I’m writing this while overlooking the lake on a clear bright cool morning. Dad said the projected low last night was supposed to be 47, but I slept with the windows wide open and had to toss off covers in the middle of the night, so either my hot flashes were flashing or it just never got that cold. I’m betting on the latter. The crisp air isn’t exactly making me want to jump in the lake for a swim though!

After we moved Bee into their very first apartment (in NYC) on August 1, it was a quick 10 days of boatyard time for me before I had to drive north to start my chauffeur job. Good thing we have 2 cars for the time being (Bee is keeping theirs for now, but not in the city - so we’re using it) as we have to live largely separately until the first week in September.

Chauffeur job is a joke, referring to the number of airport runs I get to make between August 12 and September 1. Burlington, twice. Montreal, twice. It’s family time at the lake with lots of friends coming and going. Plus another roundtrip to NYC, dropping off more apartment stuff for Bee. Having a minivan (once the seats are reinstalled anyway) means transporting 6 people to the airport, with all their luggage, is just not a big deal.

August 14 was a busy day filled with surprises (of the good kind). It’s my dad’s birthday (happy 83!) and he and Mom arrived a little after lunch. Surprise #1 was that my brother had driven up from Fairfield for a 20 hour visit. When my parents got to the house, there was his car. Whoooo! Surprise #2 was for Julian - he and his girlfriend were flying out from Utah, needing to be picked up at the Burlington airport. Jeremy actually drove up to get them; Jeremy was surprise #2 (for Julian) AND surprise #3 (for my parents). The final surprise (#4) was that Julian was coming with Jules - who is a friend of other friends already at the lake (people I picked up at the airport on August 12.) Lots of happy noises ensued all around.

Jeremy had packed the car filled with boat projects, of course, the biggie being the center hatch. He spent time sanding the hatch and the ceiling strips, then setting up a work station for varnish in the attic when the rain just kept coming. He’d hoped to do some sewing work too but ran out of time at the boatyard to find the required material.

The list of what needs to be done is daunting, especially considering our splash goal of October 1. That I’m not able to help in any way until we’re both back at the yard together on September 10 is tough too - some of those projects need 2 sets of hands. I’m encouraging him to ask friends in the yard to help!

It isn’t that any of these take a particularly long time. It’s just there are a lot of them to get done. I’d guess though, knowing Jeremy, that he’ll tick off projects faster than he can add new ones. Send him good thoughts please!

When we initially thought about this summer, once we’d decided to bring Calypso back north and work on Mischief, we hoped to both be able to spend an extended time up in Averill. Family are gathering - between Julian and his buddies for a week, then one family reunion with my mom’s side and then another one on my dad’s side . . . unfortunately, Jeremy will miss one entirely. He’d initially not thought about being up here during Julian’s friend group, but then he realized that wasn’t a good idea. He’ll come back up for the weekend of September 8 and then we’ll go down together. I feel guilty that I’m not slogging in the boatyard with him.

Family time is precious, even if it does take away from progress on the boat. I’m so glad we’ve had this time together!