Sky – Page 17 – Sheila365

Sunday sunrise.

Hello September, and… good morning! One of the nice things about anchoring in Arky cove is that you are treated to beautiful sunset and sunrise views – this was the view off the port-side of Nirvana, as I was drinking my morning coffee.
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Back at the marina, we popped into Shades for lunch for the last time this season, after this weekend they close up shop until next spring. This is the sobering view of the marina from the restaurant. The lake is at 620′ and some change. Just 6 feet from the all-time low for Lake Travis of 614.18′ in August of 1951. Less than 3 years ago, the lake was brimming at 680+ with the lakewater lapping the parking lot. With the LCRA’s mismanagement of this incredible natural resource, and with no rain in the future, we’re sure to go much lower than that this year. All docks are now moved out, off-shore, accessible via shuttles that leave from the courtesy dock. No electricity or water on the docks for the forseeable future. This is sad, not only because we love playing on the lake, but scary because this is Austin’s drinking water supply, quickly disappearing downstream.

Pray for rain.

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Saturday sunset.

A three day weekend! Yep, you guessed it, we headed to the lake. Lori and Dave anchored out with us. Here’s our favorite spot at sunset, the view off the starboard side of Nirvana.
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We layed on the deck and played ipod wars ’til we couldn’t keep our eyes open. The breezes were light all night, so we rigged the windscoop for the first time, and it worked great. We were very comfortable in the v-berth up front.
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Goodbye, August!

Fair breezes.

We enjoyed a fun raft-up last night. It’s been a long time since we’ve had 5 boats rafted up overnight. Last night it was Monte and I on Nirvana. Nick, Isabel, Lorene and Dimitri on Kalliopi. Wally, Kurt and Kevin on Zen. Kirk and Lilly on La Cima del Cielo. And Brent and Lawrence on a Catalina 27 that came in under the veil of darkness before the near-full moon rose, so I didn’t catch their boat’s name. We played ipod wars into the wee hours. This morning we lounged around on deck and floated behind the boats till after noon. Then Nirvana and Kalliopi sailed down to Carlos & Charlie’s, and then turned around to make way back up to our slips. Isabel sent us this shot that they took on our way back to the marina.

Back at the marina we checked out the boat to make sure everything was ship-shape, since our docks are now offshore by nearly a mile. We will allegedly have power hooked up in a few weeks. We shall see. The lake is at about 621′. Terribly low. It’s no longer a lake. It’s just a windy river with lots of new hazards around every corner. I’m starting to think it will never rise again.

Joe came out visit with us on Nirvana for the afternoon. It was really nice to get a visit in with him.

Fence me in.

Monte started a new project last week – replacing the fence on one side of our property. The original was probably 20+ years old and falling down in spots. Temps have been in the 100s so it’s not a task for the faint of heart. I’ve gone out after work to help a few days this week, and it’s almost done. A huge improvement. Lets hear it for cheap (but very high quality) retired craftsman labor!

After packing up the tools, and getting all cleaned up, I whipped up some roasted red peppers to eat while watching the Louis Vuitton cup. The winner challenges the USA in this year’s Americas Cup. Oh and they were DELICIOUS.

Mid-week lake run.

We headed to the lake after work tonight to meet Lynn, Dan, and their niece Paige at the marina. We headed to the cove for a float and dinner on the boat. A good time was had by all. This is a shot after sunset with Venus to the right of the crescent moon.
Pretty sky.

Walking 9 (well, 14 really).

At the beginning of the year, I had scheduled today as an extra day off after the long weekend. Bonus! I relaxed, swam laps at the gym, and then this evening monte and I zipped over to the newly renovated Morris Williams golf course for the sunset rate. We usually can only squeeze in 9 holes before sunset. But we made good time today and finished 14. The golf course looks really great and there is a fabulous new clubhouse.
This is a shot from the 15th green looking west right before sunset. You can see the old Robert Muller airport control tower still standing in the distance.

And this is a shot of the new clubhouse as we were heading in.

Back to work tomorrow. Yay 3 day week!

A Monday to remember.

We anchored out again last night in about the same place as the night before. A really pleasant night. This morning we headed back about 10am. And wouldn’t you know it…we hooked (we think) the same tree stump. This time we just snagged it. It didn’t catch us up, but it was a very heavy drag on the line. This time we tried to drag it close to shore before it fell off the anchor.
Back at home we put out the flag on the porch, grilled up some delicious cheeseburgers and are getting ready to snug in to watch a movie.

It’s not about the barbeque, though. So let me pause and say Thank You to those who bravely gave their lives in service to defend both the simple and the profound freedoms we enjoy every day.

Lake view.

The full Flower Moon.

We spent a nice day on the lake. We pulled anchor today and brought up a tree stump. I wish I had taken a picture but there wasn’t time. This stump was about 10-12 inches in diameter. A good 2 feet high. With roots, one of which was about 6 feet long. The windlass couldn’t handle the weight so I got to pull it up by hand. Whew!
We set anchor in the same cove tonight. Let’s see what we pull up tomorrow!

Colors a-flyin’.

Gettin’ our weekend on! Happy Saturday.

Cascades in clouds.

Thanks to Noreen for schlepping me to the airport in the wee hours of the morning. I’m not home yet, posting from ORD.
I got a window seat on the right side of the plane, on purpose, expressly for this (my favorite) view. Looking south, Mount Rainier is in the foreground. Mount Adams is to the left farther south. In between, even farther south and very hard to see, is Mount Hood. Mount St. Helens would be visible to the right of Rainier, except for the cloud deck sitting above it.

Colleen is up on Rainier this weekend. Don’t see her though. 🙂

Scenes from my Saturday.

I headed into Seattle today to visit Pat & Nga and the kids. Before I hit the road I stopped by a park on the puget sound shoreline where attended girl scout camp back in the day. I remember camping, cooking, clamming and making sand sculptures here over several summers here. I dare say it has been 35 years or so since i last stood on this particular stretch of beach. It is still amazingly beautiful.

I drove my mom’s car. Not your typical dashboard.

When i got to seattle, we drove to a park on the *other* side of the puget sound to fly the kites that I gave the boys. They are master kite flyers. One shot with both of them:

One shot of Nicky:

And one shot of Will:

A great day. Back to Austin tomorrow. Goodnight!

Stormy weather…

Headed to Seattle tonight. Boarded the plane. Fell asleep. When I woke up they were asking everyone to deplane due to storms in the area. I did not know that most of the bars AND the admirals club close at 7:30. What were they thinking?! Still hoping our flight leaves after the storm passes. Here’s some of my moments…

Thank you Ray Benson’s Roadhouse Bar!!!

‘Tis Tuesday.

We have another niece visiting us this week. Rachel and Monte went out to the lake and sailed for a few hours. Then Julie and I joined them about 4 o’clock. We sailed around for a couple more hours. Then got a great table at the Oasis. And surprisingly enjoyed the appies that we ordered. The view of sunset was awesome, as usual. Very, very nice!

For the birds.

We anchored in Arky south last night. It was chilly, in the 40s, so we hunkered below. This morning we lounged around until the wind filled in, then went for a sail. We beat upwind all the way to Bee Creek. We dropped sail and motored up the creek until it got too shallow. The big wide basin where we’ve rafted up in the past is just a twisty creek now. 20′ deep where we turned around.
On the way out of the cove we turned the motor off and ate lunch as the wind nudged us back out to the lake.
Another lovely day on Nirvana.
On the sail home this row of birdhouses high on a ridge caught my eye. What a great spot for a birds eye view.

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