Aaahhhh Summer Vacations...

another week here and gone... so fast, in a blink we were there and gone it seems. But it finally felt like summer... hot days and cool drinks... strolling in the water feeling the waves come in and wash the sand out from under your toes. Heaven. Priest Lake is a most beautiful place and has an old charm about it... an air of family traditions. People are friendly and happy and not in a hurry... content.

Everyone had fun this year, with friends to play and be silly with, and compete with... and dunk, how could you not have fun. Lots of time to read and bask in the sun... taking afternoon naps on the beach and relishing the lack of needing to get something done. No deadlines or phone calls... well maybe a few... but in general a much needed reprieve of responsibility for the bill payer of this vacation.

It was a beautiful week with one wind storm in the middle of it that blew in big clouds and blew down a smattering of trees. It's kind of nice to have a small break in perfect weather, it makes all the other days feel so welcomed... though I heard of the awful fire in Spokane due to the winds, I felt bad for those families affected and wished for them to find there way through such devastation with peace and strength.

Until next year thanks Priest Lake for another year of vacation memories.

We celebrated our 7th anniversary while there with a wonderful savory dinner at Hills Restaurant. Praise worthy. Our taste buds were in heaven. For the supposed seven year itch we still seem to be pretty happy. Love continues to grow in new and different ways all the time... changing and morphing us into something far different than those first few months of intoxicating romance. So much deeper the acceptance and respect for one another... the allowing of the other person to be who they need to be and supporting that growth with attempted understanding... not always found or expressed but certainly sought after in our hearts. It is a continual weave that we dance and separate, dance and separate with each re-acquaintance a new stitch in the design. I hope for a beautiful blanket when we are all done, one of many colors and textures of years of joy and trial... of respect and appreciation... with the hope that a little glint in each others eye of  that first love that brought us together will still sparkle somewhere... and that we will never grow too old or too grouchy to hold hands. I love you sweet man, Happy Anniversary.
This was one of the first cabins ever built in Priest Lake, though you cannot see it well it is a log structure. While out shooting I saw this on the main road and spoke with a couple that was working to take it apart, lovingly piece by piece. The front porch and windows had already been taken out, and the tongue and groove old floor was being worked on next... piece by piece disassembling the whole cabin. What a labor of love. They purchased this cabin and the structure next to it (no photo of it) which was an old gas station, and are moving them both to Ione by the end of the month... good luck to you!
The Golden Poet- my favorite shot from this trip. A little artistic freedom used here ... just a little though... but I love it so much I think I'm going to print it for above our fireplace. It held such magic... and peace... and beauty... I'd like to revisit it often.