Late Summer in the Marsh...

Cattails

  
Just a few images from my little slice of Heaven.  There are approximately five acres of marsh behind the house, containing abundant flora and fauna. We've mowed some small paths through the brush, but have left it mostly wild.  It is quite lovely and peaceful, and there is always some new sight to see.

Winter food for the birds

 

A small exercise in waterway diversion

Wildflower-lined path

A view from the bridge

Sunny clearing

    This is a very good place to be...

I find that I need a memory refresher!  I do, indeed, know what constitutes music a cappella...music performed with only the human voice as instrument.  Some of the songs I posted here are NOT a cappella at all.  I can only plead that when thinking of these songs I remembered only the vocal parts and not the instrumentation that accompanied them.  Still good music, still amazing vocal arrangements and performances, but most definitely NOT a cappella.  oopsie...
And now, for your listening pleasure...
I love music a capella.  There is a TV show coming for another season called "The Sing-Off" that is all music made with just human voices, no instrumental accompaniment...I think I'm going to love it!  Here are some singers I admire and some songs they've sung a capella .

James Taylor, of course:

 

Is That the Way You Look? Click on the linkie thingie there to the left. I couldn't find a video of Taylor performing this song, but found this very silly video of a couple of kids 'dancing' to it. The song is not entirely a capella, but still great.

and another James Taylor: 

Noticing a theme here? What can I say? The man can sing!  

A Huey Lewis cover of a classic hit:

I've been playing that one in my car a lot lately...very, very loudly!

And one from Billy Joel:

Be aware that my dialup Internet connection prevents me from previewing any of these links, so I hope that I'm giving you the right ones! :D  Enjoy!

Another Family Reunion

My husband's family this time, and a wonderful time it always is!

There were people from Indiana, Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Florida.  There was a LOT of wonderful food, many hugs and kisses, countless stories told, and much love shared. 

Cousins Rose and David arrived at our home on Thursday and set up camp in our side yard.  We always look forward to their visit!

Some of us gathered at Uncle Ervin and Aunt Bonnie's on Friday night for pizza and to wait for the Kansas branch of the Mullets to arrive. 

The family met, as always when the reunion is held in Indiana, in Goshen on Saturday for lunch, and then we were honored, as we have been for the last three years, with an after-party of sorts at our home for playing, and talking, and eating, and mosquito-slapping and s'mores, and wading in the creek on Saturday evening. 

On Sunday evening we had an abridged repeat of Saturday's fun with another, smaller gathering at our house to clean up some leftovers, wander the marsh behind us, chat and laugh, and singing along with Three Dog Night in the kitchen.  

Only one lawn chair was killed in this year's adventure, and all frogs caught were soon released.  As always, there were far too many pictures to upload and far too many of you are not shown here, but it was so fine to see every one of you. You are all loved! 

Thank you, Marti, for sharing your photos.

There were 1:

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Two:

Three:

Four:

generations represented.

There was frog hunting:

and wading in the stream

and pizza

and a brand-new tattoo

  And Cousin Rita has found her signature pose.  

 

I am so lucky to have married into this family!

Time to Catch Up
August is nearly over, and I am behind.  I have enough blog posts to last a week, so will begin with a weekend with friends.

The Dan Barr Memorial Golf Outing
Ten years ago, our friend, Dan, convinced me that it was safe to ride a motorcycle. We had a couple of short rides with Dan & Peg, and one wonderful ten-day trip to the Outerbanks and back with them.  In July, 2003, Dan was killed on his bike when a driver made a left turn in front of him.
Every year since, in July, his family and friends hold a memorial golf outing, to commemorate a wonderful man and his life.  The proceeds raised provide college scholarships to graduating high school seniors in his town, first to the children of firefighters, policemen, EMTs and so on, and then to any young man or woman who graduates from Hubbard High School.  So far, there have been around SIXTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of scholarships given away. 
Every year but one, when I was ill and my sister was in her final weeks, Rich and I have gone to the outing. He golfs, I help with the chili dog table at the turn. We've watched Peggy & Dan's family and legacy grow with the years, and hope to be able to be there for many more years.
The following, in no particular order and with apologies to all who are not shown here, are some of my favorite faces in the world:

And then, we returned home, and found two more beautiful faces that we love:

And many very beautiful days.

It's Reunion Season!
For as long as I can remember, and in fact since many years before my birth in 1956, the third Sunday in July has been the day for the annual reunion of my father's side of my family.  We meet at around noon at a cottage that was built many years ago by my uncle and his brother-in-law at Marl Lake, near our home town of White Pigeon, Michigan, and sit down to eat at 1:00 pm.  My cousin Don and his family are often the first to arrive, and if you don't get there before Roger, you KNOW you are late! 
Traditionally, Uncle Bob would grill hot dogs, and Aunt Velma made her signature pork and beef BBQs.  Every family brought dishes to share, every woman had her specialties, and we all had our favorites.  Grandma usually baked raspberry pies and made cole slaw and chicken and noodles.  Aunt Evelyn was famous for her baked macaroni and cheese.  There were always a couple of pots of baked beans and two or three plates of deviled eggs, and plenty of wonderful desserts.
When I was a child and my father and his four brothers were all young, nearly everyone would go swimming in the lake at some point.  The lake is not great for swimming, with it's mucky bottom and cloudy grey color, but we never minded and we always had a splendid time.    
There was usually a pinochle or euchre game going, and at some point in the day, my uncle would take any of us who were interested on a pontoon-boat ride around the lake. Grandma would put on her big-brimmed straw hat and sit on a lawn chair on the boat.  I think she looked forward to the pontoon ride as much as we children did!
I believe that I have only missed two Lutz reunions in my entire life.  One was in 1974, when I was a newlywed, living in North Carolina and too poor to make the trip home, and one within the last few years when we were at the Dan Barr Memorial Golf Outing in Hubbard, Ohio on reunion weekend.  
I look forward to the reunion all year, to seeing my cousins and their children and grandchildren.  My grandparents, born in 1888 and 1890, have been gone since 1979 and 1975.  My father, their youngest son and now nearing the age of eighty-five, is the last of his generation. 
Some years we have a large turnout, and some years not so many show up.  Some never miss, and some never attend.  This was an average year, fifty-five of us in all.  The first cousins, my generation, range in age from nearly seventy-three years old down to around fifty. This year, there were at least four generations of my grandparents' descendants represented, with the youngest in attendance, my cousin Roger's newest grandson, only two weeks old.  My grandchildren spent nearly the entire time in the lake, taking just a short break to eat and to swing for a little while in the hammock, while their dinner settled.  They are pink from the sun and tired from their day, and they will sleep very well tonight.
We spent the day with people we know and love, trading stories, eating wonderful things, laughing and just enjoying the company of family.  We are so blessed!  Our next reunion will be the first weekend in August, with my husband's family.  That weekend we will have nieces, nephews, brothers and cousins camping at our house, and it will be splendid, although not so very good for my weight-loss diet.  :)  Happy Reunion Season!

Gallstones...
Yep, I've got 'em.  I'm pretty sturdy when it comes to physical pain, but that was a whole new level of hurt.  I will be seeing a surgeon Monday to see if I have to have my gall bladder removed.  I am oddly nervous about this.  I've only been hospitalized three times in my life: when I was born, when I had my tonsils out at fourteen, and almost thirty-two years ago when my son was born.  I don't care for this surgical prospect at all.

In other news, I have never been one to wish to live my life over and make changes.  That said, I've recently found myself wishing for myself the ability to go back about two years, maybe three, and freeze time at that point.  Rich hadn't yet had the accident on our beautiful yellow bike then, and my sister and two of my best friends were still with me.  There have been lots of things that have happened in my life since the summers of 2008 and 2009, and not nearly enough of them have been happy.  
I often think I should try to change myself in some very major ways.  I should try to be less trusting, less open, less giving.  I should be more skeptical, more reserved.  I wish that I could be stronger, smarter, more sophisticated.  I wish that I could learn to look askance at the things I'm told and not be so ready to simply accept people as they present themselves.  I should be realistic about my possibilities and prospects.  
I should stop writing my own fairy tale.
Fat chance.  

 

We're having a summer thunderstorm this evening, and I sat on the porch to watch it for awhile.  I used to write poetry, nothing good, but mine, and I haven't written any for many years.  As I sat there and enjoyed the little storm, the beginnings of this poem came to me as if poured into my brain:

Summer Poem for Missing Friends

Come, sit with me on this summer porch,
and watch the rain,
hear thunder boom and roll and gutters drip, drip, drip,
the skies awash to whisk away the evening heat.
We could speak of many things,
of spider's webs and dragonflies
and kites and shoes and motorcycles,
sip our sweet, sweat-beaded tea
the bits of ice dissolving into pools atop the glass.

The wooden bench-slats flex beneath our weight,
damp concrete floor cool underfoot. 
We'd loll and laugh and linger there,
our voices soft, our friendship strong,
a gentle breeze to tease my hair
and cool our heated flesh.

The smell of fresh-cut grass is good,
and, too, the scent of rain-soaked air
so clean, and light, and perfect. 
 
And how are you today, dear friend?
I've missed you so.
Will you please come and sit with me a bit?
I've saved a special place for you, right there.

It's been so long since you and I just sat, we two,
and spoke
and shared a glass.
I've missed you so.
I hope you're well, and have you changed?
I feel you, still, beside me here,
as if I could put out my hand
and take yours up within it.

There are such things that I would say
were I to have you here with me
to sit and watch this summer's rain
and hear the drip, drip, drip
of time too short and running fast.
I miss you so.
Come sit with me.

Rebecca Yoder 
Second Day of July, 2011

 

Nothing Says Summer Like

Kids & Watermelon!

 

Summer's Here!
Click on the title to hear James Taylor sing it...
It's been a month or so since I posted. My heart just hasn't been into much of anything lately. I've done some knitting, and I went on a trip to North Carolina on the motorcycle with my husband.  The grandkids are out of school for the summer.  One will be a first-grader in the fall, and another will be in Kindergarten.  Another may perhaps be in pre-school. 
The house is rarely quiet, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  My son and his family have lived with us since the first of March, and will be moving on by the end of this month, if all goes as we hope.  It's a different sort of thing, to have grown children move back home, but lots of folks are going through it these days.  On the one hand, we get lots of time with the grandchildren.  On the other hand, we have LOTS of time with the grandchildren... ; )  And then there are the additional issues connected to having offspring in the house after being empty nesters for awhile.  Those of you who know me well will know how that has gone...the rest of you don't need to be subjected to it. :D
First, the bike ride:

The First Annual Mysterious Swamp and Seafood Tour

 We lived in Swansboro, North Carolina the first two years of our marriage, while my husband served out his enlistment in the Marine Corps.  One of my friends from our motorcycle forum is a Navy captain who lives there now.  He had been asking us to come visit for some time and when he planned a gathering for our motorcycle forum, we decided the time was right to head South.  
The ride there was cold and wet.  We rode all one day in rain with temps hovering around 50 degrees.  Leaving after work on Wednesday, we rode to a point just south of New Castle, Indiana and stopped for the night, wet and tired.  The second day we made it as far as Asheville, North Carolina' before we saw sunshine and we finished our day in Hickory, NC.  The third day was sunny and hot, and we pulled into Swansboro in the late afternoon, showered and changed, and met our group for supper.  Our friend there had insisted that we stay in the apartment over his garage, and he and his wife were the most wonderful hosts!  The picture above shows the view from their back porch.  

 This is Main Street in Swansboro, mostly unchanged since we lived there in 1974-75, but slightly re-organized by various hurricanes and tropical storms.  The town has become somewhat 'touristy' in the interim, but looks much the same.  When we were in Swansboro in 2002, we tried to find the building that used to house Swansboro's tiny public library.  When we lived there, I would walk the three miles from our trailer park and three miles back, just to get books to read every week or two. On this trip we located it, across the street from the fire station.  It was a place that saved my sanity and introduced me to Hemingway and Fitzgerald when I was a young Marine's wife and far from home.

 This is a little slice of heaven called Yana's, and I highly recommend a visit if you ever get to town.  The restaurant is jam-packed with movie memorabilia, featuring Elvis Presly, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean.  They serve a freshly-made fruit fritter that is one of the best things I've ever eaten. I must admit to eating at least two of them while we were in town.... :D

 The "mysterious swamp" part of the tour was a joke between two of our forum friends...Polecat, this picture is for you. I'm so sorry you couldn't be there to see it in person!











While we stayed in Swansboro, we met up with a few other folks from the forum, rode, ate, had a marvelous tour of Camp LeJeune that was arranged and led by our host, rode and ate some more, and had a generally wonderful time.  We were lucky enough to meet up in Swansboro with a young Marine who had just returned from deployment overseas, and his wife, who is the daughter of friends in Hubbard, Ohio.  There were eleven states represented at the gathering, some people we'd met before, and a few we met for the first time.  It was a wonderful time, and we're so grateful to Bob for setting it all up!

The foothills of the Smokey Mountains

 We took leave from our friends on Sunday morning and headed for home in perfect riding weather, stopping for the night in Bristol, Tennessee.
The weather for our ride home was clear and hot.  We had to take cover and wait out some storms in Bristol, TN, and just south of the Ohio River in Kentucky, but otherwise had an uneventful time.  
We rode around 2,500 miles on this trip, and had such fun! 

How the Smokies got their name

A storm rolls in over Bristol

After the storm

Almost home again, in Indiana

Maybe I'll show what I've been knitting in my next post :)