Sunday August 31

Yesterday's whiteboard offerings. 

I don't read elvish script so can't tell you what she wrote. 

He turned his sister into a tiefling. It's a dungeons and dragons character race. 

L

Mt Work

We hiked for an hour up the trail to find the summit, but we weren't on the main trail it turns out. So we called it Summit once we reached a wide rocky open space with a view and little rock cairn. It was hot and we were done. Then we went back down and along the road a bit and hopped in the lake. Ahhhh.

This is the word summit. Can you see it?

Lovely lovely lake. 

L

French beach group camping

The Apron of 4H'iness

The Vestibule of Order

The Vestibule of Floppiness 

The Hiking Boots of Newness

The Beach of Mystic

The Rock of Petrified Ocean Mammal

The Waves of Splashing

The Game of Diplomacy

The Toenails of Scarlet

The Hor D'oeuvres of Crunch

The Face of Not Realizing I Would Take The Picture

The Face of Realizing I Would Take The Picture

The Mouth of Newly Removed Stubborn Baby Teeth

And..... The Hammock of Hiding

Cheers y'all.

L

Salted Fish

SALTED FISH

August 2014

Standing and floating in the seductive glitter,

in the heart of the turbulence,

jumping, diving under,

ever staring down the next gathering rollers

coming at us,

coming at us,

bigger, bigger, oh god, crash!

Curving over, surging on.

Sometimes we catch it just right, yes! and it scoops us up and shoves,

pushes fast and glorious, on and on,

right to the beach, to ankle deep.

And so we remain immersed in that cold, cold ocean

looking for the next perfect ride until

eyes sting and lips are swollen,

fingers puckered,

shaking bodies lightly coated all over with sand,

even in my ear, from when that big one slapped me on the head.

Hands so cold fingers don't work to find the velcro and zipper at the back of the neck

to peel the black wet rubber down and

let the blessed sun return the heat to us.

Salted, sticky,

skin baked dry and warm.

Like smoked salmon, like brined cod.

Wednesday August 20

Now, that's a watermelon!

Back at Durrance Lake for the second swim of our first triathlon training week. Bit windy and chilly out of the water, lovely in.

We saw dragonflies. 

L

IMAX Hollywood feature

We got here so early we are very first in line!

See the door?

L

Dragon boat festival

Folding paper while waiting for the next race. 

In the marshalling tent. 

Look at all the Keen's. Must be paddlers shoes. 

Look at all the spectators. 

Look at the finish. Their boat is number three. 

Back they go tomorrow for the semi finals and finals. 

L

Wednesday August 13

The editing doth commence. 

And knitting ....

And weaving, in between turns on the editing computer. 

L

Long Beach

I forgot just how beautiful it is out here. We have spent two days in a row playing in the waves on Long Beach. We all have wetsuits of some kind so we can be in the water for a while at a time. It has been exhilarating. The sun has been out every day so far. The water sparkles and the waves build and roll on in. 

Our boogie boards are starting to fail. One bent in half and another is splitting its cover around the bottom. This surf is the test of boogie board hardiness. We brought our kayak along but no helmet to use with it which just makes it too hazardous to use in the surf where there is so much tumbling and tipping. 

Also we got really cold from being in the water and tried getting getting covered in sand to warm up and regain use of extremities. 

And just for good measure, here is the yellowest banana slug I have seen. 

L

Splits Night

'Twas a fine night for banana splits. 

For cramming everyone onto the little deck. 

And for whiteboard drawing games. 

The words to draw here were bird, clockwork? and ice cream. 

With fine results. 

I think this round was a tie. 

L