A Summer To Remember

Okay, so I haven’t written in my blog since May. Want to know how that happened? Are you ready for a roller coaster ride?

It has been a summer to challenge the energy level of any 70-year-old, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. Starting with a wedding in Washington D.C. at the end of May, that I drove to. Meaning two days on the road each way and three days in hotels there. In the middle of June I went with my sister, her son and family, to Branson, Missouri, for a week. Of course we drove (in one long day from my sister’s house, since we had four drivers) and endeavored to get every last ounce of pleasure out of our week. Since I enjoy everything, I joined whoever wanted to do whatever, except the zip line. I couldn’t quite manage that. A few days after I got home, my niece and her family came to visit and we did the Traverse City tourist stuff, especially what the kids wanted to do. I rediscovered that it is more difficult to swim in moving water on Grand Traverse Bay than in a swimming pool in Branson. We were front row center for the fireworks on the Fourth of July – I’ve never seen better ones. My niece put me on an airplane the next morning for another wedding, this one in Dallas for my late husband’s nephew with most of his family in attendance. What fun to get my first ever pedicure with all the females in the family! And a lovely time was had by all. I flew back home and, after another week, went with friends from my community here to a cottage owned by the son of one of them on Lake Michigan. Four days filled with sun and beach and shopping and wine and food and companionship! Oh, my, if you think swimming in Grand Traverse Bay is hard, try Lake Michigan! Home for a little bit before flying off to Calgary, Canada, for another of my husband’s nephew’s weddings, in Banff. Met some great people, had some good food and wine, and took in the spectacular scenery with a looong walk that almost did me in.

Back to work the day after I got home, to a two day Arts and Crafts Fair an hour and a half from home – so, of course, I drove both days. Sold enough books to make it worth it and won a free booth for next year! What a great topper for my summer.

Well, not the topper, exactly. That happened when the fourth book in the Marge Christensen Mystery Series, Where did you die?, was finally published and I got my copies later in August. My next blog will tell a little more about that. In the meantime, I’m ready to go to bed.