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.

So, while I am still recovering from another week or two of lousy health, I'm revisiting photos of events, vacations and wildlife I've shot. Since the lake is now on our minds, this blog entry includes photos I like from our times at the lake.  I have this first photo in two versions... I shot it in landscape orientation (picture frame in horizontal position) but also took a shot in portrait orientation (framed in the vertical position). I will sometimes take a shot of a subject both ways so that I have the option of displaying it on a wall either way depending upon the circumstances. Truth be told, I actually prefer the landscape version of this photo but I'm on a search for photos in the portrait orientation to hang in our living room. (I occasionally rotate photos through our frames on our walls and I have three frames to fill which are in portrait orientation.)  This was one of those "last night at the lake" times... it was our last paddle around the lak

It is supposed to be sunny and warm outside again today so I've switched gears and pushed Lukey's little railroad Christmas present aside so I can get outside to get some much needed winterizing work done on the house. I hope to get this accomplished relatively quickly and easily. Then I will come back indoors and get some work accomplished indoors, as long as my health allows. We are cutting Christmas trees tomorrow morning so I need to ensure I am well rested for that. This means I will accomplish absolutely nothing after noon today so I can sleep and rest for the remainder of the day. Cutting Christmas trees is usually a fun morning in the snow for everyone and then a nice leisurely lunch in a restaurant. Tomorrow morning promises to be muddy this year though. Hopefully, all will go smoothly and not wear me down!

Today was another stunningly beautiful day. We expected the rains from the remnants of the tropical storm (named "Bill" according to Sheila) to cause problems for much longer than we experienced. Fortunately, this storm hit us through the night and left us with a beautiful day today. Last night, however, was brutal!  We had high winds and heavy rains while the winds blowing across the lake and toward our house caused a bit of a rise in lake elevation on our side of the lake like a mini-storm surge. The lake completely covered our beach and even made its way up a few steps toward the lawn.  This storm reminded me of terrible storms on the waterfront of Long Island when I was growing up. I laid in bed worrying about the power, the roof and the boats while wondering what the high winds were blowing away from our deck and yard. This house is sort of like a houseboat as it is perched out over the lake so the house was also making many unusual sounds as it was battered by