beautiful balloons

"seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; my footstool earth, my canopy the skies." -- alexander pope, essay on man

up, up and away

leroy clair, the pilot of "clair skies", the friendliest balloonist in the country!

 our team of trenton, leroy, kim and kelsie packing up after a flight.

 hocus pocus was dale dommer's balloon and basket case belonged to aaron foelske.

 the clair skies was once again our chance to take to the air and experience a beautiful trip over the lake.

 mike hadley's pink panther was our savior in sunday's am flight.  he was hovering over the first target so we couldn't make a throw to the X but dropping the bag on top of his balloon found it stuck on the parachute.  leroy told the scorer that the bag was on top so mike pulled the top and it fell through the balloon and landed on the target.  we scored when there looked like no chance!

it was tough to land on the streetlights but this one came close.

harmony

 "with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things." -- william wordsworth

even with daytime temps above 100 degrees, and no breeze, red rock was a joyful place for a saturday morning paddle.  a trip to the west beach, a half hour of picking up trash, a stop at the "peace tree", and a visit to painted rock and the north shore made for an enjoyable workout and respite from a busy week.  this am a run down to hickory ridge yielded treasures of trash and a precarious carry back to whitebreast ramp.  now if people would just stop littering my lake... 

sunny hours

"let others tell of storms and showers, i'll only mark your sunny hours." -- sundial motto

the red flag was blowing in the wind on this lake michigan beach keeping swimmers on shore.  the breakwaters made a perfect stopping place for hundreds of gulls and a few sunbathers.

no wake zone

"there were little traces of sunny clouds all over the heavens, and little fleeces of foam all over the sea." -- herman melville, redburn



a weekend jaunt to chicago to watch g'daughter Maura play in the national soccer tourney included great weather and successful matches.  a side trip to lake michigan was enjoyable but i wished i'd have taken my boat afterall.  never enough time for everything, but the time together was wonderful. 

called back

"neither will the wave which has passed be called back; nor can the hour which has gone by return." -- ovid, ars amatoria

this time last year the lake was at flood stage, but last night it was at permanent pool 742' and with a stiff south wind blowing in hot air the run to the west beach was good for an evening's workout. it was too hot to even take pictures. i did have the lake all to myself though.

whimsy

artists abound in all forms and this use of discarded lakeside hardware could only be labeled whimsy.

"waves of serener life pass over us from time to time, like flakes of sunlight over the fields in cloudy weather." -- henry david thoreau, a week on the concord and merrimack rivers.