I
guess I didn't keep much of a journal THIS summer, did I!?!...Too
busy with the quilt patterns, I guess!
Two
weeks ago, the girls I went to camp for the first time of the season, along with Dan,
Kate's beau...and Lo! and Behold! It was clean, and untouched! Some different than the
UGGY first trip of last year! If you'd care to read about that, keep
on reading! On to new season's for me though! There are (of course) no campers in
residence yet at the lake ...the sun was shining ....glinting off the water so brightly!
This is what it's all about! It pleases me to no end to know that opening camp will be a
matter of getting the water in, the beds made, dishes washed ....and off we go! Easy
Peezy! :o) NOTE*** Joe is coming to help get the water in!!!! ...Gee ...I wonder if this
means I have to lose my Plumbing Hat??? oh DARN.......... LOLOL :o)
more later, as the season
progresses!! |
Aug
26th...Boy this time of year gets to me...the moving away time...there is no prettier time
on the lake! It is so so peaceful! The kids are anxious to get back to town and their
friends---seemingly blind, at their ages, to the beauty they walk away from. Was I that
way?, I wonder..
Leaves are JUST
starting to turn here and there now; it is promising to be an early
fall. I have been
maintaining this for two months now...the apples are on early...pears too...but I would be
hard pressed to come up with why I am so sure about this...the birds haven't
started to flock yet--the sign I usually watch out for. funny....
My
niece is up for
a week, and in a couple weeks her sister will come close up their camp....it is
definitely
a winding down time....
My lucky brother,
who just retired from a lifetime of teaching this past fall, gets to stay until after
Labor Day this year....and I am glad...for all the falls he missed, I am glad he will have
one... :o) He has been watching a rare duck this week...it keeps coming by. The rest of us
might not have even noticed it was rare to these parts!
At our camp...we
are part way thru the luggin-stuff-back-to-town phase...mostly done, but not working very
diligently at that task....don't really want to leave....dragging the heels....
and so it
goes...season after season.... |
___________________________________________________
AUGUST 1st.....
Hello
again...Boy...there is something you miss when you don't get to live this "at camp
all summer" thing ... the whole place goes through such definite transitions! At
first...there is the great rush of people "moving in", and all the welcoming, and
catching up on the winter's news....and all in a whirl that changes to the "gearing
up for the Fourth of July" phase...we get Festive!...bring out the red, white and
blue, folks! and Count Me In!!...bar-b-que smell fills the cove...it's awesome!...but
then...we get into some serious, for residents only, LIFE AT THE LAKE...you can see
it...everyone's pace slows...we sleep a tad later...read more....work at little chores at a
leisurely pace....we finally settle into the "We Live Here" phase.....
...and that's where
we are right now. For me..it means zipping back and forth to town nearly everyday...either
to go to work,or to bring the kids to see friends, or for groceries...whatever...but at
night it is always so COOL on the water, much more so than in town. An evening swim cools
you in a way no AC ever will. We eat later, easy summer suppers on the porch, or outside
at a card table. Hard to believe there are only a few more weeks of this, and then back to
the intown grind...
I am so LUCKY to
have this life! |
******************************************** |
| July18th ...WOW!!! where to begin...!!!...I guess with the
good news that we pulled it off!!..moved to camp, albeit hurriedly and with only half our
stuff, on the 23rd...and then the madness began! MANY MANY thanks to
Jim (Elrond)
and Monica (Mona) who arrived first with their two chillins, Shawn and Kenon, just a couple
of days after we moved in ....they pitched right in and helped us start setting up for the
wedding!...and thanks to the two boys, Steven and Chad, for not minding that their first
trip to camp was so UNORGANIZED and CHAOTIC!! We had actually solved this years plumbing
dilemma before they got here...although both elements died in the hot water
heater...followed closely by the demise of the newer of the camp 'fridges...with me so
far???..no hot water...no refrigerator RIGHT before company was due to start
arriving!!...we were lucky enough to find a used but basically new fridge, in nearby
Unity. Ah, and by this time Joe's folks had arrived in their camper from California!....so
the whole bunch of us went to get the new fridge...it was a family affair!!**Mom and Dad
gave us the fridge as a wedding gift!!! THANK YOU!!!**picture the growing gang of
us...sitting out in front of the camp--"holding down the pond"...and in drove my
niece Cherie with her two kiddos, Stevie and Jamie, from Maryland!...the crowd
expandeth !!
Throw another gazillion shrimp on the barby!! Jim was building my birch trellis in the side
yard- rehearsal tonite!! ...nieces Kate, Peggy and Sandy with their guests arrived at
their camp from Connecticut! Next, I believe, in the parade of arrivals,
on Friday, came
Joe's sister Donna and brother in law Jim, with their son Alan --they flew in to
Pittsfield in their own plane!! COOL!!.... Joe went to Waterville to get his tux....
Monica and I were in Bangor getting my gown and picking up Jeri (Owlie) who flew
in...or
rather was trying to...to Bangor International! (she wound up having to DRIVE from
Boston)...are you getting the picture?? there sure was ALOT going on!!...toss into
this picture alot of swimming and fishing, plenty of frog catching, registering the boats,
bar-b-qu-ing, card playing and beer drinking ....and you begin to get the feel of it!! Now
I will spare you many agonizing details...and tell you that, the clan all gathered, the
wedding was wonderful! yes...the caterer DID get lost trying to find camp...and YES the
stove DID catch fire while the blueberry crisp was cooking...but aside from that it
all came off with nary a hitch!!...I can just look back on it now and feel so happy that
we were able to be surrounded by so many close friends and family, in a place that is so
deeply ingrained into my life. Did I mention I got a new stove too??? More
later folks.... :o)_ |
***************************************
June30th...
Hi all ! about time I stopped
in here with the latest updates. Here we are...28 days away from the wedding, and I still
haven't been able to get the water in at camp! Sam and Joe have made a couple suggestions
of things to try NEXT...man...this plumbing as a second career would NOT be what I would
choose for myself if I had the choice! This is the week the painter is supposed to be
starting to paint the trim at camp...and I haven't heard from him that he HAS indeed
started...and yet...I am calm. Somehow, all of this is going to fall neatly into place, in
plenty of time before company starts arriving...RIGHT? In the meantime, for all intents
and purposes...camp is NOT opened for the season yet... :o(
Calm, Marcia. Calm. |
***************************************
CLEAN_UP--May 6th
MAY 6TH...Hello again....:o) I need to
start by thanking my niece sandy and her Mom, Pam... who having read my tale of woe,
realized I was struggling, wrote to me with comforting and wise advice!
So...THANKS you
two!
Over the
past week, my girls and I have started to clean up the mess from the break-in
I mentioned
before. I hadn't inspected enough the first time...it was WORSE than I thought...BUT...this
work has to be done! All 3 of the girls, and their friend Dan really got behind me as I
have started to get over this thing emotionally and physically...my daughter Kate said I
needed to "do something to make it yours again"...wise kid!!!!...and in that
spirit we ALL rolled up our shirtsleeves and started cleaning. Kate has taken over the
"landscaping"...and has gone wild planting flowers all over. I still
don't have
the water installed properly though...drat it all! The system hitched up FAST this year
too...no broken pipes!...but...it doesn't work!....anyways....we are nearly all done, or
at least have it back to nearly as clean as it was before the break-in....and the good news
is....today...it felt like MY CAMP again...! I am still angry all over again,
every time I
go down...but we are beating this thing...and I have my great family to thank!!! :o) |
***************************************
THE GREAT BREAK IN--April30th
APRIL30-- We're getting ready to
move back to camp now!!...and this is such a great anticipation feeling!...Sure, there is
LOTS of work to be done to get the place ready for the season, but even that work is a
joy, in a way, as is all good work towards a happy end! Now you just remind me I said
that, when all the pipes decide to break as I am putting in the water... :o) Now I tend to
go on and on, romanticizing this whole process...you gotta know that at my core, I really
do have the warm fuzzies about moving into camp, INCLUDING the work...but shall I paint
out the real picture for you?? Usually, although the girls do like it there...there is a
certain amount of dragging the heels when trying to get them interested in the WORK part
of setting up camp! In a nutshell, opening up camp means putting in the
water, washing and
drying all the dishes ,pots n' pans, silverware etc. left there...cleaning out all the
cupboards and drawers...putting everything back, sweeping down all the
webs...WAIT!! did you
say COBWEBS??? this is where i lose the girls!...I get alot of "I am NOT going in
there until all the spiders are gone"...where did these kids come from? , I wonder...
Have you ever TRIED to rid the Maine woods of all it's spiders? Not an easy task....ah,
but i digress...AGAIN....then just sweeping the floors, putting the outside furniture back
outside...and on to the outside work of raking the lawn, mowing it if necessary...putting
in the four docks, each section of which weighing approximately 3/4 ton...dragging the
boats out of storage, and getting them all rigged and moored... and there you have
it...we
are ready to move in! Then, it is time to go back to the house...pack up the three of
us...and all climb back into in the VW, with all our stuff...the two cats, the three
dogs...and we are OFF! It's a riot!
I have been going
through this routine nearly every year that I have been alive, though my role in this
process has changed, of course...I used to be the little girl that wasn't too excited
about doing ALL THOSE DISHES! Dad would be outback trying to get the ^%^&^^####!! pump
in working order, while the mosquitoes made mincemeat of his neck and ears; Mom would be
seemingly calmly trying to make a happy day out of this...ahhhh, the memories!
Still...going to camp for this beginning stays close in my heart, as one of the
constants....it is my security blanket, if you will, as a thing that is true, happy, and
safe. I look forward to it all winter...I plan on it...and shortly after the first crocuses
pop up here at home, I know it is time to head down to camp! This is when Spring fever
sets in!! All of a sudden I feel energetic! Happy to be alive! I want to plant flowers!
Clean the yard!...Go for walks! What a transition it is! I am leading to something with all
of this...hang in there...plot exposition, and all that....
Because this
year...all of this Joy was taken from me...in one fell swoop. This
year...some young kids
decided that my home, my security, the only place on the face of the earth that I feel
totally at ease, and totally able to be ME....was theirs, to use as they saw fit. They
broke in. They used my home for God knows what. Did they drink out of my favorite
cup?...the one I always have my first cup of coffee of the season out
of?...did they think
when they were using it, that it was a gift from my Mom when I first started high school?
Is it even still there? or did they steal it? Did they lie in my bed?...where
I lay at 10,
listening to my Mom snore, waiting 'til it was late enough to go fishing? I made my maiden
visit to camp yesterday, and instead of the great happiness of every other year, I was
there to inspect the damage...and there was some. In a drunken stupor, one of them fell
against the swinging gate out front that leads to the dog yard...tearing it completely off
the hinges. One of them kicked a lamp, breaking its shade. It was an antique, handmade
stained glass...irreplaceable. They apparently hadn't been warm
enough...so kept a fire going...burned up all the wood and things they could find...and poured the ashes from this
all over the floor. There was a melted milk crate left there, that let me know they
weren't even burning wisely...they nearly BURNED MY HOME to the ground. The leader of this
group...was a boy I had given shelter to here at my home. A trouble child, in whom I saw a
good kid, who had bad times. He thanked me for that, by taking away my home. How can this
ever be repaid? How can I ever again feel that it is safe to leave in the fall, and know
that my home is my home? I walked in there yesterday...I sat down...and it felt as though I
was sitting in someone elses place. I get to pay the bills; I get to do the work. I am
HURT.
The rest of this
years journal, will be about How I get over this hurt...and how I make it HOME
again...because if I don't find a way to do this, then I truly AM a victim!
Marcia |
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