Gun Metal Gray Morning

Heron And A Bench

Grace In Flight

6:40

I was up at 5:20, to a still darkened sky.  It's 6:15 now, all is gray, a special beauty to the lake and sky, as mist rises over the opposite hillside, the lake, various shades of gray, with hardly a ripple.  The sky mostly gray, with a tinge of pink.  And it's close 66º, with 90% humidity.  It's still a thrill to get out on the kayak early morning and be the only boat on the calm lake.  Cool beans.  I also took a photo of a heron in flight and had a sighting of an osprey, sitting on top of a tree but he flew away before I could get a photograph.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday was another gray day, threatening but never raining so we were able to enjoy the outdoors, swim when we wanted, and get in some dock time.  I got in a paddle before anyone was up and the girls must have been really tired because two did not get up until 10:00 and one slept in until 11:30.  It was difficult as a result to plan anything in the morning for them to do.  So we hung out, thinking of chores to do and more importantly, food to make, especially desserts.  Because of late rising, we did not get around to doing much until the afternoon.

Chip Dippers

Three Is Not Enough

Triple Trouble

I brought in our big float from the water and needed help from the girls to get it out of the water, from Beth to help fold it, from Mitch to carry it upstairs to store in the attic.  It's nice to have that out of the way.  The girls and Evie went out to enjoy the water, as the weed cutters had done a great job of clearing out our swimming area, going over our lakefront two or three times.  And the lake was crystal clear, no algae to speak of.  Halle could not get over how refreshing and clear it was.  Evie took more photos, the girls hung out on the dock until they got hungry.  Lunch was whatever you could find in the refrigerator.  Beth and I shared the leftover vodka pasta, the girls had sandwiches and leftover barbecue chicken.

Baklava Girls

And then the baking began.  Since Halle had been vacationing in Greece, on Santorini in June, she had become an aficionado of baklava and wanted to make it herself, having watched them make it in Greece.  Evie is an expert at it, so she and Halle, with Marlena's help, layered the phyllo dough, brushed it with butter, spread the chopped walnuts, baked it, then covered it with sugar syrup.  Marisa, not to be outdone, put together a peach and blueberry crisp in an hour so by 4:00, we had two great desserts ready to go.

Peach And Blueberry Crisp Girl

The Results

We relaxed on the front porch around 5:30, sipping wine or soft drinks and devouring a bag of Utz chips with dip.  We played a number of rousing games of bean bag and Mitch and Halle ended up the eventual winners as Halle got her groove back.

Marisa And Her Baba

Aunt And Niece

The Champs, Halle And Mitch

The girls wanted to eat outside despite the threatening sky, so they set the table just as dinner was ready,  a potpourri of foods, burgers, Slovenian sausage, baked potatoes and a great salad with fresh corn, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocados, tossed by Beth.  We were able to just finish eating before it started to drizzle and the girls tore in.  Beth, Evie and I sat out a bit longer but the rain picked up so we too had to go in on the porch.  By the time we got settled, it had stopped raining, of course, hardly wetting the ground.

Dinner Before The Rain

Dishes were done quickly because the girls wanted to watch a fairly recent movie, A QUIET PLACE. Both Evie and I had watched it before as had one of the girls but it was still enjoyable, especially during timeouts when we helped ourselves to numerous helpings of baklava or peach/blueberry crisp, topped with ice cream.  I think Halle and Marlena may have finished off the entire pan of baklava.  The girls went up to bed after the movie but I am not sure what time they went to sleep, hopefully not too late.

A few flowers to brighten the day.