Relaxing weekend......

We left early on Friday afternoon and drove to Mayberry.... gorgeous day on Friday, and yesterday, and today. The water-level of the lake is back up to its normal depths-- the Powers That Be up there had to open up the dam and let some of the water out last year because of Hurricane Rita. The water has been coming back up slowly since then, but not till the soaking rains of last month, both in Dallas and in Houston, did the water get to where it had always been.

As beautiful as the lake was before, now that all the water is back, it's even more breathtaking to look at. Because the water is back up, the alligators are gone.... they're back in the shallow water of the creeks now. And now that the gators are elsewhere, all the ducks are swimming in the lake. Brown ones with green feathers, and pure white ones. We took Gracie up there with us this weekend, and it was all she could do to not run after those ducks. We were going to take the cats up with us, then we came to our senses and left them home with the pet-sitter.

Young C and her parents didn't come up this weekend.... her dad had too many things to catch up with around the house before he goes back to his job in Louisiana this week. We're going to their house for dinner tonight, though, and I've got brownies in the oven as I type. I told C's mom that I would bring dessert, and the package of brownie mix seemed to be the easiest thing. I didn't do the usual brownie-thing, though.... instead of the oil that the recipe called for, I used yogurt, and instead of the square pan, I've got them baking in little cupcake-liners. I've got to keep jumping up and checking on them, though, since I'm sure the changes I made will make a difference in the baking time. They should come out just fine..... the mix doesn't know if it's in a pan or a cupcake tin, wouldn't you say?

While we were up at the lake this time, we didn't go into town for one thing. Not to Wal-Mart for groceries, not to browse in the antique shops.... and I didn't even go out on Saturday morning to see if there were any yard sales up there. We just stayed in, stayed home, enjoyed the cottage and the lake and each other. We played Scrabble (my husband won both games), and we played badminton..... with Gracie in the middle of us trying to grab the little "birdie" each time it fell on the grass.

I baked a loaf of whole wheat in the bread machine up there, so we had that for breakfast, then we used whatever was in the freezer and the pantry for lunch and dinner. Every time we go up there, I bring all the fresh fruit and vegetables that I have in the house here, so we were pretty well stocked, even without the trip to Wal-Mart. Most of the time, the Wal-Mart up there has live lobsters in a tank near their fish counter, and we've had fresh boiled lobster on many weekends there. But we didn't even feel like doing that. We had soup and tuna from the pantry, and I had fish in the freezer.... so that was all just good enough.

There was a full moon this weekend, and that was beautiful to see..... at the beginning of the evening, the moon was right over our driveway, but late into the night and early morning, the moon hangs right over the lake and it looks like a painting. Just gorgeous.

The sunsets are different now than they were in the summer.... not as orange as the sun goes down, and it sets rather quickly, but after it does set, you can see streaks of pink and purple in the sky and it just takes your breath away. The weather was warm during the day, and just a little cool at night. Cool enough for the fireplace, and we just sat and watched it as if it were a television set.

Because of the heavy rainstorms of last week and the week before, a lot of driftwood washed up onto the dock, so we gathered that up and used it as firewood. Most of the wood was on our neighbor's dock, but they go up to the lake just a few times a year, so we cleaned up their dock and kept the wood. (They don't have a fireplace, anyway.) While we were there, the man who takes care of our lawn stopped by and I told him that we had gathered up all the wood. He had been by our cottage last week, but didn't walk around to that side of the property because the grass didn't need to be cut, so he didn't see the wood that was there. He apologized to me because we had to clean it up, but I was glad he didn't see it because he would've just piled it up and burned it all.

My husband fished some while we were up there, but didn't catch anything big enough to clean and eat. Our neighbor G (the other side of us) tells us that we need to be fishing with live bait, either worms or minnows. Being that we didn't stop by Wal-Mart this time, we didn't have any live bait. Basically, my husband was feeding the fish with pieces of a hard bagel.

Lots of turtles in the lake this weekend, along with all of those cute little ducks. I wanted to toss some bread out to the ducks, but my husband keeps reminding me of what our realtor told us-- "If you start feeding the ducks, you'll have every duck in the lake on your property and you'll be stepping in duck-poop wherever you go."

I just took the pan of brownie-cupcakes out of the oven.... they smell great, look perfect, and I'm sure they're going to taste just fine. I've been buying the Ghirardelli brownie mix.... a little more expensive than Duncan Hines, but this brand is just the best. I think my husband and I should split one, to taste it and make sure they're good enough to bring to C's.