Friday, September 8, 2017

Last Lake Posting (for now) - We are on our way to other adventures

I am sad to say we are heading out soon. It has been a lovely summer, meeting new friends, and visiting with old ones. We had lovely adventures and a few close calls, but all were adventures.

Our last days here were magical. Some were blustery and cold, and others, sunny and crisp. One day was so windy we didn't manage to get off Bear Island. I tried to in the pedal kayak, against 18 mph winds with 25 -35 mph gusts and 2.5 to 3 foot waves, but I just couldn't do it. I gave up after a mile. Instead, we walked the northern tip (east and west shores) of the island. We encountered a Rick, a guy building a  large timber framed house on the east shore. The house will have prefab foam insulation and be very wind and weather tight. We also checked out the waves on both sides of Bear, and at the end of the walk, encountered folks sent by the power company to trim the trees in the interior of Bear Island. They had some cool all terrain cherry picker crane, and chain saws. Not fun work on a windy day.

One day our friends invited us out to Blueberry Island to meet up with other friends and see about seeing the eagle family nesting there. We haven't seen the eagles at Blueberry this season. Neither had they. We decided against the long trip in our boat and headed out to the south side of Six Mile Island, a place we were unfamiliar with. When we were returning to our cove, our friends met up with us in their powerboat. We rafted together, and there at once I looked up and sure enough, a bald eagle flew overhead. We all had a chance to see it, but I didn't have enough time to get out the camera.

The Sunday of labor day weekend was blustery and rainy. The winds were strong out of the southeast, so I headed out in that direction on my paddleboard and swam back to our cove. I wore my shorty wetsuit for the first time in a long while, along with booties and gloves. I was still chilled the whole swim. These are true signs of fall.

On Labor Day, we let Wake with the Sun rest, and headed out in a fossil-fueled motor boat with friends to Meredith, via Meredith bay. It seemed like 100s of other boaters had the same idea, so parking at the town docks was difficult. We finally nabbed a spot and had a lovely lunch at the Boathouse Patio and Grill, lakeside. We enjoyed this meal with friends very much, and then, on the way back, went through Sally's Gut, a narrow channel, to take a dip in a protected cover.

September 5, the water was 65 degrees. It's cooling off fast. I circumnavigated Bear Island by pedal kayak. This took about two hours, but I'm glad I did it. Gives me a feel for the size of the island and also how it fits in with the other lake islands and shores.

September 6. It rained most of the day but we made it out on the boat for a short bit. Raining tears of sadness. We are sorry to leave here. As I get to them, I will add more information to the recipes and videos pages.

On Sept 8 I arrived to find my raspberries welcoming me. And a chicken of the woods in the making. And peaches!

I have added a new recipe to the recipes tab of this blog. Baking an apple (or other fruit) pie without adding sugar, and using a gluten free crust. We baked two fruit pies in our little panasonic toaster oven this summer and loved them.

I have also updated the videos tab of the blog to include all of my latest videos that I made about the tiny solar-powered houseboat, Wake with the Sun. These include two what's new videos, the apple pie video, a video of me paddling, and a few others.

While I was at Three Mile Island Camp last week, I started talking with some folks about eyeglasses repair. Here is my link to a video that recommends a company to do this.

Here are some of my favorite recent photos. By the time you read this, we will have left the lake. Enjoy.

I love this photo of Claude. We set out on a gray day for Six Mile Island. Then we realized the wind was coming up and we might be stuck out there, so we headed back.



Solar Apple Pie!

Bird on a Navigation Marker


Random Sunsets and Sunrises














Last Morning Photos





Sunset Visitors from Bear Island

Boating on a cloudy day






 Cicada



Day too windy to boat, so we walked the north side of the island





























Stormy Dawn




Lichens and Mosses




Poor Cormorant on a Windy Day


This is the rock in our cove. Seems like the ocean.



Tight Timber Frame House being built on Bear Is.









And here the big window at the top is installed a few days later.



Boating to Six Mile and a Visit with Friends

We headed out to the south side of Six Mile Island. It's pretty shallow in spots. Then when we headed back to our cove, our friends showed up. And an Eagle showed too (although I didn't have time to catch the bird in a photo). 










Pedal Kayaking After a Stormy Day




 






Cormorant convenes with a Seagull



Back home -- Fruits Welcome me




















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