Life At Mimosa Lake: The Story Of The Winter Visitor

By K.S. Wuertz

OVERVIEW:
Life at Mimosa Lake: The Story of the Winter Visitor is the first novel in the Mimosa Lake Series. The series follows the neighbors living on and around the shores of a rural lake in the midwest as they explore their faith and meet the challenges and joys life brings them. Humor, friendship, tears, troubles and celebrations flow through their lives. Mimosa Lake can attract the rugged individualist to its shores,so how do they all co-exist?

The Story of the Winter Visitor examines faith during hard times. The neighbors are dealing with the great recession and are discouraged. God sends hope through their natural environment. River Ivery and her neighbors find the strength to go on when an unexpected visitor comes to winter in the lake area. The story is filled with faith, community, hope and humor twinged with bits of philosophy from these quirky, independent souls.

A BIT MORE ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD:

Life at Mimosa Lake isn’t the same for River Ivery and her neighbors since the great recession began. The neighborhood is filled with quirky, independent souls who rely on each other to get through tough times.

But now, winter is coming and people are feeling very isolated. There are more disagreements between neighbors, many have lost sense of safety. Comradely has vanished. There is so little to hope for these days. Herbert Potts knew this would happen.

Let’s be honest, River is afraid. After being laid off, she has embarked on a new career as an artist. How could she be so crazy, to make a change like this in hard times? But she is not alone, her neighbors are facing challenges of their own.

Frances Sullivan confides in her friend River that she can't remember when faces were so 'sour'. Is it Georgia Lemonn's imagination or has Dock's sense of humor evaporated in the cold? Where has the romance gone in Alvin and Peggy Owens marriage? Meanwhile, the tap of his cane and puff of his pipe keep Franklin Sheldon in step on his daily walks around Mimosa.

What, if anything can bring the neighbors together? Where are the answers as they pray for direction? Can life’s challenges and personal fears be met by taking a simple step?

Join River Ivery, Tim Cole, Dock Crayton, Georgia Lemonn, Franklin Sheldon and everyone at the lake as they test their faith against the backdrop of the recession and learn that abundance can come on a wing and a prayer.

Join River and all of her neighbors at Mimosa Lake as they find that the brightest light can shine in the darkest of times. No need to don your winter coat, you will discover it’s very warm at Mimosa Lake ... even on the deepest, darkest days of winter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.S. Wuertz
• Release date: Aug 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9780983292432

K.S. Wuertz

Kim began writing and being published as a poet during her teenage years. The first national publication was published in Bitterroot, a national poetry journal. In college, her work was chosen for review during a campus writing symposium by Stephen Spender (T.S. Elliot’s best friend and a writer himself). After college, she pursued a different career. Throughout her ‘day-job careers’, she used her writing skills. As an early childhood education teacher, she wrote finger plays and simple short stories for the children. During her career as a fund raiser, she became a certified grant writer. About five years ago, she wrote a curriculum for adults with developmental disabilities as a part of her ministry work. During the past 20 years, she has taught grant writing seminars and currently teaches creative writing and gives school presentations as an 'Author/Illustrator in Residence'. Kim teaches writing and publishing workshops for children and adults. Writing is her first love, but her motivation for writing continues to change as time passes. From her writing desk, She raises her eyes to see the trees, birds, squirrels and her own 'Mimosa Lake'. Kim hopes her work brings all her readers to a place where life is simple and quiet. One of her primary goals when writing is to place the realization of how we are interconnected with nature, in the reader’s mind. Admittedly, Kim had not considered writing books until two years ago. There are two factors that influenced her in this direction. Initially, Kim enjoyed the process of writing and then illustrating her first children's book: 'It All Happened...At The Old Oak Tree'. She then realized, this new work felt like ‘coming home’. Now, she has come full circle in her life -- back to her teaching and early creative writing days. The response to her books continues to overwhelm Kim and guides her. She says: "I'm taking sure-footed steps down a long-awaited path!"

Book preview

LIFE At MIMOSA LAKE:

The Story of the Winter Visitor

K.S. WUERTZ

KSWuertz Publications

Always to God:

‘For it is by grace you have been saved,

Through faith,

And this is not from yourselves,

It is a gift from God –‘

Ephesians 2:8 NIV

Dedicated To:

My Beloved Family and Friends,

They are the Neighbors I Never Want To Leave

A Special Thanks To:

‘Eagle Eyes’ Lorraine Dudzik

My Editor,

God produces: Even in the produce aisle!

Viv, Ted and Matt,

Who understand God-inspired dreams… and dreamers.

Copyright: Life At Mimosa Lake: The Story of the Winter Visitor. Copyright © by Kimberlee Wuertz. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. With excepting the limitations under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means (mechanical, technological, photocopying, electronic, recording or otherwise), without prior written permission from the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any means without the permission of the copyright holder or publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrightable materials. Your support of the author’s rights is deeply appreciated. This is the Smashwords Edition of Life At Mimosa Lake: The Story of the Winter Visitor.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This book is a work of fiction. All Names, places, characters and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally, and any resemblance to actual persons: living or dead, to places, business establishments, towns and communities, or events is entirely coincidental.

To find other books by K.S. Wuertz, order additional print or electronic copies of Life at Mimosa Lake: The Story of the Winter Visitor or become a member of the KSBookClub visit www.kswuertz.com

Cover Design and Illustrations by K. S. Wuertz

First Edition: August 2011

Created and Published in the USA, KSWuertz Publications, Smashwords Edition

Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data

Wuertz, Kimberlee S.

Life at Mimosa Lake: The Story of the Winter Visitor/Kimberlee Wuertz – 1st Edition

ISBN: 978-0-9832924-3-2

LIFE at Mimosa Lake:

The Story of the Winter Visitor

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Time And Seasons: Welcome to Mimosa Lake

Chapter 2:

If You Are Blessed Enough To Live By Water, You Are Blessed Enough: River Ivery

Chapter 3

More…Is Never Enough: Tim and Teresa Cole

Chapter 4

Rainbows Shine: Todd Rolfes and ‘LL’ Beamont

Chapter 5

Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Herbert and Selma Potts

Chapter 6

True Joy Is In Recovery: Beverlee and Franklin Sheldon

Chapter 7

God Bless Our Nest: Alvin and Peggy Owens

Chapter 8

Out Fishin’: Dock Crayton

Chapter 9

Believe In Kindness: Lucinda Peroze and Harris Clintston

Chapter 10

My Way IS The Highway!: Georgia Lemonn

Chapter 11

Been There, Done That: Juliet and Zigler Roach

Chapter 12

Baked To Perfection: Victoria and Elmont Smythe

Chapter 13

One Small Act Can Change The World: Frances Sullivan

Chapter 14

A Change Of Seasons: Epilogue

A Note From The Author

-Chapter 1-

Time, Place and Seasons

Welcome To Mimosa Lake

Crazy River, left alone too long with her fears. Crazy River, unable to leave her burdens with the God she so believes in. Where was her faith? Crazy River, who wondered if the number of life’s trepidations matched the number of ways to salvation. Is she as crazy as her mean-spirited neighbor believes her to be? Who else would let their thoughts and fears drive them from their warm bed to here, especially at this hour? Crazy, crazy, crazy River.

Crazy River. It sounded like an amusement park, but life was anything but amusing. Maybe this looked like fun to other people, but to her it was a tightrope walk between the past and the future, without a pole. Her mind never stopped, it was one way of pushing loneliness out of her life. And it worked. But was her life filled with anything better? She had pondered this, as she did most nights, between her ‘night naps’. The restless sleep that sustained her was merely a temporary shift in consciousness. It was a roller coaster.

Ohhhhhh… She sighed aloud, bringing herself to the present. Mindlessly, she tucked her long red hair up under her hat and pulled it back down over her ears.

She lifted the oar and watched the water almost silently drip into the lake. The ripples were endless. Change was due. The sun lived in the south these days, fall was ending. Fog rose over the lake, lifting into the grey darkness that awaited the coming sun. River Ivery worshiped the moment. Rue whined. Her silhouette rose up against the darkness as she shifted about in the little boat.

What’s wrong, girl? Lay down. She responded to her beloved husky dog’s whine.

The light flickered in The Canopy, the Mimosa Lake Clubhouse. Alvin Owens was putting out breakfast for all who wanted to stop by this morning. Maybe she should drop in for coffee later. Rue whined moving from the end of the boat toward her. River felt a deeper chill run through her. The cold saturated her jeans and iced her legs. Her feet were getting colder. This pre-dawn row on Mimosa Lake had been spur of the moment. She forgot all practicalities, like her long underwear. Some of Alvin’s coffee would sure be good.

Steady girl. Then she realized. Her feet were beyond cold; they were wet! She looked at the bottom of the boat - water. But how much? They were about mid-lake and she was jarred into action. She began rowing, but the boat was getting heavier. Rue whined and cried, feeling River’s growing panic.

We’ll make it, girl. She tried to steady her voice in an effort to calm them both. The shore seemed further away in the pre-dawn grey. About sixty feet from shore, the inevitable happened.

Let’s go girl. She threw off her down vest and sweater. It would be hard enough to swim in the cold. Rue just swam into the water. River rolled off the edge, grabbing an oar for safety. She instantly felt heavy as the water soaked her clothes. No one could see her out here at this hour. She wasn’t that far - she would make it. Where was Rue?

Come on, girl. She called in the lifting fog. Her eyes to the shoreline, she kept kicking and swimming. She was so cold, but she focused on the shore.

‘Keep your eyes on the shoreline. Keep your eyes to the shore.’ The mantra went round in her head with every stroke. The dock was getting close. Safety was near. She would be able to stand soon. The cold, she was so cold. With a last push she kicked and grabbed the dock, leaving the oar to float away. River stood up on her numb legs. She had to get to the studio as fast as she could; it was closer than the house. She walked around the dock steadying herself and climbed ashore. Rue was just behind her a few feet from shore.

You can make it, girl. Come on! She momentarily forgot the cold at the thought of the loss of her companion. Rue climbed out of the lake. Let’s go! Up the path they went to the studio door. Warmth.

Only later did it strike her. They could have drowned alone, surrounded by the entire Mimosa Lake neighborhood filled with people.

Across the lake, Franklin Sheldon’s early morning walk was nothing out of the usual. His cane steadily tapped on the road in rhythm with the puffs from his pipe. These daily walks kept him lean and cleared his mind. He was approaching the Potts’ mailbox and lost in thought.

There is comfort in the passing of the seasons. Time had gently helped he and Beverlee to reconcile the old with the new, as it does for everyone. We draw the steady calming breath of the familiar past into our lungs, even as our heart beats toward the unknown waiting in the future. The retired philosophy professor was getting too philosophical. But what were his walks for, if not to be alone with his thoughts.

‘What does the future hold, especially in these hard times?’ he wondered. Memories always spurred him to wonder about life. Franklin saw good in remembering the past. It put the progression of his life in perspective. Time passed steadily, like one step following another. The tap of his cane was a comfort now, more than a reminder.

Many Mimosa Lake residents had longed for the comfort of their memories during these recent hard times. Time kindly presents us new experiences and challenges, but remembrance can be kinder. Our memories lay stashed like old sneakers in the closet. When we rummage through and put on a pair to walk around in for a while, somehow the ground just feels more solid. But at Mimosa Lake, remembering better times wasn’t helping many people feel like they were on solid ground for very long.

Even Dock Crayton secretly looked for some glimmer of hope as the news touted more stories of hardship. Boys, it’s like a tremor in January. Everyone nodded at Dock’s comment as they sipped their coffee. It did feel like walking on ice during an earthquake. The possibility of falling seemed imminent. Everyone knows when Dock doesn’t joke or have a prank, times are troubled.

This year, the passing of seasons had gone unnoticed. Still, the laws of nature remain in effect, prompting the neighbors to ritualistically respond to the changing of seasons. Last spring, Teresa Cole bought flowers to plant while wondering if she and Tim would be able to buy flour for baking by fall. This was a thought she had never considered before.

As fall came, many looked forward to the seclusion of winter at the rural lake community. Todd Rolfes relished the thought of locking himself away from the world. But the hard times which initially separate people often have a way of drawing those same people together.

Mimosa Lake has a way of binding together all who reside on its shores. Whether plant or animal, bird or human, they are bound to the lake as they are to each other. The grass grows fast and fertile in June, deepening its roots for the summer heat. The squirrels thicken their nests in fall and hide hickory nuts for winter’s food and shelter. The tulip and iris bulbs nest with the hibernating grubs in the cool earth awaiting the spring rains and lengthening days. As the morning doves dance about and the mating of pairs of ducks swim together in the spring sunshine, the hummingbirds head north from South America, drawn to the shores of Mimosa by May. Time passes, each day quietly brimming with hopeful expectation and predestined practicality.

But when a great force beyond the familiar arrives, there are considerable opportunities for all who find themselves in the presence of that greatness. Ordinary days and thoughts disappear. The beauty of the mundane and the predictable is seen with new appreciation. The future is faced with fervent expectation, even excitement. Good or bad, it’s impossible to be amidst a great force and not be affected by it. The Winter Visitor would remind all at Mimosa Lake of this truth and many others.

And please, don’t print this in the paper, LL. Juliet’s green eyes flashed as she raised her eyebrows. We just don’t need any more dreary possibilities. Juliet Roach had just given a sorrowful accounting of people who had fallen on hard times in Forest Corners to ‘LL’ Beamont.

Of course LL promised Juliet, but it didn’t really matter. News travels around the lake as people stop on the road to recant their stories to each other. River attributes this to the ‘car wreck syndrome’; neighbors are compelled to listen to bad news, but really don’t want to hear it. Human nature has been a part of Mimosa Lake culture since the beginning. Culture and place knit tightly together, entwined by nature and ritual.

River, a short-term resident by some standards, has melded into lake culture during the past eleven years. Still, she is well versed in the history of her neighborhood. The culture grew as the lake community grew. Initially the Mimosa Lake Development was never intended for year-round dwellers. But time can have a way of minimizing initial good intentions and the best laid plans. Within the first ten years, a few of the summer dwellers decided there was no better place to retire. Then families moved from nearby Forest Corners and from far away cities, craving a more rural existence for their children. Now, the shores of Mimosa Lake are teeming with life!

River shivered as she poured her cup of coffee. Safe and dry again in the studio, she began to absorb the morning’s events. A boat and a coat, she gave thanks that it was all she had lost. No boat meant no more nighttime rows on the lake for a while. Mimosa would be frozen over soon anyway. Still, she would keep her nighttime rows on the lake to spring and summer. River breathed a sigh of comfort at the thought of the soft call of the tree frogs on spring evenings and the ever-changing sunrises of summer.

Spring always ushered in the annual ‘baby boom’ of geese, ducks, squirrels and raccoons. The daffodils and jonquils bravely rise from the cold ground in March. As the days lengthened, the thick green leaves of the tulips would appear. Before River knew it, it would be time to get her favorite rake in the garage and mushroom hunt in the woods on the upper tier off of Forest Drive.

By June, the ‘Summer Neighbors’ would be back. Each year when River has her Fourth of July party, the guests comment that the fireworks display is the best they’ve ever seen. In September, the ‘Year-Rounders’ watch their seasonal neighbors, human and nonhuman, pack up and head to their winter quarters. She watched Rue roll over on her soft rug, sleeping soundly after their cold dunk in the lake. Summer had rolled into fall, a restful time that holds a quiet appeal for the ‘Year Rounders’.

It had been a fall like many others. River met Georgia Lemonn at the pool for the last swim of the season the Saturday after Labor Day. She had felt the inevitable twinge of sadness when she took the hummingbird feeders down. The days grew shorter and the leaf piles grew larger. The fall ‘rake and burn’ was completed for this year.

Ziggy Roach, donned in his ‘fire Fedora’ to cover his thinning hair, passed around cigars to be smoked by the bonfires. Tim Cole prepared a special ‘Bonfire BBQ sauce’ and Selma Potts spent hours stacking s’mores into pans where they sat waiting for a nice toasted marshmallow from the fire. Evening bonfires are popular around the lake and are attended by neighbors, children and dogs. When the crisp evenings become colder and longer, the neighbors resort to a wave here and there and an occasional chat at the mailbox.

The years pass and time goes by. Its life, crazy or not. She said with resolution to Rue and her four cats, asleep in the studio. River spends her days talking to her animals. They are her companions. She is content to use them as a sounding board, most of the time.

"So what are a boat and a coat?’ Her own words said aloud, comforted her. Her red hair now braided down her back was beginning to dry. She was warm again, warm for now and safe in her studio. The day was slipping by. Winter was coming.

At the first snow, everyone would emerge into the outdoors with shovels, scarves and hats. Snow and inclement weather brought a certain comradely to the remaining lake neighbors. Would it this year? Several times each winter, the outside world becomes inaccessible. Sometimes its days before the roads open so a neighbor with a truck can go into town for supplies. The neighbors rely on each other more in the winter than at any other time of year.

River needs her neighbors. Her morning dip in the lake had awakened a fear that she didn’t often touch. In spite of her fears, River resolved to make a habit of focusing on her many blessings. This morning, ‘real’ fear had rushed in like the cold water, surrounding her and threatening to sink her. The day’s activities would help her to surface. Work would put her on solid ground. She put down her coffee determined to begin, but the tears welled in her blue eyes. Let’s face it, she’d had a real scare. And one good scare can lead to another.

Who would think that what happened on Wall Street could impact life at Mimosa Lake? River and some of her neighbors had lost their jobs. The Bakkers, Mel and Liz Sedly, John Riller and the Tantens had been foreclosed on. Disquieting discussions and rumors flew around the lake about pending foreclosures and more job loss. Many neighbors struggled to pay their monthly Mimosa assessments and water bills to the MOB. Logically, River knew ‘The Great Recession’ would have an impact on the economics of the area. She just didn’t expect everyone’s mood to be this bleak.

A trip into town to Loli’s Lumberjack Café brings the recession even closer to home. The diners talk over morning pancakes or Sunday fried chicken with Loli’s special beets and homemade pie, about the recession. Just last week Todd Rolfes told the news of another lay off.

She needed to work, but she had tried. River picked up the phone. Frances, I need to extend my morning coffee today. Do you have time? I’m making another pot right now. River waited to see if her friend would recognize fear seeping in amongst her words.

I was hoping you would call. I’ll be right over. I have a bone for Rue from supper last night. Frances Sullivan was one of River’s closest friends. They were blessed to live just across the lake from each other. Pour me a cup and save me the chair by the window. Frances hung up.

River knew Frances’ arthritis made every movement an effort, but she never knew until they saw each other whether it was a good day or bad one for her friend. Frances limped into the studio with a smile on her face. Her arthritic, short frame didn’t allow her to carry extra weight gracefully. Still, Frances was a beautiful woman with bright hazel eyes and rosy cheeks that set off her short dark hair. As they sat down with their warm mugs, River told Frances about the morning’s events. This led to discussion about the state of the neighborhood.

In spite of all the talk, I wonder if anyone can remember a little ‘neighborly tolerance’ or kindness? Frances asked River, looking at her friend with knowing eyes.

People are complaining about the water, the roads, even about the new wildflower area you and Lucinda created on the south common ground last spring. That’s been a year ago! River replied. "This collective apprehension reminds me of what it’s like when a snowstorm is coming, but it doesn’t end. Where is that sunshiny day when everyone dons their snow gear and joyfully steps out into the beautiful world of white?

Yes, faces have become increasingly . . . sour. I don’t just mean the regular nay-sayers. Just this past week, I watched people pass by without waving or speaking. When I wave, they look at me like I should know their arms of made of lead! I think we are collectively… depressed. Frances frowned with concern.

River nodded in agreement. She couldn’t remember ever seeing Frances frown. At Mimosa Lake, tomorrow is no longer a hopeful word.

Tim Cole can’t really think of any place else he would want to call home. It looked like a perfect fall day. Change creates the beauty living on the other side of the window. The lake twists and turns with the winds and laps against its