Progress on the dining room was interrupted this weekend for a stop on the annual ‘summer by the water’ tour.  This one was particularly glorious as it was a girls’ weekend with some of my college gals at Andrea’s St. Michael’s house. This is what Friday night looked like:

Wine & cheese and a sunset on the dock, just me & Andrea.

Breakfast was coffee & a big bowl of cherries while I sat outside reading.

It was one of those picture perfect June mornings – clear, just warm enough but not hot, with a gentle breeze to keep the bugs away.  I had no cell reception, there’s no internet, no land line, no TV.  Nothing to do but sit and read a book.

That was the sky.  Divine, isn’t it?

After Andrea woke up, we puttered in the yard some – as she & her family are moving to San Francisco, this house is going on the market.   After she met with the realtor and we filled in a hole left by the digging of the new well, Clara & Sheilah showed up.  Which meant it was beer time.

On the dock again of course.

Because when you have access to something like that, I believe you take full advantage of it.  Then again, we all know how obsessed I am with spending my summer by the water.

Eventually, it was decided we’d get cleaned up and head into town for something to eat.  And that’s when the fun really began.

After wandering around the streets of St. Michael’s, we eventually made our way to the waterfront and found a place to eat.  We had to wait at the bar for a table, which was fine with us.   Us being us, we engaged everyone around us in conversation, including most of the staff.  We were sitting by the door they use to go in & out of, as well as near the hostess station.

I have noted here before that as a group, we are loud and foul mouthed – Andrea & I especially.  We call each other names  – terms of endearment to each other, but we’ve realized others can be slightly offended at how we speak to each other.

Some might say we are badly behaved, but really, Andrea & I just don’t care.  It’s the defining quality we share along with the ability to make the saltiest sailor blush with our language.  If you knew us in college when we were practically inseparable, then the way we behave when we get together as forty-something soccer moms doesn’t phase you.  It actually makes perfect sense, unless of course you thought certainly we’d have grown out of that by now.

We haven’t.  In fact, it may have gotten worse.

When our table was ready, our bar tab was handed to us.  We couldn’t help but notice the name the staff had put our tab under:

Which thrilled us to no end. Clearly, they got us.  And appreciated us, as we had half the staff stopping to chat with us.   A woman at the bar holding her crying toddler in one hand and a beverage in the other looked at us and sighed, “I’m having my girls weekend next weekend”.

I snapped this shot and posted it on facebook, tagging the girls at their request.  We were all taken aback by the comments of friends who thought the staff should be fired  – not at all.  We were completely in on it.    As someone who still works as a server,  it’s always nice when you have a group or table that’s fun & easy, as I know we were.  Well, other than the loudness factor.  And the name calling.  And the language.  When we sat down at our table, there was  a family with two small girls behind us that we tried out best to behave around, but well, they were at least quite understanding…

We discovered this little guy and he proceeded to hang out around us all night long.  We took that as a good sign.  We might be loud and obnoxious, but hey, we have good karma.

As we sat at dinner on the patio of the restuarant on the waterfront, Clara saw some boats for hire coming back into dock.  “I want to get on a boat”.  Bless Andrea’s heart, she whipped out her phone and made a few calls, trying to get Clara on a boat.  Everything was booked, but we assured her, she’d get on a boat before she left.

And so, after dinner, we wandered around the marina.  We came across a lively group sitting on their boat that we engaged in conversation.  Next thing you know, they invited us to come aboard for a drink.  Seeing this as how we were going to get Clara on a boat, I hopped aboard.  When everyone else realized I wasn’t coming ashore until I finished my Coors Light, they all came aboard too.

The text I sent to my husband at about this point of the evening was “Made new friends.  We’re on a boat.  Not sure who’s boat, but we’re on a boat”.

His reply?  “Woo-hoo!  Glad you’re having fun!”

Love that man.

Meanwhile, Sheilah here was our sober driver and herder.  She did it with much grace & style, as she has always done.   Yes, that’s a bird on her shoulder, because when you storm a boat, isn’t there supposed to be a bird on someone’s shoulder?

We eventually made our way back to the house where the fun & games continued with late night swimming in the river, improvised ladders and glow in the dark jelly fish.   As we drove home on Sunday, Andrea noted that every time we get together, we have some sort of adventure.   Perhaps that is what binds us together after all these years.  That and the name calling, the foul language and the fact that we just don’t give a shit what you think of us.