In which quite a lot happens

It's been quite a while since I last posted, for the good reason that it's been a very busy few weeks. The first week of August was primarily occupied with Ainsley's wedding (for those who don't know her, Ainsley has been one of my best friends since high school). There was the wild bachelorette party, involving country music, dancing, and karaoke, and was a lot of fun. Then there was the (rather more sedate) rehearsal dinner, and then, of course, the wedding itself. That was on the Friday, and Ainsley, Corrin, Bevin, and I (the bridal party), had a great time spending the whole day primping. Professional hair-dos, amateur foot baths and nail painting, and a private mini Mary Kay party from the mother of the bride, who is a Beauty Consultant for MK. Ainsley, who would look lovely even if she rolled out of bed and threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, was absolutely radiant in her white dress, hair carefully curled and pulled back, and make-up done with utmost attention to detail. The ceremony was outside, and the weather cooperated, providing golden late-afternoon sunshine and a gentle breeze. The most exciting part was trying to navigate the uneven stone walkway in several inch spike heels... fortunately, Tobias, brother of the groom, with whom I was entering, was very steady, and let me hang on his arm. Obviously, it isn't the done thing to stare anxiously at the ground in front of you. However, no broken ankles occurred. Then there was an excellent dinner, followed by the best music selection for dancing ever, consisting primarily of the Beatles and similar. :)
The very next morning, my family left for our vacation on the Georgian Bay. It's an eight hour drive, which can be grueling, especially towing the boat. We have a 14-foot, gaff rigged cat boat (small boat with a four-sided sail, for the nautically illiterate), with oars instead of a motor. yup, we're hard core. Anyways, we stayed in a little rented cabin that my dad had found, and woah was it off the main road. The roads up in that part of Canada already seem to have a tenuous grasp on existence, just pasted over the top of the Canadian Shield, following the leaping contours of the land, with Nature never held back by much. But off of one such twisty road was the private track (for lack of a better word) that led to our cottage, among others. This track was little wider than the car, and so rough and curved that it could not be driven faster than 20mph at best, and induced nausea even at that speed. Needless to say, once in, one was not inclined to leave. We spent our days sailing on 12 Mile Bay, one of the many bays in the Georgian Bay area (Canadian side of northern Lake Huron). We even managed to reach the "big water", but at this point the rest of my family chickened out and we turned back. The wind always blew in from the lake, which was good, because we had to tack our way out against it, and could run back in in half the time. This was especially good on the day when, after a picnic lunch, black clouds began to roll in. Thunder rolled, but we didn't see any lightning, so we decided to make a break for it, rather than beach and weather the storm on an island. I was at the tiller, and man... most scary sailing of my life. Of course the wind had picked up, and the weather helm was so strong that I was sure the tiller would snap. A weather helm is the instinct of the boat to turn up into the wind. When you're running before the wind, this pull is at it's strongest, but in normal winds, it's hardly noticable. This was not only noticable, it was an arm work out. Right as we were coming into our dock, two motorboats roared by, and their wakes, amplified by the wind and the lake swell, created what must have been 3 or 4 foot waves (they felt like 6, but memory and fear exaggerate). In a small boat like ours, those are huge waves. Anyways, they threw us at the dock, and I turned up too soon, missing the dock. We managed to beach on the swimming beach behind, though, so everything was fine. As soon as we had the Wildcat moored and were off the dock, the skies opened in a torential downpour, and the wind died. Thank God we were in before, because that would have been really lame, becalmed in the rain. The rain alternated with violent squalls, and the general conclusion was that we really timed that well. :)
One of my dad's old friends visited, and he showed us his pictures from a tour of Antarctica... by kayak. They were staying on a bigger boat, but went out every day in kayaks and zodiacs. Coolest photos ever, and Antarctica goes on my list o' places I have to go before I die. :) Clint took my dad and I canoing in the morning, when there wasn't any wind, and then we all sailed in the afternoon.
We didn't sail the whole time, though. On one day, we went to a nearby larger town to meet some friends of my dad. We went on a large boat cruise of Parry Sound, which was much less exciting than sailing. But Gordon and Marianna were very nice, and we had some interesting conversations. Then we (my family) attempted to drive to visit long time friends of my mum, got lost, and explored exciting backways, before reaching our destination. The directions included steps something like "turn right at the rotting stump... leave your car in the field and start walking...". The Chalfonts were staying in an ancient log cabin, with a boat house gradually sinking into the lake. It clearly had a long history of being lived in and loved. Our hosts were the brother and sister in law of my mum's best friend, but they were accompanied by their mother, at least one other couple in their own generation (another sibling, I think), their children, and grandchildren. At least, there were 17 people and four generations there. I lost track of who belonged to whom. It was a riot. I talked to Andromache (also known as Moosey), about her upcoming wedding to stunning Italian fiance, Johny, and spent a lot of time playing with the five or six children in the youngest generation. Then it was back to our own remote neck of the woods.
The next day my sister Kate joined us, coming from her Scottish Country Dancing teaching exam. She was able to spend a few days with us before going back. In an aside, that was one of the definite high points of this summer: being able to see Kate so frequently, as she popped over from working at the Field Museum in Chicago. It was far more convenient than from her normal location in Austin, TX. :)
Right after we got back from Canada, we were joined by my friend Heike and her brother Armin, en route from Germany, via New York and car to Wisconsin. It was so nice to see Heike (and meet Armin)! We went for a walk in the Arb, my dad took them sailing, they went to Greenfield Village, and I took them canoing on the Huron River. Unfortunately, I had to work most of the days they were there, so that meant I couldn't spend as much time with them as I would have liked. Still it was a nice visit, and a wonderful chance to spend time with friends I don't see very often (stupid Atlantic ocean being in the way). :)
Since then I've been scrambling to get on top of things, and oh my goodness, get ready for my rapidly approaching departure! only 11 more DAYS if you can believe it. Those 11 days are packed with doctor's appointments and hair appointments, meals with friends, and of course, the ever present, ever unpleasant work.
The Michigan Renaissance Festival has also opened, so I'm spending my Sundays there. Last Sunday I was dancing, but the next two weeks I'll be teching for TCN at the feast. Only three days at faire. sadface. Ah well, for England, that's ok. And I have an almost certain, very exciting job lined up for next summer: squiring for the jousters! Horses, swords, and Ren faire, three of my favorite things, and getting paid for it! woo! Also, no rehearsals earlier in the summer, so it won't matter that I won't get home until mid June at the earliest. I'm pretty pumped. I'm going to haunt the joust camp this year so that they remember me, although the woman in charge of hiring seemed pretty excited about me, being a horse person. :)\
Speaking of which, riding lessons are going pretty well, and I found a few affordable stables less than an hour from my dorm via public transport in London, so they don't have to stop. yay!
And so, a pretty low summer is drawing finally to a close. Next summer already has a lot of promise of being better though. And London is going to be amazing.
Summer photos to be posted soonish.