Life on the Lake

Lake Maxine from our dock

You'd have to know the country to understand that when we are asked where we live, we don't give a town, but a general description of the local geography.  So, if you'd like to follow along, take out your map and read on:

• Our address is Quincy, though that's just a wide spot in the road in the next county and about to lose its post office.
• Our home phone is through Paragon.
• Our cell phones are through Cloverdale.
• We vote in Plano.
• The local school is located in Eminence (along with the closest "pizza parlor").
• Our church is in Martinsville.
• And when you type in our zip code, you actually can select Lake Maxine as an option.

It can be hard to find our little corner of the earth, but it is worth the trouble to get here!

The deck is under construction.  Next summer, when the roof is complete, we'll have a place for a porch swing and a hideaway to read books on warm, rainy summer afternoons.

Our lake house was built in the 1970's, and before we bought it, it hadn't seen many updates since the mid-1980's.  So we have been working at making this house our home.  The deck is just the latest in a series of projects to make this stone house feel like a woodsy cabin.

We live on an acre of land near the end of a one-lane gravel road.  There is little traffic and the road is a safe place to walk and bike.

The fall colors on our country lane

Living in the country lets us enjoy life's simple pleasures.  On crisp fall nights, we will gather with our neighbors around the fire pit to talk, laugh and roast marshmallows.  And, when we are feeling bold (or don't have reason to worry about a late night sugar high), we make s'mores (incidentally, replacing the Hershey bar with a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup is sinfully delicious!  Try it!).

Winter brings ice fishing, snowball fights and endless night skies filled with stars in the clear, crisp winter air.

Tyson enjoys the snow

During the spring, before the fields are planted, we can fly kites in the wide open area across the road.

Neighbors and friends go fly some kites

And over the summer, fishing, swimming, and a Independence Day celebration with a pitch-in dinner, games of corn hole and lots of fireworks, liven up the long days.  The garden, which, though it's on our land, is more like a community garden with our neighbors tending their plots and sharing their produce, is a common summer gathering place. 

Troy plays corn hole at the lake's Independence Day celebration