An Eagle, Two Ospreys, And A Great Blue Heron

6:35

8:13

It's 8:20 and I've been up since 6:15 — paddling for 70 minutes down to Wells Bay and back, talking briefly with Tina on her dock, and with Jim, who was out paddling too. At first the sun was hidden by a vast fog bank, but it soon broke through and filled the lake with its reflection.

Kayak Morning

Heavy Clouds

Into The Rising Sun

Kayak Friend, Jim

Fog Rising

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Osprey In Pines

Osprey In Maple

Yesterday began with a cloudy morning and a 50-minute paddle across to Long Point, back to the reeds, and home. Unfortunately, it was a bad morning for bird watching — I saw none. I was home by 7:30 and listened to a couple of podcasts, then wrote the blog and ended up buying a new Kindle, because for some reason I can't download new books to my old one. I've had it close to five or six years.

Once Evie got up, she went through the photos and read the blog, and I published it after rereading it. We didn't have much for breakfast in the refrigerator, so I made myself some toast. Then Evie and I had another cup of coffee and made up a shopping list. We had dinner planned for Monday night — pork barbecue and coleslaw — and our neighbors brought over some homemade marinara sauce, since they figured we might need dinner right after getting back from Topsail.

I left for the store at 10:45 and stopped at Peterson's for peaches, but a basket now costs $25, not $16 like a couple of weeks ago, since they're local now. I passed on those and bought tomatoes and cauliflower instead. Then I drove around the lake and over to Wegmans. Mondays are usually not as busy as Tuesdays, so I was in and out quickly. I stopped at Evans for wine and drove home, getting there around noon, and Evie and I put away the groceries. She offered to make me a ham and cheese sandwich, but for some reason I wanted tomato and mayo instead. So I enjoyed a decent — not great — tomato-and-mayo sandwich and watched an episode of Dark Winds.

After a brief nap I worked in the yard, first cutting down a dead tree and cutting off the branches so it would fit in my Outback and I could haul it up the hill to the woodpile. While I worked, Evie was out on the dock enjoying the sun, and I joined her for a few minutes. I got bored soon enough and moved on to the garden — pulling weeds and deadheading daisies. Around 5:00, Evie had a Zoom call with her sisters, and I tried to find a novel that interested me. I'm getting too particular — I've started a couple and put them down, then started another. Nothing seems to grab me.

After the call, we relaxed with a glass of wine until dinner time, when Evie heated up the pulled pork and made us sandwiches with lots of coleslaw. We watched a couple of episodes of a Harlan Coben novel adaptation called Safe until Evie went to bed. I then watched a couple more episodes of Dark Winds before heading up myself.

Chautauqua Belle At 8:24 PM

We had a great time in Topsail with our family, but it's good to be back home.