Now, where were we?

I haven't posted since December 26th, when we left the island in bitter weather to begin Gary's cancer treatment down in Minneapolis. It's now July 12th, a sunny & breezy & perfect summer day. And Gary is still here! On earth, I mean! HALLELULIAH!!! (The details of Gary's fight are at caringbridge.org/visit/garyhill.)

We've been back at the island since the end of April, but it wasn't until today that I finally felt like writing in this blog again. I'm sitting at the picnic table in the front yard as boats motor past and the waves wash up on the shore. A young bald eagle glided past overhead a few minutes ago, probably looking for fresh chickens or a nice chewy cat. He'd be disappointed to know that the cat is safely upstairs in the house, napping with Gary, and the chickens are much too savvy for him (or he'd have had them for lunch long before now).

This morning we picked wild blueberries in the patch out on the west point. Even though we got less than a quarter cup between us, just the act of picking them together made me feel like we just started living again, as of that moment. Tomorrow we'll put them in pancakes.


I also I took my maiden voyage this morning in my new kayak, a little ten-footer that I bought (on sale!) especially for the island. I want to be able to paddle around in the bays and stay close to the shore so I can see what's going on, and have our guests be able to do that, too. In the east bay I paddled right past a log with four lazy mallards sunning themselves, and they weren't bothered by me enough to get up and leave. Maybe next time I'll feel comfortable enough to bring the camera. You can see in this photo that the wild rice stalks are lying on the surface of the water, but haven't lifted themselves upright yet.

The daisies, maltese cross, primrose, delphiniums, and roses are blooming in the newly expanded perennial garden that I dug this spring in our front yard. For the past month we've been making a bird bath for it, which was finally ready to be installed this weekend. Gary made the cement bowl and pedestal, and I added the mosaic tiles and the water. Now all we need is the birds.

We feel so grateful to be back at the island. We'll be living here full time from now on, as we rented out our city house to some visiting profs for the coming year. Lots of changes and improvements are coming and no doubt a few adventures & misadventures, which is exactly what life is all about. Life is fabulous, as long as you can still say, "So far, so good!"