Our little city expanded

This weekend we completed, well almost, a new section of the train layout. We are building it this time on platforms about 15" x 9" so that if we need to move it again each one can be safely moved without dealing with a 4' x 8' city in its entirety. Each section comes complete with road, house, driveway a portion of the street that lines up with the previous section, gardens, and working street lights. We have also arranged for each house to have a light inside.

Needless to say Edward is very excited about being able to turn on and off the lights of the city as it

becomes dark. The other new features in the new layout, the one on the grey roof, is a swimming pool. That's the "almost" in the first sentence. We got some of the grass stuck to the stuff we used for water in the pool. So we plan to remove it and repair the pool water then cover it with

something that will make it not so sticky. Edward and I are having a great deal of fun with this and trying to figure out what will be on the right and left of these houses. May be greenbelt due to space.

Huntington Lake 2009

This was our 21st year at the lake, and as with previous years its was very much the same and yet things were different. The pictures this year seem to be better than past years, but each of us came away with a new agenda of what we wanted to do next year.

Edward who has always loved the lake, recognized that he has grown to value different things and that many of the wonderful things the lake had to offer no longer are important to him. Swimming has always been a large part of the trip for him, but this year he complained the water was to cold and he was not interested. He also complained that it was too dirty a place. I wonder if our recent trips to Worldmark sites (out timeshare club) have not soured him. All the Worldmark sites are set up the same way with the many of the same brands of things in them. This provides him with some comfort away from home perhaps he is a bit spoiled this year.

Dorothy too was voicing mixed feelings about the lake. She loves the place for its quiet, beauty, and perfect weather. It was just hard to believe that we agreed to do the trip without Teddy, Gavin or even Revel. Nothing much has changed over the 21 years there is one less restaurant (they actually tore the building down foundation and all) and all three of the major resorts are under new managements which seem to be making small careful changes some good, some not so good.

For me, I will not return without Gavin and Revel. Being in the woods and on the trail is all about being with them for me. We spend so much time walking together, Gavin, Revel and I that I miss them both while I was there. For the longest time I had hoped that we would have a second home at the lake someday and I think this year I finally realized that this is no longer practical and will not happen. It was a quiet week at the lake, which was a beautiful as ever and shall remain a place with wonderful memories.