Since I didn't feel like leaving the deck to search out an interesting picture I thought, why don't I take a shot of my raisin and peanut dish sitting on the bar beside one of the worn spots I sanded this morning and daubed some preservative on in preparation for a full new coat of finish that I'll probably spread on Sunday afternoon before we head back to town.
It's a gorgeous spot to sit and watch the lake and the universe unfold to the background music of Fats Domino, who has a tremendous repertoire of New Orleans blues and jazz in addition to his old time rock 'n roll.
Although the temperature didn't register much above 20 C this afternoon, the sun was bright and the wind was still, so the ambience was about as good as it gets. If I didn't have to take a group out for a two hour cruise this evening I'd probably be sipping some wine, but that'll wait until I get back at about dusk. In the meantime a tall glass of tap water topped with ice cubes washes down the peanuts and raisins real smooth-like.
My loon family, both chicks and both parents, have been doing manoeuvers out front. I'm always amazed that the young ones grow so fast. I'll bet the chicks have doubled in size since last weekend.
I haven't seen my town mallard family all week. Yesterday as a friend and I were smoking cigars on my deck at home a lone mallard hen flew in and landed in front of us. Mallards are plentiful so no way to know if that's the one I've seen with the ducklings. I'm not sure how long the little ones stay with the mother. Possibly by the time they're a month old the mother leaves them, even if they're not able to fly yet. I'll have to pay closer attention to that aspect of their behavior.
My crawfish traps are starting to capture good numbers of the tiny lobsters. They seem to start getting active about this time of the summer - just in time for my Rotary Crawdaddy Cookout which we'll have in two weeks.