Let us start with last night.
My final road trip of the summer took me to the rebuilding city of Cedar Rapids where I found one of my favorite married couples. They hosted me for the evening and we did some serious catching up.
To describe the night for you lets start with walking up to their apartment. These good friends live in a tree house above a garage (aka a quaint well decorated apartment above a garage and beautiful trellis overflowing with greenery and flowers). It was spectacular! When I got there we got busy catching up and soon found some amazing food waiting in the kitchen. We ate to our hearts content and drank some delicious wine frome a local winery.
After dinner we made our way downtown to a cute coffee show for a poetry reading. I have to say here that I've not ever been the poetry reading type but there ws some quality stuff being shared and I really enjoyed the humor of the eldest reader (his first poem was entitled the A-bomb vs. the F-bomb). On the way home from there we drove around a little and I got a glimpse into the urban life being tamed by this fantastic couple. When we got back we grabbed some sangria and sat out on the deck. This was my favorrite part of the trip. We got to sit surrounded by beautiful plants gleaming in the twinkling low lights and just talk. I can't tell you how much I've missed moments like that in the last year. Those are the time when you get real and really learn about each other. It's my favorite.
To describe the night for you lets start with walking up to their apartment. These good friends live in a tree house above a garage (aka a quaint well decorated apartment above a garage and beautiful trellis overflowing with greenery and flowers). It was spectacular! When I got there we got busy catching up and soon found some amazing food waiting in the kitchen. We ate to our hearts content and drank some delicious wine frome a local winery.
After dinner we made our way downtown to a cute coffee show for a poetry reading. I have to say here that I've not ever been the poetry reading type but there ws some quality stuff being shared and I really enjoyed the humor of the eldest reader (his first poem was entitled the A-bomb vs. the F-bomb). On the way home from there we drove around a little and I got a glimpse into the urban life being tamed by this fantastic couple. When we got back we grabbed some sangria and sat out on the deck. This was my favorrite part of the trip. We got to sit surrounded by beautiful plants gleaming in the twinkling low lights and just talk. I can't tell you how much I've missed moments like that in the last year. Those are the time when you get real and really learn about each other. It's my favorite.
(side note- we woke up Sat am and went to an amazing farmer's market, it was huge and so much fun...minus the rain) :)
Ok, now on to last night.
I made the short drive from CR to Dubuque hung a right and ended up in the bustling historic town of Galena IL. My Aunt and three cousins live on top of a hill overlooking the historic shops of downtown.
The day was filled with yummy sushi, catching some rays at the pool and gofling the back nine with my cousin (we got some much needed coaching along the way...well at least it was much needed for me, my cousin is decent. By the way if you're wondering since when did I golf, this has become a recent obsession of mine).
Now to my favorite part. We got home from the course about 9 so we decided to grill for supper. My aunt whipped up some drinks and worked here magic in the kitchen (she is the best cook I know and trust me that says a lot!). I got to sit out in the yard and watch the dog while she was bustling arour preparing a summer feast. As I was sitting there I though back on my perfect day and smelled the summer smells of fresh cut grass and charcoal and I thought to myself. I've not been this content in a long time. I thiink the combination of a great day, great family, summer smells, great conversation and fresh delicious food put me in a nostalgic mood. Those are the things I remember and cherish from growing up. It's a simple midwestern life and some of you may not understand, but it has become one of the most important thing to me.
My hope in posting this is to share with you, my faithful blog readers, a little of what I love. It may be oddly specific but it's all about that combination of oddly specific things that make life beautiful to me. I hope that very soon you too can get with your friends and family and revisit what summer nights mean to you.
Oh...and hurry up, it's already mid AUGUST!!!!!
My hope in posting this is to share with you, my faithful blog readers, a little of what I love. It may be oddly specific but it's all about that combination of oddly specific things that make life beautiful to me. I hope that very soon you too can get with your friends and family and revisit what summer nights mean to you.
Oh...and hurry up, it's already mid AUGUST!!!!!
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