Loving the Weekend...
What an awesome day!
I woke up early for some reason - 8:30am, on a saturday!- but he slept in. I had a nap midday tho, while he was playing video games, so we didn't really start moving around until 2pm. Much as I'll miss Will and Mikey and them at EotR tonight (hope it's fun!), I'm glad we decided to take the night off from LARP. EotR is a good 2.5hrs each way for us, so it was nice not to have to be hustling out of the house by midday to make game.
This afternoon we went over to Lake Hopatcong, which is maybe 10 minutes from the house, just on the other side of our cute little town of Netcong. I think we're going back tomorrow with a picnic, today we just dropped in so I could get into the water. Beautiful weather, high 70s, brilliant sunshine, perfect blue sky. Summer is definately here! The lake is gorgeous on days like this, vivid blue, with lots of geen trees and nifty houses all around. It's a big lake, so there were boats on the far side, even some jet-skis and things. Enough to provide interesting boat-watching without being annoying or loud, and they were considerate of the swimming area, didn't come too close. The swimming beach wasn't very crowded - just some kids playing marco polo on one side, and two life gaurds on duty keeping them in line.
Now, I *love* to swim, preferably in the bay or ocean, but a lake will do just fine. We had a pool at the last complex in VA, but I'm allergic to chlorine. I can take a dip in hotel pools and hot tubs, things like that, but I can't tolerate it on a regular basis, nor stay in as long as I like. Having a lake so nearby is perfect, even this early in the season the water was really nice - sunwarmed on the top especially, a little cooler near the bottom, but not unpleasant. It had that great smell of good lake water, a mostly sandy bottom, at least in the swimming area, where they made a beach. Reminded me of childhood trips to Point Sabego or Emerald Lake, camping up in Maine and Vermont with my dad.
Predictably, I forgot to put on my sunblock, and even though it was almost 3pm when we arrived, I still got a little color. It won't fade to a tan, of course. Just like all good little goths (or ex-goths, really, I think I'm too happy and fond of pastels to really BE a goth now that I'm old and married), no matter how much time I spend in the sun every day, I only ever shift from 'white' to 'red' and back again. Ah well. Eryq didn't feel like swimming, he stayed sensibly in the shade with his book. Today was an experimental trip, so we only stayed a little while, just long enough for me to get a good swim. Hunger drove us forth from the pretty scene, and we hit the Shop-Rite on the way home for sodas and lunchable goodness.
Late afternoon has been full of reading and hanging out. Dinner will be late, since lunch was at 4:00, but that's fine by me. I got the kitchen cleaned up, and the open windows and fans are keeping the house very pleasant. NJ is definately a gentler climate then VA - much less humidity, and cooler all around. We haven't even had to turn on the AC yet this year, we're trying to avoid it as long as humanly possible. In VA, we usually managed to make it to mid-may before we bowed to the need for AC, so having the house open to the air is really fun.
I love it here, I really do. My mother says to me, "don't you feel like you live somewhere?" and I can answer in the affirmative, every time. Granted, one always lives *somewhere*, but she's referring to living some place *great*, some place that has value of itself, not just because your home happens to be there. Much as we miss all our lovely Mid-Atlantic peeps (and we do miss you!) the quality of life here in NJ is just so much higher, so many more things of the type that we really like to do. Work situations are infinately better for both of us, and at heart, neither of us are city people. It's funny, I always sort of thought of Jersey as an ugly, trashy sort of place (Elizabeth, anyone?) but where we live is low mountains, forests and lakes, vacation land. Cute little towns with community theatres, parades, historical houses. The farmers market will be open soon, and I can't wait. Local produce around here should be fabulous.
Tomorrow we will probably head back to the lake, earlier in the day and better prepared, with a picnic. I'm not sure the weather will cooperate, there are to be storms in the afternoon, but hopefully I can get a swim in earlier. Next weekend, weather and work permitting, we may go check out the Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, NJ -(about 25 miles from here) - and Camp Taylor, which has cabins for rent, boat rentals, lake, nature trails, etc. I don't think we'll stay over, but a day trip could be a lot of fun, and I really want to see the wolves and bobcats at the preserve.
:)
~a
I woke up early for some reason - 8:30am, on a saturday!- but he slept in. I had a nap midday tho, while he was playing video games, so we didn't really start moving around until 2pm. Much as I'll miss Will and Mikey and them at EotR tonight (hope it's fun!), I'm glad we decided to take the night off from LARP. EotR is a good 2.5hrs each way for us, so it was nice not to have to be hustling out of the house by midday to make game.
This afternoon we went over to Lake Hopatcong, which is maybe 10 minutes from the house, just on the other side of our cute little town of Netcong. I think we're going back tomorrow with a picnic, today we just dropped in so I could get into the water. Beautiful weather, high 70s, brilliant sunshine, perfect blue sky. Summer is definately here! The lake is gorgeous on days like this, vivid blue, with lots of geen trees and nifty houses all around. It's a big lake, so there were boats on the far side, even some jet-skis and things. Enough to provide interesting boat-watching without being annoying or loud, and they were considerate of the swimming area, didn't come too close. The swimming beach wasn't very crowded - just some kids playing marco polo on one side, and two life gaurds on duty keeping them in line.
Now, I *love* to swim, preferably in the bay or ocean, but a lake will do just fine. We had a pool at the last complex in VA, but I'm allergic to chlorine. I can take a dip in hotel pools and hot tubs, things like that, but I can't tolerate it on a regular basis, nor stay in as long as I like. Having a lake so nearby is perfect, even this early in the season the water was really nice - sunwarmed on the top especially, a little cooler near the bottom, but not unpleasant. It had that great smell of good lake water, a mostly sandy bottom, at least in the swimming area, where they made a beach. Reminded me of childhood trips to Point Sabego or Emerald Lake, camping up in Maine and Vermont with my dad.
Predictably, I forgot to put on my sunblock, and even though it was almost 3pm when we arrived, I still got a little color. It won't fade to a tan, of course. Just like all good little goths (or ex-goths, really, I think I'm too happy and fond of pastels to really BE a goth now that I'm old and married), no matter how much time I spend in the sun every day, I only ever shift from 'white' to 'red' and back again. Ah well. Eryq didn't feel like swimming, he stayed sensibly in the shade with his book. Today was an experimental trip, so we only stayed a little while, just long enough for me to get a good swim. Hunger drove us forth from the pretty scene, and we hit the Shop-Rite on the way home for sodas and lunchable goodness.
Late afternoon has been full of reading and hanging out. Dinner will be late, since lunch was at 4:00, but that's fine by me. I got the kitchen cleaned up, and the open windows and fans are keeping the house very pleasant. NJ is definately a gentler climate then VA - much less humidity, and cooler all around. We haven't even had to turn on the AC yet this year, we're trying to avoid it as long as humanly possible. In VA, we usually managed to make it to mid-may before we bowed to the need for AC, so having the house open to the air is really fun.
I love it here, I really do. My mother says to me, "don't you feel like you live somewhere?" and I can answer in the affirmative, every time. Granted, one always lives *somewhere*, but she's referring to living some place *great*, some place that has value of itself, not just because your home happens to be there. Much as we miss all our lovely Mid-Atlantic peeps (and we do miss you!) the quality of life here in NJ is just so much higher, so many more things of the type that we really like to do. Work situations are infinately better for both of us, and at heart, neither of us are city people. It's funny, I always sort of thought of Jersey as an ugly, trashy sort of place (Elizabeth, anyone?) but where we live is low mountains, forests and lakes, vacation land. Cute little towns with community theatres, parades, historical houses. The farmers market will be open soon, and I can't wait. Local produce around here should be fabulous.
Tomorrow we will probably head back to the lake, earlier in the day and better prepared, with a picnic. I'm not sure the weather will cooperate, there are to be storms in the afternoon, but hopefully I can get a swim in earlier. Next weekend, weather and work permitting, we may go check out the Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, NJ -(about 25 miles from here) - and Camp Taylor, which has cabins for rent, boat rentals, lake, nature trails, etc. I don't think we'll stay over, but a day trip could be a lot of fun, and I really want to see the wolves and bobcats at the preserve.
:)
~a