Summertime is high season in Lake Annis. My daughter Anna was here for a week with Gus the wonder dog and we had a great time. When she left, she said "I didn't know there was going to be so much to do here." There's an influx of summer people, families, kids, grandkids, sailboats, lots of parties, and yes, there's more than a few cars. Maybe two dozen, but nobody drives every day. That would be crazy.

We didn't get the "new" boat finished for the regatta. A week of rain sort of screwed the painting sched. We have lots of experience with the rain/varnish combination, so we sigh, and are content with the fact that the boat is taking up water. Good possibility that this old boat will float when we get her in the water. There will be a launch, with champagne, and I'm thinking that the king-sized sheets from the boat will see a second life as main and jib for "Peggy." There's got to be a reason for having schlepped them home. Please.

I'll post photos of the regatta (and lots of other stuff) below. We went out in Marjorie and rowed out to the first mark and got photos of the first race. Nobody bellowed, collided or got particularly grumpy as far as we could tell. No cranking of winches. The loons got out of the way. Small boats, small lake, and we were close enough to hear everybody say "where'd the wind go?" as they rounded the mark with good speed and then sort of pooped out. Things picked up and there was a good close finish: all the boats in within about 10 minutes. This is a scale that I can appreciate.

Boat news: lots of inquiries. Everyone who gets in touch loves the look of the boat, but when they think about moving aboard, I wonder if they think that a plastic boat would just be easier.

There's someone out there who isn't afraid of varnish, and they'll pitch up soon I hope. Randy and I avoid the topic, but I know that we're both having serious pangs about the fall approaching.

I hope I don't have to have him put down when it starts to snow.

Kidding.