I am still awake.

Know Your Knots

Here, by the lake, when we see the neighbors as we drive by, everyone says hello to everyone else, no matter if we know them or not. If we do know them, it's not uncommon to stop and chat on the dirt road for a few minutes.

However, rarely do people come knocking on your door, unless, of course your boat has gone adrift. 

Our neighbor from two doors down (that's right, TWO doors down), knocked on our door tonight at 10pm. 

"Hi, your boat just ended up in front of our house." 

I was holding a beer and left Friday Night Lights running on my Netflix in the background.

It's Almost Over

A Northerly wind came in today. With it flew my sister and her family as they drove "down south" (to the Hamptons) after a glorious 2 week stay. TSA also took flight with the wind, to Los Angeles for 3 days.

It's amazing how a 20 degree drop in temperature, the absence of 5 people, and a red maple leaf siting on the ground can alter the season in an instant.

Yesterday we were sweating, slapping mosquitoes, standing over the fans, making nature t-shirts with leaves and bleach and wading up to our knees in the lake until dusk.

Another Life Down

I had planned on writing a post tonight regardless. I have a list of about 10 that I've been meaning to get out there, but summer, with it's visitors and distractions has made procrastination easy.

Then something happened tonight that trumped all those other posts. Suddenly, any such nostalgic words I may have strung together seemed meaningless in comparision.

I am not a boat person. While I aspire to like boats more every day, I don't think I'll completely succeed in my remaining days on this planet.  I should be more specific. The larger and more complicated the boat, the farther I'd like to be from that boat. I adore kayaking and canoeing. I find rowboats a little more tedious, but I can see the romanticism associated with them. Conversely, you may only get me on a cruise ship at gun point.

This distaste for marine activity stems mostly from my propensity for seasickness, but I'll admit to a certain level of fear as well. Let's just say I hyperventilate when I think about the Titanic and I've heard some stories about other boats that I just can't shake.

So, I married a boat person. I didn't marry just any boat person. My boat person came with a 1967 sailboat he's owned and tinkered with since 1993. My boat person repaired the motor on the 1985 Grady White we got on Craigslist. My boat person throws around words like "jib" and "winch" and "turnbuckle." Not just for Words With Friends. 

Don't get me wrong, I like power boats. I like zooming around with the wind in my hair, but I have zero knowledge (nor any desire for any knowledge) about how a boat works and what to do in case a boat...you know... runs aground or something.