We went to the marina to take the 320 out for a sea trial. It was a nice day. Greg & Steve & Kurt came along. It sailed beautifully. Nice boat! We found some issues with the rigging that made lowering the main difficult. We’ve got some homework to do now to see if it is easily addressed or not.
After the sail we floated off b-dock with joe, kurt and barbara. Then dinner at Los Pinos.
This is a shot of the sunset, taken from the marina parking lot. Even with the power lines and lights in the foreground it’s a beauty.
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.
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!
We camped out at home today to recharge, and also to watch the Euro2012 championship. Spain vs. Italy. Marty came over to help us cheer on Spain. España did not disappoint, winning 4 – 0 over a strong Italian team.
They have now won 3 World / European championships in a row. It’s building up to be an exciting 2014 world cup in Brazil.
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.
Here’s another gratuitous bird pic. Well, same window. Different bird.
I didn’t have a good shot of this guy. For some reason, even though there are four feeding stations on this feeder, they always go to the one that is blocked when viewed through the window. He did take a moment to peer around the side at me. So, that ‘s as good a shot as I got this time around.
Today is the first day of summer 2012. The solstice was about 10 minutes ago, actually. So how’s that for getting in early? 🙂
I’m hoping that this summer brings lots of good times, there’s sure to be more lake fun. And who knows what else.
This afternoon, before I heard or saw any signs of it outside, I noticed a red blob on the weather radar that I usually have running in the browser in the background. We were due for a very brief blow of rain and wind any minute.
So I took a break and walked into the kitchen to look out the window. Sure enough the wind was gusting and the sky was grey. As I was looking out, I noticed this mourning dove sitting in the crook of a tree branch. I realized it was a nest, and that was the mom (or dad?) sitting on a couple of babies, probably to keep them from falling out of the nest as the the branch bobbed in the wind.
The nest was pretty far away, and I had to use digital zoom — so, the the quality of this shot isn’t too good. I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the babies, but in this one, you can make out the mom — looking right at me. 🙂
August 1987. I had just flown across the country to attend graduate school, and moved into a small 1 bedroom apartment. I bought myself a small 3″ potted plant – a dracaena. I thought it would brighten up the place. It didn’t even reach to the bottom of the power outlet when it was sitting on the floor. I christened him Robert Plant.
As I moved from place to place, i dragged Robert along with me – 25 years, 6 moves, 3 states.
In the past few years Robert grew to tower 11 or 12 feet high, with three or four trunks. But, this last winter, I left Robert out one night too many – and he experienced a hard freeze. I thought it was the end for my green friend. He sat in the garage untended all winter and most of the spring with brown leaves, showing no signs of life.
A couple of months ago, we hauled a dead Robert out into the backyard and cut off all his stalks. Monte was thinking about reusing the pot. But we didn’t dump out the pot; left it there for a while, and it was watered along with all the other plants nearby.
And, just a few weeks back, what to my wondering eyes did appear? But a tiny green tuft of leaves growing bigger every day. Robert lives! Welcome back, buddy!
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.
When I planted the carrot seeds, I put them way too close together. They really need to be thinned out. This is the first batch of carrots from the garden. They are small, but this will hopefully help thin out the bed, allowing the others to grow bigger.
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.
This was one of the hardest weeks for me in a long time. Very little sleep due to work. Long days, very difficult projects and meetings. And yet another critsit.
It was 7:00 tonight when I was finally able to get off the phone. Then I drove down to pick up Julie to take her out to eat. We had a lovely dinner at Zax. Everything they have there is delicious!
Some of Julie’s friends from school were eating dinner at another restaurant, and she was supposed to meet up with them there. So I drove her down to that restaurant, and just about as we got there…. Crash!
No one was hurt, neither us or the other guy.
I was a bit shaken from the accident. Ever so thankful that my guardian angel is still on duty. And sad to have to say good bye to my dear Audi companion of 15 years.
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.
Sheila365 