Hello August

I sit here sipping my coffee which is now starting to get cold. I’m not outside this morning because I have have a bunch of computer work to catch up on and it’s drizzling enough to not have my laptop outside. We need the rain but I know it won’t add up to be much. They’re saying less than a millimeter. Over the last couple of months I have watched our marshes dry up and the ditches go brown. My rainwater reserves ran dry long ago. I’m grateful we have a good sand point so we can still water the garden without fear of running our well dry.

The fires this year are horrendous. They always are but the dry conditions are making it more dangerous for everyone. We’ve had a couple of fires within 25-30 minutes of our home but they were small and easily contained. We have been lucky in our area. The families further north have many more fires to worry about!

Are there any fires that are close to where you are?

It’s so hard to believe that August is here. We were finally able to spend a day at the lake as a family 🙂 I worked my very last shift at my job this past Saturday and so we just filled the next coupe of days with a little much needed r&r! We headed to my sister’s place for a quick little visit and got to see some wildlife on the way home. We also went past an elk farm and though they aren’t wild elk, the kids still really enjoyed seeing them.

We headed back home afterwards and got things ready to spend a couple of hours down at the lake. The two oldest kids went fishing while the youngest wanted nothing more than to play in the water so that’s what we did. We all had a great day. After the sun set, the big dragonflies all came out to show off their flying skills while they had their bedtime snacks. We set off for home after enjoying the show for awhile to get the kids to bed so we could go back the next day for more fun, fishing and sun.

In the slideshow below I have an adorable chipmunk that took me a million tries to get just one photo that was acceptable. My daughter out swimming where it shows the smoke over the lake. Normally we can see the other side of the lake quite clearly. The next one is my oldest with the 3 pound Jack (otherwise known as a northern pike) he caught. And lastly is another shot of the lake showing how thick the smoke was. We have had thicker smoke but we stay inside whenever possible.

I have a few photos from my drives into work from my last couple of shifts. I am going to miss those early morning drives watching the sunrises ❤ I won’t miss the 4am alarm though LOL.

Foggy mornings are always so beautiful and my camera just doesn’t do these images justice. The fog was dancing gleefully in the low ditches, swirling happily through the trees and fence posts. If only I had time to get out and listen, I’m sure I would’ve heard playful laughter before it all began to lift as the sun got higher in the sky. The cemetery is just on the other side of the highway from my little village. I’m forever in awe in the beauty there. I used the noir filter for this shot, of course because of the fog. The reality was a different feeling all together. It was mysterious as the orange hues of morning shone through the fog, instead of the spooky feeling I tried to create here.

What did you do for the long weekend?

Have a beautiful week everyone!

-Ang