is there any more pie?

…this is what you do.

Last month Uncle Will arrived for eight days of swimming, games, squirt gun fights, teasing and fishing.

There was some success in the fishing department.

They threw it back and hope to catch it again next summer.

There was also a lot of arrowhead hunting, of which Uncle Will is a master.  He found three in the first couple of days he was here, which is nothing short of a miracle.

I think they might be talking about Nebraska football.

It is now August 9 and the smoke from distant fires in California and Oregon are filling the skies.  It’s worse in the morning and eventually gets better as the day goes on.  So, for now, it’s bearable.

The Cougar Fire is about 8 miles away and burning slowly eastward (a good thing).  The fire crews have set up camp at the school for the time being.  I’m thinking I should bake some brownies and take them over there.  Banjo Man says there is no hungrier group than a fire crew.

This weekend is traditionally the busiest weekend of the summer in Sandpoint.  The music Festival concludes and the Arts & Crafts Festival is Saturday and Sunday.  The Sandpoint quilters are holding their biennial show and of course Saturday is the Farmer’s Market.  There is also a self-guided Artists Walk and Trail, too.

We won’t be attending the Festival Saturday night, but we’re going to try to hit the rest first thing Saturday morning.

I’ve spent a couple of days cleaning my office and the lower deck.  Now there is room for the music stuff and the sewing machine.  I’m getting prepared in case the smoke forces us indoors next week and there are no hours spent reading on the beach or floating on my inflated chaise lounge.

I love to float.  I tether my “chair” to the dock so I don’t drift into shore every ten minutes.  It’s ridiculous and heavenly at the same time.

The best things are.

Do you remember the summer when you were old enough–and brave enough–to take that first leap off the dock (or the diving board or, in my case, the float?

It’s big.  Really big.

And this summer was the Funny Grandson’s  time to be brave and jump.

And then he jumped again.  A lot.  As in maybe seventy times.

What a feeling!

(This might be my favorite photo of the summer).

In case you’re wondering, they’re burning driftwood.  Lots and lots of wood has ended up on our beach this year.  And it keeps coming in.

The two big guys and the one little guy have built a fire in the stone-rimmed pit by the beach and are busy getting rid of what they can.  The Funny Grandson has a squirt gun, but I’m not sure why and I’m certainly not going down there to ask.

I do know that this is the perfect way for all three of them to spend their time today.  Later on there will be s’mores to cook over the coals, should any of them have the energy to come up the hill and get the ingredients.

My daughter-in-law and I are hiding up in the house.  Relaxation time at last!

The Funny Grandson has returned to the lake for the fourth summer in a row.  He and his mom arrived Saturday night, as did Banjo Man.  I had a happy car full of family and suitcases on the way home from the airport!

Want to know how cold it is?  Well, if you look at the above picture you will notice that the kid with the plate of blueberry pancakes in front of him is wearing his winter jacket.  He insisted on having breakfast on the chilly porch so he could “see the lake”.

And it’s not exactly summer here yet.  We don’t know where summer is or when it is going to arrive.  The 10-day forecast is not looking good.

But strangely enough, we’re having one hell of a good time despite the temperature.  Our visiting Texans are pleased to be out of 100 degree heat.

The Funny Grandson’s father is stuck in Dallas at a week-long educational conference and has made some very, very sad phone calls to us.  He is feeling pathetic and left out.

We’ll see him Monday.

In the meantime we’ll keep driving around the peninsula each day “counting deer” (24 sightings today, 28 yesterday).  And going to Clark Fork for ice cream and the library.  We eat cookies and Bing cherries and hamburgers.  Tomorrow we’re making our own huckleberry ice cream and hoping it turns purple.  We chase the geese off the beach.  And watch the sunsets from the dock.  Oh, and we play Super Heroes UNO.  We’ve been to the Cabinet Gorge Dam to watch the giant waterfalls and even drove east far enough to see the “Welcome to Montana” sign.

And we spent three hours searching for the FG’s life jacket this morning.  It was finally discovered inside a cooler under a stack of plastic tablecloths.

Life is good.