July 4th Weekend part I

After reading previous blog entries, Rob decided for some reason that he'd been overworking me and that I needed an idyllic weekend. Not one to argue, I readily agreed and continued to lay in bed after he'd gone to work on Saturday. After another couple of hours of deep sleep, I decided to rouse myself, munch a hearty breakfast of tea and peanut M&M's and then get into the car and drive the short distance to Lake Gordonsville. 
This lake is a stone's throw from Rob's and also his neighbor's house, yet neither of them knew where it was. I took great delight as a stranger to the area in smugly giving them directions.
I quickly put the kayak in the water and joyously paddled like crazy to burn off some energy causing small waves to lick up the sides of the boat. I then hung my legs over the side into the cool water and leaned back to soak up the sun. Looking around I saw that nearly every bank of the lake was buffered by blankets of lily pads and white flowers.

 It really was very pretty and looking down into the water I could see dozens of baby fish. There were some fishermen in small boats but nobody seemed to be having much luck. I paddled down the length of the lake and discovered that the last 5th or so of the water was completely covered by lily pads. Not a problem for me but it would be for any water craft with a rudder. As I sat back I became aware of two beavers playing in the water. They were leaping like dolphins out of the water towards my boat but as they came close they changed direction, moving swiftly out of sight. I didn't bother trying to photograph them. The image in my memory would be far better than any rushed effort with the Canon and I wanted to enjoy the moment.

 I also saw blue herons and ducks and even a deer came to the water's edge to chew on some lilies. The air was silent apart from the continuous popping of the lily flowers, even the fishermen were quiet. After a couple of hours the heat became unbearable so I headed for the shore to load the kayak back onto the car.

Arriving back at the house, Kota started pleading to go outside so we both went for a walk.

He found a great scratching pad in the front yard and sharpened his claws for his little adventure. We headed down the path to the creek and Jim's pond where we met Jim returning to his house on his mower. While we stopped to chat Kota sought sanctuary in the shade under Jim's trailer and waited for us to finish talking, just leaving a cream tail visible that swished back and forth as if to say, 'Hurry up with your chat.' After a few minutes, we carried on walking down the trail and I was aware of Kota panting in the heat. He flopped under a shady tree once we reached the water so I let him rest a little.

 On the way back, I hoisted him over my shoulder from where he purred happily for the rest of the journey. We got back to the house and I noticed a humming from the front porch.

 Some wasps had decided to make a nest under the eaves so I called Rob to let him know, deciding Kota and I would stay indoors until he came home. I felt very relaxed as I lay on the sofa and before I knew it, Rob came through the front door waking me up from a deep sleep. We headed out to the porch where he zapped the wasps' nest with a spray causing chaos and I contributed with a scream.
Back inside, the main man delighted me with a wonderful suggestion of going to the Skyline Drive to watch the sun set. How romantic, I was so thrilled. We quickly bundled our dinner of BBQ pork, potato salad, coleslaw and beers into a cooler and drove to the mountains.

 Rob found the perfect spot for the perfect view and we unpacked our meal, sitting on the wall waiting for the show to begin. We definitely could not have had a better location, the view was spectacular and as the sun slowly dropped down to the horizon, we played with my camera and held the glowing orb in our outstretched hands.

We waited until the sun had completely disappeared and the colors had muted into the night sky before we headed back. I could not have imagined a better way to end the day, and it was all the more wonderful for me because I'd not expected anything like it. Aren't I lucky to have such a thoughtful man?
I'm happy.