The quiet that reigns supreme after company leaves is a truly amazing thing. It's so nice. There aren't words to describe it. Almost as nice as when the "weekenders" leave and I can enjoy the deer, the loons, and the bald eagles again. I don't know the "weekenders" so I grumble and mumble all weekend long while they're taking up space on the lake. I know my company. I don't grumble and mumble. When friends and family come by to visit, they add spice to my life which can only be an enriching experience. "Weekenders" are more like flies that land on your picnic lunch or deerflies buzzing around your head. You just want to shoo them away. Having said all this and after going through that short mourning time when visitors leave, I have to admit that I really do enjoy the quiet that comes after company leaves. Now I just have to wash all those sheets and towels and get ready for the next batch of company that should be showing up in the next day or so. A bit more spice. Unfortunately, the "weekenders" will be rather thick this weekend too. This weekend is Birchwood's 40th Annual Bluegill Festival.

Cliche of the Day

Thick and Fast. In close and rapid succession. It's hard to think of a better way to describe something that's coming at you quickly and in dense numbers. A chronicle of the reign of Henry VIII records this item for 1548: "When mo newe Testamentes were Imprinted thei came thick and threfold into Englande." That was an older way of putting the thought. The current way appears in The Wooden World Dissected, by Edward Ward (1706): "He and his Brother-Jacks...toss Jests and Oaths about as thick and fast as Boys do Squibs."