Hiking, Swimming, Jamming, Hanging with Friends

 This is the camp where we stay in Star Lake.

 The Star Lake cell tower disguised as a pine tree. It doesn't work yet.

The lake where I swim...and sometimes Jake, and his friend the frog, wade.

 

 

 Some friends we hang with.

Phyllis and high school friend Chuck Stevens

A crowded, noisy, fun reunion at the Fire House

Don, Ed, and Jewel's Star Lake house concert!

Family time

We survived the race and went hiking the next day

We visited Meg and her Cheese to You shop in pretty Lexington, VA

Cousin Charlene's birthday cake surprise

It was a hot day to hike up to Cathedral Hill

 

Winners, Pies, Bear Mountain, and Lake Time

Having been spectators in the Poker Run on Saturday, our opportunity to be winners came at the Save Our Schoolhouse 5k on Sunday. We grabbed the ring. Each of us beat our time from last year. That would have been good enough, but in addition, Pam and James came in 1^st and 4^th in their age groups. And, Russ and I each got 2^nd place in ours. 

ready to go

waiting to start

Our Friend Stretching

Since we burned all those calories with such healthy exertion, we then went to the Pie Social, where we ate hot dogs and homemade pie with ice cream and hot fudge.

Pie Social

Yesterday we hiked about 4 miles on Bear Mountain.

met these girls and dogs on the way up the mountain to the overview

 

 Today…Lake time...hanging out with our friends!

 

 

 Gotta love this place.

A Summer Saturday in Star Lake

What do you do in a tiny hamlet on a summer Saturday? Sleep late. Walk 4 miles around the lake. Visit some of the 50 houses participating in the Great Summer Garage Sale. And…be part of the Star Lake Protective Association’s Pirate Poker Run!

 

A special feature of Star Lake is that many of the camps have motorized docks. For the Poker Run, you invite your friends, motor out to the big sand bar, pay your $5 (member) or $10 (guest) and pick up your numbered list of camps to visit to get your cards.

 

 One of the camps that was giving out cards was on our bay of the lake so we decided to sit in the shade at the waterfront and let the show come to us. 

 After a couple of hours of floating around to the various houses, all the docks gather at the sand bar and party together while the organizers compare hands to see who won. We went to the party.

 

Sunshine, Hikes, Swim Time, Good Friends

Living without air conditioning is a treat. We woke up to birds calling through open windows. Temperatures were in the 60s. We walked around the lake, swam in the lake, climbed the hill to the camp, walked to the water falls on the Little River, swam some more, and sat around chatting with the neighbors. What a lovely day!

We Are in Star Lake

Spaghetti and key lime pie with neighbors for our first night at the Lake. Can't beat that!

Windows open. Breeze blowing in for sleeping.

Sunshine and 70 degrees for our walk around the lake this morning. 4 miles and some hills.

Very nice start to our stay with one big negative...poor Jake seems to be having trouble recovering the strength in his back legs after such a long ride on the car.

Packing for Star Lake

Tomorrow is the day to pack for our Star Lake trip. Can't wait to get there.

 

Deer in the Yard

I think the deer are hanging in the yard and cul-de-sac to avoid all the mosquitoes in the woods. Jake seems to think they are boring.

We are not still painting the bathroom

Our postponed hike on the Way of St James would be long finished by now. Instead, the master bathroom rehab is almost finished and we are still looking forward to our hike. Not too bad an outcome, given how awful we felt when we had to cancel.

It took several weeks to get my renewed passport. Now I have 10 years leeway, instead of fewer than 90 days. I'll bet the European Union will let me in now!

The bathroom turned out very much to our liking. We still need to replace the counter top and sinks, but that will come in due time.

 

 

And, with part of what we saved by doing so much ourselves, we bought a new mattress and springs. The old one no longer owed us anything.

Between painting sessions, we did some paddling with the Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges.

 

 

 

Having done all the planning for the hike in France, we found ourselves feeling almost as if we'd already done it, even though we hadn't. So we think we'll pick a different route for the September hike. When it is settled, we'll post some more about it. But we change our minds so often, we don't dare post yet.

Our next adventures are another paddling event...this time in the town of Suwannee, where the Suwannee River meets the Gulf of Mexico...and our annual trip to Star Lake for a couple of weeks. This year, we will use the time there to get in additional hill training for the hike...and cool weather training! Looking forward to spending time with Meg and Steve on the way up to the North Country and having days on the lake with Pam and James, and maybe Meg.

Master bath rehab is never ending

We must be having a ton of fun with this project because we keep finding new walls to paint.

The old wallpaper is long gone, although the sticky little pieces of underlining paper are immortal. The bare walls were a wonderful improvement over the worn and dated paper. Nevertheless, we began painting them after enjoying their nakedness for a few days.

 

Now the 10' ceilings are painted and we're working our way down to the floor. It turns out a ladder will stand safely in the tub, although we have decided climbing ladders ought to be reserved for people in their 20s.

It amazed us how ugly the walls could look when only the edging was complete. Now that a few of the walls are fully painted we are relieved that we like them.

But the project is far from over. Much more fun ahead. Tomorrow we'll maybe finish the green semi-gloss walls. Woodwork after that...but no rush.