R & R

Even though we aren't done with the house and haven't done more than mow the yard, every evening we have tried to take a little time for Isabella.  It isn't that she doesn't get attention or that we don't play with her during the day, but we have fallen into a family time routine after supper.  By then the air is cooling a bit and any major projects of the day have been finished or abandoned as hopeless.

We seem to have a lot of moments of "Ugh! This is never going to be done" like when Jack looks at the breaker box or one of the outbuildings that is still full of mouse poop.  I noticed a distinctive mouse smell when I fired up the shop vac to clean out the cars yesterday.

We seem to have a lot of moments when Jack is frustrated beyond belief at something I did, accidentally, that causes him a great deal of time and effort and perhaps  money to fix.  I am thinking of the day of moving when I got his car stuck in the mud and it took 2 days to get it out.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have days that we are beyond satisfied with the fruits of our labor.  I love looking at the plummy purples and chocolates of our bedroom.  The rich reds and espressos of the living room are satisfying.  I am tickled by the eclectic perfectness of the chocolate, red, and turquoise of the bathroom.  Isabella's room is just insanely painted, but it works. And then there is the kitchen.  All but one wall, which is having some work done around the door, is finished.  My plates are up for the first time in 6 years.  The lights are in.  It is just right.


Regardless of what the day brought, unless it is rain, we have been taking some time at the end for a bit of play time for Bell.  We get in the old jeep and drive down to the lake, and she can swim for an hour.  Sometimes the game is fetch.  In my mom's pool, her thing was to dive down and get the things I tossed in the water.  Here, it isn't so clear so I throw something and she swims for it on the surface.  Usually, I have to throw 2 somethings because Clementine, the stray dog who still hasn't found a home, loves this game too.  Some nights the fish are jumping or rolling into big fish balls out in the middle, and there might be a little fishing to begin with if Jack brought the rod for Bell, but  playing in the water usually wins.  Some nights a turtle sneaks up on Bell. Some nights the wind is just right, gently lapping the water on the shore, keeping mosquitos at bay.  Some nights, like last night, the water was so calm that it could have been a looking glass.

Whatever the night is, if you are looking for us, take a stroll down the hill to the lake, and that is where you will likely find us, one of us dabbling with water samples or walking the shoreline, one in a chair or throwing sticks, and one wet up to her eyeballs, but all of us pretty content.