VACATION BLUES

I've noticed that it always takes me a day or two to really get back to the "normal" routine after being gone. It's as though I want to make vacation last just a bit longer.
LH and I enjoyed The Beach in Wisconsin. The water was cold though! Sunday was so hot, 90+ degrees (which was true to form for our vacations)that we put plastic chairs in the Lake and sat in them with our legs in the water. Made me feel cool for quite a long while.
My sister has new puppy, part Huskey, part Rottweiler. Cute as a button, but lively and quite a handful. They are also watching my niece's maniac boxer for the next 5 weeks. So, I had some dog therapy while on vacation.
LH enjoyed his kayaking. I strolled the beach. I came in last in the annual Croquet game, which is also true to form, even the Mai-Tai didn't offer me much improvement!
I was sorry to see several shops in the NativeTreeBurg town were closed up or going out of business. The Cheese Shop was closed, the Forest Flower Store was having a sad Going-out-of-Business Sale, they always had the neatest shirts and tops.
Even the Red Closet was up for sale - since the owner wanted to retire.
LH and I got caught in couple of rainstorms and caught a rainbow over Lake Michigan which was really beautiful. The night skies were sprinkled with gazillions of stars.
I never even finished the Ephron Neck Book, which is amusing. Although I should have it finished this week. Too much puppy and doggie distractions.
My Sister and I went for pedicures and my feet felt summer pretty and fabulous!
Had the usual Friday Fish Fry, and the Brats, afterall this is Wisconsin!
Saw part of a muskrat for the first time! And although I spotted deer tracks on the beach, I didn't see one this time.
Could've used another day, just to sit and read.
Fortunately, cicada season was over in Chicago!!
Unfortunately, Japanese Beetle season was in full swing when we returned home and one geranium succombed to the ravishing hunger of the nasty little bugs. I ended up getting Sevin for the first time in 4 years to dust my plants and salvage my geraniums, coneflowers, potentilla bushes, and burning bush as well as my Basil.
The stuff really worked and the beetles are dead and gone.
Now if we could get some rain it would do wonders. When we drove into the subdivision, it looked like something out of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" movie!!!
Everything that yellow brown, everybody's lawn too, except for a couple lawns where folks obviously watered regularly. It is so parched, dry, and the grass is crispy & crunchy. My wee Gingko tree has lost 1/2 of it's leaves and the Birch has several yellow leaves and has also dropped a fair share. Funny, though, how the weeds still remain green, even when the grass and tree leaves and other growing things turn brown and yellow.
It's good to be home and the Boys are thrilled to have their sofas and pillows back which they missed at the boarder's farm. Somehow, a week just doesn't seem long enough to let go, regenerate, and gear up. I think I'm still in regenerate mode.
How are you regenerating this summer?