Blackness Rock for Lunch

No, we didn't have the Blackness Rock for lunch, rather we motored up to Blackness point in Jireh to eat a conventional lunch. It was our first family outing this year on Jireh, taking advantage of some early morning sunshine that soon disappeared! It was a lovely couple of hours on the river, a bit chilly in the wind but we found a sheltered spot for lunch. Lydia helmed up river and Julia helmed back.

Grecian Statues?

The other morning I found three Greek marble statues at our breakfast table. Such beauty, such craftmanship!

Lydia's little song

I spied a birdie in the sky,
It dropped a message near my eye.
I said to the bird as it flew by
"I'm oh so glad that cows can't fly."

Jireh on the new mooring

Jireh is finally got a permanent mooring on the River Dart and today Lynn and I went aboard to splice some thimbles into the mooring lines. Summer has come early again! We can see Jireh from out lounge window which is a bonus.

Canoeing lesson with Dan

Today Lynn and I went to visit son Dan who had agreed to take us out in a canoe or two. Now I have spent many years paddling kayaks on sea, lake and river, but what Dan made look easy was in reality a bit more tricky than I had imagined. But with a bit of patient instructing, Dan soon had me paddling in a straight(ish) line! Lynn and I shared a canoe for the down-wind stage along the Exeter Canal. On the return journey Dan joined his mum to leave me alone floundering to keep the canoe moving into the frisky wind. At least it wasn't far to swim if we fell in - which we didn't. Enjoy the pictures of Dan and 'trapper' Lynn!

Getting Jireh ready

I took advantage of the fine weather today to do a bit of work on Jireh's camping tent - I should have taken a photo! Also, and more importantly, I gave her the first coat of antifouling paint, a really horrible job involving lying underneath the boat with a drippy paintbrush. I'll get some photos at the launch in a week or so. Also, the wall is nearing completion - a very long job indeed.

Lydia's 16th birthday

There are photos a-plenty of Lydia's 16th birthday on Lynn's and Julia's blogs, but just so as not to be outdone, I will add to the album. The photographs were taken during an afternoon out at Halden Forest Park, a lovely spot, but the scene of recent chaos when we were hit with snow! This is a lovely spot to appreciate the beauty of God's creation.