Two-thirds...

...of the summer is already gone. I'm tempted to say that it seems to have gone by quickly, but it really hasn't. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just been a really nicely paced summer for me. I think the fact that it has been unseasonably cooler than usual has helped me enjoy it more than usual. And, oddly, I think my active efforts at gardening this year have made me more aware of time passing more slowly. After all, it takes time for things to grow, and when you're the one who's planted them, you take note of how long they're taking to produce the fruits of your labors!

This past week was the kids' week away at camp. I had a grand set of plans for how I would spend the week and all that I'd get done while I was home alone. Yeah. Well, things didn't really go according to plan. I did get to have fun on Monday...

 

My friend Angela and I went kayaking! (She took this picture.) It was a perfect day for it. Beautiful, sunny, in the upper 70's. I got a little sunburn, the kind that doesn't really hurt but makes you feel all healthy and glowy, even though you know you're doing bad things to your skin. It was a 7.5 mile trip and took us about 4 hours to complete. I have a bunch of my own pictures from the trip, too. I'll try to add a few here in the coming days, but until then, you can check them all out here, if you're so inclined. 

Aside from kayaking, I enjoyed a couple days of quality time with the grandson. Have I mentioned how much I love that little boy? I was worried that he'd be bored here without his aunt and uncle to keep him occupied, but he was precious and was perfectly happy to play with me instead, or to play near me on his own, as long as I was in the room. I forgot how little privacy you have with a four year old around, but that was a small price to pay for having such a good time with him.

I also spent the week doing an inordinate amount of laundry. I'm trying to figure this out. I did ALL of the laundry before the kids left for camp, so that they had clothes to pack. And then with them gone, that cut our dirty-laundry-producing capacity in half, right? So you'd think there should have only been half as much laundry to do this week. But you'd be wrong! There was still a lot of laundry, and I got it all done, including a backlog of old sheets and towels that I don't use much and my son's blue sleeping bag that has been sitting down there waiting to be washed for probably close to two years. (We own a lot of sleeping bags, so he had one for camp without his.)

What didn't get done this week? I did no spinning. I hardly did any knitting. I didn't read any books or magazines (though I tried one night). I did not get my car aligned. I did not make much progress on planning our school year. But I did get to the gym, I did hit several new high scores in Typing Mania on Facebook, and I did download a bunch of really old, obscure country songs that I remember from my childhood (I've been in a really weird music mood lately), including this one...remember it?

All in all, it was really a good week. Relaxing. Happy. 

And now we're resume our regular lives. :)