Back from ‘mini-retirement’

I haven’t quit blogging. It only seems that way. Cousin Josh A. chewed me out tonight for laying off the keyboard for nearly three weeks. I guess that is a long stretch. Sorry. I wasn’t kidnapped by aliens in the UFO I spotted. So, to catch you up…

At the Lake

We returned this week from a ‘mini-retirement‘ (most of you call it ‘vacation’) at Lake Lizzie, MN. For me, it really was like a mini-retirement. I didn’t answer my cell phone or check my email or call the office once. I totally unplugged and really didn’t think about work a bit.

It was a week (mostly in the rain) with the Clevelands (16 of us in all). I uploaded oodles of pictures a few days ago to Flickr–here’s a sample.

We spent a bunch of time staring out the window at the rain and clouds, but had a couple beautiful days and a real nice time. I got about half way through my newest read, Walden by Henry David Thourough. It’s fantastic. I also got in some canoeing and hiking.

The Grabinski’s place was good and bad. The good: great view of the lake, lots of room in the house, a canoe for me to paddle around in, a steam shower/sauna in the basement, and a trampoline in the back hard that kicks ass. The bad: no hot water for three and half days for some reason, the hot tub didn’t work, ABC only came in on the little tv in one of the downstairs bedrooms (which meant Jon and Nicole had a roommate during the Celtics-Lakers games), and no beach (rock shoreline). I didn’t mind the rocks, but the kids were looking for a beach (even though the water was 50 degrees max)…

Look Mom!
The big news from Lake Lizzie was Mesa’s first ride without training wheels! Here’s a quick video clip (with Mommy chasing behind for security). It took all of two minutes of practicing before I totally let go of her seat. What a superstar…

Growing Up Green
So I fell in love with the Boston Celtics when I was seven years old. 24 years ago. That’d be the first Magic vs. Bird showdown in the FInals, and the C’s won the title. that’s when they became ‘my’ C’s. They lost in the Finals to the Lake Show the next year, and then beat the Rockets in ’86. It was good to love the ugliest group of men ever assembled (you ever looked at pictures of Bird, McHale, Parish and DJ Johnson?). That (1986) was the last time the Celtics won it all. Since then I endured 20 years of mediocre at best basketball from those guys in green. This year, my favorite player was traded to my favorite team. they had the best record in the NBA. And I didn’t watch them play a single game until the playoffs. I guess I’m not such a huge NBA fan anymore. But it sure has been fun watching the Celtics-Lakers finals again this year. Expecially with the C’s up 3 games to 1…

Finally…
You’re all invited to Mesa’s fifth birthday party on Sunday. We’re having brunch and a ‘Happy Birthday Princess Mesa’ cake.