I’m on my way to San Fran for a week of meetings. Before I left the house today Monte sang a verse or two of “Are You Going to San Francisco?” (youtube link here). You know it, i’m sure…
If you’re going to San Francisco… Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair….
If you’re going to San Francisco… You’re going to meet some gentle people there…
For those who come to San Francisco… Summertime will be a love-in there…
Checking my email during the flight I got a note from Monte telling me that the guy that sang that song, Scott McKenzie had died. R.I.P. Scott.
Kind of a coincidence, i suppose. Anyway, that song is in my head now for a while. So, i thought I’d spread it around.
I’m pretty sure I will not run across the summertime love-in on this trip. Maybe next time. But I definitely will try to find some flowers to put in my hair. 🙂
We headed to the lake yesterday around noon. We have a long list of chores and minor repairs to take care of on the boat, and we schlepped a bunch of tools and supplies out to take care of some of them. Rain was in the forecast, so not a lot of people were out and about.
About 5 o’clock we called it a day and headed out of the slip to anchor out overnight in Arkansas Bend cove. Lori, Dave and Jake joined us on Camelot. We had a very pleasant night but boy did we get rained on. We hunkered down below on one of the boats and played cards until it let up. After the rains blew through it was quite nice. Good breezes through the boat kept us cool.
This morning when I went up into the cockpit this was the view that greeted me. A beautiful Lake Travis sunrise. A good morning, indeed.
It’s Sunday night, and the end of another great weekend. Yesterday my cousin Devitt and Aunt Joanne came over for a breakfast visit with Monte, Julie and I. Monte made french omelettes, Julia Child style. And we tried our hand at a potato recipe that we got from Devitt:
Browned Breakfast Potatoes
Large cast iron skillet 8 oz bacon, cut into 1-2″ pieces 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2″ cubes 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped Salt & pepper
Cook bacon, onions and garlic in large cast iron skillet until browned. Discard bacon fat from pan. Add potatoes, salt & pepper. Cook another 10 minutes or so over medium heat on the stovetop. Then place skillet, uncovered, in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve and savor!
Afterwards, Julie headed home to study up for the last final exam of Summer session (good luck!), and we packed for the lake.
We planned to raft-up with friends overnight to watch the Perseids meteor shower. We made it to the cove by about 5pm and set our first anchor on the new boat. It was a good set. We were soon joined by Joe on Prelude, Rory & Greg on Sapphire, Nick, Laurene & Morgan on Kalliopi, and Kurt & Kevin on Dancer. Everyone was tied up by the time the golden hour was upon us. The shot above is of the 5 boats, stern to the sunset. Nirvana is in the middle.
After dinner and stories from the day, everyone grabbed a cushion and laid on the bow of their boats to watch for meteors. It wasn’t a knock-out show, but we did get to see some good ones. The night was peppered with random shouts of “There’s one!” every 10 or 15 minutes.
This morning everyone floated for a while and then people started peeling off at about noon. I’m pleased to report that we got the anchor up with little problem. I am loving the electric windlass to bring up the chain and anchor!
Monte and I sailed ALL afternoon. The breezes started out sluggish but filled in to some great wind that we haven’t seen in a long time on the lake. At about 3:30 we dropped sail and picked up Devitt at Arky cove to take him out for a sail. He did great, taking the helm as Monte and I worked the lines. We dropped him off back at the park around 5:30 and headed back to the marina.
By the time we got home several hours later we were pleasantly exhausted.
I can’t wait to get out there again. Friday soon come!
Yay Friday! Made it through another week. Got a very early start.
Monte worked in the shop all day. After work we picked up Julie and went out for Indian.
I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I hope yours is, as well.
My cousin and Aunt will be visiting tomorrow morning. After that we’ll be headed to the lake.
Late tomorrow night, Saturday, August 11, and early morning Sunday, August 12, the Perseids Meteor shower hits its peak. In Austin the moon won’t rise until about 3AM, so I’m hoping we’ll have a great view and get to see some good burners. There’s supposed to be 30-50 meteors an hour. We’ll be watching from our boat, anchored up in a dark cove on the lake. 🙂 If you want to take a peek as well, here’s a link with more info on where and when to look.
The shot above is of yet another zinnia in the garden. Have a great weekend!
It’s been thirteen days since my last post here. So, this has been my longest break in posting since I started this photoblog over 2 years ago. I’d better catch you all up.
The week before last was busy with work. Monte was working on a project in the woodshop. I had to travel to Raleigh for all of last week. A very long week, indeed. I brought my camera with me, but given my work schedule and meetings every day starting early and ending late, the only interesting subject matter to capture ended up being TV screen shots from the Olympics (especially the women’s gymnastics team gold). I decided to spare you and skip posting those.
While I was in Raleigh last week, Monte closed on the boat. I got home close to midnight Friday night, so Saturday morning I was anxious to get out to the marina.
We moved in Saturday afternoon and slept on the boat for the first time Saturday night. On Sunday morning we took Nirvana out for the first time together. The winds were very light to non-existent, but we had a blast. We raised both sails and ghosted along for a while. Getting Nirvana was a big step for us, but I am very excited about this next phase of our sailing-life journey together. This is a shot that monte took of Nirvana from the water.
At the end of the day we stopped by b-dock for a float. By the time we got home tonight we were both pretty exhausted but somehow found the energy to split up cooking duties to make lamb chops (monte) and risotto (me) for a delicious dinner.
The marine survey was scheduled for today. I took the day off work so that I could be there with Monte for it. The marine surveyor was fantastic. He spent about 10 hours on the boat with us, inspecting virtually everything on the boat while explaining how everything worked as he went along. He didn’t find much wrong, and no surprises. So, pending getting the final report from him, I think we will be upgrading from our beloved, homebuilt wooden catboat that we’ve been playing on for the last 8 years, to a big-kid, plastic boat that we will be enjoying for the next 15 or so years. 🙂
We have lots of baby bluejays around the yard. They take turns sitting in the bird bath and splashing. This guy paused long enough for me to get a shot before he flew off. It’s a bit grainy due to the zoom, but I’m posting it nonetheless.
Grace on the back of a sanitary silverware wrapper.
We buzzed over to Chuy’s for dinner tonight. Since we live so close, we eat there often. We have mastered the art of timing our arrival before the after-work happy hour and dinner rush. 🙂
Chuy’s uses those old timey wax paper sanitary wrappers for their silverware. On the back they’ve printed multi-denomenational prayers of grace. It seems so out of place in our world today. But it’s a reminder for us to give thanks for what we have, and for what we are about to eat.
It also caused me to reflect on the dinner times from my childhood. In my family, we sat down for dinner together every night. No TV, no radio. No books or newspapers at the table. We said grace out loud, together. We had to have a little bit of everything on our plate. We had to clean our plate before we were finished (or we’d sit there as long as it took until we did finish), and we had to ask “may I be excused?” before we were allowed to get up, clear our place and leave the table.
Was that really that long ago?
May we all be a little more thankful for our many blessings.
I planted broccoli a few months ago. The plants have grown to about 2 feet high, and now the floret heads are getting big. I can’t wait for the harvest!
It rained again tonight. We got a good dousing this time. I would like more though, so please do a rain dance for Central Texas and the rest of the country that is in dire need of it.
If you don’t have a rain dance of your own, then just dance with Matt. It’s been 4 years since the last one, but he’s just released his latest Dancing video. Check it out on youtube here. I dare you not to smile. 🙂
We made pizza for dinner tonight. 4 doughs. I didn’t get a picture of the first one – with homemade pesto, olives, and parmesan cheese. Delicious! Pizza 2 was a margherita with homemade sauce with tomatoes from the garden, homegrown basil, and mozzarella cheese. Pizza 3 was red sauce, proscuitto, black olives, onions and mozzarella, and pizza 4 was red sauce, artichoke hearts, red bell peppers, olives and mozzarella cheese.
The best part of pizza night are the leftovers.
Julie and I watched Wanderlust tonight. You guys will just have to watch it and judge for yourselves. 🙂
Sheila365 