today our water distribution pipes are being flushed so we all seven houses that share the well have been requested to not use any water between 9 AM and noon so my son and I are heading for Seattle for fun he showed up last night and yelled (kindly) at me for going swimming without him!
but I am ahead of myself as usual
the two things I promised myself when I moved here was that I would find a lake to swim in and that I would spend the summer swimming and riding horses
I've been all around the island which is a protected wetlands that is chock full of lakes lakes everywhere! and every lake I have discovered here is marked PRIVATE NO TRESPASSING TURN AROUND GO AWAY WE HAVE GUNS AND ATTACK DOGS YOU WILL BE SHOT AND BIT THERE ARE CAMERAS IN THE TREES RECORDING YOUR EVERY MOVE INTRUDER INTRUDER etc except of course for the waters (some of them anyway) of Possession Sound which is salty and freezy and full of whales and sharknados and all the glories of the deep deep blue too cold for a swim
yesterday morning I was at the point of joining the local indoor swimming pool though I much prefer to swim in open waters then last night around seven when the heat hit 80 degrees I went in search of a fabled lake once again I drove into Stanwood our sister town following GPS coordinates that don't work worth a fart here (my cell phone barely works) and went on a strange winding road that passed farms and old barns and new barns and a place named The Blacktail Forest and finally I found Lake Goodwin and I was so excited I locked up my car and waded right out in my sherbet striped shorts and t-shirt and swam with babies and teenagers and old ladies night swimming in the most gorgeous and huge lake and oh oh oh and now I am completely happy

Lake Goodwin sounds like Lady Goodwin which was Penny Lane's actual name in Almost Famous a movie I adore here is a random photo of ducklings at the lake

and there were wild iris gorgeous

the lake was not crowded but I talked to a couple on the dock and man and a woman my age who were nice and no one seemed to judge me for plowing into the water and heading out fully clothed no judgement not one bit and I am utterly happy to have finally found my lake and I can avoid the dread chlorine and pee filled pool also I found a bowling alley but that's for another day my joys are simple for the most part

my son came home about the same time as I and I was still damp wrapped in my peach polka dotted beach towel and he had been stung under his left eyebulb by a bee who flew into his truck window as he was driving good bog and ouch so I doctored him up and made him a croissant sandwich and he is going with me today to Seattle

I love to make puff pastry and make my own croissants but I have a wee crush on the baker at the crab place which is also a butcher place and a coffee roaster place I put on lipstick and summer dresses when I go there to buy my 2# bags of coffee beans (that is a sign for pound not a hashtag which I know you know but my eyebulb right away thought it was in the wrong place) and I flirt mightily with the baker who came around the corner yesterday and fed me a piece of vanilla cake "with real vanilla beans" he was inventing and I swooned I did boyohboy does he know the way to a girl's pinched little heart

this post is all over the place I woke early this morning after my son screamed in his sleep which caused the cats to explode from their hiding places I made coffee and watched morning arrive in rain with Jupiter on my lap it is thrilling to watch my forest wake to see the hawks and eagles dive straight down to scoop up bog knows what though I've seen them carrying salmon through the trees and crabs too the giant Dungeness crabs for which we are famous I have put spells of invisibility on the bunnies to keep them safe but I know the forest and I am yes in perpetual denial about that

good morning Darklings may your Thursday be merry and bright and merry and full of wonder here is a small bouquet of my son's fragrant roses that he originally planted when he was in high school for you and you and you and you red and yellow together make my whole shimmering corporeal being happy I hope you find the same