A Hazy Morning Sunrise

6:00

6:01

6:04

"July is get-up-and-go, vacation time, the shore, the lake, the country, anywhere but home. July is hot afternoons and sultry nights, and mornings when it's a joy just to be alive.  It's fresh cherry pie,  It's the first sweet corn.  It's baby beets, well buttered, please.  July is a picnic and a red canoe and a sunburned neck and a softball game and ice tinkling in a tall glass.  July is a blind date with Summer." Hal Borland: SUNDIAL OF THE SEASONS. 

It's just after 6:00, another muted morning sunrise, so much so that I can sit on the front porch despite the ball of orange in the sky.  It's 68º, a still calm and quiet lake, but not for long.  Tonight the visitors arrive to celebrate the 4th of July.  It's after 8:00 and I was on the lake by 6:30, didn't return until 7:50, a leisurely morning on the lake.  I ran into our neighbors, Tina and Jim, and we had a brief book talk before continuing on our way. 

Kayak Morning

Paddling The Shoreline

Morning Paddlers, Tina And Jim

Preening and Cawing

Yesterday was another miserable day on the lake, hotter or more humid than the day before, at least it felt that way to Evie and me.  I did get an early paddle in, then headed to a Yin Yoga class at 9:00, just as our Amish painter arrived to work on our garage. Once he's done, our house and garage should not need much work for the next twenty-five years. (Ha!) He works quickly and should be done today if it doesn't rain.  The yoga class was packed, fortunately, the room was air-conditioned, the coolest place in town.  Afterward, I did a quick run through Kmart, looking for another set of blackout drapes for Evie but our color was sold out.  I then hit Wegman's, a crazy place, filled with frantic shoppers, stocking up for the holiday, me included.  Luckily, I found a short line, 15 items or less and got out of Dodge fairly quickly.  I then stopped at the Ashville Library to pick up a book on hold and came home to an almost clean porch, as Evie had been washing down the walls of our back porch, dirty from years of frying french fries and donuts with our grandchildren.

I had a bagel for lunch, with tomato and cream cheese, and Evie had to drive off to Mayville to get a blood test and she stopped at Tops to do some shopping.  I watched some more soccer, I mean futbol, and started my new book.  I guess it poured in Mayville when Evie was out and rained enough here around 2:00 for our painter to pack it up and wait for his ride home.  When Evie returned, it started to clear up, so we both went out on the dock to enjoy the clearing, afternoon sky.

An Inventive Cruiser

We could not make up our mind what to do about dinner, whether to go out or stay but when I brought out a beer and lemonade for Evie, that made up our minds.  We were staying home and enjoying a libation on the dock.  And dinner was not much of a problem, heat up the leftover chicken piccata and rice, boil the corn, and make a salad.  The most difficult part of the evening was finding something to watch on Netflix.  After a couple of false starts, we settled on AMERICAN VANDAL, a humorous series about a high school prank and the attempts to find the perpetrators.