The Amazing Magical Gremlin Baby

A family with small child came to kayak today, and they had the most adorable mini French Bulldog.

Georgina fell in love with it and watched it while they went out on the water.

It is a magical gremlin baby.

This wonderful log was washed up against the pier wall, but it floated away before we could retrieve it and add it to the boathouse wood stash.

My Other New Favorite Thing

 So..... the child-size paddleboard at the lake house is my favorite thing.

Tonight I discovered there are TWO paddleboards at the boat house!!

The adult paddleboard is also my favorite thing.

It's actually pretty easy to stand on. Very comfortable.

It also makes a good bench.

The major disadvantage is that it is very, very s l o w.

Bitz and Mark towed me around, which was pretty fun.

I made sure to be as difficult and uncooperative as possible and steer against them to enhance their workout.

They didn't mind.

Fake Open Fail

The weather forecast predicted storms all afternoon.

Kayaking in the rain is ok but not if there is thunder.... so several of us went to the boathouse preparing to have a lazy chill day. We all thought the public program would be mostly closed. We were supposed to be "fake-open".

Except.... it wasn't.

Those storms never really happened, although the sky looked very ominous.

Of course just before 4pm (last boats out at 4:30) we got a mad rush and got completely swamped with visitors.

I will not go in or on the water when it rains because there is.... um, a bit of sewage overflow and I think the river is gross.  It's still safe to kayak on but I just think it's ... ick.

I do like the way rain drops look on the water.

There were some great clouds!

Pier 57 Plein Air

I was invited to go paint at Pier 57 with several other artists.  I know some of them, David and Anna, and I also met new friends.

It was so disgustingly hot out though, and I think I melted.......
Actually when I got home I was definitely a little heat-sick.

I can't deal with this weather.

David took this pic of me:

8x10 oil

David Nakabayashi did these 2 paintings:

__PRESENT__PRESENT

My Work Problem

 This happens often, and the picture speaks for itself.

Isis naps nicely.

Sharon's cats enjoy playing LaserCat.

Home, but Still Away

I am pet-sitting for Sharon until Friday starting today.

So I am home, but I am also Away.

I stay at Sharon's in the evenings and commute home to go to work.

She lives so close it's easy to do.

Home Early

 I am home.

A day and a half early.

This morning I woke up with a REALLY bad feeling and it took me a while to place it.

I woke up feeling very disturbed and then I looked at the weather..... severe storms on the forecast FOR THE NEXT 4 DAYS.

Seriously, it is unusual for me to have such an intense feeling of Wrong.

I proposed leaving early- like ASAP- to Kedrin.

She looked at the weather and also thought it was a good idea, but she did not have that pressing intense feeling of WE NEED TO LEAVE that I had.  I did try and tone it down because she found it really annoying. I don't think she believes in intuitive things even though she herself is fairly sensitive.

I was feeling intense anxiety that she was in no rush... she had also stayed up working til 1 am and needed to sleep before driving. Not much to do about that except let her sleep.

So I took that time to prepare most of everything around the house.

It took a good 5 hours from when I woke up to leaving... but once we were packed and in the car the feeling completely disappeared.

We did hit some very intense rain on the way back to NY but I felt pretty calm.

I was very bummed out to have our trip cut short but it ended up working out better for Kedrin too, because of things she needs to get done this week.

...And I left my raw butter at the lake house!! :(

Paddleboard Plein Air

Today I sat on the paddleboard to paint.
I had it all figured out before I left, and it mostly worked ok but I wouldn't do it again, probably.

It was a hard paddle out and I'm a little sore from yesterday.

The paddleboard really requires a serious amount of balance long-term, and also compensating for the drift.

But even so, I was mostly pretty ok until the motor boats came out.  The wake was so intense it became physically impossible to continue.

Also, this painting took a lot longer than normal, because of split focus because of the balance issue.

I really should have gotten off the paddleboard and stood again in the water.

Kedrin took these photos:

8x10 oil

The leaves took a really long time... in total this painting took over 5 hours.

I did dop my knife once and had to go in and retrieve it, but all was ok.

We had to run into town to go to the store.

I like the word Lakawaxen.

The KitKat enjoyed playing with the ipad......

...and also with Bree.

(they are best friends.)

And I burned the rest of my junk mail/papers tonight!