Christmas in August
Wisconsin is gorgeous in late summer and I love every hot sticky moment. Others may gripe about the heat and humidity but I do all my weather-related complaining in the winter. The landscape is overwhelmingly lush and green, and the cicada’s song permeates the evenings–a sound I have long associated with the good tired feeling that I remember experiencing as a youngster after spending the day riding my bike or swimming or playing ball in the streets.
This morning I got my bike out for the FIRST time this summer for a short ride to have coffee (and a hug) with a friend. We sat outside and gabbed for two solid hours before somewhat reluctantly bidding each other adieu.
This afternoon, Dan and I took the scenic route to visit Devil’s Lake near his home town of Baraboo. This involved a lunch stop, a spontaneous pier inspection, a ferry ride, and a drive down nostalgia lane. The lake was (as always) gorgeous, but extremely windy; beach balls and other flotation devices scampered across the picnic area at regular intervals, usually with a youngster chasing after it.
We finally got to see Dan’s Christmas gift from me–which was a brick. To explain: on 9/10/11 Dan and I were married at the shore of Devil’s Lake. My brother officiated a brief ceremony with only immediate family in attendance. We held hands, said nice things to each other, and made our union official. For Christmas this year, I purchased a personalized brick to be installed (with many other brick siblings) near the spot where we were married. We had talked about doing that every time we saw the memorial bricks at the lake… so it seemed like a fitting gift. We are now memorialized… in stone!
Love ya baby!