Rick Turns 40

It seems all my old friends are turning 40. This particular friend has been hosting us every summer for more than 20 years at his family lake cottage in Wisconsin. These friends come from far and wide to do Cabin activities like eat too much, swim, forget to shower, play games, and of course, swim, water ski, and tube.

My friend Rick happens also to be the boy who took me to my prom. We went in a group with 3 other couples and 7 of the 8 friends are regular Cabin Weekend attenders. Back in high school, I almost took AP Chemistry with Rick, but quickly dropped out of it when I realized that the incredible workload would be too much for my schedule. Of course he thrived in science classes and was the first of my friends to earn his PhD, in physics. Recently, the whole gang traveled to his city when he married his terrific wife (in the photo above) who organized several surprises for his birthday. Rick and our other friend Rob have an encyclopedic memory of The Brady Bunch, even recalling a long lost, rarely seen Christmas Special. We laughed at how the guys have hit the age where they noticed the Mom on the Gilmore Girls is cuter than the daughter and for years it's always been the other way around.

My gift to Rick were these embroidered napkins:


This fire is from Sublime Stitching and was the favorite motif of my friends. Our friend, John is the fire master and tells the best stories at the campfire.


A weekend in Wisconsin is not complete without fresh beer brats. Ketchup is not allowed! Don't worry, we serve hummus to the vegetarians.



The lake has a spring where the waterskiing is the best. This motif actually bugs me because the cattails are on a little hill and real cattails grow in low flat areas...


I did all these nature motifs because I could not find a good motor boat or waterskier that I thought I could embroider at the last minute.


I like this little cabin, but it had the most difficult details. The pattern for all the nature motifs and the cabin are from Aunt Martha and I found the packet at Hobby Lobby. The napkins are 3 sets from WalMart.

I am so grateful for the wonderful friends in our life. Every year we can hardly believe how great it is that we all still get together and have the best time. Cabin Weekend never comes back around fast enough. Happy Birthday, Rick!