Mono Lake or Friday Fun Day 2

We have often driven past Mono Lake and thought that it would be a fun place to kayak, so when we had spectacular weather Nevada Day weekend Calvin and I decided to take a kayak/fall color trip to the eastern Sierras.  We drove south on Friday afternoon, and although we read that you should never start a kayak trip on Mono Lake in the afternoon because of dangerous winds, we started our kayak trip in the afternoon.

Mono Lake tufa

As it turns out, Mono Lake isn't all that interesting a place to paddle once you have seen the tufa.  We tried paddling toward the island, but it was further than it looked and kind of a slog, so we gave up after a couple of miles and paddled back to shore.

This is the view from the front of the kayak looking toward the island.  It looked like this for a long, long time.

I discovered on a paddling break that if I put the camera on the top of my head pointing backwards it takes a very nice picture of Calvin.  Who needs to frame a shot?

After we finished paddling and started to dry we discovered that we were covered with a pale slippery mud from the lake.  The kayak hasn't been resting under a flock of pigeons, this is Mono Lake splashes.  This may not be a destination we need to kayak twice.

We spent the night at Mammoth Lakes and then visited Convict Lake in the morning.  This is a really pretty alpine lake, but it is heavily used with a walking path all along the perimeter.  This Saturday morning it was swarming with fishermen competing in the last fishing derby of the season and one obligingly took our picture.

I had read in Sunset magazine that this area was a good place to go" leaf peeping" in the Sierra and it probably is a little earlier in October, but most of the leaves were gone by October 29.

In the afternoon we put the boat in at Twin Lake and it was just beautiful.  The water was just like a mirror.

Sadly the wind came up and we decided to be prudent and paddle in.  But it was a beautiful way to end the kayaking season.

Life just doesn't get much better than this.

Friday Fun Day October 22, 2011

Calvin usually does not work on Fridays, so we have instituted Friday Fun days.  We usually kayak in the summer and ski in the winter, but sometimes we do something different.  This Friday we hiked to Eagle Lake on the west shore of Lake Tahoe.  We have lived in Reno for 27 years and this is the first time we have been here.

This is a bridge across the creek.  It is a pretty spot so we took a lot of pictures.

You can't see it in the picture, but the sun was sparkling on the creek behind Calvin.

We made it to the lake and Calvin figured out how to take a delayed picture.

We tried to hike around the lake and tried a few more delayed pictures.

I was looking for some fall color as a background, but the leaves hadn't quite changed.

I almost made it around the lake, but this boulder field defeated me.  Calvin forged on looking for a path through the boulders, but I was happy with view across the lake especially if it meant I didn't have to do any more boulder hopping.

Hope springs eternal...

It is the middle of October.  Usually we have put the garden to bed and Calvin is waxing up his skis by this time of year, but this year we are enjoying a long lingering fall.  We grow lavender at our house because lavender loves poor rocky soil and we have that in abundance.  Lavender needs to be trimmed each year to keep it healthy, so I try to use the trimmings in creative ways.  This is my third attempt at a lavender wreath.  They tend to shed and fall apart and last year birds built a nest in it, but hope springs eternal and I tried it again.  It will look good for a few days at least.

Peter has been our garden "watcher" this year and spotted this surprise.  We have a second crop of raspberries maturing.  There was one that was a brighter red, but Calvin ate it last night.

We still have a bumper crop of tomatoes.  We have had only one cold night so far this year and Peter made a cold frame to protect them, so now they continue to mature in abundance.

I thought that I had picked the last of the summer roses a few weeks ago, but new buds are still opening up.

Our annual geraniums beneath the greenhouse window are still in full bloom and attracting bees.  We try to do our part to prevent hive collapse.

And we have apples this year!  We probably only get an apple crop every three or four years, but this is a fruitful year.  Still, if we had to survive on what grows in our yard we would be hungry this winter.

And last but not least...

Today is Calvin's birthday.  I loved you then and I'll love you forever.  Happy birthday sweetheart.

Alexandria September 16-20

Here we are the happy smiling Grandparents.  This picture was supposed to be at the end, but I couldn't figure out how to move it.

We had a fun "long weekend visit" with the Sarah, Toby and Clare last week.  It was so fun to see Clare again.  She is an amazing baby, willing to be dragged all over the place and sleep anywhere.

Sarah, Toby and Clare at their front door.

One of our adventures was visiting the Leighy Pope house built by Frank Lloyd Wright.  It was built as a starter home, very small and utilitarian.  The highlight of the interior decorating was use of that amazing new material, plywood.

Clare obligingly slept through the tour.

Clare spent a lot of time in her car seat or stroller and seemed perfectly content.She can wail with great enthusiasm if her diaper is wet, but she doesn't have to do that very often.

On Monday we drove to the Shenandoah Valley to visit the Luray Caverns.  Calvin pronounced it the best cave he has ever seen.  The formations were amazing and he took lots of pictures, but I couldn't tell whether most of them we upside down or right side up, so he will have to figure that out and post them.

The best picture in the cave was of Sarah and Clare

The caves are in a really beautiful part of Virginia which prompted another picture

and another

Clare has a really cute dimpled smile that we didn't manage to get in a single picture, but if you go visit she will be happy to smile for you.  It is one of her best tricks.

Labor Day 2011

We had a great evening at Lake Tahoe on Labor Day.  If  Sarah , Toby and Clare had been there it would have been perfect.

Zach orchestrated some serious log rolling

which morphed into log standing

and then digging it in

so there could be standing contests

and when it started to get cool you could always wrap up in a snuggle train.

Zach and Austin weren't too interested in a family picture

but Calvin and Peter tolerated the picture

and Rosie and Jay are always ready with a smile.

Family weekends are priceless!

The Kitchen is almost complete

Our kitchen is almost complete.  We have a couple of small details that need to be completed, but we have moved back in to the kitchen and used all the appliances.  I love it!  But everything looks so nice I almost hate to use it.

The island butch block top

Looking to the east

The dining room wall with ovens, refrigerator and microwave

The south wall with cook top and hood

Kitchen remodel up to August 28

Looking across the island to the oven/refrigerator wall

We have made slow but steady progress on the kitchen. We had to wait until the cabinets were installed for the granite to be measured and then it had to be manufactured, so that was a slow step. The granite was custom cut for the sink, so I got a sink at the same time the counters were installed. The plumber hooked up the sink and dishwasher at the same time, but the electrician hasn't finished the wiring yet. We also had a recirculating pump installed, so we have hot water faster in the kitchen now.

A dark picture of the sink

My copper hood is up, but not vented yet. It will have a a copper stovepipe to the ceiling. The cooktop has been installed just under the hood. The far right is bookcase where we will put the phone and TV/computer.
We were waiting until the counter tops had been fabricated to decide what we would do for a back splash. The counter fabricator was pretty sure that we would need three slabs of granite, so we planned on using the remaining granite on the third slab as a back splash. On Monday of this week we found out that we only needed two granite slabs, so I had to scramble this week to pick out and order a back splash. I was waiting until the granite was in place to make some final design choices. We have a pretty bold granite pattern with a lot of colors.