"Monday, Monday, So Good To Me"

6:10

6:12

6:25

6:26

 The above lines from a Mamas & Papas song popped in my head this morning, as the sun is lighting up the sky, lake, and yard, the lake calm and empty, and only the sounds of birds fill the yards.  It's already a sticky 70º and we might have thunderstorms later in the day. A warm paddle this morning, made palatable by spotting two herons.

Same Heron, Same Tree, Same Time

A Noble Heron

Yesterday was World Cup Day, around which I organized my day.  I had a good morning paddle because I was able to get a couple of photos of, what else, a heron.  After the paddle, Evie watered her garden, something we seem to do every day while I went out and cut weeds for an hour, Sisyphus like, because they seem to grow back overnight, thus the task, is fruitless or 'absurd,' as Camus would argue.  Then it was time for the Cup, so both Evie and I settled in to watch the game and it was exciting.   I felt that Croatia dominated much of the game, especially in the first half, even going up 1-0 at the 17th minute, but the futbol gods were smiling on France as they scored two goals on a penalty kick because of a handball and a questionable foul, leading to a Croatian player accidentally heading a free kick into the goal, putting Croatia behind 2-1. In the second half, however,  France scored two legitimate goals, putting them ahead 4-1 until France's goalie made an unbelievable gaffe, allowing Croatia to score. Ultimately,  France was too much, winning 4-2.  France's nineteen-year-old superstar,  Mbappe, also scored a goal, making him the youngest player since Pele to score in a World Cup Final.  He's the next Reynaldo, Messi or my favorite from the 1970's Johan Cruff or so the pundits think.  Anyways, it was a grand couple of weeks of watching futbol and I will miss it every afternoon while eating my lunch.  I forgot to mention we had our big breakfast during the game, this time eggs, pasta, and bacon.

 A Dahlia Bud with Colorful Insect

A Trio Of Dahlias

Cone Flowers

The afternoon then went quickly as I am really like my book, THE DIRECTOR, by David Ignatius.  Evie spent part of the afternoon on the dock, some in the kitchen making a huge batch of sloppy joes for next week.  After my nap, I went out and cut more weeds, obsessed with it I think.  There's nothing like a swipe with the rake and pulling up four or five feet of a weed.  Pure pleasure.  When I was done, we enjoyed an hour on the dock with a beer as the lake traffic settled down, the wind as well.

We heated up the sloppy joes for dinner, with a salad and dill pickles and potato chips of course.  And we watched part of a movie on Amazon Prime but moved on after a half hour as it became too predictable.  So we watched the first episode of HBO's new series, SHARP OBJECTS, and though it's a bit hard to follow at first, I think we are hooked.