A Foggy, Chilly Morning On The Lake

6:46

6:47

I was up at 6:00 to a dense curtain of fog, with only our dock visible.  Occasionally, as the morning progressed, I could make out shadows of ducks, floating by in the gray.  It's a surprising 58º, chilly for August and should get up into the 80's late afternoon.  It's 9:30 as we are finishing the blog.  I got out in the fog around 7:15 and actually lost my way for about five minutes because the fog was so thick, and I was in the middle of the lake, a strange feeling to be out there in nothingness.

Kayak Morning #1

Kayak Morning #2

Kayak Morning # 3

Henry's Back

I also paddled over to Booty Bay, jumped out of my kayak and roamed around the undeveloped lakefront which is now being cleared by various machines and I assume some kind of development will begin.  Just so it's not condos!

Clearing Booty Bay Lakefront

Yesterday began with a brief paddle because I was taking my car in for an oil change at 8:30.  Evie was happy because she could have a relaxing morning without me bothering her about getting the trash ready to take to the Transfer Station.  So I was in Fluvanna by 8:30, dropped my car off, got talked into a service I did not know existed but was a 'must' if I wanted top mileage and engine wear.  I did not feel like sitting in the waiting room, so I walked outside and decided to walk down to the Chadakoin River which I knew was a few hundred yards behind the dealer.  So I walked down Clifton Avenue, literally across the street from Arby's and to my surprise, I found the beginning of the new Jamestown Riverwalk Trail.

New Trail Sign In Fluvanna

It's a ten-foot paved path, perfect for biking or walking and supposedly goes all the way to the Riverwalk, just beyond the Main Street bridge.  I walked it for a half hour, surprised by how green the trail was, just a hundred yards off of Fluvanna Avenue.  And best of all, newly planted trees and bushes were visible, every 30 or 40 yards along the trail.  I cannot wait to ride my bike on it and from now on, whenever I get a service done, I will bring my bike along.  I was heading home by 9:45 after dropping a couple of hundred bucks to keep my car going happily along 'forever.'

Riverwalk Trail

When I returned home, I jumped on my computer to put on some photographs and to my dismay and Evie's horror, all of 2018 photographs had disappeared from my Aperture Library.  I still have no idea why this happened but I must have hit the wrong key.  So I called my Aperture Doctor, my son in law Ramiro in Dallas and after an hour or so on the phone, he managed to find them for me and I uploaded them and things are back to normal.  Praise the Lord or Ramiro.

Dahlia A Day

Meanwhile, Evie was back at it, mowing the lawn on an 80º day, working up a sweat, stopping occasionally for a water break.  I was inside, relaxing on a couch, having a bowl of ramen and a bagel with cream cheese, watching another episode of FAUDA.  I should have felt guilty but I did not because Evie won't let me mow.  She loves to do it herself and who am I to argue? After a tiring lunch and TV viewing, I was ready for a nap so I fell asleep reading my novel but slept for maybe 15 minutes before coming downstairs somewhat refreshed.  Evie was out on the dock by then and had asked me to trim the bushes.  So I got out the electrical cord and hedge trimmer and worked on it for about a half hour, finishing it off with a pair of clippers, making it perfect.  By the time I was done, I was exhausted from all the trimming and joined Evie on the dock, with a beer.  We sat out there until 5:30, sipping a beer, munching on pretzels and I occasionally walked back into the house to get another beer.

Evie started making dinner around 6:00.  She had already spatchcocked and salted a chicken and I washed up some potatoes. She rubbed a sheet pan with olive oil,  placed the cut up potatoes on the pan, and put the spatchcocked chicken on top, brushed it with butter, lemon, and pepper and roasted it for about an hour.  As the smells of roasting chicken filled the house, we sat out on the porch having our evening libations, wine for Evie, a gin and tonic for me.  Evie made a salad around 7:30 and we had the chicken and potatoes and it was quite good, just like a bistro.  We watched part of I TANYA  but turned it off after about 20 minutes, then AMERICAN MADE with Tom Cruise.  We reluctantly watched it and stayed to the end.  For a finale, we watched the last episode of Season One of THE HANDMAIDS TALE, so now we are ready to start Season Two.