Sunday, June 16, 2013

IT WASN'T TORONTO, BUT IT WAS WONDERFUL

Despite our weekend plans being crushed by a bow echo or low-end derecho storm that moved from the Midwestern state Indiana to the east coast at a rate of more than 60 miles per hour (400 miles in 6 hours is apparently a fast moving storm), resulting in tornado warnings in the county our lake house sits in, Ray and I still had a wonderful weekend at Casa de Luz y Verdad (House of truth and light--nicknamed years ago...don't ask) with the roommies that didn't have valid passports.  Our daughter was at her first ever bachelorette party, spending the night with friends at a hotel in Clarendon, dancing and doing whatever it is girls do at a bachelorette party (I have never been to one and didn't have one thrown for me).  She returned home today for Ray's Father's Day.

While at the lake house, we had dinner out one night at Ally's on the Lake (one roomie hadn't been to this restaurant yet) sitting outside with a partial view of the lake.  The temperature outside was in the low eighties with low humidity.  We made dinner the next night along with some chocolate chip cookies (while searching for a bowl for hydrangeas and floating candles, I found a mason jar with the ingredients for the cookies layered in the jar.  So what if it was a Christmas gift to one of the roommies, and she had forgotten about it--the cookies were quick to make and delicious!).  Dinner was beer butt chicken, a vegetable tian (fancy name for an excellent side dish), and Naan bread dipped in olive oil.
Yummy tender beer butt chicken cooked on the grill

Vegetable tian dish--so good

Strawberry daiquiris with fresh strawberries were drank with our salads for lunch. (Two of us drank them, the other two sat it out--too bad, delicious!)
We drank them out of solo cups though.  
We were parched after floating for two hours.  We saw wildlife this past weekend that was pretty and heard about wildlife that we hope not to see.
The pretty sight we saw on a neighbor's dock.

What our neighbor across the cove from us (about thirty feet away) told us she saw last week in her yard.

We talked about planning another trip to Niagara in hopes of actually seeing the falls, while we floated on the lake watching the boats and jet skis go by.  We took time out to go for walks, pull weeds (okay, that was just me), play with the dogs, read from our E-readers, play cards, and share stories, since the four of us hadn't been together in a while.  It was a wonderful mini-vacation at our lake house without any guests.  Relaxing.

Once home, I washed both the cars starting with Ray's, since it is his day.
Happy Father's Day to Ray (with Carly, January, 1992)

  Soon, Carly and I will make him dinner.  She made him a pie, while we were gone.
Ray's pie

We chatted about her weekend (she also spent some time with her boyfriend).  Yes, these kind of lazy day weekends at the lake house will be missed.  But I know Carly especially and these roomies will visit Ray and I in Panama.  (We hope to take Carly to Panama on vacation at some point first though if our schedules work out.)  Then they will see why Ray and I have been researching and daydreaming about retiring to Panama for the last sixteen months.





2 comments:

  1. It sounds like you had a good time! I looked up the veggie dish and it looks easy and yummy. I'll have to try it sometime. I expect the chicken is named for the beer can that holds it up? How long does it take to cook a chicken like that on a BBQ?

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  2. The veggies--yummy, yes--the chicken is held up by a beer can but there is a kitchen gadget you use to hold it all up on the grill (and it takes a little over an hour to cook). Deliciously crisp skin and moist chicken. Hope you try it soon!

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