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

These two loons were fishing out in front of the house this morning. They were hardly above water though. They would come up for some air every two minutes or so but only stay on the surface for about five seconds before diving again. You'd never know where they would pop up for a breath... it could be next to you or it could be 200 yards away. It didn't take long before the morning flies would send me back indoors after each attempt at a photo or two.

I got to do two nice sailboat runs today... (no photos, though, since I forgot to give Sheila one of the cameras)... First, I went out alone to test out the boat and the rigging before I brought Lukey out with me. I wanted to ensure everything was safe. I came about a few times, zig-zagging across the lake and then brought her back in to our beach to pick up Lukey. Lukey and I went out on a longer run... zig-zagging to Boulder Beach State Park before turning downwind for the easy trip back home.  It was some nice sailing and Lukey had a good time. I'm left with legs of jello though. I guess this is a sign of how lousy my health has been... my muscles are weak and easily fatigued. Hopefully I can build up some strength with our summertime activities. Jello legs are no fun.

As happens on most mornings, we had a visitor right outside the house this morning...  I managed to capture a few nice photos this morning. It was not without tons of frustration and struggles though. This camera has been problematic for me for years. I'm not even sure why I am still attempting to shoot with this piece of junk. This morning, I resorted to switching to full manual mode (no Auto ISO, no Aperture Priority, no Shutter Priority, no Auto). All methods of auto-exposure were working incorrectly (white balance sucks on this camera too) and it has always been this way with this crappy Olympus camera. I've said this before but I'll say it again... I'll never buy another Olympus product again.  The other problem I've been having with this crappy camera and the other long distance camera I have is that the viewfinders are far too small for someone who wears eyeglasses. I need to find a new body with a much larger viewfinder or I must switch to

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!