The sun comes out and the sun goes in behind the clouds this morning. It is the beginning of what both Attila and I hope will be a quiet and uneventful week.
We made a brief visit to our Traditional Camp in Parry Sound on the weekend, where everything is looking as we left it, thank goodness. The last time we were there was last summer, when we were on our first one week vacation in over 20 years, and it was a disaster. That was the week my brother had a sudden heart attack and passed away. This year, around the same time of year we were in the area to attend a reunion of cousins at my sister’s cottage. Thoughts of my brother and how much my Granny and Grandpa’s house meant to him were at the back of my mind all weekend.
The reunion was organized by my Sister-The-Middle-Girl, and my cousin who is renting a cottage on the same beach as my sister’s cottage. Together with my Sister-The-Youngest-Girl they organized and hosted a get together of all of my Grandpa and Granny’s living Granddaughters, seven of us, except for one Granddaughter who did not attend. We all drove over from the cottages to my Granny and Grandpa’s house and multiple photos were taken of the group. I hadn’t seen one of my cousins for over 30 years, it was wonderful to catch up. My newlywed niece and her husband were there; they treated us to a slide show of their beautiful wedding. My Mom was there, and I got to spend a lovely evening chatting with her. Mom and her daughters, and our spouses but one, all stayed Saturday night at Sister-The-Middle-Girl’s cottage, it was comfortable, and the cottage and beach are beautiful. My Sister-The-Middle-Girl has a beautiful cottage facing west on the lake, the sunsets are stunning.
It is now a 5 ½ to 6 hour drive, one way, to reach our Traditional Camp. We decided to take a scenic journey, heading straight north for quite a distance before turning west to travel through hills and forests. The drive was a treat, the scenery was so beautiful. We took the same route home, but there was quite a bit more traffic, many slower moving RVs on the road, that crawled up the many hills. We were very tired when we arrived home.
I have been growing my hair out for what seems like forever. The idea was to have long hair with no bangs. It is driving me to distraction at times, and at its present length it looks awful all of the time. Usually I do not care, as no one sees me here in the house, or at the camp, save for Attila. It was too bad though that it was looking the way it did for those once in a lifetime pictures at the reunion. I will be very glad indeed when the bangs grow long enough to at least stay tucked neatly behind my ears.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
22°C
Date: 10:00 AM EDT Monday 10 July 2017
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.4 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 21.9°C
Dew point: 17.6°C
Humidity: 76%
Wind: SSW 19 km/h
Humidex: 28
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what’s really going on to be scared.”
P. J. Plauger
I love family reunions, which, in recent years, have been peaceful and happy events. It was not always so. While my sisters and I were in our 30s and 40s, it seems we were working out some old resentments and anger. With seven siblings, there was always, it seems, some friction. As we matured, however, we became more forgiving of each other. I’m happy to say that we are now all friends, and as close as sisters and brothers can be. BTW, I love your assessment of a good week, quiet and uneventful. I feel the same!
Diane, I think there are lots of issues being worked out between sibliings in the families represented, but the Reunion was a sort of love based truce, where I think most of us recognized how very lucky we were to be there, and we all particularly loved that my Mom was there with us to share that time, she has known all of us Granddaughters from birth, which is very special. Truces aren’t easy, but everyone there did their very best to make everything run smoothly, and it did.
“I will be very glad indeed when the bangs grow long enough to at least stay tucked neatly behind my ears.”
We must be on parallel paths. I am growing my hair out too, to eliminate bangs. And the darn bangs are growing so slowly I can’t believe it! I also am trying to get them “behind my ears” – well, one side goes there but not the other side as my “part” is off to the right on my head and not in the center. But I’m beginning to think that hair must really slow down when one ages… it’s just that the length of my hair needs to be cut again but those darn bangs just seem to hang there at the same length! Grrrr!
I know Bex! It is so frustrating. I have resorted to barrettes, which look slightly ridiculous on my head, they stick my hair down on my scalp, removing all shape except my skull to my silhouette. AND the length of the rest of my hair is just wrong, it falls at a level that emphasizes all of my idiosyncratic features, particularly those related to aging, and I feel awful when I think someone might see me. Luckily, I am invisible 99% of the time, at home and at the camp, so I don’t spend very much time feeling uncomfortable about it.
Hair Despair! Hair Despair!
I’ve often got it, too.
-Kate
Kate, in my dreams I have beautiful hair! The stuff growing on my head doesn’t recognize the value of “dreams come true.” Of course, too, as I get older, the imagined look ,and the actual look, are taking increasingly divergent paths.