The Quiet After The Fourth

5:52

6:06

It's 6:46 and I have been up for an hour on a lake seemingly without boat traffic.  No boat motors, hardly a ripple mars the lake's surface on a chilly 60º morning.  And I feel like I got my lake back as I had a good paddle, running into only one kayaker, our neighbors for a canoe ride, and hardly a fishing boat.  Yippee.

Kayak Mornong

Another Heron Morning

Yesterday was a quiet Sunday after a busy and fun four days with my sisters and their husbands.  Everyone was up by 8:00 and I did get a brief paddle in around 7:15.  My sister Ellen and her husband Walt left about 9:00 for home, after coffee, bagels and a last photograph of the lake.  When they left the house, as always after guests have left, seems desolate and strangely quiet.  Our remedy for this is to get busy, straightening the house, washing sheets, doing the dishes, things like that. There's always strange energy, a need almost to get things back to normal.  It was not much and did not take long before we relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the day.

I watched the US defeat The Netherlands in soccer and was happy to see the second goal. Winning on a disputed penalty and penalty kick is not the way to win.  Neither of us felt like doing much although Evie decided to get some exercise and cut the lawn, which needed it by the way.  I finished my book WHAT ALICE FORGOT and liked it enough to recommend it.  I worked some on cleaning my garage, as the heavy rains bring both water and mud onto the floor.

We had an extended wine time on the porch, munching on pretzels and having a couple glasses of wine until 7:00 when we decided to have dinner.  Evie heated up the leftover moussaka and rolls, made a salad and we had a tasty dinner.  I love moussaka.  We watched 60 Minutes, a few other programs, waiting for 9:00 when BIG LITTLE LIES came on HBO.  It does not have the panache of last season, seems a bit slow and contrived.  Still, we like the characters enough to keep with it except for Meryl Streep, the evil grandmother.  We went to bed a little earlier than usual.