Finding peace, finding balance

One of the interesting things about living at the lake is finding time to get it all in. Whether it's fishing, or boating, or gathering with friends or planting new garden areas, or grilling out, or starting or finishing projects, it ALL wants to get done, and it ALL competes for your attention. We won't go into how that competes with every day living, work, laundry, cleaning house, chores, and the list goes on an on. 

This has been a strange first year for Lake Living. Not only did we have the coldest, wettest spring I can remember, it is mid August and we have temps in the low 70's as our high for the day, not the normal high 90's we are used to getting. Mother Nature has lost her mind this year. On one hand, that's great news for the new gardens. I was able to save many plants that would have otherwise died from heat and it gave me plenty of time to get them in the ground. 

 The hardest part is choosing the right spot for all of your precious babies. Once you get a feel for how the sun travels during the day, and where your dry or wet spots are, the rest is just getting them situated and in the ground to grow, grow, GROW! As an avid hosta collector, I was lucky to have found a great piece of property that has ample shade and yet still bright enough to be able to grow these shade loving plants. Can't WAIT to see what this bed will look like in 5 years when the babies grow.

My biggest problem isn't deciding where to put them, my biggest problem is leaning to STOP buying more, and if I do, limiting it to one or two, as the basket shows, 60 is just a tad bit much for new plants.











 
Once the weather turned nice, it was time to start 
thinking about enjoying the Lake and how to best do that. One thing was for certain, that dock needs some work. First order of business was to put in a safe set of steps leading to the upper deck. When we purchased the home it only had a spiral set of steps, and that just was not going to cut it. So the steps when in.

I have to say though, there is so much vying for our attention that we really haven't spent that much time up there. Not as much as I originally thought we would. 

                                    Most of our time is spent either on the water, or in the water.

When the weather isn't conducive to being outside, the other priority projects rise to the top. Like this silly image I had in my head for the dining room. I wanted something DIFFERENT for my wall in the dining area, not your typical art. A few months after moving in, I decided I was going to do fish plates on the wall. Oh, not just ANY fish plate, I had to make it difficult and choose a clear glass plate. And so the journey began for how to attach these plates to the wall. As friends came, they'd look up on the wall where I had taken a magazine and cut out paper fish the size of my plates and stuck them with tape to the wall. This let me visualize how my school of fish would look. Of course they would ask what I was doing and that was my way of getting them involved so I could pick their brains on how to attach the fish. Everyone had a suggestion. What about plate hangers? So I bought plate hangers and hated how they looked through the clear glass. So I painted the plate hangers by hand, the same color as the wall, Thinking they would just blend into the paint, they didn't. 

I had this great idea to use fishing hooks and monofilament. After a few hours of playing with that and poking myself a few times, I got them on the plate, and had it epically fail when I tried to attach it to the wall.

Someone suggested epoxy, so off I went to get a few packets of epoxy and tried to attach the monofilament with it and when I turned the plate around it looked pathetic and like one big blob. Another FAIL.

Next someone suggested that I find a glass blower. After making a few phone calls and talking to some nice people, it became clear to me that the cost to add a "glass attachment" to hang the plates was going to cost a small fortune. I had envisioned two dozen plates, it was either take out a second mortgage or declare it another dead end.

Then someone suggested I drill two holes into the place and feed the line between them to create a hanger. I went and purchased diamond head bit, watched lots of videos on how to do this, and sat down to drill my plates. after breaking a few, I said enough, Another failure. 

 After about 8 months of banging my head against the wall, I was pretty much talking myself into just moving on when I had to get some ink for my printer. While at the office supply store I saw something that got my attention. I looked at this acrylic business card holder and was about to start jumping for joy when it occurred to me that I needed to test these suckers out before declaring victory. I hurried home, grabbed a plate and sure enough, Houston we have lift off! SUCCESS!

Turns out I need more fish but I love them. They are subtle. They reflect light just as I thought they would, and even though it's a school of fish, the fact that they are clear doesn't make it look cluttered. 


Once we finished that project, we sat in our favorite room (screened deck) and it occurred to me that we needed to paint and get that deck freshened up.  So back to the paint store and out come the ladders and drop cloths.

What is interesting is to see the difference color takes on depending on the light. 


Here without flash.                                  And here's with a flash

  

 Regardless of light, we are loving the color. Hopefully that room will be done some day soon, and the sun will return and we can have another month or two to enjoy the lake before old man winter returns, and we can tackle yet another project or fifty!