my little slice of heaven

I have been a lazy blogger.   I am not ready with an art post, so to appease you, I'm going to post about my lake.  You've seen it here before, and will see it again.

view of town beach from my kayak

I've been smitten with lakes most of my life.  My first teaching job was near the shore of Lake Champlain, and it was there that, besides spending summers swimming and sunning, I also learned to windsurf and became a certified scuba diver, both activities which I enjoyed for many many years.

lake panorama, from kayak

When I first met my husband, and he told me he had this 'camp' on Loon Lake (one of many such named lakes), I was very excited, because it was at the same lake where my family vacationed many summers, and where I first swam, and where I first rowed a rowboat by myself.  Lo an behold, his property turned out to be a stone's throw from where my family used to vacation!  I can walk or swim there!

abstract ripples, as viewed from my lounge chair on dock

For many years, I poked around the shoreline in a little inflatable boat, or a canoe, until my son went to boy scout camp and came home telling us he wanted a kayak.  We bought one second-hand, and that is the kayak I have used extensively ever since.  We still have the canoe, and another kayak, and also a cute little rowboat that my husband likes to use.

 Above, a lone loon.  We have several loons currently on the lake, and it is always magical to hear them and see them.  For those of you curious about the fate of the loon with the fishing line in his mouth, the answer is simply "I don't know."  The loon expert was unable to locate and rescue him, and I haven't seen him again, but just a few days ago a neighbor told us he was still around, and had been diving and feeding.  So - fingers crossed that he is able to survive.

Loons - we awoke the other morning to their haunting calls!

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago, in my kayak, I was daydreaming and recalling a trip to Alaska many years ago, where they told us to always look for 'white golf balls' in the trees.  That's how to spot eagles!  So, while daydreaming, I casually looked up above me, and this is what I saw:

 A half hour later, I was relaxing in my kayak at the marsh at the end of the lake, when a huge shadow passed over me.  The great blue heron landed nearby, and here he is:

Anyhow, here's a few more recent pictures of 'my' lake. 

 This is my favorite time of year - autumn in the Adirondacks is beautiful!

These photos, by the way, are NOT edited.  It's really this pretty here!  I can't locate any photos, but I always loved doing elementary color-mixing art projects in the fall, because none of the colors we see are 'straight out of the bottle colors'.  We'd sponge-paint leaves, and reflections, trying to mix the varieties of gold, amber, ochre, red, burgundy, olive, mustard, tomato, and so much more, that we see all around us.

A few days ago, we hiked up nearby Stewart's Mountain, an easy climb.  Here's a couple of views of my lake from the top of the climb.

 And finally, a couple of weeks ago, before the colors started changing -