and new cottage responsibilities have sucked most of the air out of the summer and a byproduct is that I haven't seen my parents as frequently as I am used to. Drive-by drop-ins several times a week were part of my regular routine and are what I miss so badly when they are away half the year in Florida.

So last night I got me a good ol' Dad and T fix. I stopped in after work, wrestled a bottle of T's homemade wine from her iron grip and stayed for a nice steak dinner. We debated discussed everything including Kenyan culture, poisonous snakes of Ontario, wildlife attacks on humans, Greg Mortenson's work in Afghanistan, Dad's upcoming surgery, T's recent birthday famjam, Nunavut and the Inuit, and the trip to the east coast they have planned. Five hours of animated conversation pretty much put T to sleep exhausted us and satisfied the family quotient at least for now. I am going to have to figure out how to go forward a  little better. As someone who has lost a parent, my appreciation and love for my Dad is that much deeper and I realize that the time we have is now.

So in few hours I will unplug from this virtual electronic community and reconnect with my inner earth goddess. I will learn to tame the falcon, catch fresh fish for our dinner, fetch water from the lake and chop firewood for heat. Who am I kidding? I was having a Hestia (Goddess of Hearth and Home) moment. I'll probably be horizontal most of the weekend lakeside with a good read and cool beverage, grateful for electricity and propane.

To all of you who are also staring down a long weekend, ENJOY!