weekend recap, august 19 edition

1. let's do this | 2. choppy seas | 3. wear a kid out | 4. photobomb by cal | 5. ferry to portsmouth | 6. norfolk at sunset | 7. still | 8. waiting on the ferry home | 9. norfolk at night  | 10. glorious figs, pretty packaging | 11. rocket man …

1. let's do this | 2. choppy seas | 3. wear a kid out | 4. photobomb by cal | 5. ferry to portsmouth | 6. norfolk at sunset | 7. still | 8. waiting on the ferry home | 9. norfolk at night  | 10. glorious figs, pretty packaging | 11. rocket man | 12. rainy nighttime garden | 13. neel's paddle | 14. rocket men | 15. sweet snuggly violet 

It's been the funniest summer. Rainy and cool for so many days. These past three or four haven't gotten out of the 70s, which have felt downright fall like. I don't think I'm complaining, but our beach days have been, well, unusual to say the least.  

My dad was here for most of the weekend, so we made the most of that for sure. After Neel and I had our assessment with our personal trainer (and yes, assessment sounds alarmingly like test), he headed to work and we headed to the beach.  

The beach was chilly, gray and choppy, but oh. It was delightful too. I will never tire of having the waves lap at my toes and watching the stormy surf. 

Dinner Friday night was at Still, which one of my favorite local restaurants. Sometimes you go to a restaurant and have a great meal, and sometimes you go and get a perfect combination of service and food and experience. This (with the exception of the table next to us who ordered nothing BUT drinks, and you can imagine how that went down), was one of those nights. Instead of dealing with the tricky tunnel traffic (living surrounded by water the way we do, it's hard to get anywhere without going over a bridge or through a tunnel), we opted to take a ferry from Norfolk to Portsmouth for the restaurant, and that was just the best decision. The quick ride over and back felt fun and special, and it's so lovely to see these two cities from the water. I can't believe we don't do it more.

The rest of our weekend was quiet (recovery?). Steady rain, sweet figs. Some movies and hello, who else is watching Newsroom? My dad brought up the first season, we watched the 1st two episodes and he cold-heartedly snatched them away again. Need to get my hands on the rest of season.  

Neel and Callum built a rocket on Saturday but that evening's launch was scrubbed due to rain. They both stared out the window like sad puppies all morning Sunday waiting for things to dry out, and late in the day we had three successful launches. After the first, a crowd of parents and kids who were playing soccer in the field where we went to launch came to watch the rest. Even the dads were mesmerized.  

Sometimes, most times, the simple things are best.  

weekend recap, august 12

1. Morning Walk | 2. Brainstorming Session | 3. Cal's Choice for dinner | 4. Beach life | 5. Exciting autumn ahead | 6. Harvest | 7. Slow-paddle Sunday | 8. Portgage lessons | 9. My river | 10. Big Storm | 11. Sampling BSE | 12. Sunday morning cherr…

1. Morning Walk | 2. Brainstorming Session | 3. Cal's Choice for dinner | 4. Beach life | 5. Exciting autumn ahead | 6. Harvest | 7. Slow-paddle Sunday | 8. Portgage lessons | 9. My river | 10. Big Storm | 11. Sampling BSE | 12. Sunday morning cherries | 13. Morning paddle | 15. I guess we're in the market for a canoe | 16. Hardware | 17. Summer storm | 18. Sun Storm | 19. Happy together

We did better this weekend, I think. Starting Friday with a morning walk along the water with my friend Catherine. These walks along the water are always what I need, and that morning, walking with Catherine was just exactly what I needed. Where would we be without our dear friends? A productive meeting (more on that to come in the coming weeks) followed by a clean(ed) house and some BBQ wings at our favorite joint. Isn't that what Fridays are meant to be all about?

One of the benefits of joining the university gym is that they have outdoor sports rentals. We ran out of time last weekend to try this out, but as soon as the groceries were put away in the fridge on Saturday, we booked ourselves down there and rented a canoe so we could get our butts on the water. I have a lot more to say about how much fun and special this was (I'm saving it all up for tomorrow.), but let me say this much now. Being on the water, even just near it, is balm to my soul.

These are things I need to pay attention to.  

We had some crazy storms this weekend too, which are also thrilling to me, although Saturday's storm was more crazy/scary than thrilling. Lightening so close and powerful that the air sizzled.  

A planed dinner trip to the beach (now you can see why the chairs are staying in my car) was rained out, but Cal is happy regardless. His best buds, who've been out of town for the week, are home again. As I type this, they're upstairs throwing darts while the thunder is rumbling in the distance. Isn't that what Sunday evenings are meant to be all about?