Our old boat & hammock time

As we're thinking of our favorite lake~ Whiskeytown~ had to add a picture of our faithful old Wriedt boat. She's an old girl but still has plenty of life left in her. After making some nice long and noisy runs in her, we anchor her on the shore of our favorite little island, hang our hammocks in the trees and enjoy the day. Richard still waterskis, so if we have a third person, he often skis. I've retired after tearing my hamstring a few years ago.

But for the most part we just enjoy being on the water, munching our way through our picnic basket and lolling in hammocks. Now and then an osprey might light in one of the trees to peer down on us.

Canadian Geese & Ducks~ Whiskeytown Lake

It's summer time and I am wishing we were on the lake. So far haven't made it this year. Seems like there's always something else going on or on the days we have free, the wind will be howling making boating difficult.

But as I am sitting here on a triple digit afternoon, can't help but dream of the lake. So I sorted through some of my pictures of previous outings and relived those. :)

When we settle on the little island we usually chose early in the day, we have visitors of the feathered kind. Geese, Canadians in this case and also ducks.

They are always looking for a handout. When they hear paper rustling, pretty soon, there they come. We do our best to ignore them of course, following the lake rules, but now and then a breadcrumb does fall into the deep. Whiskeytown is so crystal clear that you can see the bread go down, down, down and all of the sudden large golden trout appear and snatch the crumbs out of the water. If the geese and ducks miss them that is. Maybe next week.

Glowing Morning Glory

The other morning, as I was out "visiting" the garden to see what's blooming, found these lovely morning glories. So ran inside and grabbed my camera. As I was getting ready to snap my picture, the sun had moved a touch higher in the sky and all of the sudden a ray of sun lit up the center of the morning glory in the most amazing way. I did my best to capture it. The heart of the flower was literally glowing as it it had an LED lightbulb deep inside. What an amazing sight.

Large Daylilies

I wanted to share a few more of my daylilies. These are the full-sized ones. I don't know the name of the double-orange one, but the beautiful deep red one is called "Firedrake". It was developed by one of the monks at New Clairveaux Monastery in Vina, CA, which is near us. They have an excellent winery which has tasting events going on throughout the year. And a wine club as well. But back to the daylily. The monk who probogated this lovely daylily has since then passed away. So I am especially pleased that his beautiful creation lives on in my garden. I repotted it this late last year into a much larger pot. And it's rewarded us with having grown much larger with 3 big stems of flowers, several of which open every morning.

Miniature Daylilies

It's that time of year when the daylilies open. These two are minis, very sweet and small. The yellow is called "Cupid's Arrow", the deep colored one is "Cranberry Baby." Though daylilies merely look like grasses for most of the year , now they bring forth new flowers each and every morning for several weeks.

Waterlilies

Since adding Mosquito Fish to a small water feature, the waterlily who lives in that pond has thrived beyond belief. It was always very modest in size. But the last few seasons, with the help of the little fish tickling it's roots, it blooms and blooms. A few blossoms was the norm, but these days we get 20 or more luscious flowers on it.

I was given just a few of the little fishes by a friend. They have multiplied as well. The only drawback, they are very hungry for tadpoles, more so then mosquito larvae. So I wouldn't get any more of them, ever. Nor release them in our creek ,which teams with tadpoles in the spring months. But for now, we'll enjoy the pond as is, with new waterlilies greeting us every few days.