I'm back!

Taking a couple weeks off was good to deal with some things going on at home.  My daughter graduated from High School. She leaves in just a few days for San Francisco. Much of this week is focused on the preparation of that.

Our home is still on the market.  I know the right buyer is out there.  I am a bit tired of always having to have the "perfect" clean home, but it all serves a purpose. Fourth of July was different this year. In Seattle its a joke that summer doesn't start until the 5th of July. And it was so true this year.  After cleaning the house, because we have indeed had people want to look on holidays, we set out to canoe in Lake Washington. The weather was was really just about right while we were out there. Not hot, not really cold, it had not started to mist or rain.  Lots of traffic on the lake, which made a little excitement when we were trying to cross back to return the boats. While in the arboretum area we saw the cutest little duckling family- there was about 10 of them, who were so new- they were able to walk across the lily pads while the mother swam guiding them around.   There was a Blue heron  fishing along the shoreline. Beautiful Lilly pads graced the shoreline as well.  Canoes , as well as Tandem bikes require that one person be the driver- this also important in Sailing too. So its always a challenge to give in and let my spouse be the person in charge.  I want to take pictures and go leisurely through, and he gets into the travel mode- where one must get from one place to the next.  Finding a happy medium is what its all about. My daughter and her friend were in a separate canoe along with us. Literally right after we docked to return our boats, it started to mist which turned into a full rain for awhile.  So timing was indeed perfect.

From here we went to our favorite Irish Pub- the Wilde Rover in Kirkland. We had hoped to meet some friends there, but it was not to be.  We lunched and played cards until it was time to go out and watch fireworks on the marina.  Fortunately once again the weather was in our favor and the rain had dispersed so we were able to be out comfortably in the night.

The 5th of July of course the weather was beautiful and clear. And the warming trend has begun, with expected temperatures in the high 70's and mid 80's.

I hope your holiday was pleasant. We enjoyed ours and it was the first time in several years we hadn't done a BBQ with friends or family, and participated in letting off fireworks.