Sometimes I feel like Kate

I love everything about Katharine Hepburn - her movies (especially Philadelphia Story), her style and her wit. Years ago her biography was one of the first I ever read. She had so many great lines that were all her own not written by a screen writer.

I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret... if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid.

Dressing up is a bore. At a certain age, you decorate yourself to attract the opposite sex, and at a certain age, I did that. But I'm past that age.

Her Connecticut estate is up for sale. As they say, if those walls could speak what stories they could tell.

23 Childfree Things to Do

The boys leave for camp on July 2 and are gone for 23 days. This is the first time all three are going for the full month (in camp time) Number Three Son is nervously excited. For the last two years he has enjoyed his 10 days at home as an only child but he also is looking forward to going on a longer canoe trip, having more time on the ropes course and in the archery range that the campers only get when they are there for three and a half weeks.

So here's my To Do List. I hope I can accomplish at least some of it and that the time doesn't just fly and I end up wondering, "what the hell happened to those 23 days?"

1. Have a picnic dinner at the beach
2. Have nothing but cheese and wine for dinner (repeatedly)
3. Go sailing after work
4. Invite friends out for a cocktail cruise
5. Sleep naked
6. Go to boot camp two mornings a week for three weeks
7. Watch at least three movies that are not cartoons or in 3D
8. Touch up all the trim that I started painting two summers ago and is now chipped again
9. Get all the carpets and upholstery cleaned
10. Sort the treasures from the junk in the boys' rooms
11. Ride Jazz at least two times a week
12. Walk River every morning
13. Get the problem with my photos figured out and find out about storing them in (on?) the cloud (whatever that means)
14. Make some delicious dinners that the kids would never eat
15. Eat at at least one of the four newly opened restaurants in town
16. Sunbathe by the pool
17. Make mojitos with the mint that is overtaking the garden
18. Put this wallpaper up in the powder room
19. Take my Other Half riding
20. Put up some new photos in the kitchen
21. Write the boys lots of letters now that the postal strike is finally over
22. Go down to the city for a girls night out
23. Recharge my parenting batteries in preparation for the other 5 weeks of summer

An Almost Perfect Weekend

We finally made it back up to the cottage and after the most miserable spring, the last weekend before summer officially arrives on Tuesday was pretty close to perfect. We delivered a couple of boats on the way north and arrived in time to have a drink on the dock and meet my best friend. We cut the lawn, planted flowers, set up the badminton net and cleaned out the pantry so the place looks loved and lived in and ready for its 64th summer.

The boys in their new Hudson's Bay Blanket-inspired swim towels (they are gorgeous)

Trying to shoot the falls

River cooling off

Rolling out the dough for Rosemary Yogurt Flatbread

Grilling them to golden perfection

Getting ready for the first leg of the the Smoke Lake Triathlon - 750m swim

Heading out on the cycling portion - 20km

I didn't get a photo of the last leg which was a 5km run or the finish line which involved ice cream cones but it was an amazing accomplishment for both of them. Me? I'm the designated driver of the chase boat and held down the fort on the dock until they returned.

We tried to stretch Father's Day out as long as possible by not leaving until 6:30 pm and Number Two Son's attempt at being helpful unfortunately resulted in a trip to Emerg and four stitches after he sliced his leg open on something sharp in the recycling bags he was carrying. But despite that little setback it was an almost perfect weekend. Now the countdown is on to the end of school with parties and field trips galore and of course, only 12 days until the boys go off to camp for a month. But who's counting?

Random Tuesday Ramblings

This is a photo of the grain elevators in the Collingwood Harbour. It is hard to imagine that not very long ago this was a bustling port and ship building centre for the Great Lakes. I remember my godmother travelling up to see the last ship built being launched in 1986. I was a self-absorbed 20 year old and didn't understand why anyone would care about something like that. Since the yards closed the town has allowed developers to take over the waterfront and although there are some lovely paths and boardwalks along the water most of the land is private and the view is cut off by houses. The elevators themselves are slowly disintegrating, at one time there was talk about renovations with a restaurant and shops but it seems that idea stalled. The crazy thing is that there is no where to eat on the water from Wasaga Beach at the southern end of Georgian Bay to Tobermory at the tip of the peninsula which separates the Bay from Lake Huron despite the fact that that is the number one thing tourists (and locals) want to do when they visit the area. We have seven restaurants in our tiny town of 1400 souls, four of which have recently undergone renovations and reopened but so far it doesn't look like any of them are going to be the kind of place to take the kids to and not one is on the water.

If I had the money I would open a family-friendly restaurant like Flatbreads in Portland, Maine. One where you could arrive at by boat or wander down in the evening to sit at one of the picnic tables in your bath suit and flip flops with a cold beer. The kids would be kept happy watching the pizza cooking in the giant, wood fired oven and the food, of course, would be fresh, local and organic. Wishful thinking on my part but it just seems that in an area that is known more and more for great restaurants, local wine and artisans we deserve a fun spot to take the kids or meet friends for a dinner that won't break the bank. So if anyone has any connections with the Flatbreads guys (I couldn't find a contact on their website for the head office) please send it my way.

Random Tuesday

• Aaaahhh . . . summer. And it's about freakin' time. Winter lasted until Easter and spring was so cold and wet that I thought that my Other Half (the boat builder) was truly going to have to build an ark. Good for the tulips but now the lilacs are out (about a month late) and I am ready for the peonies to bloom and to finally plant my tomatoes.
  
  
• We got out on the sailboat on the weekend. No wind but it was lovely to be back out on the water again.
  
  
• Had a blast at an 80's Prom Party last Friday. I promise the photos are forthcoming but sufficed to say, there was lots of big hair, taffeta and a late night for the Class of '84.
  
  
• Only three weeks until school is over and three weeks, three days and five hours until the boys all go to camp for the month. But who's counting?
  
  
• It's been three weeks now without indulging in what had become my twice weekly chocolate croissant and grilled cheese sandwich habit while at work. I have also given up bread during the week and, although I haven't noticed a major weight change, I do feel better and I am going to Pilates again so hopefully my energy level will increase. My summer resolution is to get back into shape as well as to touch up all the trim in the house while the boys are away (this was my goal two summers ago and I only finished the main floor and, of course, it's all chipped again)
  
  
• Number Two & Three Sons' hamsters became the proud parents of seven (yes, seven!) babies two weeks ago. Mother and offspring are doing well (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view) the babies no longer look like naked mole rats and are quite cute. Now the question is how to get rid of them since natural selection did not take place. Anyone want a baby hamster or two or three?
  
  
• Number Three Son celebrated his 9th birthday yesterday with eight friends. They had a ball jumping on the trampoline and staging a major water fight but I was a little surprised when it came time to open presents. There were only two wrapped gifts. The rest gave the birthday boy cash and a Visa gift card. He, of course, was thrilled. Me? Not so much. It seems a bit over the top for a nine year old to spend his post-party downtime counting dollar bills instead of playing with new LEGO.
  
  
• Trying to decide what to do with the boys when they get home from camp. They all want to be home during the week rather than at the cottage so they can play soccer but that's only in the evenings. I am thinking about tennis and golf lessons but what I really want them to do if they aren't going to let me be up at the cottage all month is to find out what other kids do. We are so lucky to live in a small town where they can jump on their bikes and go to the beach or explore or even just hang by the pool with some supervision, of course. But I am not Julie McCoy and will not spend all day driving them around from activity to activity and they can't veg in front of a screen all day. They aren't used to this so I need help pointing them in the right direction. Any suggestions?
  
  
• Had our first impromptu BBQ of the season on Saturday even though My Other Half and I were exhausted from the Prom the night before. The weather was warm, the sun stays up until well after 9pm and I had bought a ton of local asparagus to roast. The kids were happy to be running around until well after their bedtime and the adults were happy to sit and drink another glass of wine while they ran. Aaaaahhhh . . . summer.