Our Saturday Visit to the Podge

Friday, May 13th...weather forecast...rainy and raw....outlook for Saturday, May 14th...rainy, raw and windy. We had made plans to go to my daughter's lakehouse in Wisconsin on Saturday. We didn't see her on Mother's Day, but planned to go to visit on the 14th. She lives in DC, but has a house on a lake in Wisconsin, where she visits every few weeks. I was so looking forward to spending this time with her....but decided that it was not to be. We cancelled on Friday night. When I woke up in the morning...it wasn't raining...cold but not raining. I whispered to Joe..."Do you want to go?" We hurried and got ready in an hour. I left a message on her phone...she was already on the plane and called when she landed. We drove for three hours and met rain a couple of times, but not heavy rain. When we neared her house...the sky was cloudy, but no rain. The picture below is her house from the road. I guess you would call it the back of the house?

Here is the view on the deck. There are windows all across the lakeside of the house. She has blinds that come up from the bottom, so as not to obstruct the view. She doesn't like to have her picture taken, so shots of her have to be in a hurry. Here she's holding a turtle shell that we found at the edge of the woods across the street from her house. They are a bit behind us in weather. She doesn't have the deck furniture out yet. She calls her place Hodge Podge Lodge. There used to be a TV show called that when she was a girl. I wish the show was still on...we all learned so much about nature from that program.

She is interested in some of the same things that I am. She loves the natural world. We discovered plants...tons of columbine everywhere. Her lilies are up and her little seeds have taken. I took her a couple of sedums to plant. She really can't have annuals, because of not being there to take care of them all the time. I thought that sedums would be a safe plant to give her. She lives just far enough away and on water...so she has so many different birds than I do. Cranes, herons, wood ducks, pileated woodpeckers, geese and so on. She sent me some wonderful pictures of things she's seen at the Podge this morning. The ground was soggy, but that didn't keep us from walking around the whole yard to invesigate what was popping up. Her neighbor was out trying to catch some fish. He was sitting on the dock...tossing in a line. He headed back up to the house...not good fishing today...to cold and windy to stay out long. We fixed lunch and decided to have some soup...I had brought some tuna salad for tuna melts and a pasta salad. It all tasted good to us.

Her trees are a bit behind ours. Just budding out. The weeping willow is a bright green and the first trees to welcome spring. A peak through the budding trees at the lake and trestle.

We came in and were chilled. Joe was watching a retro TV station....The Egg and I. We sat and finished watching it with him. She offered tea or coffee. Joe asked for coffee. We went out to the kitchen to make it. She has a fancy coffee maker that makes different coffees. I can't remember her exact words, but she meant...Just because you're roughing it at the Podge...who says you can't be fancy. She served him a little cup of espresso, with two sugar cubes and biscotti. He was impressed.

We were there until about 3;30 and then decided to go to Mass in a neighboring town. She led the way, so we wouldn't get lost. We said our goodbyes and our wishes for safe trips. We visited a Church that we had never gone to and really enjoyed the Mass. Leaving the little town, we both said that we had had a wonderful time and were so glad that we changed our mind about going. We stopped for dinner along the way home...shrimp and prime rib....and got home just as it got dark. We came into the house, sleepy, but happy that we had spent the day with my girl.

I don't know how this picture got to the bottom of my post, but there it will stay...Balisha