Poquoson (7/6/2014)

This 4th of July weekend was absolutely nice.  Saturday we went swimming from the sail boat, and Sunday we went Kayaking in the Poquoson River.  We went with a group of friends; 19 kayaks and we paddled from a friends home to another friend for a BBQ and swimming in their pool.  After this we returned by Kayak to the point we started.  The total paddle was 3 hours and it was just delightful to be on the water.

Kayaks are actually very stable, and the only time when I ever kind of went over was when I was trying to get out.  It is a great upper body workout and since you stabilize yourself with your legs and core, it is a very good exercise.

Our area is a great place to kayak and canoe.  There are many public boat launches where we can put in and explore the shore line and small creeks.  We have seen gorgeous swamps, plants, and birds.  At various times we floated next to rays and turtles, absolutely delightful.  The photos below is one I took during our trip and one that my wife took of me that same day.

Claxton Creek (7/5/2014)

I generally tend to stay away from posting pictures of my family, but it being the 4^th of July weekend, I feel more brazen (I guess).  The picture below was taken on the 5^th.  We decided to motor out to Claxton Creek, hang a tarp over the boom of our sailboat, put the boarding ladder down, throw in the floating seat and just spend an afternoon swimming, floating and trying to clean the hull a bit.  It was great weather (which it usually is after the passing of a hurricane), and it simply was a lot of fun; very relaxing. 

Claxton Creek is fairly secluded and sheltered from the waves off the Bay.  We anchored in water that was approximately 6 feet deep.  We have seen jelly fish in the creek (but not this time) and dolphins.  There are a few crab pots and there is an abandoned (partially submerged) sailboat in the creek, for someone to salvage, although I think it has been there a while and it would be too much work to fix up.  I am really wondering if the motor in the boat still has fuel and oil in it and what the impacts would be when they finally deteriorate that much and rupture.  Oh well.

In the background of the photograph you see the SeafordScallop Company at the entrance to Back Creek which leads to the marina we are members of.  Just a nice relaxing weekend; I am ready to go back out there and teach people about stormwater management.

Seaford (7/3/2014)

The day before Independence Day (July 4) was spent securing the boat for the onslaught of hurricane Arthur.  We were still not sure what would be happening and what the exact course would be, so better safe than sorry.  I spent the day putting in double mooring lines and cutting a Plexiglas hatch cover to keep the water out of the cabin.  Plexiglas is pretty brittle, but to my surprise, also easily repaired or glued with the use of some acetone.  Amazingly easy.  I took this photo during my work on the boat, yesterday.

A quick update, the boat came through alright and the hatch worked like a charm.  Albeit, I screwed up with the mooring lines and the boat must have hit the piling some during the night.  There were enough bumpers that that was ok and maybe we'll be sailing tomorrow!  Hurricane Arthur was kind to our region, I've seen little or no damage, and the winds were not that strong this time around.  Hopefully this was it for this summer.

Yorktown (6/18/2011)

Yes you have not gone back in time, but I have.  I am reacting to a photo challenge I saw on the one of the photo blogs I follow.  They asked for pictures with squares, angles and triangles.  Now it happened that we are working on a photo book for a specific year.  We are using blurb, and slowly working on year books for our family.  We've got so many photographs that we figured we might as well put the good ones in a book.  Working on the 2011 book I found one of my favorite pictures of June 2011 that shows all the things that the challenge was looking for and then some.  Even the bikini bottom of this (unknown to me) lady has triangles in it.  I'm sorry but I love this picture.  It also fit in to the theme of this blog, pictures from the area I live and from my travels throughout the state and general area.  But yes it is a look through my photo archives.
Summers in Yorktown are amazing.  We have a fun beach, close-by restaurants and even a dock, where you can park your boat (to go eat).  During the summer it can get really busy during the weekend, and we tend to stay away from it at that time, maybe with the exception of the farmer's market on Saturday morning.  Just in summary, this is a good place to live.

Roanoke (7/1/2014)

I went for a walk after teaching today in Daleville in the Roanoke area.  My fellow teacher had identified Carvings Cove Natural Reserve as a great place to go for a run, and since my knees don't allow running I went for a 2 mile walk.  I took this picture at the end of my walk.  It was good weather, low 90s and somewhat cloudy.

Teaching was fun, i taught the module on why it is important to think about stormwater, and I could talk about my ideas on urban sprawl, and the perrils of it.  Just great to be able to teach my students environmental stewardship.  I was able to bring in the Bedouins of North Yemen, deforestation in Nepal (I worked in both countries in the 1980s), and urban planning in Holland.  After that going out into the woods was fun.  You really appreciate being out there.