Swimming! Finally!

The last few days have been nothing short of perfect lake days. The weather, although often chilly in the morning, succumbs to a luscious blue sky and warm sun by the afternoon, when it really counts anyway. My eldest brother Soren arrived here yesterday from the Twin Cities, and this morning he and I went into Virginia, (the 'big' town, where the nearest Target is a nifty drive of 40 minutes from the cabin.) After buying some more supplies for our brand spanking new sauna and running a couple other errands, we arrived back at the cabin to get ready for this afternoon's picnic.

Marvilion, along with four other cabins belonging to my extended family and about 10 other cabins, is located on a dirt road named after the my Great Aunt's family, who originally homesteaded the land. But there are only 8 or 9 cabins at the end of the road, located on a peninsula that separates a little bay from the big one, and those cabins make up 'the point.' For the past 40 years or so, the point has always had a picnic for the fourth, and this year was no different. 

Though I didn't know most of the attendees, the picnic was speckled with toe-head blondes of all ages who are, you guessed it, my Oh-So-Scandinavian cousins. My second cousins and all their kids, to be exact. Although my second cousins are my generation, they're all in the forties and fifties, and their kids range from elementary school age to just entering college. It was nice to visit with many of them, but after devouring food and taking in some of the bright sun, I was ready to jump into the lake.

 This is my really unhappy face, because I know how inevitably cold the water is about to be. meep.

So I got in the water, and it was pretty wonderful. Most of our shore is quite rocky, which is no problem once you get out into the water, but our poor (stupid) dog really wanted to come out on the rocks with us...not on the dock, on the rocks.
It made for an adorable photo, but she struggled. A lot.

Despite Venus looming just feet away, a large family of mergansers swam not far from us, the little ducklings diving and popping up just feet from us, which only accentuated the cliche lake day that it was... But the important thing is that I went swimming in the lake. finally.