but i forgot. vaguely in my mind, i remembered that i HATE weekends in the summer, and love love love sunday night through friday morning. i remembered noise, and uncouth behavior. today, we received quite the visual and audio reminder of the difference between living here during the week - quietly, joyfully - and living here on the weekend.
before you surmise that i am a curmudgeon, let me remind you that we also have a cottage, up north. i have always been respectful of noise and neighbors - it was drilled into us, from a very early age.
this morning, the circus began. at one point, there were 37 boats on our end of the lake. lots of waterskiing boats - including those new ones with the silver board holders framing their boat tops. several jetskis, playing chicken with each other, and swerving around other boats - completely ignoring watercraft rules and common sense. many fishing boats - what might they catch, with all the fish hiding from the noise? a zillion pontoon boats - mostly the geriatric set, cruising and checking out the neighbors. but it's mostly good - you can see that people are enjoying themselves. the powerboat pulling the three girls, waterskiing - all have perfect form. too many powerboats with tubers go by - i think the record for tubes being pulled is 5. there's also a new tuber experience happening - someone has this huge inflatable couch-looking thing. it can hold 6 adults (or about 8 kids). both numbers have gone by, all sorts of squeals floating across the water. so many boats are stirring up the lake that you can just Smell the weeds. that particularly strong lake smell is lovely to me, but ed and lillie wrinkle their noses.
our tiny street (looks like a sidewalk) has 13 houses on it. it is a half-mile long. of the 13 houses, five are lived in full-time. this weekend, all but one house has people in them. you can imagine the noise. most of it is ok - families talking, laughing...several generations eating together...a baby taking its first steps, to the joy of all who surround her. some noises are not so pleasant - parents screaming at kids repeatedly. people screaming at each other, repeatedly.
if you look around the lake tonight, many houses are having bonfires in front. it must be a weekender thing - we have a bonfire to burn up the fallen tree limbs and leaves. smoke is wreathing the lake, making it hard to see the stars, infiltrating our houses. usually we head outside to see the stars before we go to bed. tonight, we won't - there are so many people out and about. some kids across the lake are shooting off bottle rockets and other assorted flaming items. someone has a radio going extremely loudly. it is after 11pm. i remember in the dorm in college, just waiting for 10pm, for the quiet hours to begin. it sort of feels like that here, except no one enforces the rules. common sense must prevail, yet people on holiday are so excited to BE on holiday that often common sense goes by the wayside.
common courtesy seems a long-lost art.
yet some good things arise - we see so many people swimming in the lake, that we head out in the kayak (ed) and swimming (lillie and i) to get the buoys out. boats come so close, even when we're swimming and highly visible (i always swim with a bright orange noodle, just for that purpose), that we've had some close calls. so we put the milk jug buoys out, and hope that they see them and steer around. oh, the water was SO COLD. but we persevered - lillie had had her swimsuit and goggles on for hours before we actually went in. it was COLD. oh, so cold. oh my. ed was laughing from the warmth of his above-water kayaking position. i so wanted to splash him, but refrained. we got the buoys set, and lillie wanted to swim between them. it got warmer, or we got colder - whichever, we stayed in the water, swimming, for 20 minutes or so. it was glorious. swimming!! again!! yahoo!! it helped that it was 75 out today. the top layer of water on the lake was much warmer than the bottom ones - so we sort of floated and swam, trying to stay near the top. finally, i was too cold to be in the water any more, and we came in. after dinner, i made lillie wait 30 minutes before we could go back in. secretly, i was hoping that she would be too cold and we wouldn't have to go back in. ha! she was ready, swimsuit and lifejacket on, waiting for the timer on the stove to go off. we went back out, and it was oh so cold again. colder, because the sun was going down. at least there were only a few pontoon boats out. lillie's learned proper boat manners - she always waves to them, and is so happy when they wave back. we did two laps between the buoys and rushed in to a warm shower.
we stayed inside then, and closed the windows and doors when the smoke and noise became too much. i remember when i lived in cities, that people were mostly kind about being quiet at night, and polite to each other. it seems different here - maybe people don't think that this is real life, and that they can behave without consequences. it is hard, these summer weekends. i can't wait until monday. for now, let me get my ear plugs....
copyright 2006, jessica voigts
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Comments: 20
I may be a local, but the thousands of tourists jaywalking, screaming, drinking, and making a general nuisance of themselves couldn't care less. The fact that I drove 5 minutes and they drove five hours seems to entitle them to levels of debauchery and immaturity unimaginable.
Sigh. I guess I'll just have to get my beach fix when the tourists have all gone home...in September.
At least you only have to wait until Mondays :)
I'm sure the water was cold today, but glad you were able to go swimming with Lilly for a little while.
I know the feeling,
soooo many people - where did manners go?
thanks for sharing your day! (have a better day tomorrow dear Jessie)
Maybe not "these days," maybe always -- but folks sure do seem wrapped up in themselves. Little consideration. It's as if respect is "Old School" or something.
Ah, well. Here's to Sunday night, then...
Seriously, understand your concerns but you are so lucky to live on a lake, how fun and how beautiful it must be when it's peaceful Mon-Fri!
I always feel good after reading one of the stories that gives us all a little window into your life.
Would this be a good time to tell you that my pool is 84 degrees right now - and no, it isn't heated ;)