Recovering From the Weekend

My good friend, Nancy, has been feverishly working on a quilt for the bed in Camille's room.  She knew that the kids were coming to visit this weekend and she wanted to have it done before Camille arrived.  Many months ago, she came over and looked at the valances over the windows in Camille's room.  Then she poured over quilting patterns, showing me "potentials," and then went shopping for fabric.  Nancy has an amazing eye for color and she loves incorporating applique into her quilts, stitching in highlights and detail.  She made the portrait quilts for us of Flash and Kersey.  She finished up the binding last week and I went up to her place (they are neighbors) and picked it up Thursday after work, chores and dinner.  Then I put it on Camille's bed and took some pictures.  It's gorgeous.  She even made matching shams.

Friday afternoon, Camille flew into Sacramento and we hit the grocery store on the way home from the airport.  I bought all kinds of shellfish to make a clam bake that night, and food for the remainder of the weekend as well.  Once we were home, the groceries unloaded, and the chores done, we got to work with Brett -- securing three kayaks in the bed of his pick up.  We have a rack on top of the Subaru that Brett and I use when we go out, but it only holds two kayaks.  Brett has fit four kayaks in the truck bed before, all stacked neatly on their sides.  But three was an awkward number.  We had to make sure they didn't slide out the back (the tailgate was down, with the backs of the kayaks resting on a bar that was hooked into the hitch (you see construction trucks hauling lumber around with them sometimes).  We lashed, and lashed, and lashed some more.  We'd get one secure and another would slide.  After an hour, Camille looked at us and said "I think we need beer."   We finally got it done and I started dinner.  I think we ate at 9:30 pm which is late -- even for us.

Saturday morning, we fed and mucked and emptied the rat trap (woohoo!) and headed towards Tahoe.  We took Camille to our favorite place to kayak, Wright's Lake.  It's very small, shallow and full of boulders so you can't take a motorized boat out.  It is very popular with kayakers.  At the far end of the lake, we paddled up the stream that feeds the lake.  Camille loved it.

After eating our picnic lunch while drifting in a small pond, off the stream, surrounded by reeds, we paddled back to the small launch area.

Brett brought the truck over and we got ready to load the kayaks.  Except that the tailgate wouldn't release.  We ended up lashing the kayaks on top; balancing the fronts on top of his toolbox and the backs on top of the tailgate.  Again, we lashed and lashed and lashed.  Brett didn't speak the whole way home (an hour and a half) -- worried about getting that tailgate fixed.  He worried about the expense but mostly about the possibility having the truck in the shop for more than a day.  During fire season we do not like the truck to be gone at all.  Of course, without the tailgate down, Brett couldn't hitch the horse trailer to the truck anyway (it is a gooseneck) so today he is out getting that fixed.

Kyle and Ana arrived Saturday afternoon, shortly before we got back home.  We had just enough time to unload the kayaks, do the evening chores, and change before going to a cowboy concert and dinner.  We love the venue, long tables under towering oaks; a wooden stage; bbq tri-tip, chicken and beans with pie at intermission.  And Dave Stamey, the cowboy singer, writes songs which are hugely entertaining and get your feet tapping.  Brett and I even danced.  (a very rare occurrence).

The house was hot and stuffy when we got home and, despite opening all the windows wide, none of us slept very well.  Sunday, we took the kids up to Jenkinson Lake where they kayaked some more.  Brett and I ran errands and I worked a bit in the garden, until it got too hot.  We had an early dinner before Kyle and Ana left, taking Camille to the airport on their way back to Berkeley.

I went to bed at 8:30.  I was wiped.