Partly Cloud On A Seven Heron Morning

6:11

7:43

It's 8:00, and I have been out kayaking since 6:15 for an hour and a half, across the lake to Tom's Point and then home along the shoreline. It was a quiet morning on the lake, with only a couple of fishermen out. I spotted at least seven different great blue herons and one hawk or juvenile bald eagle — not sure which. It's 69º and should be a pleasant day.

Kayak Morning

Bridge From Tom's Point

Kayak Morning

Heron #1

Probably A Juvenile Bald Eagle

Heron #2

Heron # 3

Heron # 4

Heron # 6

Heron # 7

Yesterday was finally a rainy day. It started in the morning and seemed to turn on and off during the day until the late afternoon. Ultimately, we only received a little over half an inch, but the gardens loved it. I was able to get in a paddle before the rain, then wrote the blog and had coffee when Evie got up. I had some shopping to do because I needed some new clothes for our trip to Topsail Beach in late July. So I left around 10:30 and stopped for coffee at Ryders Cup and ran into one of my buddies, John, a former art teacher. We talked and got me caught up for 25 minutes before I drove off and did a quick run through Runnings, then Target, then Walmart, hoping to find some shorts and T-shirts with little success. I guess I will just have to wear what I always have worn, 20-year-old tees and bathing suits. It was raining on my drive home. Finally, the weatherman was accurate. 

I was hungry because I skipped breakfast, so Evie made me a couple of tuna and tomato sandwiches, and I was happy. I watched the rest of the England/Mexico futbol game, which England won 3-2. I then relaxed for a bit and read before going upstairs and briefly napping. It rained on and off the rest of the afternoon, so we hung out, either on the front porch or on the couch. Around 3:30, we changed the water filter in the hot room, and it really needed to be changed. I then watched a good part of the Spain/Portugal game while Evie had a Zoom call with her sisters.

Dinner was easy, frying a couple of burgers and enjoying baked beans and potato salad for the third night in a row. We started watching the Broadchurch series while eating, but heard a strange noise in the hot room and realized that the water filter we'd changed in the afternoon was leaking. We'd worried about this when we put in the new filter because the O-ring didn't seem to fit, probably because it was five years old. So we were without water unless we got a new O-ring, so I left for Home Depot at 7:15, bought the ring, was home by 7:50, and had the filter in by 8:00, just as the US World Cup game was starting. How's that for a quick fix? I watched the entire game until 10:15, and Evie hung in there till the second half.

The US soccer team started out like amateurs, going down 1-0 in the first ten minutes to Belgium and being outshot 6-0. The US fought back, however, and in the 30th minute tied the game 1-1 on a free kick. Unfortunately, a minute later, Belgium scored on a header and went ahead 2-1. Belgium looked like the better, more skilled team in the first half. In the second half, it looked more even as the US got more aggressive and put on the pressure, until the US goalie made a silly mistake, flubbing a kick and giving up an easy goal. And that's all she wrote. The US team just didn't seem to be the same as in their previous two games, and ended up giving up a fourth goal with two minutes to go. How sad... and thank Trump for giving Belgium extra incentive to play hard.