peace in the summertime

I recently had the opportunity to visit Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie, above Ohio...

I walked daily, enjoying the island atmosphere:
the gardens,
the slow, vacation pace,
the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline,
the birds circling lazily,
the boats trolling by,
and, if the wind was blowing the right direction, the sound of the horn from the ferry reverberating across water and island.
The best part of the island atmosphere was the architecture...
the old, Victorian houses with all of their gingerbread trim just intrigued me to no end...

While I was there, I read a book:
Island Passage by Sherry Hartzler -
a story about a family,
in their house that was based on that exact island.

So, as I took my walks everyday, I looked and looked at all of the houses on the island,

in that old section of buildings facing the east side of island.

Was it the one with the mansard roof,

or the one with the green gingerbread trim?

Maybe the great, pink, happy house?

Maybe the one with the complete wrap-around porch and beautiful, heirloom flower-beds? 

I walked around that side of the island so many times,

each time trying to find

"the house" from the story -

trying to place the family and the porch and the sounds of the water from the imagination in Ms. Hartzler's writing.

I'm sure that people that saw me walking,
not really watching where I was going,
thought that I had issues...
stumbling around and almost walking into shrubs,
and off of the paths. 
I felt that I had almost beaten my own trail around that side of the island...
I never did think I found the exactly right house,
but, I kept looking,
imagining.

it is a state of mind

time off......
what exactly does that mean?
You know, time off from the regularly scheduled stuff....
stuff like laundry, shopping, cooking, making the HandiQuilter hum, work at the LQS.

I like all of the regularly scheduled stuff......
even the laundry!  (You just have to twist my arm to make me say I like laundry!)

Really, I do like all of that stuff!
I feel that I am blessed to have clothes to wash, and money to buy food. 
Even though I earn part of my living by quilting other's quilt tops? I still find that enjoyable - not work at all.  And ditto for the hours at the LQS.  I get to see other quilters' works in progress, help them choose fabrics, and visit and hear about their families and share with them.

So, my recent plan for four days off?????

Well, I have a new book to read :

(Sherry Hartzler's new              "Island Passage"; more on that later),

and my block of the week for this past week,

I have a stack of blue and white fabrics and a quilt pattern,

some floss and a hoop

(yes, from the looks of this picture and the quantity of floss that I have,

it looks like I need professional help),

All this  is the "stuff" that I would do at home, anyway,

sitting in my usual lazy-girl chair...

But the plan is this:
I am just doing all of this "regularly scheduled stuff" in another place.
A place with a lake... :)
with some like-minded girl friends... :)

That is my time off -
doing all of the regular stuff in a different location...
a.k.a.: vacation

It is a state of mind!
:)