Scattered Thoughts . . .

Starting with last night's sunset... still a rather uneventful and boring sunset compared to past years but this is how we closed out our day yesterday followed by a nice braised pork dinner with noodles and fresh green beans...  oh... then we had some crappy Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (perhaps the worst cheesecake I've ever eaten)...  This morning was a bit unusual... the lake stayed this placid until 10am! The kids didn't mind watching these fish from the safety of shore but, once they were in the water with these perch (and a small family of Blue Gill Sunfish), they were terrified of them! When I sat on the rocks on the shore with them and we named each fish names from the movie "Finding Nemo" they seemed a little more at ease but the kids were still as skittish as the fish when they were in the water.

Yesterday, for the most part, was a rainy day for catching up on sleep and for resting our sore, tired bodies. I think both of us slept away most of the day. We just napped in front of a fire all day. It was a much needed break from all of the activity lately. This morning the overcast skies are gone and the sun is shining. The lake is calm so we will head out on the kayaks this morning for a longer trip than we have done all year.   I have some rigging to replace on the sailboat before I can go out sailing again. I replaced some rigging before we arrived at the lake but some of the stuff that I did not replace is now only holding on by one single strand! It needs to be replaced now, for sure, so I'll attempt that sometime today too. I'm hoping the wind will pick up again at some point so I can do some more sailing but that rigging needs to be fixed first. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos from this morning...

We had another beautiful day yesterday (today too, but I may write something about that tomorrow). Liza and John visited in the evening to have dinner with us and spend the night.  Dinner was delicious... Kansas City style ribs (two full racks), corn on the cob and homemade fries. We've been eating well at the lake house! The weather was great so we spent much of the day in the water. We had some thunderstorms through the night but the weather was hot and humid yesterday during the day... Another day of teaching Lukey how to sail...

I got up out of bed at 6:30am this morning so we could all go kayaking as the fog rose off the flat, silent lake... it is now after 8:00am and everyone else is still asleep in their beds!  I guess there will be no early morning kayaking today... maybe I'll get to eat a quiet breakfast on my own. In the meantime while I am waiting for everyone, I sorted through the hundreds of photos I shot yesterday. It was a really nice Father's Day here and here are a few photos from all of our activities yesterday... We thought that this might have been an eagle or perhaps a hawk... it was the usual ugly-duckling... the Vermont Turkey Vulture. I suspect many people THINK they see a Bald Eagle but it is really one of these ugly scavengers. Deep water training... Deep water training... Lukey and Papa sailing... Lukey and Papa sailing... Lukey and Papa sailing...  Kenzie has not gotten up the nerve to get in the sailboat yet. Luk

Yesterday was a busy day but one which left me overwhelmingly fatigued. I ended up sleeping a solid 12 hours last night... the kids slept about 11 1/2 hours... and Sheila slept about 10 1/2 hours!  I've shot hundreds of photos in the past few days and here is just a random spattering from yesterday and this morning...  Early morning... a loon still snoozing on the water with head tucked... Lukey and Papa sailing... Kenzie and Nan... Lukey and Kenzie are always watching and pointing out air traffic... Pop and Lukey... Lukey is practicing his paddling skills so he can soon kayak on his own... Our resident pair of loons this morning... I've never been able to capture a photo of a dragonfly in flight before... This particular dragonfly has has been very cooperative the past few days... he would hover right next to me whenever I was shooting photos from the dock. Early morning on the deck... The lake is already busier than it has been