Scattered Thoughts . . .

My health seems to be slowly recovering (from these latest issues) which has allowed me to have a fairly productive day for a change.  Well... by "day", I really mean morning. I sleep every afternoon so nothing ever gets accomplished in the afternoons. I did have a relatively good morning though and I have to say, "it's about time!" I've been getting a bit anxious about getting everything ready for Christmas since my health has caused my to-do list to do nothing but grow longer and longer since before we headed to the lake house in June. It was nice to be able to do a few things around the house this morning like laundry and other little projects. Mostly, my priority right now is to get a jump on getting ready for Christmas in case my health deteriorates again. We've managed to get most of our Christmas shopping out of the way and, today, I started to pull out some Christmas decorations. We should have some good weather over the next two days so I ho

I'm not quite sure why but I've been consumed with thoughts of the lake house lately... when I'm awake and even when I'm asleep and dreaming... all the time. Perhaps it is because my health has been mostly on the poor side since being at the lake earlier in the summer. Lately, my health has been exceptionally poor especially when it is warm or hot outside. I'm overwhelmingly exhausted on most days and can barely keep my eyes open nevermind find some energy to accomplish something small. I'm so exhausted that I find it impossible to stay focused on any task or to even think clearly. I don't know... maybe I simply want to go back to the lake house and do things. Don't get me wrong. I occasionally have a pretty good day. On these rare days, I find that I am using up this rare fairly good health on everyday chores like cutting the lawn, laundry, straightening the house or even showering. It doesn't take much to wear me down to the point of uselessnes

While my spinal injuries are settling down and I'm recovering, I've been sorting through some of the latest lake photos. I never actually got around to pulling out the tripod to shoot some high resolution panoramic images but I did notice that I had a short series of sweeping photos that I shot using the same lens and the same focal length so I tried to stitch them... I got lucky and it worked! So, here is the view from the house on a beautiful, clear morning. I love the deep blue... the crystal clear skies... the perfect reflection of the trees and mountains in the flat, placid water... the color of the mountains... and the quiet scene... of course, we also enjoy awakening to this scene every morning as we look out the windows...

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!

Over the past few nights, I've been collecting all the video clips I shot while we were at the lake house by putting them in a single folder on my desktop computer. After seeing the number of video clips in this folder, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of video I have... Apparently, I shot 10.4 gb's of high definition video... comprised of 60 video clips... with a total running time of almost 90 minutes. That is a lot of video!   (In addition to the 2000 or so photos I shot!) Although I shot most of this video myself, Sheila shot a few minutes of these video clips and Sheila's brother, Doug, also contributed a few video clips so I didn't actually shoot 90 minutes of video all by myself. My plan is to cut and splice all these clips into one cohesive video that is no longer than 8-10 minutes. I honestly have no clue how I am going to do that but I need to try.  I actually had some ideas in my head as well as on paper before we even arrived at the lak

We had a brilliant, colorful sunset last night that lit up the stormy skies...resembling a distant forest fire or even a distant bomb blast. The colorful, bright, fireball setting sun contrasted perfectly with the stormy clouds looming overhead...

As I wrote in a previous blog post, we had quite a few guests the other day and some beautiful weather for this busy day.  Although I actually shot more than a thousand photos that day, here are a few photos... not necessarily the best... but a quick selection which is representative of the day nevertheless.   Early morning was beautiful... we quietly paddled the lake in our kayaks as the morning mist rose from the lake and the rising sun burned through the night mountain fog.  By mid-morning, the lake was a little windy (and thus slightly cool) but that made for some nice sailing. Lukey actually had a chance to sail for the first time and he enjoyed it immensely! Until now he only got to play on the boat as it sat on its dolly on the back lawn. He actually seemed more at ease in the fast-moving, leaning sailboat than while in a slow-moving, stable kayak. I have some video footage of both this first sailing experience and the early morning kayaking but compiling a video will

Searching for Adam's delayed flight... This weekend has been hectic to say the least! Adam outprocessed from his last training base on Thursday and into early Friday. He then hopped on a plane mid-afternoon on Friday. He was supposed to arrive in Burlington around midnight but, as usual, his flights were plagued with delays, maintenance problems and even a canceled leg.  He ended up spending the night at the USO in Philadelphia where he got to catch some sleep and was given a nice hot meal and a hot shower. He finally arrived in Burlington early in the afternoon on Saturday. Searching for air traffic and listening for Flight 3861... We had a little time to kill before Adam's flight arrived (another delay even on this new final leg... for crew rest this time) so we visited the tower at Burlington's quiet airfield. Being in the tower overlooking this combined civilian and military airfield reminded me of some of my past Air Force jobs.  I had forgotten how

Loading up the cars on another final night at the lake house... Every year, we always dread one particular night. As this night approaches, we would prefer that time stands still so this night could never come to be. This dreaded night is our last night at the lake house until the following year.  Putting aside all the work that must be accomplished in packing, cleaning up and securing boats, loading up cars, and cleaning the house, it is always a bit depressing knowing that it is our last night at the lake and we will be headed back to civilization and the real world in the morning. This is now the time of year when we start planning for the upcoming summer at the lake house. As I begin thinking about all that must be accomplished in getting ready for this year at the lake, I can't help but remember our last night at the lake.  Two things always stand out in my mind about this dreaded night... The first image which seems to be etched into my mind is one of the cars being