Beauty IS only on the surface.........

The old saying "beauty is skin deep" isn't really accurate. Because what someone is on the INSIDE is really what counts, right? A beautiful soul, etc.? Well, that doesn't apply to everything.

Like, for example, Lake Washington. Today we kayaked around the lake and it was so beautiful. The sky was blue, the clouds were white and fluffy, there were baby ducks and magnificent birds. The lake was dotted with picturesque lily pads with perfect white lilies. But........

Underneath all of that, was the most disgusting, horrifying, slimy, scary and icky stuff ever. The water was positively thick with weeds, all green and slimy and swaying in a spooky way just under the surface. It was like floating on top of a haunted forest. The "land"scape was dotted with various broken logs, covered in slime and looking like gravestones. Every other paddle dredged up seaweed that hung off the paddle like hair. I tried to shake it off but it just wrapped itself around my paddle. Ick, ick, ick!

I soon figured out that as long as I did not look down, everything was fine. It was serene and beautiful, so peaceful just floating along. Every so often a fish would jump. That got Jeff all excited and he decided to bait our hooks. I dropped my worm in the muck and waited for a bite. But all I caught was more seaweed. Jeff caught two perch. Sigh.

A couple of times I actually got stuck in the muck, and it slowed my kayak down. I momentarily entertained thoughts of my kayak flipping over and me flailing around in the scary weeds. I mean, really, what would I do? Jeff actually practiced flipping his kayak on purpose, so he could ensure he could actually get back in the boat in case of emergency. Me? I figured if I went over in the boat, I was a goner! The minute my leg wrapped around that slime, I'd have a panic attack that would put me in cardiac arrest.

I guess I should really be more prepared just in case. I mean, it's just weeds, right? Shudder. Maybe next time I'll wear my wetsuit just in case.

Fishing and Crabbing on Puget Sound

Jeff fishes off the Edmonds pier

Edmonds/Kingston ferry makes a pass

Small boat at sunset

Arlie, after a long, hot day at camp

Jeff throws the crab net off the pier!

These are some photos of Wednesday night when we went fishing and crabbing off the Edmonds pier. We didn't catch anything, but it was a nice reprieve being on the water, from the miserably hot weather we had been having (109 degrees in our town!). Jeff's new hobby is fishing for salmon and crabbing. The first two attempts netted us four Red Rock crab which were delicious!

Kids at Camp

Arlie on "Western" day!

Anna and Hannah - both jr. staff. Anna goes to school with Hannah.

Lynn Kyes and Flower. Lynn is Flower's cousin on her dad's side. Flower is my niece who comes every year to be a counselor at this camp! Lynn's first year.........

Harrison, Flower, Arlie and Hannah at Camp Coyote - they've been doing this camp for years! Hannah the longest, 9 years this year. Hayley didn't do this camp this year because she was at ASB camp at Mt. Rainier.

Drive to Pasco

Flower, Arlie and Hannah ready for the long ride back home!

Marcia and Mary-Leah

Hannah

Jeff doing his trademark Lewis and Clark pose!

Sun streaming through the clouds as the day draws to a close.....

We took a trip to Pasco Friday night to meet Marcia and Flower and Jeanette and Arlie. Flower was coming for Camp Coyote, the Camp Fire day camp the kids do every year, and Arlie was coming home from two weeks in Spokane. This was the best "central" meeting place I could find. We were in the car for 8 hours and didn't get home until 1 a.m. We went to sleep around 1:30 and Jeff got up at 3 a.m. to go fishing! The girls and I got up around 7:30 to get ready to go to camp training. It was a long, tiring day!

Fishing at sunset

Ferry at sunset

Fishing dock at sunset

Pretty!

Cool clouds!

Fire on the water

More cool clouds

Boats and the setting sun

Path of sunlight

Like an illuminated ball on the water!

The mountains and a passing ferry boat

Jeff - salmon fisherman wanna-be

The proud crabber!

Silhouette against the sky

My boy!

Peekaboo Harrison!

Ferry boat

Ferrying off into the sunset

Fishin' pole and ferry boat

Some photos that Harrison and Jeff took on the cell phone while they were fishing for salmon and crabbing at the Edmonds pier tonight. The salmon were elusive but the crab came in pairs! That's four crab in two nights - yum!

Fishin'

Pretty sunset across the lake!

Jack, Harrison and I fishing off the dock

Me and my boy, fishing fools!

Fishing at sunset

Harrison and Jack gearing up to catch.........nothing!

Jeff doing a front flip off the dock!

We went fishing at the lake last night, after Jeff and Amy took a swim across the lake to train for their triathlon, and we cooked hot dogs while the boys swam. It was a fun time! We didn't catch anything, but we didn't fish long either. It was already sunset when we arrived at the dock and we pushed our limits fishing past "closing time"!