I need a vacation from my return from vacation

I always make sure to clean my house before vacation. It takes one thing off the list of things to do upon returning. It finally rained while we were gone, so I had a jungle to mow. And all the laundry! And unpacking! And checkbook balancing! And grocery shopping! It's enough to make one consider swearing off vacations. Just briefly.

I would never give up that one week each summer we spend at the lake. It's heavenly there. Except for when it gets really hot and the cabins don't have air conditioning. We only suffered one day out of the whole week. I think we were the only place in the nation below 90 last week.

I got to go fishing quite often. I love going fishing. It's so serene. Mostly, I like the water and the sunshine and the trees and listening to the breeze and the loons. And casting is like meditation - casting out, reeling in, casting out, reeling in.... Over and over. Half the time, I could care less if I caught any fish. (Especially since I don't like to eat any.)

The days go by too quickly when we are there. What I wouldn't give to have Trek-like transporter to get me there whenever I wanted! Or at least my own private pilot and jet. That will be for when hubby and I make our 19th million. (We already have plans for the other millions so far. I think we're on 19th now.)

Highlights of the trip:

• Frodo was swimming one day and had some bluegills nibbling on his ankle. He wasn't so fond of that. I thought it was hilarious. I give him tons of credit though - even after that happened, he was back in the water swimming the next day!
• Medicine Man brought his sister along. She was LOADS of fun and just a treat to hang out with. She's a wise woman who has been on a very bumpy road in life, but now makes the best of things. My kind of gal.
• Baby sister and her hubby came for a few days. The last time she was there, I was 18 and she was 7. (She's 26 now. I'll make you do the math for my age.) That was the first time I took hubby to this lake. It was the summer my grandpa was selling his house on the lake.
• Sis-in-law behaved. I was worried she would feel like she was not busy enough, and would pester all of us to go do things all the time, but she did ok! Yay!
• Between me, hubby, sis-in-law, her hubby, and a very old book, we pieced together how to play canasta. Hubby and I used to play canasta with his parents when he and I were first married, but since mom-in-law passed away, we haven't played. It's a fun game. (Am I old for thinking canasta is fun?)
• We saw some weird fish activity in one part of the lake - we kept seeing areas where littler fish were *bouncing* on the surface of the water. We figured a larger fish was preying on them and they were trying to escape. Then just once, we saw a muskie swimming along with his head sticking out of the water, like it was some sea monster. It was the oddest thing I'd ever seen. Unfortunately, the camera was not fast enough to catch this strange behavior. I did some research online, and can only find one reference to this behavior. Maybe sometime I'll find some old-time fishing guide and ask him about it too. It was really neat to see, even if it was strange.
• The mosquitos and deer flies were in lower numbers than previous trips. :D

Lowlights of the trip:

• Baby sis has taken up smoking again. Sigh.
• I got a deer fly bite on my finger. My ring finger. With my wedding ring. I react pretty severely to deer fly bites - the little monsters (which I am sure are straight from hell) are the bane of my existence. (Check out the part in that link about how they bite.... Yeouch!) I tried getting my wedding ring off. It's already a bit small since I weigh about 30 pounds heavier now than I did when I was married. I couldn't get it off. My finger puffed up to about three times it's size. It started turning purple from loss of circulation. I iced it. I took Benadryl. I started walking toward the resort owner's home up the lane to get a pair of bolt cutters or some sort of tool to cut my ring off. (The ring can be fixed. I didn't like the idea of losing my finger.) Then the ice and Benadryl started kicking in and the feeling started returning to my finger. It's 4 days later and my finger is looking just a teensy bit puffy. When I get three wishes from a genie someday, I will use one of those wishes to get rid of deer flies.
• I cried the last night we were there. I didn't want the week to be over. I've never been that emotional at the end of the week before. Sigh. (And no, I'm not PMSing. I checked thinking that was the case.)

I like how the highlights outnumber the lowlights. That's always a good sign.