Postcards From the Lake: A Gentle Pace and a Dinner Guest

Lake life continues to move at a slow and gentle pace. Lovely sunsets, (almost) daily walks (the rain is a factor) and sometimes even a celebration or two!

Tuesday and Wednesday, July 18 and 19

Quiet days. On Tuesday it rained and I got caught in it during my walk. Fortunately I made it back before it got to be too much of a squall. It was a good day for reading and working on the puzzle.

Yes, I'm still working on the puzzle. The light isn't the best where it is located and I'm pretty much down to the part where most of the pieces look very similar, distinguished only by minute details, like a width of a column (I never realized how many buildings in London had columns!) or a tiny dot of color! 

On Tuesday, my new friend, Neighbor Kathy, invited me for lunch. She made the most fabulous Asian salad -- rice noodles with a peanut sauce (that I could have eaten by the spoonful, it was so good), with a shredded cabbage/veg mixture over that, a light dressing, then diced tomatoes and chopped peanuts. I wish I'd taken a photo (but it didn't last that long. Yes, it was THAT good.) When I see her again, I'll get the cookbook title!

It was a gorgeous day so when I got home I did a little painting -- a couple of cards and painting in some sketches from my sketch book. I missed the mark completely on this one. These deer look wonky and amateur but a blogger with a good eye and memory might remember the photo from Pat's blog. She often has deer visit her Colorado yard and this was a gem. Unfortunately, my painting isn't. I was better than this when I was fourteen. (I feel compelled to show it because people always say such kind things about my painting and I love and appreciate that -- but you need to know that not everything I do is a hit!)

I liked this "from my head" little girl in a rain shower. Perhaps it was wishful thinking that I'd had an umbrella and jacket when I was caught out! 

I had done a color pencil sketch of this years ago and used it as my guide. I'm better now.

Then I colored in two "from life" ink sketches I'd done. The first was from my geranium. (I should have waited till those buds bloomed!). It's in my Petoskey Stone pot that Rick gave me for my birthday last year. 

And this one, from inside the porch looking out at my herbs and fireworks lights. Rick said "Why did you put the outlet switch in?" "Because it was there!" "Then why didn't you put in that ugly basket with the sunscreen that's on the ledge?" "I edited."

Thursday, July 20

This was not our best day. First of all, it rained. There was a time when we needed rain. Now we need a break. So, we decided to go to the laundromat and the store. Neither trip was particularly fun and only moderately successful. And, it took a whole lot longer than we planned, due in part to a broken water refill machine. We waited while the guy tried to repair it. We shouldn't have. Meanwhile, these guys got all the water they needed!

Moving on.... it was back to the lake and I started watching the first of two days of short online watercolor tutorials in "Watercolor Wonder."  One was on doing small (probably slightly smaller than a postcard) paintings and the other was poppy painting. Here's a screenshot from the artist's video -- I can't remember her name (I think it was Anna). 

I don't think I'll do the same painting but did try my hand at some coneflowers, based on another of the Watercolor Wonder tutorials. I decided to practice on a Fabriano pad with good paper that is very vertical so if they are passable, I can turn them into bookmarks. (When I have the feel right, I'll go for cards or a bigger painting).

And yes, another lovely sunset.

 

Friday, July 21

The day started with a trip to the mini-farm market where I picked up some cherries and peaches. This is my favorite vendor. Their fruit is always delicious and clean!

We had a dilemma! Rick went for his ride, I went for my walk, and when we were back, neither of us could find our phones. Now I know why a land line helps -- at least you can call yourself! Finally, Rick found his and eventually mine was in the back seat floor of the car (don't ask.) Whew!

My cousin Jack came for dinner last night. I hadn't seen him since last summer and it was a lovely evening to sit by the grill or on the porch and catch up.

I noticed we have a new guest at the bird feeder -- a sweet chickadee (or rather, a few of them). I'm glad the grackles haven't taken over entirely!

Meanwhile, Lizzie's a happy camper but who knows what she's looking at here.

I'm not sure I wanted to know!

I leave you with a photo of my fabulous birthday boy, who completes another trip around the sun on the day this posts (July 22)! I'll have more on how we celebrated next time. 

Happy Birthday, Rick!