Guess who's coming to dinner?

We had a perfectly quiet day planned but that changed when we listened to the message that was received very late in the evening.  Okay, to us that means anything after 9:00 pm, but still ....it was really late.

Our cousin was going to be in the area with his apprentice and would we like to get together for lunch?  Due to our own time mismanagement (translated: sleeping in late) this gave us about an hour and a half to be ready.

Since we had bought a bunch of different meats earlier and hadn't had a chance to fix them, we decided to have them come here for a smorgasbord of sorts and I cleaned out leftovers from the fridge.  It was our own Old Country Buffet style lunch outside under the awning.

We had a lovely visit with them and I gave my sympathies to his apprentice for having to deal with Joel all day long.  They ate, we talked and when it was time to clean up and do dishes they left.  Yup.  That's how this family rolls!

I did some running around looking for new hair for Henry who's as bald as ...well, Left Brain, right now.  I stopped at a Super Target to pick up some stuff so I could get the groceries also. It's nice that they've expanded their stores to include groceries.  It makes it very convenient for one stop shopping.

When I got home I planted my new plants in the fairy garden and added it's little gourd house and fairy.  Now it just needs to fill in.  These are so much fun as they take very little space and if I want to redo "my yard" I can just dump it into a dishpan and start over.


Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP)

Then Left Brain and I headed out to Lake Nokomis for our demo of canoe, kayak and SUP (Stand Up Paddle).  I'd been waiting for this night for a long time and as just beside myself with giddiness.

Everyone there appeared to just have shorts and tops with no swimsuits so we opted to do the same.  Our first venture was to try the kayaks.  I chose the one that was small, short and wide...much like myself.   It's designed for quiet lakes and not built for speed...again, much like me.


No one warned me about the dangers of
sharks while kayaking!

It handled quite easily and soon was across the lake and exploring under the bridge and sliding under the trees edges with the ducks.  Either they were very tame or they thought I was some sort of bright fluorescent orange cousin of theirs.

I was doing well until it was time to come out of it...not so easy.  My arms are not used to this much work and I got a charley horse in my right bicep.  But I managed to extricate myself from it without getting too wet.

That having gone well, we decided to try a canoe so we could both paddle.  We've had canoes before so this didn't take much of a learning curve and it was enjoyable but nothing too exciting.

Then it was time to tackle the SUP.  I've always prided myself on being limber, strong and with good balance...but those are old memories from when I did karate.  I was a little leery after watching a young boy splash into the lake over and over, but dismissed this as his being young and silly.  None of the other ladies were falling...how hard could it be? I mean they say you can fish from them and do yoga.

The lady held on to it while I kneeled down  and slowly stood.  So far so good.  The paddle is freakishly long and I did feel like I should be singing "O Solo Mio" as I paddled gondola like across the lake.  But that vision was in my head alone.  I soon lost my balance...but not to worry.  I'll just kneel back down.  There that went well....NOT. 

I managed to kneel down quickly and then fell over the left side even faster.  There's not much you can do when you fall into the water fully dressed but laugh about it.  And since nothing worse could happen, I climbed on again and parked my butt on the board and paddled outwards.  They tell me it's less wavy further out and easier to get standing.  They lie.

Well, yes...it is less wavy.  And perhaps that should make it less difficult.  To me it just means you fall into deeper water which allows you to go under completely.  Now I'm just getting mad.  I couldn't tell from Left Brain's expression if he was upset, embarrassed or trying not to laugh.

Actually, I think I may have looked like this at
some point in my "dismount" from the board

So I decided to call it quits, the SUP board wins.  I lost.  As I slogged out of the murky water like the creature from the black lagoon, he was there to hand me a towel.  Such a sweetie.  I have since renamed it the FOQ for Fall Off Quickly.  They advertise you can glide across the water and even do yoga poses.  Yeah, right.  I wanna SEE that for myself!  My guess is there's someone underwater in scuba gear holding the board steady.

After visiting the bath house to change into dry clothes we called it a day and went home.  The driving time to and from this adventure far outweighed the actual time using any of the toys.  Left Brain is a good sport.  He believes in me and knew how important it was for me to try this.  I think he's secretly relieved that I announced we would not be buying anything like this anytime soon. 

When we come across the opportunity to do so, we will rent.  With the exception of the SUP.  I don't plan to do this anytime soon.  Here in the cities they have a "pub crawl" where you paddle from bar to bar on these things.  Who knows?  Maybe the drinking helps.

Long Live the Soggy Bottom Queen