Julie\'s Nordic Island

Just when I was having one of those days to remember, along comes a day when all of the best laid schemes of mice and men get tossed to the wind. Today I was eager to organize a re-run of yesterday’s sublime canoe trip, but this time with the whole family. The problem with democracy is that everyone has their own point of view to express, and as soon as I suggested a canoe picnic we were headed for a parliamentary debate.

By the time the eggs were boiled and the coffee was in the thermos we were going on quite another sort of trip: off into the lake system with our motor boat to catch fish on the line. Fishing from the dock, the kids still hadn’t caught anything but ’scrap fish’ which they took in buckets to the pond in our rose garden. They were getting tired of feeding the heron which was perched on a rock avidly watching as its ‘restaurant’ was refilled with food supplies. Now it was time for fishing up ‘real’ fish. I did what I could to hide my longing to glide in the calm waters once again.

At least the roses were happy...

Everything had been hauled down to the boat with what seemed like an increasing heaviness. Our boat picked up our mood. My husband turned the key to the ignition and….nothing. Lucy the dog who lay ready for her ears to fly as the boat sped into the wind, looked backwards at us with that ‘let’s-go-already’ sort of look. Instead the insects sky-dived at her in the increasingly oppressive weather. The ants had grown wings as they prepared for mating, which meant that you were best off not opening your mouth. As we floated around in our bay dangerously close to the century-old wreck, we could feel the pressure of the gathering storm. My daughter announced that her fishing rod didn’t work, just another little parenthesis in what was looking like a doomed afternoon.

Once we had got the boat back to the dock by paddling, it occurred to me that it was time for me to take over as Speaker of the House. “We’re having our picnic over there,” I said, pointing at a seating arrangement not too far away. I took our picnic items and began to walk in that direction in order to avoid more discussion about what the next step was. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and settle for what you’ve got. Everyone walked over with leaden feet and plonked themselves down in the seats. Lucy looked confused, but, oh well, it was lunch and that was the main thing.

Michi the cat, our house guest, turned up for the picnic looking very spritely indeed. “So, what’s with the slow mood, guys?” I imagined he meowed. “This is a great place, there are masses of mice around here.” Michi isn’t one for long conversations and so trundled off under one of the houses where there was sure to be loads of action.

I sipped my coffee and some of the weight of the day lifted. Everyone went off and did their own thing. My husband built a pergola and was delighted with himself. My daughter took off for the hammock with her new pile of novels from the library. My son read Donald Duck on the trampolene. I decided to tackle some of those tasks on my list and managed to put the impossible tap together. This achievement would occupy my dreams, I knew it. We gathered at dinner pleased, our irritations subsided. Sometimes on holiday it’s better not to try to heave everyone in the same direction.

The skies have just opened and poured down on the flying ants. Hallelujah! Tomorrow will be a fresh new day.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 11:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.