We roasted makkaraa (which is Finnish for “sausages”) and went to bed “early” on Saturday night.

This wallpaper is on par with my kitchen’s wallpaper, except it’s better because it belongs in a cabin. Um, I mean that in a nice way…

Good morning, the most perfectest of Sundays.

I sat on the edge of the dock by myself for a little while. It afforded me some quiet moments with baby fishes that were about the size of my lure—Northern Pike and a possible Blue Gill. I may not have caught any fish during the weekend, but at least I had interested parties.

For some reason this spider gave me fewer heebie-jeebies than your average, teeny-tiny house spider. And it was monstrous—it’s sitting on a sour cream container lid in this photo. And it was carrying a huge egg sack. Mary and Johanna trapped it in the gazebo, and later Eric let it go in the trees.

I don’t know how long we laid on this floaty, but it was awesome. Johanna anchored it somehow so we just drifted around, watching the sky. Then we would flip over and watch the plants and schools of minnows in the water.

If you know what this is, please let me know. Thanks.

We chilled on the sandy beach on the other side of the lake for a little while.

I swear I didn’t do this on purpose, but it makes me laaaaaugh…

Almost immediately after this photo the Loons ducked down into the water. This was the closest they let us get all weekend.

And then a horsefly bit my toe. It didn’t hurt then, but it bruised and later itched for days! Jerk.

I should’ve snapped a photo of this phenomenon on our way in: most of the neighbors had placed red-, white- and blue-painted rocks at the end of their drive. Apparently no one knows who started this trend.

Fred’s is where we acquired the makkaraa—very delish. I bought more before Mary and I headed back to city life. Sigh. It was such a good weekend.

I can’t believe two weeks have passed since my fantastic weekend at Hart Lake! I’ve had every intention of sharing these photos since then, but blah, blah, blah… On to the photos!

The weather at the lake wasn’t spectacular, but it felt great to be surrounded by trees and water and chirping birds. We spent most of the evening indoors, catching up and playing games—generally sinking into relaxation and take-it-easy-ness.

We spent some time in the sauna, then running out and jumping in the lake, and then getting warm again in the sauna, etc. etc. I haven’t had the chance to feel that kind of silliness in a while—it was so fun. We did it again on Saturday night, too.

We stayed up too late, and we all slept in late on Saturday morning. It was still quite cloudy and a little bit chilly, but we spent the day canoeing around the lake, then we all went for a very slow boat ride. The sun kept trying to poke through, so I refused to put on long, warm pants.

But I was mostly kept warm by all of the food we ate anyway. How many lunches do Finns have? 13? I was stuffed before the first lunch.

I learned how to steer a canoe and we also sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in rounds.

Johanna kept catching fairly large Northern Pikes… without bait!

I should measure the awesomeness of my summers by the number of toads and frogs I get to hold. So far this summer is a two!

This train caboose and the house we slept in were both pre-existing structures that were moved to the site. The house was formerly a train depot. Once I knew that, I couldn’t help but imagine the place full of people bustling around arrival and departure time tables or lazily reading newspapers. Of course, I have no idea where the depot was located, but I’m sure it was somewhere neat and everyone was very fashionable.

½ Honey Weiss + ½ Berry Weiss = Honey Bear

Saturday closed with one of the most fantastic sunsets I have ever enjoyed.

I had a marvelous weekend on Hart Lake with a few of my wonderful friends. I assure you that I have a bazillion photos heading your way—I’m thinking about splitting them across a few posts because I wouldn’t be able to pick which photos to not share.

But, a brief update about things…

I still haven’t taken down the painter’s tape in the bathroom… but I haven’t really had time, either! I guess I could’ve tonight, but I was busy watching the season premiere of Hell’s Kitchen with Kristi, Jared, and their temporary visitor from France, Sarah.

This also means I haven’t taken proper photos of the bathroom with the blue paint. It really is lovely, but now I think I might wait to take photos until after my brother-in-law, Bryan, comes over to help me re-affix my trim to the walls. We made a plan for this coming Sunday. If it works out then maybe I’ll also get to finally visit the new-ish Thai restaurant a couple blocks away, Sen Yai Sen Lek.

I did make time to hang out with Hannie and Erin last week, though. Well, I sort of took a tiny cat nap towards the end of the visit, but that’s okay because Hannie and both of the cats were sleeping, too (on Erin, who insisted that was her favorite part)!

I don’t understand the cold, stormy weather in Minnesota lately. There is too much of it so I tend to wear myself out on sunny days—too much fun to get caught up on! Kristi and I have talked about heading up to Duluth for a day this weekend, so hopefully it will be beach-bumming kind of weather.

Work has been fairly busy lately, too. Most of my department is headed to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, next week so I’ll have the place to myself. I’ve got an interesting Flash+XML project to get started, as well as a Volusion store front to help beautify. Both projects are learning experiences for me, so I’ll be quite content… hopefully!

That was a teaser for future posts. It really was a wonderful weekend, despite the missing cat that ruined my first morning. But that’s a story for another time… I meant to go to bed early tonight!

OH, I ALMOST FORGOT! Today I booked airfare to Hawaii for my birthday in November. My pal, Jen, is moving there for grad school so I’ll be crashing with her in Honolulu. I am so excited! I’m going to torture myself with photos of Hawaii on Flickr until then, and afterwards I’ll torture you with my photos.