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.

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?

We had a good weekend, did you? Both busy and relaxing: a combo of the two.

On Friday night we drove to Hoboken to have dinner with friends. I am sorry I didn’t take my camera because there were several missed photo opportunities:
1. The skyline of Manhattan
2. Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop (home of the Cake Boss show on TV) where people were lined up 20-30 deep just to get in the door!
3. Great old brownstone buildings.

We ate wonderful authentic Mexican food at Charritos and had a great night out. I want to go back! (with camera)

On Saturday morning friends called to see if we wanted to join them hiking with their dog in Jungle Habitat. Rick was out doing yard work, so I declined, plus it was already getting too hot for out black-coated kids. It’s just as well that we didn’t go with them, because look what they found when they got there:

Aggressive bear!! Yikes, we’ve never seen a bear while hiking here. A hiker and his dog were “attacked” by the bear while walking the trails. The dog was seriously wounded and had to spend the night in the animal hospital, but the man had only minor injuries as a result of having just been knocked down by the bear. The bear did not maul him or lay a paw on him. Who knows what really happened here.

The wild raspberries and black caps are all ripening now, plus I understand that it is also mating season for the bears. This incident is unfortunate (not only for the poor dog and its human) since it comes within one week of the local fireworks display which takes place in Jungle Habitat. Unless the bear can be trapped by July 2nd, the fireworks will be cancelled. We don’t usually go but this year we were thinking of hiking to the top of the neighbor’s hill behind their house to watch from there.

The rest of Saturday was spent running a few errands in Mia and then relaxing by the pool. It’s so pretty right now with the day lilies in full bloom.

I felt a bit like Cleopatra as Rick pulled me slowly around the pool on my “barge.”

Then we just floated around. It was a perfect afternoon for the pool. Not too hot and the pool temperature is now up to 82 degrees!

Sunday morning we drove Mia to the market in Warwick to pick up items for our dinner. We came home with a freshly butchered rabbit, fresh peas, bread, the best pesto in the world, cipollini onions, and fresh strawberries and blueberries. We took a different route home hoping to find a road Rick wanted to take but we turned too early and missed it.

After lunch I told Rick I thought we should take another drive and try to find the road we had missed. It’s hard not to take advantage of such great top-down weather. So, that’s exactly what we did. Note to self for next time: remember to put sunscreen on and Rick needs to remember to take a cap with him on these sunny days.

Not only are the day lilies blooming in my back yard but all along the roadsides around us. Everywhere you look they are growing wild. This photo taken from Mia doesn’t begin to give you the scope of how numerous and beautiful they are. Last year they barely bloomed due to all our rain and cool temperatures. But this year they are out in full force, drinking in the sun.

We found the road we were looking for and them some. Take a look at this sign about halfway through our drive.

The views over the Warwick valley, although seen through the haze of humidity, were pretty.

See? More roadside lilies!

We passed an old abandoned farm on the historic register. It looked sad and forlorn. Probably because it remembers the road during horse and carriage days.

After we got home we pooled it for awhile, then on to cooking dinner.

While our proscuitto-wrapped-rabbit-italian sausage & sage skewers cooked ...

... we drank a glass of wine on the deck and chatted. I heard a great flapping of wings and some squawking, and turned around to see this momma turkey with her three turkettes in our back yard! She must have flown over the fence while the little ones squeezed under. They pecked around for a while then she took them off into the woods. Very cute.

As I sat on the deck I saw that the light was hitting a tree in the woods within our yard and lighting it up in a very nice way. I grabbed my camera and headed down to see if it was a good photo prospect. Just as I got to the tree I caught movement out of the corner of my eye—a black bear rump running away from me! Yikes! Here we are up on the deck and we had no idea a bear was over the fence in the wooded part of the yard. He obviously was not bothered by us talking and the smell of our rabbit grilling. Or maybe he thought it smelled too good? He was in the area where we have berry bushes and I guess I spooked him from his snack.

We could hear the sounds of our neighbors that we don’t know on the side of us having a family get-together. The sounds of children playing and laughing carried through the woods. Just after I had spooked the bear and was back up on the deck we heard the kids start screaming next door. Next came silence. No more laughing squealing kids. Then the sound of an air horn went off. Once. Twice. Three times. We knew the bear had just crashed their party! (Many people keep air horns to scare bears away. We don’t have one.)

The rest of the evening passed without any other excitements. Our dinner was delicious!

So, that was our weekend. How was yours?

****************
UPDATE: Taken from the Thunder in the Highlands website:
The West Milford PAL Board of Directors has postponed the Fireworks display until July 9, 2010 due to unforeseen issues with a “special resident and her cubs” at the Jungle Habitat Property.

Grab a cool one and sit down with me for a few minutes. Yes, I’m still here in case you were wondering. A few people have commented to me on my lack of blogging lately, so somebody out there missed me! Nothing wrong, just going through a phase where I have nothing to say. I’ve started several blog posts that never materialized. Poof! They were gone before they really ever began.

Summer has finally kicked in here I think. We’ve had lovely warm weather, some with humidity and some without. A few rain storms—not a lot—but enough to keep everything watered without dragging out the hose.

Every spare moment we had this weekend was spent in or around the pool. It’s back up to 78 degrees now, so pretty comfortable. I had my first skinny-dip of the year on Sunday night. It felt good.

When it’s hot our favorite drink around the pool are Beergaritas. You have to be careful because they can sneak up on you. They taste so good going down it’s scary. And I don’t even like beer all that much. These are the exception.

They might make you do silly things like photograph your out of proportion shadow on the bottom of the pool.

Did you know you could float your drink in the water to keep it cool?

There really is nothing quite so relaxing as floating around in the pool listening to Bossa ‘n Stones.

The day lilies around the pool are in bloom right now. Just beautiful. The ferns make a great backdrop for them.

The bee balm makes a pretty sea of red firework-like blooms.

We’ve had a few visitors to the yard. Some welcome ...

... some not so welcome.

He’s just a harmless baby garter snake but I really didn’t want him in my pool so I graciously fished him (or is that snaked? him) out.

So those are just a few of the things I have to share today. Hopefully this will jump start me back to blogging again!