Yesterday we worshipped in the Temple of Nature. Right here.

And if this little cove was our temple, then this was the altar.

It’s been extremely hot here this past week with no rain, temperatures in the 90’s and the heat index up to 107! Saturday morning the heat wave finally broke and we got over 2 inches of much needed rain.

We vowed to each other that when we woke on Sunday morning we would feed the dogs and cats, throw on some clothes, toss the canoe on top of the truck and head out to Green Turtle pond again. We were on the pond by 7:30 a.m., which is pretty good for us.

The morning mist was still hovering near the surface of the water, leaving an almost monochromatic look to the scene.

But soon the sun burned off the mist and we were left with beautiful blue sky and still waters.

And look who was back again: Mr. Great Blue Heron. Same bird (probably). Same rock. Only this time I had my zoom lens.

A morning perfect for paddling as no breeze had yet started. We’ve figured out that the breeze starts around 8:15 and it usually catches us paddling back up the opposite side of the pond. We timed this trip just right.

My muscles were still a bit sore from last week, but it still felt good. I can’t tell you how peaceful it is out there in the early morning. Birdsong floats down through the trees and bullfrogs croak from the reeds.

I liked the colors and reflection of this fisherman.

After our paddle around the pond we came home, took showers, and headed off in Mia to the market in Warwick. Goat cheese (for our lunch), bread, and blueberries were on our list.

Lunch was a new recipe of Planked Figs: fresh halved figs dipped in Calvados and ground pepper, left to marinate for about 20 minutes, then wrapped in pancetta and topped with fresh goat cheese and a little fried pancetta and cooked on a cedar plank on the grill.  After cooking they were drizzled with wildflower honey. Delicious!

Eaten poolside, of course.

The rest of the day was spent in and around the pool. All in all, another lovely Sunday.

Yesterday we threw the canoe on top of the Suburban and headed down to Green Turtle Pond before it got too hot. The road, which was never very good, is deteriorating back to dirt. Not much is left of the pavement and what is still there makes for a very slow and bumpy ride. It is pretty though, like a dark green tunnel.

The pond was pretty quiet at that hour of the morning with only a few fisherman bobbing around the edges in their boats.

The canoe is such a thing of beauty, isn’t it?

It was a lovely morning to be paddling around. No breeze had as yet kicked up and the only ripples on the pond surface were from the prow of our canoe breaking the glass-like surface. Our oars dipped in and out of the water with a satisfying rhythm. As we passed the shoreline we heard a big PLOP! and looked in time to see the leftover wake of what was probably a turtle awakened from his on-shore slumber by our passing.

We stopped often to admire the view and the reflections.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying this beautiful morning. We disturbed a heron along the way.

(Sorry for the blur but I didn’t have a chance to change settings. Even though it’s blurry I still wanted to include it here.)

Some areas along the shoreline look like little planted-on-purpose gardens; like these reeds.

And these—all shimmery with sunlight.

I was totally captivated by the damsel flies and dragon flies in the shallow, more boggy parts of the pond. They zoomed and zipped around us at death defying speeds. I tried to capture a few flying by in the sunlight, but this was as close as I got. Can you see them?

Some used us a landing pad, either on my paddle or on the canoe, like these beautiful turquoise damsel flies. I remember my Mom used to call them ‘darning needles.’

We found this smallish bird hopping around in the reeds and spooked him up into the trees. We think it’s an immature double-crested cormorant. We watched him for quite a while.

(Right about now I was truly kicking myself for not bringing along my big zoom lens! Darn!)

They don’t call it Green Turtle pond for nothing! This turtle was sunning on a log until we paddled by.

We saw several other turtles in our trip around the pond; just heads poking up above the surface of the water. Every time I tried to capture them with the camera they ducked back underwater. Sly turtles!

All in all, a lovely paddle trip!

WHEW. It’s hot out there. And no rain. Weird for us. In fact, I had to turn on the sprinkler for the first time in a couple of years. My bee balm was fading and looking pretty sad. Unlike Colorado, most people do not have underground sprinkler systems because it rains so much. We depend on the rain to keep our yards looking good.

Our day was pretty low key compared to yesterday with guests. We washed Mia very early and took a short drive. We were home by noon. The afternoon was spent around the pool. Dinner was a new recipe on the grill which neither one of us cared for all that much. Oh well.

Early evening found us around the pool again. The pool is 82 degrees and feels like bath water. We’ve seen a few bats this year, not as many as in years past, but at least it’s good to see a few.

Here is as strange photo taken at a low exposure as Rick swam in front of me.

Poolside candles reflected in the water.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Wow. Our weather is awesome. Other than needing some rain, I can’t complain one whit. Sun. Warm without humidity (that won’t last long). Pool gorgeous.

What better setting could we ask for since our very first pool party/BBQ is happening later today!

Our pulled pork is cooking on the grill outside.

The sky is blue.

The recliner chaise lounges await sunbathers.

The pool toys are standing by ready for use.

Maybe a game of boules (or bocci) later on.

So I ask you, does it get any better than this?

Not exactly “turkey in the straw” but if we don’t get more rain it might just be more like straw than grass.

She’s baaaaack! Momma turkey has decided she likes it here. Yesterday afternoon she brought the kids to the park—also known as my back yard. They were too cute to pass up snapping a few shots of them. They roamed all over the grass, pecking at worms and bugs that our afternoon rain shower had coaxed out of the ground.

Get all your turklettes in a row momma!

They seemed to enjoy their little outing and so did I. The dogs weren’t too happy about the whole thing because it was right at the time of day that I feed them and let them out in the yard. Their dinnertime got delayed by 45 minutes or so until the coast was clear and I was certain that baby turkeys weren’t going to be part of the dinner menu.