Memorial Day: A Thanks to All Our Brave Soldiers

7:10

Heliotropes and Peony Buds

La Casa

View from the Dock

Up later than usual, about 7:00 to a muggy, drippy morning, bright sun reflecting off the lake, with temperature highs in the eighties or even nineties, alas.  A few fishing boats on the lake, a haze has set in, as the lake has lost all color, almost white, because of the reflection of the sun on the gleaming water.

We had a lazy day of doing nothing really, though I did manage to get a good bike ride in early in the morning.  I went to the Lighthouse, ordered an English cut for tonight's dinner with the Mc Clure's and Leonard's, parked my bike in their lot, then rode south around Sea Lion Drive, mostly flat and I could avoid  #394 for the most part.  I went as far as Hartfield Bay, riding by the famous Deli which was open early.  Then, I headed back to the Lighthouse, about a fifty minute ride total.  I picked up my English cut, stopped by Ron and Linda's to say aloha, then headed home to a great breakfast of butter milk pancakes and bacon.  I have been coveting this kind of breakfast for a few weeks, perhaps tiring of the usual eggs and bacon.  It reminds me of summers with the grandchildren, where Evie seems to stand at the griddle for at least an hour, trying to fill up the kids and adults with her famous pancakes.

It was a schizophrenic day, hot and humid till late in the afternoon when the temperature plummeted about 20 degrees, to the sixties, then came heavy but brief rain showers, and we got out our fleeces, even took a warm shower.

We were able to read on the dock till the winds came, then enjoyed the brief but needed storm, and we got about a fifth of an inch total according to my rain gauge.  We made fried rice for dinner, using a left over pork chop with various vegetables and left over brown rice, one of our favorite meals.  It tasted great, healthy I suppose, with just enough pork but lots of vegetables.

We tried to find an interesting movie on Netflix, ended up watching a boring film called Strangers in Good Company. Eight elderly women are stranded in the wilderness when their bus breaks down.  The premise could have been interesting; unfortunately, the characters weren't and we just waited to see how they would be rescued...by plane.  It was slow, with lots of long shots of individual women staring off into space, sparse dialogue, as if he didn't know how to tell a good story.

A highlight yesterday was when we saw a pileated wood pecker yesterday, a rare sighting though we have seen one or two in the past few years.  He has an amazing red head dress, a black body, with a white and black striped face and a long beak.  He was working out on Leonard's tree, oblivious to us, just after a rain.  They can get huge, crow like, up to 17 inches tall, with a 27 inch wing span.  This one was much smaller, probably about 10-12 inches tall.  His bright red head dress was amazing.

Photo from Google Images