Dear friends at the lake

This week we had the pleasure of hosting a friend and her family here at the lake. I've known TJ since we were in elementary school together. Attended the same university. Visited and kept in touch over the decades. Which takes effort since she has lived in Europe for almost thirty years now. 

In Texas (from Portugal) to attend her niece's wedding, I invited her to our lake house with promises of boat rides, fishing and authentic cajun food. We had some spotty rain, but didn't let that slow us down. Every morning she and I would get up with the sun to log about four miles of walking in our neighborhood. Nice long chats with someone who knows all your history, the good, bad and ugly, is truly a blessing. On these walks, we saw various critters. The Canadian geese were hanging out at the dog park, and they were entertaining to watch when we took a little break.

Our friends had lots of luck with their fishing. We were fortunate that the fish under and around our dock really liked the worms and minnows we used. A couple of the catfish reeled in were big enough to eat. The small perch, catfish and bass they landed were fun to check out and then throw back. One evening, they were having so much fun that they continued fishing through a beautiful sunset into early evening.

It was cool to spy one of our sailboat neighbors out on the water for a spin. Sailboats are always such a majestic sight, in my opinion. We finally got motivated to dig out our towable and get it aired up for us to kick off the summer season with the 20 something crowd. TJ's younger son and husband were both game to take a ride. So I gave it my best shot, spinning in circles and figure 8's, trying to bounce them off. Whether a relaxing ride in the golden hour or jumping waves on a towable in the afternoon, we all had a good time on the water. I really wish I had snapped some pics of the action, but I was busy driving the boat.

Jesus & dumplings

In a couple weeks, I'll be teaching VBS after a realllllly long hiatus. As in haven't taught it since our newly law-degreed daughter was in elementary school. So yeah, many moons ago. But I'm game. We had a curriculum meeting this week and I'm excited about all of the fun things the kiddos will get to do while being immersed in God's message of hope, love and faithfulness. Hands and feet of Jesus, y'all. If we aren't pouring the Gospel into the younger generations, then we're failing at what our Lord and Savior told us to do to further His kingdom here on earth.

By no stretch of the imagination do I consider myself a crafty girl. So when the VBS coordinator asked me if I could make a paper mache sun with some rays as part of the decor, I gave it my best shot. The deep mustard yellow paint job is absolutely retina-burning bright. There's no way the kids can miss it. I'll follow up my efforts by decorating our classroom in an "Under the RED Sea" theme to go with the second day's lesson about Moses leading his people out of Egypt. 

On a completely separate note... the husband and I continue to try new restaurants near our lake house. Taco Tuesday at a local fish place was definitely a winner. But a foray to a noodles and dumplings place, where everything is made fresh in a see-thru kitchen set up, was one of our recent favorites. Good thing I'm still logging 25 miles of walking every week to burn off some of the delicious calories we're consuming.

May musings

Praise the Lord that we've continued to get a bit more rain lately, because we really needed it. Thankfully, the showers didn't put a damper on our Memorial Day plans. We were still able to grill a few times as well as walk a Freedom 5K here in our community. With the lawyer daughter's boyfriend out of town, we got to enjoy her company a couple days. That girl is covered up in bar exam prep, and heaven forbid anything interfere with her study schedule. So she hightailed it back to Dallas Sunday morning.

Back when we lived in England, the husband enjoyed buying new beers to sample. That continues today with my photographic evidence below of a recent taste test he created for himself. I didn't partake, but have to admit I was intrigued by some of the cool names and can designs.

Both dogs had to be taken to the vet recently, one with a swollen paw and the other with stomach issues. But by the time I was able to secure an appointment and get them there, little man Finn was no longer limping, and Pepper's diarrhea had run its course. I got some preventative meds in case either issue popped up over the long holiday weekend. I imagine the fact that I got something to have on hand assured that there would be no further health concerns.

I've become a regular walker in our neighborhood, logging 25 miles per week. Ye old metabolism continues to crawl along as I age, and so I've cut back on the calories and upped the exercise to keep from outgrowing my britches. Every day I pass by this sweet patch of zinnias one of the neighbors on our street planted right along the road, and it makes me smile.

Finally, I was zipping into town to run an errand this week and the misspelling on the back of a work van caught my eye when we were stopped at a red light. In this modern age of autocorrect and spell check, I'll admit it's a rarity to see something like this. They obviously should have run their text by someone with proofreading EXPERIENCE. And I can't help but wonder how long it took someone to point out this error emblazoned across the back of their van they obviously use for advertising.

Our new lawyer in the family

We spent a couple days in Dallas, celebrating the younger daughter's graduation from SMU law school. Our CPA daughter and her husband were able to join us from Austin to make it a fun family celebration. We wish the husband's parents could have joined us, but they were happy to watch the ceremony's livestream and cheer her on from the comfort of their living room. 

We went out for a celebratory dinner at Stillwell's Steak House in downtown Dallas' Hotel Swexan. The service was excellent and the meal delicious. Our law grad will now be buckling down to begin the arduously time consuming task of studying for the bar exam at the end of July. She has always been a dedicated learner who takes her studies seriously, so we know she'll be well on her way to clearing this last hurdle to secure her law license in the state of Texas. 

May on the lake

When the CPA daughter dropped in for Mother's Day Sat-Sun on her way to Dallas for work, we had the chance to do a spot of fishing from our dock. The initial spinner she used wasn't attractive to our local fishes. So the husband zipped over to our nearest convenience store to pick up a container of Canadian crawlers. Sure enough, that did the trick and she reeled in a little sunfish and catfish.

Then I had to stroll down memory lane, scratching around to find old pics I had taken on a trip to Minnesota when these two also did a bit of fishing. It was the summer before she started kindergarten. Such sweet memories, y'all.

We took the boat out for a spin, and our daughter decided little man Finn should join us. He was really nervous at first, very unsure of it all. But he settled down and seemed to enjoy checking things out along the shoreline as we cruised around the bay.

I know the pic below is so zoomed in that it's super blurry. But I didn't want to try and creep closer to momma duck and her babies for fear of scaring them away. We've seen them paddling around this stretch of our neighborhood the past few days, and they're so stinking cute.

Mother's Day weekend 2026

What I wouldn't give to have my own dear mother with us to celebrate today. On a weekly basis I find myself thinking about how much she would have enjoyed living in this lake community with us, because she became a real social butterfly in her later years. I think what pulls at my heart strings the most is that she didn't live longer to enjoy our girls as adults. The graduations and wedding she has missed since she went home to heaven over four years ago. Another wedding and some great grand babies to spoil. But all of the little mundane stuff, too. So much life I thought she'd be here to enjoy, but it wasn't meant to be. 

Mother's Day 2020, with all four grandkids

But I DID enjoy my Mother's Day rather than succumbing to the maudlin thoughts. We got to see our older daughter, the CPA, en route to a work commitment in Dallas tomorrow. Plus we had the husband's mother as well as my sister for brunch at the club after church. This earthly life is short, and time is precious, y'all. Focus on family, and place your trust in our most gracious and loving Lord. 

Wishy washy spring weather

Spring weather in these parts is always interesting. The heat is starting to settle in, but we always have these last gasp cool fronts making their way through the area. So that means we're often in the watch zone for severe thunderstorms, hail, straight line winds and tornados.  

Several nights ago we had some serious straight line winds blow through the neighborhood. The next morning I walked down to the dock to check on the outdoor furniture, and ran across this scramble above. I purposely chose our polywood dining set because it's heavier than a lot of other options I considered. However, I knew it would be best to hedge my bets by using a steel cable run through the chairs to secure them with a padlock to a dock beam. And now I've got photographic proof it was a wise precaution.

The rest of the weekend we enjoyed more beautiful "San Diego weather", as my husband calls it. My sister and I did take the time to zip over to the world's largest flea market in Canton, in search of a vintage bait bucket. With two old bait buckets saved from our river house, I thought it would be fun to have a grouping of three painted with fish by a local artist to serve as decor on the boathouse. Or maybe in the kid's bunk room bath (think garbage pails) at the new lake house we'll be building. 

Sunday was another glorious day spent out on the back porch, where we spied one of our local sailboats out for a spin. With our air temps warming, along with the water temps, we're starting to see parents hauling around kids on towables. And the jet ski folks are definitely out in full force again.