Showing off....house, lake and neighborhood

Brian, Heather, Grace and Gabriel arrived exactly as predicted by their GPS around 5:30 on Saturday.  I gave the grand tour once again--we did a bit of nibbling on frittata and fruit--and after the kids had given the rocking chairs a good work out, we sprayed ourselves with all sorts of repellents and headed out to walk around the lake.  

Grace meeting mantis

Despite some participants semi-official aversion to nature (well, only one New York Jewish intellectual's uneasiness), the walk was glorious.  We clipped brush to clear the way, admired the shifting light on lake and meadows and Heather even spotted a praying mantis.  I don't think they're rare--but they  so well camouflaged, I rarely see them and have memories of grand excitement whenever we found them as kids--they are remarkable looking creatures.

For more mantis facts and photos you can start here:  http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/praying-mantis/

Morton-Harphams at Lake

A tiny bunny and some of it relatives were spotted on the walk, and all-in-all, a fine time was had by all, followed by some serious foot washing to ward off poison ivy.  Heather and I  whipped up a grand feast of a dinner:  the basic hot dogs and hamburgers with many fixings but also the rest of the frittata,  roasted and boiled corn from the farmer's market, grilled asparagus, baked beans, sauteed beet greens with garlic and cherry tomatoes and many salads -- kale, cucumber and green beans.  We were going to grill watermelon for dessert, but that fell by the wayside--so ended the meal with nibbles of watermelon and blueberry pie.

We did a huge and thorough clean-up, before they headed out to the Holiday Inn Express across from Home Depot for another kind of rural experience.

I met them there the next morning as they were having their copious if not amazingly delicious Holiday Inn Breakfast.  Brian had picked up a map of Sussex County, and Heather discovered--marvel of marvels--that our lake was depicted and named as Glauberman!  We'd never seen this.  It is nameless on the Hagstrom map.  Google--as a result of some research done by an enterprising intern I'd imagine, has labelled it Reynolds  in deference to the man who actually got state permits to dig it out (my father bought the property from him).  

Unfortunately, a tick had found Brian at that very lake.  Our outing for the day would be a bit tamer--at Kittatinny State Park.  I'd never been there, but it is nearby with wide walking trails, so I thought it would fit the bill.

Now that I've found it, I might make it my regular walking spot--it's just on the other side of Newton--and unlike the walks that are closer to home, it is not as summer buggy--which is a real pleasure.

Back to the house to continue eating the many dishes from the previous night-with the addition of a corn salad made from the left-overs--just corn, red onion, red pepper and parsley,  provide serious rocking chair time for Grace and Gabriel and then bid farewell.  I hope a fine  before this party ended as guests left to dine with Brian's mother in Teaneck.