Category: Lake

Happy July 4th!

Not a bird. Not a plane.

Wow, that was a fun raftup!  We got to the cove at about 5pm.  Rory & Greg arrived first on Sapphire.  Monte hooked them up with a stern anchor and a bow line to shore.  Then Lori & Dave arrived on Camelot.  Then Marty & Sue on Caribbean Hug.  Then Wally & Robert on Voodoo.

We cooked up some beef fajitas right before the sun set — it was so easy, using the pre-seasoned skirt steak from HEB, and the cast iron skillet was as good as a grill.   We’ll definitely have to bring those again.

There was a beautiful full moon – the Buck Moon.  I have not mastered the art of photographing a full moon on a non-stationary boat yet, so no good pic to post.

iPod wars raged into the wee hours.  I threw in the towel around 2AM.  This morning I woke up to the sound of Voodoo dropping off Rory & Greg.  They were just returning from a moonlight sail.  They apparently left at about 3:30 AM, headed for the dam.  They turned around at Sometimes Islands at about 6:30 and made it back to the raft-up by about 8:30.  Those guys stayed up all night long.   Crazy sailors!

We had a great day.   But we are pretty tired from all the fun and schlepping.

This is a shot of a dragonfly that was darting around behind Cupholder this morning.  I’m not sure why he hung around, but he stayed for an hour or two.

July 4th’s Eve raftup.

Yes, another zinnie shot.

I’m off of work for the rest of the week (YAY!).  We headed to the lake today for a raftup with friends in Arky south.  We’ve got the coolers packed, and the kayak on the trailer, and we’re off!

This is a shot of one of the zinnias out back.  They’re so pretty!

Moving on up?

Cupholder II?

We went to the lake today early, to finalize an offer we’ve made on a new boat.  It’s not a done deal – we still have to take it out for a sea trial and have a marine surveyor inspect it, but if there are not problems found, this may be our new ride in a couple weeks.

We have infinitely enjoyed sailing and playing aboard our unique, homebuilt wooden catboat for eight years.  We treasure the friends we have made at the marina in those 8 years, too.   We are not ones to make big decisions lightly.  But we recently decided to make a move up to a bigger boat, and this is the one that presented itself.    If it doesn’t work out, no biggie, we’ll wait for the next one that feels right.  If it does work out, I look forward to another 10-15 years of fun aboard this boat on our beautiful lake with our sailing friends.

I’ll keep you posted!

Shades of blue.

Glassybabies.

Rachel is back home.  Julie is studying.  Monte is at the lake.  And I’m getting ready for a Sunday afternoon full of work-work.

We went to brunch at Güero’s this morning, then I dropped Julie back at her apartment, before taking Rachel to the airport.  This is a shot of some of Julie’s many glassybaby pieces.   These blue ones are pretty.  I also like the taupe/beige/cream colored ones.  But I guess I’m feeling blue today.

We had a nice weekend.   But we all have a busy week ahead.

Tomorrow is Rachel’s first day as a surgical resident (u go girl!).  Julie has a test.  And I have a full slate of meetings and presentations.

Here’s to the next girls’ weekend.

And, Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!  My dad is gone – for several years now.  But he would be very proud of his progeny, especially the two very talented, determined and self-reliant granddaughters that I got to spent the weekend with.

One more time.

My palette.

Tonight was my third foray into painting at Painting with a Twist, this time with Jen.  The shot above is the palette we used.

And…. VOILA!!  I give you…. Wildflowers at the Park:

The “after” photo.

Please hold your applause.

The one the teacher guided us through didn’t have any bluebonnets (!).   Well, i simply couldn’t paint a hill country scene without bluebonnets, so we improvised.

I’m just realizing that the clouds look a bit like hats.  Oh well.   I’m sure Picasso had to work at it a bit before he got the hang of it, too.  🙂

Happy National Marina Day!

B-dock @ 642.20′

Today is National Marina Day.  Coincidentally, we were headed to the lake anyway because our good friends Teri and Jim were in town for the weekend.  What a great day.  We had lunch at Shades, then went for a sail on Cupholder.  Then floated for the rest of the afternoon with friends off of B-Dock.  Dinner at Flore’s.  Then home before we turned into pumpkins.

It was great to see Teri & Jim.  We miss them and Island Time.  But….once a b-docker, always a b-docker!   We’re looking forward to seeing them again, whether by land or by sea.

Green & black denier.

Texture.

I drove down to Julie’s apartment this morning to pick her up so that we could spend the day together.  We came back home and watched a bit of the boat parade for the Queen’s Jubilee celebration on BBC America.  Before too long we were at the marina.  Lots of the usual B-dock suspects showed up at some point.  We saw Marty, Sue, Joe, Kurt, Wally, Kevin, Robert, Tasha, Jay, Mike, and Dave.  Summer is here!  But the day was pretty overcast.  We put up the shade and floated for most of the afternoon.

Afterwards we opted for dinner at Jardin Corona and then we deposited Julie back home.

Twas a nice day.

The shot above is a swatch of my official “bound-for-the-lake” backpack.

A day to remember.

Old glory

On this Memorial Day, we spent several hours with friends at the marina.  We are actually just starting to look at boats for sale.  We looked at 2 sloops on E-dock today.  Time will tell how long it will take us to find a successor to our beloved Cupholder 🙂

Speaking of Cupholder, we sailed the slip with Marty, Sue, Joe and Wally, and then headed home.

Rigging at rest.

We had just enough energy left in us to buzz downtown for dinner at Taverna, and stopped by to see Willie along the way.

Hangin’ with Willie.

Little critter.

Turtle time.

One of the shy turtles in the cove today.

Scenes from a raft-up.

Rock flower.

We headed to the lake today to raft-up with Marty & Sue on Caribbean Hug, Lori, Dave & Jake on Camelot, and Mike and Kathy on Soul Healer.  Julie joined us for the night, and Laura dropped by for a couple hours, too.

I paddled the kayak to shore to tie a stern line and saw these pretty little weeds growing in the rocks on the shore.

One view of Arky @ night

Mike had a pair of military grade night vision goggles, which everyone passed around for a while.  This is a shot I took through the goggles. Just thought it looked cool.

And, finally, this is a shot off the stern, of the last moments of dusk.

..and another shot of Arky at night.

A good time was had by all.

Weekend raft-up.

Calling all riff-raff.

We headed to the lake yesterday to raft-up overnight in Arkansas Bend cove with Marty & Sue, and Joe.  It was really pleasant out.  Overcast yesterday, but nice breezes.  This is a shot from yesterday of the windsocks on Joe’s backstay on Prelude.  It got into the 60’s last night.  Refreshingly chilly.  It will be hot again soon enough.

We made quite the fleet.  2 sloops, 1 catboat, 2 kayaks, a rubber dinghy and a stand-up paddle board.

Today, we kayaked and sup-ed around the cove, and then headed back early in the afternoon to prepare for Monday.  Today was much sunnier, blue skies with big clouds, and a nice breeze for the sail home.

I ♥ my kayak.

It’s good to be back.

And then there were six.

We had planned to raft up last night, but as it turned out, we didn’t make it to the lake.  It ended up raining overnight, so it’s just as well that we weren’t out there.  Today we went to the marina to bring home the kayak and close up the boat.  It was nice to back on the lake.    It’s been a while, for me.   The temps were in the 90’s.  The water temps are in the high 70’s.  Tis the season for B-dockers to hang out on the lake every weekend.

We saw Joe, Mike, Marty, Sue, Jerry and Wally.   Sue has her stand-up paddle board in their slip.  So, she and I paddled up and down the dock for quite a while.  Along the way we saw lots of the neighborhood ducks.  The mom and babies in the shot above were not too leary of the kayak – we were able to get pretty close.  Though, I’m told that last week, this momma duck had seven babies, not six.

The shot below shows some of the ducks that have become quite accustomed to handouts from B-dock.  You can see one of the big carp under the surface of the water on the right side of the frame.

Throw me some’tin mistah!

Shades.

Marina fare.

Back at the marina, today, we saw Pam & Mark and visited with them for a little while, then packed up and schlepped our stuff back up to the car.  We popped into Shades for lunch.  They are finally open for the season, and this was our first time in this year.

Ok, back home now and getting ready for Monday.  *sigh*

But what a fun weekend!

It’s hard to believe the lake was once at about 701′ (about 62′ higher than it is now!).  But just to jog memories… here’s a pic from the July 6th flood of 2007… the old Aunt Tilly’s sitting in the same spot as Shades.

Yacht Harbor Marina - July 2007. Lake level @ 701.

Now you know why the new restaurant has its kitchen, bathroom and office in trailers that can be driven away before the next deluge.

First raft-up of the year.

Raft-up!

It’s that time of the year.  This weekend was the first raft-up of 2012.  And it was a doozie!  We had 14 boats, 31 people and 2 dogs.  I don’t have a picture of all the boats, but I took this one of 12 of them as we were coming in to tie up, and Joe arrived later.

It took quite a while to walk from one end to the other.   Some of the boats’ lifelines couldn’t open, so it was a gymnastic feat crossing from boat to boat …with one hand free 🙂

Let me see if I can do roll call….left to right, we had Mark & Sarah on Serenade, Gray & Debbie on the blue hulled First, Bartlett’s parents’ Catalina, John & Claudia & 2 others on the brand new Solace, Tasha & Robert and Tony & Michelle (visiting for the weekend!) on Voodoo, Danny & Casey on the Beneteau 31, Rory & Greg on Sapphire, Camden & Terry on MoonRock, Kurt, Wally & Kevin on Dancer, John & Deanna on Caribbean Run, Mike on Allegro, Lori & Dave on Camelot, Monte & me on Cupholder, and last but not least, Joe on Prelude.  Whew!

As much fun as these are, we did have a rare, bad experience on our way to the cove.  Some <expletive> motorhead nearly crashed into us as we were under sail.  Coming within about 5 feet of us, and going about 30 miles an hour.  As they passed, they turned their boat, pushing up a wall of water that dumped into our cockpit, drenching both of us, and pouring water into the cabin, v-berth and lockers below.

Monte immediately got on the cell phone and called LCRA dispatch, gave them a description of the boat and their heading and … they pulled them over.   Goobers.   It could have been very bad.  I guess it’s good that we only got wet.

Anyway, we didn’t let that spoil our evening.

In true B-dock fashion, the party went on into the wee hours.  A good time was had by all.

It’s truly wonderful to have this bunch of people to play with.  Everyone really enjoys being out on the lake together.  We are very lucky.