Howarth Park

It is rarely as calm and still as it was this morning at Lake Ralphine.We could only see one person in a rubber raft on the lake and one person fishing from the shore. By the time we made our circuit around the lake, the boat dock had opened and people were waiting to rent paddleboats.The ubiquitous and raucous Canada geese were conspicuously absent. Perhaps they clear out on a big holiday weekend.

The fishing trail around the back of the lake is narrow, rocky and uneven. The last time we were here I managed the trail but with not a little trepidation and some difficulty. I was pleased to find it much easier this morning as my trust and confidence in the performance of my knee has grown. Spike prefers to be on the leash but uncharacteristically lets John take the lead as we make our way around. It is half the distance around this lake as around nearby Spring Lake but still a challenging and satisfying walk.

People were beginning to arrive to claim picnic tables by the time we got back and the two little boys on the rocking ponies in the playground caught my eye. It wasn't possible to capture their enthusiasm in a still picture but I loved the backwards baseball caps. Nearby, kids were enjoying the jungle gym, the swings and a climbing wall. Below them, the pickleball courts were full, and the tennis courts almost empty. The number of courts dedicated to each seem to be a constant subject of discussion and argument. 

We repaired to the Trail House for a coffee and an avocado toast afterward. 

I spent hours staring at the quilt wall, slowly building my own version of the Paul Klee painting titled something like 'Castle and Sun'. It is slowly coming together but requires daily tweaking. The goal is not to sew it together until I have perfected the design, but I suspect that it will always present reasons for shifting things around since it looks different every time I look at it and not just because I have added to the design....

The fire excitement last night lasted about an hour as fire trucks and eveen a couple of bulldozers on flatbed trucks continued to pass behind our house on their way up to the very top of Los Alamos Road to put out a vegetation fire. It is a bit unsettling to have so much activity, but it's also reassuring to see that they take these fires very seriously. We sat out on the porch with a glass of wine and watched the helicopters fly back and forth. The fire was only a mile or so from us as the crow flies, in almost the exact same place as the one a month or so ago, but it's more like 5 miles on the very narrow, very exposed road. I can't imagine how some of those big engines made it up there, or how the traffic was managed once they reached the scene of the fire. The saving grace was that there was practically no wind which is the most important factor which often determines whether a fire can be put out quickly or whether it turns into a firestorm. There were fire trucks making their way back down the road all night, their lights shining through our open bedroom door and across the ceiling. 

We are grateful to these firefighters every single day for the work they do.