Still Alive Here!

Recently, an old high school friend of mine (who is a sweetheart) texted me to find out if I was OK, because she hadn’t seen a post here at the blog in such a long time. And at our age, she said, you just never know…

But rest assured, I’m still alive and well and about to celebrate my 67th birthday. My husband and I left Virginia a few weeks ago to come up north and manage our Oyster Haven rental property on Lake Champlain.  We had a little family party with our three Virginia sons and their 14 kids before we headed to New York, and this was the view in our kitchen with the grandkids that day, enjoying ice cream after a trip to our neighborhood pool...

Great view, to be sure.  ❤️

And this is the view out the back yard at my husband’s childhood home by the lake, where we’ve been staying since we got back up north.  

Not too shabby!

Today, our five boys and their gangs (23 grandchildren in all!) start arriving for our week-long Pearl-a-palooza at Oyster Haven, which we blocked off for our family’s use. We look forward to this gathering all year!  We’re in the process of moving in there now.

I’ll be sharing some pictures of the views from our lakeside paradise, if I can find breaks in the chaos to do so!  We'll have 35 people sleeping in a 4-bedroom, 2-and-1/2 bathroom house (with two extra basement "bedrooms" set up as well).  Six sleeping areas for 35 people.  It's always interesting!

Thanks for stopping by this deserted old ghost-town of a blog of mine, dear readers.  I’ll try to take better care of it moving forward!

Oh Yeah, I Have a Blog!

Well hey there, readers...all two or three of you who even bother to stop by here anymore!  How was your summer?

Are you surprised to see me here?  I know I am.  This is by far the longest I've been away from this blog since I opened up shop in 2011.  I believe it's been almost three months since I last posted anything.  Yikes, that beats my last AWOL stretch by about two months or so.

I've seriously been considering just closing my doors for good (but enough with the shop references already--sheesh!  Can you tell that I'm about as rusty as they come?!).  Just living life keeps me so busy these days that writing about it seems like a waste of time.

But then I stumble upon an old post in my archives, and I remember why I started this thing in the first place.  So many of my most precious memories--of my marriage, my motherhood, and now my grandmotherhood (if that's a word?  Spell check has underlined it in red for me, so perhaps not!)--are stored here on this site.  Like this oldie-but-goodie, for instance, about when my oldest son (now 40) was a new driver and started giving his younger brothers rides to school.  I read that sweet post again a few weeks ago, when my sister-in-law was talking about how her 16-year-old son was going to get his driver's license soon.  It brought back so many poignant memories!  And that post led me to this other post as well, one that tells about a treasured moment in time from my youngest son's wedding that I am so grateful to have captured.

(If you took the time to click those links and read the old posts, welcome back!)

Anyway, I'm happy for all the years I've spent adding to my online family scrapbook.  I am.  So maybe I should keep at it.  Maybe I'd miss it if I gave it up.  We shall see!

Today, I'm just feeling overwhelmed by how much has happened in the last three months that would be fun to blog about.  I don't know what to write about first. So I guess I'll just go ahead and jump in and see how it goes.

We just got back to VA a week ago, after spending most of July and August in upstate NY, staying at my husband's old childhood home by the lake while managing our Oyster Haven rental house just down the road.  Life was good up there, visiting with my 88-year-old mom and other relatives from both of our families and spending as much time as possible out on our pontoon boat.  But it's just so good to be home!

I don't know where to start, so I guess I'll just post a few pictures from our Pearl family vacation week at Oyster Haven in July (we had a professional photo shoot!  More about that later!); and then a few pictures from this past Sunday, when we had two of our boys and their families over to our house ("where we belong," as one of our precocious little granddaughters here in VA has told us) for a post-Mass brunch.  

How it was going in July (up at Oyster Haven):

Aren't those pictures fun? The photographer got many more clearer, more normal shots (some of which I will be sharing here soon, I hope!).  But these give you an idea of the awesome chaos of our week, with all 34 of us sharing a house that we advertise as "sleeps 13" on VRBO!  Like the photos illustrate, our time together passed in a blur, but it was just wonderful.

How it was going this past Sunday (back home in VA):

We're so happy that Papa and Grammy's basement playroom is open for business once again.  Things were hopping down there on Sunday afternoon, as you can see.  And we're also happy that sometimes, we can give our tired kids a chance to catch a cat-nap while we enjoy spending time with their energetic little ones!

Until next time (which will be much sooner than three months from now--at least that's the plan)...

A House with a Heart (and a View!)

My husband and I took a road trip north this past Monday to check on our Oyster Haven VRBO lake house in Upstate NY. He put in the dock and the boats (we have four kayaks and a canoe available to renters, along with a couple of stand-up paddle boards).  He also got our pontoon boat out of winter storage at the marina and anchored it in front of his childhood home by the lake, which is where we spend our summers. Oyster Haven is only about 3.5 miles down the road, so it's easy for us to go back and forth.

We bought this incredible house (built circa 1830, with a later addition) in the fall of 2015 and opened it up for rentals the summer of 2016, originally thinking that we might eventually retire there and have it be our home base for traveling to see our far-flung offspring.  But when it became obvious that three of our five boys were settling down for the foreseeable future not far from each other in VA, we moved south to be near them in 2017, but continued to spend our summers up north by the lake.

We were encouraged by the real estate agent who worked with us on the purchase of Oyster Haven to make sure that it had some personal touches.  A VRBO owner himself, he said that it seemed that renters were more likely to treat a house with respect when they remembered that it actually belonged to someone.  If it was too sterile and impersonal, like a hotel, they might feel comfortable leaving it a mess.  We took that advice to heart, and I made sure to decorate the walls with some personal items so that it would look like a family home.

One of my favorite gallery walls is in the large eat-in kitchen.

The great thing about giving our rental those personal touches is that when we DO get to spend our week there with our kids and grandkids, it feels like HOME.  Oyster Haven is anything but cold and sterile; truly, it's a house with a heart.

Along with all the family pictures on that kitchen wall, I hung a vintage print by Jesse Willkox Smith, one of my favorite artists.  I thought the image of a curly-headed little girl eating a slice of watermelon was adorable, and that it just screamed "summertime!"

Years later, when I had a little granddaughter with similar blond curls, I made her pose for me with a slice of watermelon so that I could hang her picture next to that sweet drawing.  Unfortunately, this little gal hates watermelon.  So this was as close as I could get to having her look like she was eating it!

Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent--now back to the reason for our trip north: our first renters of the 2024 summer season will arrive in the coming weeks, and we wanted everything to be ready for them. Fortunately, all was well with the house and we didn't find any problems that needed taking care of.  We got everything on our to-do lists done and still had enough free time to enjoy an evening visiting with two of my husband's sisters who live up there.  My 88-year-old mother was also having same-day surgery across the lake in VT during our stay, and I was able to be with her and my sister (the one with whom she lives) during her time at the hospital.  So all in all, it was a good trip.

Before we left yesterday morning to head back to VA, we stopped at Oyster Haven one last time to drop off some freshly-laundered linens and organize them in the locked storage closets, so they'll be there for the cleaners to use on turnover day.  (We have a cleaning service, and they take care of everything when we're down in VA; but when we're living up there during the summer, my husband and I handle the laundry and bed-making.) The sun was just beginning to rise, and when I looked out the kitchen window I realized that I needed to take some pictures, pronto.  I grabbed my phone and ran outside.   

This was the backyard view from our deck that morning.

I couldn't decide which photo one was the most spectacular, so I decided to show you all of them.  Isn't that the most glorious view?!

I can hardly wait for the first week in July, when our entire family--five sons, five daughters-in-law, and 22 grandchildren!--will be there with us.  My whole heart will be in that house.  Enjoying that view.

We're Still Havin' Fun, and He's Still the One

Well, it's been almost a month.  So I figured it was time to update this poor old neglected blog of mine!

I can hardly believe the summer is almost over!  The last time I was here, I was telling you all about our family vacation week at our Oyster Haven Vrbo house in early July.   Since then, my husband and I have been staying at his childhood home a few miles away from our place, going to daily Mass, visiting with relatives from both of our families who are still in the area, and working hard at Oyster Haven on Saturday turnover days (making up the beds, hauling dirty linens to the laundromat, etc.).  We try to spend as much time out on the boat as we can through the week--which hasn't been as much as we'd like, however, because it's been an unusually cold and rainy summer up here.  But we grab our opportunities when we can.

My husband and I both turned 65 this summer and got signed up for Medicare.  So there's that.  And he's now officially completely retired.  He took an early retirement package from his airline back in 2020, when most flights were being cancelled due to you-know-what; but now, there will be no more paychecks and frugal living has begun in earnest!

But there IS a bonus to getting old: if your Medicare plan has Silver Sneakers, that gets you into most gyms for free!  (My husband is at the gym right now, enjoying his free membership, but I'm sitting here blogging. What is wrong with this picture?!)

My husband and I also celebrated our 50th anniversary a few days ago.  Not our wedding anniversary.  The anniversary of the day he asked me to go steady with him back in 1973, when we were just a pair of bright-eyed 15-year-old kids.  Little did he know just how steady we were going to go!  (I wrote a post about this more than 10 years ago, if you're interested.)

I just ordered this sign to put up outside our rental property.  It's from an Etsy shop, and I tell you, Etsy is just the best.  You can find anything your little heart desires on there!

On Sunday, we will be heading to VA for a week.  Our triplet grandchildren are turning six soon, and we don't want to miss their big birthday celebration.  Plus, we've been away for a long time, and I need to reconnect with everyone there and spend a little time in my own house, with my own things about me.  (Mary Kate Danaher, anyone?  Do you recognize that line from The Quite Man, the best John Wayne movie ever?)

Hey...What just happened?!?!?

Ha ha--I've been gone for about 45 minutes now, because thinking about The Quiet Man and how much I absolutely love it got me going down all kinds of rabbit holes, watching YouTube interviews with Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne and clips from the movie...but I'm back.

Now where was I?

Well, I think perhaps the rest of this post will be a bit of a photo dump, with some shots I've taken that show what the lake life up here is like.  Not too shabby, readers.  Not too shabby at all.

50 years later, and there's still no one I'd rather go steady with.  As the song goes, we're still having' fun, and he's still the one.

I think my husband's cousin, who took this picture, used some sort of filter on it,
because we look kind of dewy-skinned.  But I'll take it.

Okay, well, hopefully I'll be back before too long.  Until then, I hope you are having a blessed summer!

Four Generations, Fourth of July Fashions, and Fireworks

I have the hardest time keeping up with this blog!  I can't believe it's already been almost a week since our kids left, after our glorious family vacation week together at Oyster Haven!  And I never even blogged about our Fourth of July festivities, which were pretty sensational this year.

My mom--known as Mimi to her grandkids and great-grandkids--came over to join the chaos one day, and we were able to get this photo of four generations: Mimi, me, my youngest son, and his baby girl. My mom will be 88 years young in September; doesn't she look amazing?

On Independence Day, our whole gang went over to the neighborhood where my husband grew up and where his family still has a house on the lake (it's just a little over three miles down the road from Oyster Haven), to participate in the annual Fourth of July parade.  Many of my husband's siblings and their families were there, too, forming quite a lengthy string of Pearls. Everyone was dressed as patriotically as can be. Here are two of our little granddaughters all gussied up to march in the parade.  They are practically neighbors in VA, two weeks apart in age and besties--and also very much a pair of miniature fashionistas.

My boys are always good for humorous attire on the Fourth--or anytime, actually.  Here are the two youngest, #'s 4 and 5.  I heart them big time.

One of our wee grandsons, all decked out in Stars and Stripes, was pretty worn out from all the excitement before the parade even started.

Our newest star-spangled granddaughter has the same nickname as this great-aunt who's holding her.  This lovely lady is one of my husband's four sisters, who happens to also be the godmother of this sweet baby's daddy.

After the parade, we headed back to Oyster Haven for a hamburger-and-hot dog cookout and more beach time.  And then as the sun set, we got ready to watch the spectacular fireworks show that our neighbors put on every year.  How wonderful that we only have to go to the edge of our yard to see it!

I have been incredibly overtired since our week ended.  I've been taking naps every day--which is so unlike me.  I know part of it is that it was an extremely tiring week.  I mean, we had 26 people staying in a house that sleeps 13 comfortably (13 is the maximum number of guests we allow for our Vrbo renters).  And only 10 of those 26 people were adults.  So there was a lot going on: a lot of noise; a lot of meal preparation, serving, and cleanup; a lot of playing lifeguard down at the water's edge (or in the water!); a lot of getting up early with little peeps.  

So yes, I'm tired.  But I also think I'm just feeling a little low, now that my people are all gone.  I love having them gathered all together so, so much--in spite of the craziness of it.  We look forward to that week at Oyster Haven all year, and it comes and goes so quickly.  I'm sure I'll get over this blah feeling soon, though, once I've really caught up on my rest.

Luckily, my husband and I like each other.  I mean, we really like each other.  And so we'll enjoy the rest of the summer here together, attending daily Mass, saying our Rosaries out on the boat, visiting with my mom and other relatives who are still in the area, enjoying the lake.  And making up the beds on weekend turnover days at Oyster Haven (as well as keeping an eye on the quality of our cleaners' work!  We might be a tad OCD about our beloved lake house...).

Our 3-and-a-half-year old granddaughter who lives near us in VA (the one in the red dress, floppy hat, and sunglasses in the above photo) was sitting with me one day at Oyster Haven, bemoaning the fact that we are going to be at the lake for the rest of the summer.  "When will you go back to your real house, where you belong?" she asked.   Oh my heart!  Isn't it wonderful to be loved and missed like that?

So yes, we do belong in VA.  Most of the time.  But right now, it feels right to be here with just my guy, living the lake life that's in his blood.  We'll be back to our "real house" soon enough.

Lakeside Pearls 2023: It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This

No time to blog.  So here’s a photo dump.  One picture is worth 1,000 words, after all.  😊