from Shirley's cottage

Summer's end

Summer’s end
It never fails. You wait for something, like summer to come, and before you know it, it’s gone and you wonder what happened.
This year was no different. The difference was Mother Nature decided to blind-side Lady Summer with some crazy weather. It started out kind of chilly. Had we known what the heat and humidity was going to be, we might have welcomed a little summer chill.
When the day after day of heat and high humidity did not end, air conditioning was a lot more comfortable. I only have a window air conditioner, but it is really cools, and fast. I can attest to how good it is by my recent utility bill.
If you could be on or in the water and having summer fun, it was probably fine. But for us grown-ups, a lot of summer "fun" is mowing, weeding, watering the garden, taking out garbage, and other interesting outdoor things.
I like to go to the flea market at the speedway. And farmer’s markets; Deerfield, Lake Mills, and any others I see along my work route. I avoid them all in the heat..
I dislike real hot and humid weather intensely. I come by it naturally. I think it started the day I was born. My mom said (a million times) it was so hot the July day I was born (a million years ago) that an egg was fried on the sidewalk outside the old St. Anthony’s Hospital.
Air conditioning has spoiled me. We went a lot of years without air conditioning. Now, I’m so spoiled I don’t want to break a sweat.
When we got a little relief from the heat, the floods came. It didn’t rain for forty days and forty nights, but it sure seemed like it.
I don’t pay much attention to the weather man. My husband was a weather junkie. And so is my son. I finally did pay attention when my rowboat sunk, the pier was under water, and you had to step up three feet to get on the pontoon.
Not to mention sloshing through the flooded yards.
I don’t know about you, but it made for a very quiet summer’s end. The lake is brown, things that shouldn’t be floating are, and things that should be floating are sunk.
The no-wake made for the most quiet Labor Day in memory. But even in adversity, some people are happy.
I did go down to the pier with my coffee, and climbed up onto the pontoon. Fishing boats dotted the scene as the sun came out. These were the happy ones. Happy fishing, guys and gals. No wake, all day long.
Labor Day we had planned a belated birthday for my grandson. Teddy was 21 in August.
A 21st birthday should be special.
We decided to postpone it until this week-end, in hopes the lake would be back to normal. I’m not even going to watch the weather report. We are extending the summer.
For three weeks I have been planning to make my mom’s orange spaghetti and Texas Sheet Cake. Maybe this week-end it will happen.
The salad is always either tossed or seven-layer salad, both very good. But I wanted to try something different. I went looking and came up with this one. A while back, a co-worker asked me to repeat this one. Now is a good time.
Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad from Paula Deen and Friends
you will need:
2 cups corn on the cob, cut off, or 16oz frozen corn
1 avocado, diced into ½ inch pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup red onion, finely diced
Dressing:
2 T olive oil
1 T fresh lime juice
½ t lime zest
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
Combine corn, avocado, and tomatoes in a large glass bowl
Whisk dressing, and toss into salad
Enjoy

Piece on neighbor Marge's 90th Birthday

Kelly--thought you might like this since you don't get the paper since you moved.

It was a good idea to interview Marge Gaulke. She has been a Lake Ripley resident for over fifty years, and she would be ninety on Labor Day.
It wasn’t as easy as it sounds to get that interview.. The invitation of lunch and the interview was turned down because she just didn’t have the time
Two weeks after the first attempt, the second invitation of lunch and the interview was turned down again.
She couldn’t go to lunch the next day because "Our bridge group is going to lunch at Tru’s, and I have to pick up one of the girls. She is 100 and doesn’t drive anymore." (She still plays bridge, though) Wow.
I asked if I could ask her a few questions right then. She reluctantly agreed. "I don’t want to say no to you because you are such a good neighbor. But what could you say about me that anyone would be interested
There is a lot to say about this busy lady.
She visits friends regularly. Janesville is her home town, and she still has friends there.
She doesn’t forget old friends who have moved to assisted living or nursing homes.
Two days a week she volunteers at the Cambridge Library.
An avid bridge player, she has "slowed down" to just twice a week. She tells the story that over fifty years ago, when she first learned, she and her friends took a lesson at the Y. They then went to play at the Country Club in Janesville thinking they knew the game. They discovered very quick they had a lot to learn. She said it is a good game, and you never quit learning, even after all these years.
Marge has also been an avid golfer for many years. A member of the Country Club in Cambridge, she has a few trophies, and winning scores playing on the course. But it was the pleasure of the game that kept her swinging her clubs. She said this year is the first year that she has not played. "I thought it was time to put the clubs away," she said.
But she still does her walking. "I used to walk every night. But then after the winter, I just can’t get going again. Lately I have only been walking three or four times a week."
Bridge twice a week, Library twice a week, visiting friends. Golf up until now. And she ONLY walks four times a week, Poor Marge. She must be slipping;
. When she is found at home, you might see her tending to her flowers, or sitting on her front steps, the lake in front of her. She is probably writing a letter. Her son wants her to get a computer. She says she does just fine without one. And, it is the lucky person who gets a personal, hand-written letter, so scarce nowadays.
. Every Sunday morning, rain or shine, you can see her back her spotless 1990 blue Cadillac out of her garage and head to Fort to church.
If it is not Sunday, she might be shopping or heading to the airport where her son Jim is beginning or ending his visits from his home in Oklahoma.
Marge Schmitt’s life began in Janesville where she was born on September 3, 1917. She grew up and went all through school in Janesville. It was there that she and high school sweetheart Herman Gaulke married in 1956. They had three children: John, Jim, and Mary.
Marge, Herman, and family became summer residents of Lake Ripley in 1956. Herman would drive back and forth to work in Janesville in the summer.
When Herman retired, they moved to the lake. They wintered in Florida where they had a condo. After Herman’s death in 1993, she stopped going to Florida, saying this is her home and she had no desire to leave.. She says she has good neighbors and friends here and this is where is where she want to be.
Marge’s 90 years have been blessed with good health, good neighbors, and good friends
She has her family, son Jim who lives in Oklahoma, and daughter Mary who lives in Florida. She also has six grand-children and 5 great-grandchildren.
Everything has not been all peaches and cream for Marge in her 90 years. "We all have our share of sadness and problems," she said.
Her biggest sadness is losing family. Her husband not too long after they had celebrated their fiftieth anniversary. Son John died in 2001, and she lost one of her grand-daughters three years ago.
"You get through it," she said.
When Marge asked what can be said that people would care about? Plenty. That was apparent during her surprise birthday party, hosted by her good neighbors, Bill and Betty Reay. Even Marge’s daughter, Mary, was able to come from Florida for her surprise.
Everyone in attendance had a little something to say about what a treasure she is .
Marge is a mom, grandma, neighbor, volunteer, and friend. Put simply, she is a very nice person. You don’t get much better than that.
Happy Birthday, Marge.