Vacation: Stitching, Reading, Relaxing

Spent a couple of weeks at our family cabin in late August, and though we didn't have swimming weather and our guests weren't able to come, we still had the most relaxing time. Though we did a lot of kayaking we never did any real swimming, but we couldn't leave without our traditional inner tube-and-a-brew float.

Because the weather was so crummy, I didn't feel too guilty about staying indoors, reading and sewing. I read three books and managed to finish my string-pieced top, cut out and sew a new quilt (Mod Nine-Patch from the Moda Bake Shop made with Zen Chic Spheres and a few stray fabrics), and bind the hexagon quilt I started in 2012...finally!!! (Don't have a photo of this finish.)

We also went fishing one day, way up in the Boundary Waters, with Don Beans, a guide of 32 years. He definitely knew where the fish were hiding and where to put the fish guts at lunchtime so that an eagle would come and visit. It was a fantastic day that included a shore lunch, cooked by Don over a wood fire. Such a treat, and we're still eating fish we brought home with us.

Our great guide Don Beans

We paddled across the lake and did a little blueberry picking—despite the late-summer date we still managed to pick two cups. And my sister Marcia and her husband Gary picked a gallon of berries and left them in the freezer. They'd been up in July, when the berries were more plentiful. So I baked blueberry coffee cake and we had blueberry pancakes twice.

Returning to reality hasn't been much fun, I'll admit. While I hate leaving Iowa City in the summer, and especially this summer, with its moderate temperatures, I never relax at home in the same way that I do at the cabin...PJs til noon; cheese and crackers and grapes for dinner if we feel like it, along with an extra glass of wine; and reading til all hours. It's definitely the good life!