Summer is officially over...

You know summer is over when you take a picture like this:




We went to Kopeka this weekend and Maddie wanted to go throw rocks one more time. The lake was all churned up and the wind was blowing. Always a little sad to say goodbye to our lake, but a powerful sight to be sure.

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500 (give or take a few) Days of Summer

[That's an awesome movie, isn't it?]

It seems to me that Summer has been switched off like a light switch. I know we still have a bit of heat left, but the leaves look tired, the time seems a bit more hectic... We had Labor Day at the cottage and wouldn't you know it the lake turned choppy and dark, with a strong wind pushing out that last summer feel. And just like that, it seems like summer is over.

I must confess: All summer long, I said I would be so happy when Fall got here. This summer was just all of the bad aspects of summer and too few of the good.

But now that Fall is here or at least rapidly approaching, I miss it all. I want to swim in the Lake one more time! And just soak it all in.

As they say, some of the best moments of our lives are the ones where we forgot to take pictures. I had one of those this past weekend, swimming with my family. What a joy!

But I did get this:




See, she likes swimming too. Actually she refused to put on a shirt, because she likes the midriff baring style.

A few other tastes of a wonderful summer:





















(Whatever Annie is doing in this picture cracks me up.)

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Nature Lover

When, Maddie and I take walks, we go about 1/8 of a mile per hour. She likes to stop. A lot. Here are a few nature moments from this week:

















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Kopeka

Well, I am sad to say that tomorrow is my last official day of my week-long vacation (and I even get the stress of working on Sunday too!) With the hecticness (hectosity? Oooh, let's go with that)... With the hectosity of my job and the craziness of Rob's schedule, we haven't had much downtime, particularly straight in a row. But with this week, I decided to grasp some peace and we headed to our cottage, a place that Maddie has always called "Kopeka."

I've very quickly discovered that Maddie is an outdoor child. (Dear God, help me.) While we go to the park almost everyday and often twice, Maddie very rarely has the experience of a backyard. At Kopeka, Maddie would exclaim "Outside!" at least every five minutes. There was the beach, "Rocks!" Sitting on the backporch, "Seat!" The Gazebo in the park "Zeebo!" And even sitting in the grass painting, "Paint!"

I took just a few pictures:

I taught Maddie to paint last time we were at Kopeka, and surprise, surprise it was a hit. Maddie is quite the artist -- and thankfully these paints are washable.






























































































Maddie's favorite part of Kopeka is the beach. When we first got there, the lake was pretty muddy and there was a huge beach. The next day was terribly windy and rocky and we lost all that beach. Maddie loved to stand close to the water and watch the waves, but she still seems to have a little fear from that day long ago when we introduced her to the Lake. Thankfully, she's happy to throw the biggest rocks she can find. And Daddy spent lots of time helping her. She's very proud of herself.








































Maddie was fascinated by the "apples" on my Dad's Mountain Ash tree.



















Every vacation should have a breakfast made of Nutella. Don't try to stop her.






















If it rains, just bring your lawn chair inside while you read and watch Tinkerbell.






















One of our new discoveries was the gazebo in the park next door to our cottage. I tried to teach Maddie to sing "I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" but she didn't go for it. She would rather stare out at the water, dance around and throw herself down on the ground saying "I fell."

Reunited and it feels so good...

** Disclaimer: Honest to goodness, I do not know what is going on with my blog. The pictures are showing up terribly! But if you want to see a clear version, just click on the picture. I am too tired after this long day to try to figure this out.**

Ok, maybe a bad song choice (and a bad song) but appropriate. My family had it's first reunion in ... Maybe 15 years? Maybe more?? Today also marked my Aunt Dode's birthday and she was hosting the party at her house.

Rob and I had so much fun, as did someone else I know. A few pictures from the day:




Sitting in the shade and good company.


Carl Kogler's descendants -- including me!






Each branch of the family posed for pictures by their "parent" tree. This is one of my favorite pictures: my cousins, Leo and Betty Jane holding up their father, Peter's picture.





My first cousins Lucy, Carl John and his wife, Emily, dining on the steps.





Maddie makes friends with her cousins Wyatt and Alexis.






A rare photo of the blogess, with Fuzzy and little Fussy in front of the "Family Tree." I appointed myself as the decorations subcommittee and used the rainbow as my theme. Since there were seven siblings from which we all decended, each sibling was assigned a color and had their own paper chains and photo ornaments in their color. This tree represented the whole united family with everyone's picture and a rainbow chain:






This is just a little sampling of the day, but there are lots more at our Flickr page if you are interested!

As American as ...

Cherry Pie!




I never ever make pie. Truth be told, I am not a big pie person except maybe on Thanksgiving day when I will eat a slice so that I can enjoy the Cool Whip. (Yes, I said Cool Whip, Tom!)

But a little while ago my Mom gave me a pint of cherries and they just weren't being eaten. So I contemplated making a regular old pie. And then I thought, "Naw, I can do better than that."

So I made a sugar cookie:

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
Bake in an ungreased pie tin at 450 degrees for 10 minutes

Then I added it with cherries (just cleaned and pitted, nothing fancy).

Then I topped it with a diabetic coma:

[Sorry this is really just guess work here]
2 Tbsps cold butter
a handful of sugar
a handful of brown sugar
a small handful of flour
blend or mix by hand until you've got a nice sugary crumble and throw it on top of the pie
Throw the whole thing in the oven for about 10 minutes more.

And you know what? It was really good.

Rejuvenated

This year started off really muddled for me and I have really been dragging. I've blogged about this here and there over the past year, so bear with me if I am repeating myself. It has just seemed that every single day I feel two steps behind and am drowning in a mountain of paperwork and just really mundane tasks.

Well guess what: It's summer. And that means my workload just got a whole lot lighter. I feel like there is a whole world of possibility in front of me. I am still amazingly busy, but somehow I have much more energy to deal with it. Let 2011 begin. It is 2011 right?

As my mind winds down for a leisurely summer, my creative side is kicking up its heels. [Is that the key?? Think less, create more? I feel like my mentor, Julie, would be screaming "Yes!" right now.] I'm mentally redecorating the cottage (since that's where I'm sitting right now). I'm also planning decorations for a family reunion. And I'm itching to craft a few 4th of July items since I'm hosting tomorrow's festivity. (More on that later!)

I've even start pinning on Pinterest which I was a little hesitant to do. I'm not overly designy or crafty so Pinterest seemed over my head, but now I'm kind of hooked. It's like a moleskin for my mind.

Besides I think I'll make it my summer goal to get a bit more crafty. And techy.

Plus, Maddie and I already did some crafting today...




This was the end product.

Oh and this too:



Maddie haggles with a prospective collector:



Then she takes a nap.