Nebraska Jack is in town, and he took us all to dinner last night. Here’s the view from the restaurant.
We don’t see the moon from the house. It’s behind us, so unless we’re driving along the road on the other side of the bay, the moon’s brilliance doesn’t make us go “ooh” and “ahh”.
Except for last night.
We had a clear view. And we were very impressed.
It’s the time of year when the lake’s levels are lowered. It’s a slow process, but another sign that winter is coming and summer is over.
So I have a wider beach…and more places to hunt for arrowheads on my daily walk along the water’s edge.
Yesterday I found an exciting piece of obsidian–either a broken arrowhead or a giant “flake”.
Check it out:
…to take these pictures:
I was on my way to the Big City to pick up Banjo Man at the airport Tuesday evening. That afternoon we’d had wind and rain and hail…and then a rainbow.
I had to pull off the road four times to take pictures.
I am so in love with this view.
Every day the news from around the world and in America gets worse and worse…crazier and crazier…and not much makes sense.
And then there are skies like this.
You all know Story Man.
Yeah, the guy with the fish.
Last March one of his screenplays won Best Nebraska screenplay at the Omaha Film Festival.
And now another script, a Western period piece (Story Man loves his western history!) is a quarter-finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break screenwriting competition.
Amid 7000 entries.
How cool is that????!!!!!
Keep rockin’, lady! It looks good on you!
There is an arrowhead in this photo.
I saw it in the photo 20 hours after taking the picture and I have spent quite a bit of time down on the beach trying to find it. Which, of course, is practically impossible. The lake goes down every day, the deer walk on the beach, the waves continue to shift the rocks….
And the fact that it was right there, under my nose, while I was taking arty wave pictures, continues to make me crazy.
Really, really crazy.
Maybe someday it will turn up again.
Here’s an enlargement.
And here’s the beach.
You want to know what this is, don’t you? If you don’t know, then you are not living out here in the northwest where everyone I know is buying vodka and brandy and stuffing fruit into jars and comparing fermenting times.
Because I am avoiding writing a short story (due Wednesday, uh-oh) and because I am avoiding packing up the lake house and because I am avoiding packing the car and mailing my clothes and cleaning closets and washing floors and defrosting a freezer….I thought it was a good idea to use the pears Dancing Mandolin Player gave me and make pear liqueur.
What you see are peeled, cut up pears soaking in vodka. Two jars have vanilla beans, two jars have vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks and two jars have vanilla beans and the zest of Mayer lemons.
Of course, there will be a lot of tasting to see which one we prefer.
These jars sat in a cool, dark place for three days. Then I removed the vanilla beans and let them sit for several more days. On Wednesday I will add pear-infused simple syrup and give these jars a good shaking. They will sit, in all of their loveliness, for another week or so, and then I will strain and bottle the liqueur.
And when I am finished writing, packing, cleaning, defrosting and mailing, I will drink some.
Today marks 44 years of marriage to Banjo Man.
OMG.
That day seems like a very long time ago.
Because it was.
But underneath the white hair (me) and bad knees (Banjo Man) and all of the other insults of aging, we’re still the same couple who loves road trips and music and mountains and lakes and really good hamburgers.
We’re still laughing.
Which is the most important thing.
As Banjo Man once warned a young man about the woman he was dating at the time, “It’s going to be a long life if she doesn’t think you’re funny.”
I’ve repeated that advice many times.
Banjo Man is the funniest man I know.
Which might explain the forty-four years.
It’s Monday. I have a long list of things to accomplish, and at the top of that list is to write.
I have a deadline. Again.
Oh, my.
Uh-oh. I think I’m hyperventilating.
Before crossing anything off my list (pack up box for Post Office, find the sangria punch recipe, write 6 pages, call the bakery, email agent, wash the car, find that Kohls receipt, wash the kitchen floor, blah, blah, blah…) I needed to do one important thing.
So, coffee in hand, I headed down to the lake.
Good morning, town.
Good morning, beach.
Good morning, everyone.
I hope you’re taking a few minutes out of your busy Monday to enjoy your coffee and take a few deep breaths.
I feel better now.
At 5:00 PM (PT) I will put on my new Huskers shirt, bought in Lincoln, Nebraska last June. It is not the shirt you see here, but it’s red and it says “Huskers” on the front.
I will look like an idiot, here alone at the lake. But no one will see me, so that’s good. 🙂
The Nebraska-Miami game is not going to be streamed online, so I am once again stuck with listening to it on the internet radio, with all of the inevitable techno-glitches that come with listening to anything online. It’s a great alternative to not being able to listen at all, but it is never perfect.
I think I will take my laptop downstairs and iron while the game is on. It could be a tense three hours. There’s a lot of history between these teams and today is going to show if Nebraska is really making a comeback.
Until then I am working on my short story and listening to the pregame show. I have been to the library and the dump. I have successfully restrained myself from entering The Pantry and buying ice cream or cinnamon rolls.
I have looked up recipes for making pear liqueur. I have unloaded boxes of borrowed serving dishes from the car. I have filled the car with gas. And bought a Diet Coke.
I have made my bed.
I have practiced my yodel song, among others. I have folded clean clothes and swept the kitchen floor. I have decided what to bake for tomorrow’s dessert after band practice.
Four hours to go until kick off.
I think I will walk down to the beach now and look for arrowheads.
Three hours and fifty-one minutes to go until kick off.
GO BIG RED!!!!
Fourth of July
Glen the Banjo Man
LIVE at the Dump
is there any more pie? 