Watermelon, Dogs and Political Coups

A wonderful long weekend.  Pity it's nearly over.

I took Friday off to get things ready to go to the cabin.  I recovered quickly from my belly problems of Thursday, and I hit the ground running Friday morning.  I had just finished up around 5PM when Matt called from his office - he was ready to go, and I came and got him.

We finally got to the mountains at 1AM.  Mom and Dad didn't even wake up - but the pugs heard us and came out to greet us.

I woke up the next morning, and Dad and I headed to the annual meeting.

To explain it as easily as I can - our cabin is on property owned by a private club - one that was started back in the 1930s by five men, one of whom was my great grandfather.   The purpose of the club was to have some land in the mountains and to conserve it, and that's what the members have done ever since.

Dad has been a member since the 60s.  I became a member in 2006, on my second attempt (fairly common).  By the next year, I was head of the social committee.  We voted in three new members last year, two who are younger than I am (29 and 33, if I remember correctly).

Well, this year, something kind of interesting happened.  Just before we left for the meeting, Dad got a call from the club President.  He had been talking with "some other members", and they wanted to vote me onto the Executive Board, so he wanted Dad to know so we could both vote for me.

Honestly, I about fell over.  I am friends or friendly with everyone in the club, and secretly, I've always wanted to be on the Board, but I never dreamed that it would come about, let alone come about at the suggestion of our club's President, who I really like and respect.  Dad warned me that I may not get voted on, but we could give it a shot.  And we did.

And can you believe it?  I got on the damn board.  They voted off this guy who apparently pissed a few people off in the last year, and I beat him.

Which basically means that, if nothing else, the club president trusts me and respects me and wants me to know the inner workings of the club.

Plus, it'll look killer on my resume.

I wonder what my great grandfather would have thought about this.  I never met him, of course.

In other news, after the meeting, I got ready for our annual party - I may be on the board, but I'm still responsible for getting the 4th of July Picnic thrown.

And folks, another great party in the books.  We had great food, the pugs and Lola all behaved, lots of nice people in red, white and blue - and watermelon.  Mom and Dad brought, as their dish to share, three chilled melons.  We finished off one.  The next day, we broke into another and finished half.  The third one came back to Nashville with me.

I cut it up tonight, put it in the fridge, except for a serving which is now in the freezer getting really, really cold.  I'll be eating it shortly.

I brought a goat cheese pasta salad, and all I can say is that I need to eat more goat cheese.  I love it.

And I am on track to lose this week.   Which would be sweet.

In other details of the weekend, I got to swim in the creek once, in the waterfall twice.  We saw the mother bear and her two cubs, and on Sunday, I went to a half-day Work Party with several of my fellow board members, and few other folks and the President's wife.  I gave her Goo Goo Clusters to thank her for helping me dismantle our roof last Work Day.

And the dogs all had fun,  Matt got in a good ride at Unicoi, and Mom and Dad seemed to have a great time.

Now, I go into a new work week, with my problem colleague.  But I'm full of watermelon, happy memories and most of all, increased self-confidence.

Life is good.

ae

Comments