Monday, May 27, 2024

T Stands for Summery Things

      Hi everyone. It's another week, and it's already the last week of May. Wow!

     I'm posting Monday night, and  in the US the last Monday in May is known as Memorial Day,  The holiday is for honoring military personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty. On a lighter and less official  note, here in my area it is also the start to the summer "season", but obviously not meteorological nor astronomical summer.  

      This year for the summer "season" I decided to go back to my lake job for a couple of weekday mornings. I did this job for several summers, and then I took a  10 year hiatus before returning last summer. What do I do? Well I hang out at the state boat ramp at the big lake in my town, and I check boats that are putting in or are being pulled out of the water for any invasive species that might be on the boat or on the boat trailer. 

       Besides having a lot of reading time between boats,  I get to sit by the water and look at the view. However today it was misty and  cold so I sat in my car between boats for my 5 hour shift. But being the end of the holiday weekend it was surprisingly busy with lots of fishing people as well as some people pulling out their boats after the holiday weekend. Here's a couple photos from one morning  last week when some fog was burning off.



One other thing  I was busy with  last week (when it wasn't 90 degrees) was the garden. My plants have gotten huge in the last couple of weeks especially when the warm weather arrived,  and one of my azalea's is looking amazing right now.



     This plant started out as a tiny little sapling that was growing from an azalea that my Dad had in my childhood yard, and he gave it to me to plant.  Now all these 30-ish years later, it is a beauty.


    This past Saturday the hubby and I, along with one of my sister-in-laws and her husband, spent the day doing some outside clean up at my mother-in-law's house on the lake. One thing that we got done was putting the dock in for the summer.  After it was in and all the other projects were done, I actually ventured in for my first swim of the season.


Mr. Pete loves to swim with me, so having the dock in made his day. 

     Since it is T day over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog again, I need to share a drink. The other morning, before we went and did our all day clean up at my mother-in-law's house, my husband and I stopped for breakfast at our favorite hole in the wall restaurant.


     We figured we wouldn't be having lunch, so I went for some blueberry pancakes with sausage, and my husband had the hungry man's special. His piece of prime rib was SO big I ended up having a few bites and even the dogs had a few bites that he took home  in a doggy bag. Needless to say they really enjoyed that treat. ❤ And I needed a caffeine jolt and something cold to wake me up, so it was a Diet Coke for me to drink. 
     That's all for me today. I hope you have a super T day and week ahead. 



























24 comments:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Now I am famished!! All I've had today were a few crackers. I was afraid IO would go to sleep if I ate, so your breakfast looks amazing.

You have some gorgeous views of the lake at your day job. And you get to read or listen to a lot of great books, too.

I tried growing azaleas, but they don't do well in my climate. I killed three and don't want to kill anymore. Yours are stunning. I like how the area surrounding the azalea is filling in so beautifully, too.

You and Mr. Pete were pretty brave to swim in that water. I suspect it was still quite cold.

Thanks for sharing your day job, swimming, gardening, and breakfast with diet coke with us for T this week, dear Erika.

DVArtist said...

Those photos took my breath away. The dock and the lake are stellar. The flowers, WOW! I really like pancakes. Yummmmm

hels said...

Australia starts winter on the 1st June, and although the weather here is still sunny and very pleasant, the rain and cool temperatures and inevitably on their way. Perhaps that might help me produce azaleas like your stunners.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to warm weather! -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...


Enjoy summer Erika! -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com

Angie's Recipes said...

Gosh, the first two pictures of lake look so surreal and heavenly beautiful!

Jim and Barb's Adventures said...

Very cool. There are certainly worse ways to spend your summer! The water looks so refreshing and that breakfast looked delicious. I too am now hungry!

Iris Flavia said...

Your lake-view is so pretty and wow on your garden!
What a pretty memory of your Dad! Just like my Mom´s strawberries (that got eaten up by birds this year - lesson learned!).
Yay for a swim!
Why is it called "hole in the wall restaurant"? The hungry man´s special made me giggle! Must be a great place - have a wonderful T-Day, hugs

Mae Travels said...

A job that requires waiting by a lake doesn’t sound too bad… and that’s a nice breakfast.
best, mae

Valerie-Jael said...

You flowers are amazing! Love them.Being at the Lake watching for boats sounds good, and swimming in your lake even better. My dog loved swimming, too. And those blueberry pancakes nailed the spot, yummy! Happy T Day, dear Erika! Hugs!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Sounds like a great job - sit and read a book and get paid for it! Sign me up. All the best - David

Tom said...

...I LOVE the silvery lake!

Empire of the Cat said...

Sitting on the dock and reading sounds like a lovely way to spend the summer (in between checking boats). I have a couple of white azaleas but they are still quite small despite being about 10 years old. I am enjoying the Louise Penny books, it's refreshing to have a lead detective free of all the usual problems (drink, drugs, bad marriage etc). Happy T Day!

CJ Kennedy said...

I love the pictures on the lake and Mr. Pete looks so happy swimming. Your azalea is amazing! Nothing like a substantial breakfast before beginning outdoor work. I'm not doing outdoor work, but I want some blueberry pancakes. Have a good day and Happy T Day

Divers and Sundry said...

Your summer is shaping up nicely! I'm an observer of meteorological summer, which comes on June 1, so I'm in with a Memorial Day kick-off 👍

Our azaleas are gone already. Yours is gorgeous! I love it when people let azaleas grow to their full size

Breakfast out sounds like a real treat.

Katerinas Blog said...

The first photo is amazing,
the light reflecting off the dock creates a road!
It has romance!!
The red azalea is gorgeous!
Your breakfast looks delicious!
Have a nice day Erika!!

Lisca said...

Beautiful photos taken at the lake! And those azaleas are spectacular.
Pancakes? Yum, you are making me hungry.
Happy T-Day,
Lisca

Jeanie said...

That bush is beyond fabulous! I'm glad you're back at your summer job. It sounds like a good fit. (Do you find much in the line of invasive species coming in and if you do, what do you do about it? Hose them down? Something more?)

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

The lake job sounds great, Erika, especially as you get to see some nice views and even do some reading. Wow, that is really a large azalea bush and apparentky thriving in your garden.

Aimeslee Winans said...

Have fun at the docks, both of them, lol.
Your azalea's gorgeous. We had bushes of them at our old house but none here. I always remember they bloomed every February here. Like the first bush bloomer. They were in our front bed and a pine tree was in the yard which shed needles like mad every fall. Honey and I would just rake them onto the azalea bed and forget it.
Your food looks good, although I must confess I've never had prime rib with breakfast. Some down here have chicken fried steak with their eggs, I'm like, I don't think so, Tim! heehee XOX

nwilliams6 said...

Gorgeous lake pictures. Especially loved seeing you in your first swim. I think your lake job is super cool - such an important job too. We have to protect our lakes.

Love your Azaela and how great it is so meaningful to you. We have several plants from my mother in law. I don't touch them or they would go on to plant heaven - but hubby has a green thumb.

The breakfasts you both had look wonderful. Wow. I would go there a lot of there was one of those restaurants around here.

Happy T-day and hugz!

Mia said...

Glad to see that you had such a lovely time in the lake. Mr Pete seems to enjoy swimming. Your azalea is amazing. And I LOVE your lake photos. Kisses, my friend.

Lowcarb team member said...

Lovely photographs.

All the best Jan

Spyder said...

I was here earlier, honest! it seems nearly al Lovely food and pictures!! Happy very late T day ((Lyn))