Idling
The best month of the year to idle is August. Idling is just astonishing! Don’t you just love the word “IDLE?” The definition of idle is “(1) (of a person) avoiding work; lazy or (2) without purpose or effect; pointless.” Idleness gets a really bad rap. My friend, Deb, and I just recently took a break from idling at home amidst the Covid19 crisis to idling on Washington Island, Wisconsin. Having made reservations in February, with no knowledge that the world would be engulfed in a pandemic, cancelling seemed above and beyond the call of duty. Especially since all our other travel, including our high school friends’ adventure to walk the Camino in Spain, has been cancelled. So throwing caution to the winds we set out on our summer adventure. Idling, we soon discovered, is a very pleasant summer activity with great recuperative powers.
Twiddling Our Thumbs
There are a lot of synonyms for “IDLE” and one of the best is “twiddling one’s thumbs.” Most days as the sun rose and the sun set, you could find Deb building a lakeside fire. During those hours we were simply idle. We read, burned all manner of stuff, including magic fire packs which changed the fire colors from yellow-orange to pinks, blues and greens. Watching a fire is fascinating when you are idle. We spent our days in “idle” movement like fiddling, fooling, messing, monkeying, playing, puttering, swimming and biking around with no purpose in mind except enjoying the beauty of the moment. We were always careful to wear our masks and social distance if necessary.
Idle Photos
The following is a glance at our idle activities…
Early morning puttering as the waves come in and out. 
Reading: Splendid & Vile by Erik Larson and Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict.
CLICK HERE to view Fair Isle Bookstore’s website.
Lollygagging in the lavender fields.
CLICK HERE to view Washington Island Lavender Farm photos.
Fiddling with a dead snake after purging our canoe of two live ones.
Background on tree: Deb’s peace branch with flowers.
Messing around fires. 
Making S’mores and eating them!!!
Talk about delicious memories!
Delighting in a treat at the Albatross 
CLICK HERE to visit Albatross website
More Delicious Memories..
In all our idleness we did prepare and ate some delicious meals. Mostly easy fare … homemade pizza, spaghetti, grilled brats, metts and hamburgers. The most delicious memories of the trip turned out to be the few food items we purchased to and from the island. On our way we stopped in Egg Harbor for lunch at MscReady’s Artisan Bakery…
First food stop at MacReady Artisan Bakery for a homemade egg salad sandwich.
We also bought a loaf of cranberry -cherry bread (photo right) that I ate most of once we arrived on WI. Deb did get a few slices!
MacReady – watch the video.
Cherry-Cranberry-Nut Bread. 
All bread made fresh daily. Yummy-Yum.
On our way home we stopped at the Seaquist Orchards’ Market. We had already tested their pastries and pies on an earlier stop. I taste tested their cake donuts and a piece of cherry-rhubarb pie and Deb enjoyed a cherry turnover and a piece of apple pie. She liked the apple pie so much that we stopped and purchased a whole apple pie to share with Steve as our last delicious memory of our travels. CLICK HERE to check out Seaquist Orchards.
Deb loved the thick, layered apples. 
My favorite: cherry. pie.
There really should be a third definition for
IDLING … a pleasant summer “activity”
