Wine and Tomatoes

I had 2 wine pick ups in the valley so I motored out and got my bottles.  I had a quick glass with the house cat. Then I headed to my favorite farm stand.  Amazing tomatoes, garlic, melons and onions.  Will be sad when the season ends.

Update:  The woman who tuns 3 mile farm just got a nice article in the paper!

Pavlova

In anticipation of the town's third cuban restaurant opening, Debbie and I stopped by House of Glory to have a few empanadas and to try the new pavlova.  The cuban twist is that a layer of dulce de leche anchors the meringue to the plate. Delicious.

"Lee"

 

Ellen's new WW2 film is opening in Toronto.  You can read about it here.

Pear Education

This was the first year we allowed the pear tree to fruit.  I saw 3 good looking ones this morning and picked them.  Cutting one open, it was rotten.  I did a quick search and found out that pears ripen from the inside out.  By the time they look gorgeous on the tree, they are way past being edible.

There's a very easy test to see if they are ready to be picked and the remaining dozen all came off easily.  In 4-7 days, they should be fully ripened and ready to munch.

Our variety is Flemish Beauty.  Self pollinating is a plus since some neighbors recently chopped the 2 closest pear trees to our house.

Galesville's Red Beaches

Bruce decided to get out and try to retrieve a lure while at Galesville this week.  The "beach" swallowed him up and it was a bit rough getting back into his kayak. Beautiful colors though.
 

Cattle?

Instead of eagles and osprey this past week, we came across hungry ducks and cows.  Never seen cattle in the marshy bits of Lake of the Woods.  We wondered if swamp reeds was the same as grass fed?

Gaffer63: Lake of the Woods

Steve's Big Day

With Debby up north taking care of the newborn, the gang got together and took Steve out for his birthday.   We got everyone together and hit up our favorite happy hour in town. A lot of folks travelled around this summer so it was nice to catch up.
 

Fish Lake then Smoke

We had a very nice paddle yesterday up in the mountains on Fish Lake.  Back in Grants Pass, the afternoon brought smoke from all the fires in CA.  It stayed overnight and it is looking pretty bad this morning. Will be a day for staying inside.

Grasshopper Morning

I woke this morning to a large grasshopper perched on the window.  It should take care because the massive blue birds like to come to the bird bath in the mornings.  He could end up on someone's breakfast plate.

Bonkers

The definition of a cult is.......?
 

Morning Sun

Time for walkies 
 

Briard Birthday

On Friday, those Briard siblings Bouton and MonAmi celebrated their 4th birthdays. Odd man out Charlie got into the spirit of things too.

Return to Lost Creek

I forgot how long that boat ramp is.....But the morning was gorgeous. We revisited our favorite waterfall in the area and made it to the bridge and beyond before turning back.

Gaffer63: Lost Creek Blue Grotto

I saw this use for kayaks recently.  The Ukrainians have mounted grenade launchers.  I guess this is a stealthy option for combat and fitness.

Pears

We have pears.  I decided to leave the fruit on this year. The young tree has about a dozen good looking pears getting plump. The variety is Flemish Beauty.
 

Stags

a couple of good looking young bucks hanging around this morning
 

Galesville

Galesville reservoir is one of the bigger lakes we paddle.  Because of the massive spring rains, we can still venture up the small river that feeds the lake.  Going all the way until it's just a trickle. 
 

Another Birthday

Biggest brother's birthday today. Here he is with 2 of his grandkids. 

90 Years Young

 Last week we travelled back east to Cape Cod to celebrate Mom's 90th birthday.  All the siblings, great grand kids, cousins and nearly all the nieces/nephews were there. A huge bash in Chatham. 

We then headed back to Durham, NH to spend a few days with big brother and his family.  Our first trip in several years and it was a complete success.