As the summer winds down and the nights cool off, it is easy once again to reflect on just how much we have.
As I write this, I am looking out my window at a beautiful Stuart Lake, shining under a cloudless sky, slight breeze to lessen the heat.
The hot summer has yielded a fantastic garden in my community garden plot, also handily located on the scenic shores of the lake.
I will once again have more carrots, beets and potatoes then I know what to do with.
Eating delicious salad from the garden day after day does not seem to get old, as other foods sometimes can. The freshness and variety of vegetables and seemingly endless combinations keep palate boredom in check -not to mention it’s so easy to make a quick salad for one person, no pot required.
I have seen the bright white sails of the summer sailing camp dot the horizon for a week this month, and classic cars park to watch the sunset from Cottonwood Park.
I was lucky enough to get a large number of days out on the lake itself, fishing, swimming, eating and socializing on the water, earning myself one of the best tans I have sported in years.
I even had the chance to enjoy someone’s sailboat when he was generous enough to take myself and a friend out for an afternoon sail. The afternoon and part of an evening disappeared like the keel through the water as we all took pleasure in conversation and some interesting company.
I helped coordinate some locals to participate in great rock climbing training on Mt. Pope, on incredible rock faces only minutes from town, a climber’s dream for sure, and one most climbers travel hours or more to partake in.
There have been beach parties, sunsets and motorbike rides with friends, and the opening of the amazing new culinary and coffee hot spot, The Soup Wallah.
There is so much in this little community to offer, so many fun things to do right on our doorstep, it’s hard to take advantage of them all.
I have not once taken my mountain bike out of the shed this year, instead opting for motorbike and road bike rides. It’s impossible to have time for everything.
Yet I made it to a couple of days of Arts Wells, the festival of all things art in my campervan with a friend, a great weekend of music and art always worth the trip.
With the summer winding down, there is still so much more exciting stuff to come: Music on the Mountain -our very own music festival in our backyard, the all-terrain Poker Ride, more beach sunsets and harvest pot lucks with friends.
It is always sad to see the end of summer, to know the lake will be too cold for all but the bravest of souls soon, but then again, it’s also exciting to think about what is to come.
Ski season, another year of powder and playing on snow, the possibility of a local snowmobile race event, more sled dog races, and northern adventures.
While it is so easy to become caught up in the concerns of the daily grind, the beauty of this community full of great people and opportunities for adventure, also make it refreshingly easy to sit back and just enjoy where you are at. Here’s to hoping you were lucky enough to take some of it in yourself.