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Jan

Planning for Summer Entertaining

Once again, our temperatures plunged below zero, driving us under our down comforters. I can feel for the people down South, not used to this cold. No doubt about it, it is brutal.

My husband and I started making some plans for the summer. Yes, folks, break out those patio umbrellas and furniture, it’s time to party! Forget the cold! Forget the shoveling! Let’s talk barbecue.

We’re planning on some of the family visiting during the summer. The plan calls for boating, swimming, and lots of fun. There is one distinct advantage of living on a lake–it is like you are always at the cabin. The summer cabin is a Minnesota tradition, probably harking back to the Scandinavian institution of the summer home. It’s a wonderful emphasis on family, entertaining, and enjoying the outdoors.

Any given weekend, as soon as the weather gets nice, the roads out of town are packed with travelers. Everywhere, the family cars are all loaded up with their market umbrellas, water skis, and boats. Every weekend is precious.

The cabin can be some grand log home, or lake home as they like to call them here. Other times, they can be little modest cottages, with just enough space to grab a little shade under a half umbrella. It doesn’t matter. It’s “the cabin”, and it is the best place on Earth. The food tastes better here. The water is warmer. There’s more fun to be had than can possibly be imagined.

It’s a wonderful tradition, even if you’re the one stuck in traffic. Traffic going to work is awful. Traffic going to the cabin just intensifies the anticipation. The best part about it is that every weekend can be a holiday. If one weekend it rains, there is always next weekend. If last weekend was so much fun, how about we do it again next weekend?

The thoughts of many Minnesotans are traveling to summer and the north country. Before you know it, it’ll be time to open up the cabin and put in the boat.

Category: Lifestyle Tags: cabin, summer Comments off

Jan

Still Musing About Summer

Chris

I have to admit it: I’m still thinking about summer. Ah, summer, the time to boat, to swim, to cook on the barbecue grill. It’s all good.

I like being outdoors best. During the winter, we venture out so much less. The walks are shorter, colder. I love the silence of the woods in winter, but I miss the birds terribly. It’s far too quiet sometimes.

The other day, we were finishing the last of our Christmas shopping. There is always that last-minute gift. I like to kid that I need something to do on Christmas Eve. As we walked the store, I noticed that the summer items were out already. While it snowed outside, we strolled past racks of swimsuits, aisles of garden furniture and barbeque grills. Maybe because I was so cold from the damp that the thought of being outdoors was so surprising.

We found the winter gloves that were our last gift to buy. My mind, however, kept going back to those thoughts of warm, summer nights. It seemed so far away. Would it really be possible to swim in that lake now frozen and covered with snow?

When we came home, I browsed through my cookbooks, past the stews and soups to the grilling section. Grilled steak and grilled shrimp sounded so good. That’s the magical thing about a BBQ grill: just about anything tastes delicious when it’s grilled.

That’s part of the reason that I cook and don’t bake. I didn’t inherit those particular genes from my mother. Baking is exacting. You cannot make a mistake when you bake. When you cook, there’s always a fix. No recipe has to be a disaster. Just throw it on the grill, and you have a meal. End of discussion.

I suppose that it’s going to be a long winter for me if my thoughts are turning to summer already. Rather than fight it, I’ll embrace the season. A savory beef stew sounds very good right now.

Category: Lifestyle Tags: summer, winter Comments off

May

Summer’s Here; Time For Boating

Chris

It’s official; the summer weather is upon us. We finally got our boat in the water. Now comes the challenge–balancing workouts with running with boating and the overeating that accompanies it. On the plus side, once the water warms up I’ll be able to add swimming to my crosstraining.

Yesterday, I decided to do a long walk. I have a nice route along some country roads. The scenery is so lovely. The gravel roads aren’t too bad; they spray them in places. The people traveling this road are very polite too, slowing down so as not to spray me with gravel or dirt. That’s not the case with another country road I’ve walked and have since abandoned.

I came across something really fun to add to my walks. It’s been around forever, but I’ve just discovered geocaching. The basic idea is to have individuals hide caches that others can then locate by following the coordinates with a GPS unit. Sounds easy? Think again. While GPS units do have a good bit of accuracy (higher ones even more so), they are still subject to the actions of satellites, ground cover, and topography. That GPS unit may get you to the valley, but down below it may be of little use. That’s where the treasure hunt part comes in.

Caches can be simply a log book, or articles can be added for a theme with the idea that one item is taken and one left in its place. Of course, an entry to the log book is also part of the game and part of the fun, reading of others’ adventures.

I plan to have some fun with geocaching on our next vacation to Door County. I’ve gathered a list of geocaches in the area from Geocaching.com. This is the site to visit for anything about geocaching from lists of geocaches to resources to info on GPS units and geocaching events. Of course, it’s all for fun, but a great way to get out there and explore your world.