We celebrated J’s birthday this weekend with some of his favorite things: steak and asparagus on the grill, plenty of beer and a special bottle of scotch, a new drill and a future appointment with his tattoo artist. His mom and her husband joined us from the Corning area of New York, and we all took the girls to swim in the lake. It was a nice laid back weekend.

My mother-in-law and I had a chance to poke around the two antique shops here in the village with Swee. We started at Barbara’s place at the bottom of the driveway, Lakeside Serendipity. I made sure to snap some pictures during this visit because I love the way she has her items arranged and displayed. I came home with a beautiful blue Pyrex bowl as an advance birthday gift, which was quickly washed and filled with Loaded Ranch Potato Salad for dinner.

There’s another shop at the other end of town called Corner Antiques. She opened a little later in the season, so this was the first time I’d been in. Swee settled herself among the bracelets and loaded her arms up. Daphne, the owner, was very sweet and understanding of my little one – she has a granddaughter almost the same age.

All in all, it was a very pleasant and relaxing weekend. We’ve been trying to squeeze everything we can out of these last few weeks of summer before the weather changes, and before our schedule changes. We have some new and interesting things happening around here that will necessitate a shift in the way we operate. I’ll share more as I can, and am looking forward to being able to write more substantively.

Until then, I’ll be on the glider in the sunshine, enjoying the flowers and the lake with a glass of mama juice in my hand – and sharing photos here.