Gifts and an award

Yesterday--so clear, so bright, so crisp--was truly a gift, an award in and of itself. And it was a gift that I could spend so much of the perfect day on and around the Big Lake.

I'd been invited to attend an annual business meeting of an organisation that interacts with the Fish and Game Committee, held at Owl Brook in Holderness, near the Squam Lakes.

On the way there, I stopped at the cottage on the Big Lake. As I came to the tip of our Bay, I spotted the big white boat heading to its dock.

I went to the cottage to check on the progress of the house painting. All of the outside is finished--siding, doors, window frames--with only the porch and window screens and screened doors to be completed. The entire job should be finished by week's end, meaning the girls and I can move back in, and the Chap can join us at weekends, as we did most of the summer.

I love all that shiny new paint! The place was gleaming in the sun!



While I was lunching on yogurt on our temporarily screenless porch, the big white boat passed by, heading north. So of course I raced down to the dock to get the iconic photograph.



When I finished admiring all that fresh paint, I made my merry way up the west side of the lake. Lots of sailboats just off the shore. On my approach to Meredith Bay I realised that the big white boat and I were in a race. I shot this photo just before overtaking it.



I won--reached Meredith first--and continued past Squam Lake to Holderness and Owl Brook.

The meeting was very interesting. I saw people I'd met during the legislative session, heard about legislation the NHTA will be pursuing, their plans for the annual banquet, and other business.

Then they had an awards presentation. Greatly to my astonishment, I received an award placque for "dedication to the scientific management of furbearing animals and the support of our trapping heritage." Don't know that I'm deserving of the recognition, but I'm certainly greatly honoured and grateful.

One of the nicest aspects of my day near the water was the near absence of traffic on a Sunday afternoon. Summer's over, plus it was a NASCAR race weekend and everyone was either at the Speedway or glued to their telly, and it's early for leaf-peeping. (The foliage up there was less advanced than I expected. But the prognosticators are predicting an extremely colourful season.)

There's a spot on Route 3 descending a hill, almost at Paugus Bay in Meredith, where, for a few seconds, the most amazing vista of blue water, green islands and mountains, blue skies and white clouds opens up. Spectacular. And within an instant, it's gone.

I pulled over at the Scenic View point directly across from our house.




Spotting the flag atop our boathouse, I zoomed in.



When I arrived home, I showed the Chap and the girls my very impressive acquisition.



After a delicious caipirihna (Brazil) I made gratin dauphinoise (France) which turned out very well indeed, and we ate it with sliced giant tomatoes (New Hampshire), gifts from our priest's garden.

Today is an exact copy of yesterday. I'll spend my afternoon on the screened porch here at the Lodge, writing.