June 20, 2011: No water, no internet

This morning I tied two kayaks to the roof of my Forester and strapped four bikes onto the rack on the back My daughter Phoebe rode shotgun as we headed for our cabin near Cook Forest, PA, taking turns to choose CD’s for singing along. We stopped in Bellefonte, PA to visit Kevin Abbott, proprietor of Jabebo Earrings, who makes earrings in his attic studio. (More about that tomorrow, when I wear a pair!) Then we drove on toward the forest, where my daughter Kathe and her husband Jim were waiting for us, playing in the river with their two dogs.

For the occasion, I wore the moose and calf earrings that Kathe gave me for my birthday eleven years ago when we visited Yellowstone National Park. (She was almost 14; I was 44.)

We are together at our cabin which we call The Pinery. My husband John designed and built this cabin using pine and hemlock when I was pregnant with Phoebe twenty years ago.  He will join us tomorrow, we hope.

 The siding of The Pinery,  inside and out, is made of long rough-cut hemlock boards from an Amish sawmill. John measured and cut each one. He built every square foot of this cabin with his own hands. He knows every knot in every board.

So do our winter residents, the rodents (mice, chipmunks, and red squirrels) who are gracious enough to move out when we return each summer. We will not be returning their security deposit. We all spent way too long cleaning up the damage they wrought this winter. I didn't get the water running. And I didn't manage this post.

P.S.: Happy 56th Birthday to my brother Rick. Love you, bro!