Scattered Thoughts . . .

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

The summertime weather finally arrived yesterday afternoon!  After a very nice climb to the summit of Owl's Head Mountain in the early afternoon, we spent the late afternoon and into the evening enjoying the water at the lake house when the wind was calmer and the afternoon sun was warmer. Somehow, the kids managed to squeeze in kayaking, swimming, and fishing. As always, I moved around on the dock surrounding the house shooting photos of all the activities and keeping an eye on things.  As the sun began to set, we started on dinner. (Here is a little secret... keep your guests active and serve dinner late and everyone will love the food!) I grilled chicken pieces after marinating the chicken all day in a lemon, olive oil and herb mixture... we filled out the menu with corn on the cob, fresh green beans and some handcut homefries. I think everyone enjoyed their meal. We really fit a lot into this one day! More importantly, everyone seemed to have a great day!

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