Sky Water / Dragonfly / Strawberry Cheesecake!

A day without rain . . . NOT!!!!  :-)

Tuesday was supposed to be the day of the week in which we were NOT to get any rain, finally. It rains almost every day here this summer, and a day without rain meant we were looking forward to a chance to get out and go swimming. We had not been to Black Moshannon yet, so we decided to go there.

We took my husband's Impala, and I brought along a couple of spare books to give away. I thought I'd put them in the Little Free Library in the parking lot near the nature center. My husband would drop me off there, and I would take a little walk along the lake before joining him at the swim area.

But when we got to that parking lot, construction was taking place, and the sidewalk was all torn up. The Little Free Library was GONE! (As it turns out, I discovered it later, over by the nature center.) The Book Bench was still in place, however. I left the books in the car, grabbed my camera and daysack, and took off for the lake. My husband parked the car by a pavilion across the road from a boat launch and carried our chairs over to the beach.

What did I encounter on my walk along the lake? Sky water! It was a glorious set of views along the lake, with a fine cloud show taking place, as you can probably tell from the photo above. The great laurel has come into bloom and they were beautiful, dropping petals onto the water; it somehow reminded me of Ophelia. I took way too many photos, but it was just gorgeous and I could not help myself.

I walked back over to the swim area and took some photos of the water lilies and dragonflies. You may see a cute blue fella in the extras, sitting in the golden heart of the water lily, just smiling away at me. What a fine and cooperative specimen! The water's edge was just loaded with them.

Then we had our swim, and the water was not as oily as it sometimes is, as it has rained so much of late. It was also quite a bit warmer than just about anywhere else we've been this summer. Warmer than all of these: Bald Eagle, Whipple, Greenwood Furnace, and Canoe Creek.

There are some biting flies, I must warn you. They look just like regular flies but they bite, and sometimes leave a bit of blood when they do. I got a number of bites on my ankles, and they became quite itchy; it didn't last long, though. So don't forget your fly swatter if you go.

We went in to take showers (shower at home is on the fritz; plumber will show up on Thursday, so this was important), and as we were in there, I heard a familiar sound on the roof. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Why, could that BE? It WAS! It was RAINING! In fact, it was POURING DOWN!!! (I'll link to the Instagram set here - the final item is a short video of the torrential rain.)

I saw my husband ahead of me, picking up his chair and the cooler, and heading to close the windows on the car. I left the beach house and grabbed my own chair, and booked it on over to the pavilion, where we passed a happy half-hour or more, waiting for the rain to stop.

The Moose, let me add, was quite glad to be back at Black Moshannon. For this is the place where he once went calling for moose, and where finally, on a very special day, one actually appeared. Moshannon = Moss Hanne = Moose Stream. Let the moose run free!!!!

When the sun came back out, it was suddenly like a sauna. Temperatures up there on the high bog tend to be lower than down here in the valley. But it zipped from about 78 straight up to 86 degrees. I took one last walk along the shoreline, snagged a few more pictures, as the road steamed in the afternoon sun. And then we went home.

We had had cheese sandwiches and pickles and potato chips for our little picnic by the lake around lunchtime, but we were starving by the time we got home in late afternoon, and so we immediately got something to eat. I had leftover steak tips from my meal the day before; my husband enjoyed chicken soup and leftover garlic bread. 

And then we had a special treat in store, for on Monday, at Giant, my husband had bought a Jello no-bake cheesecake on clearance for half-off ($2.39). I told him I'd make it for him, and I did. (See photo in the extras.) It was so much easier than the full-on, from-scratch deal! 

All I had to do was add melted butter and sugar to the crust mix, tamp it into a pie plate, add a cup and a half of cold milk to the cheesecake filling mix, pour that into the crust, and then place the whole thing in the fridge for an hour. I got out the mixer, and a pie plate, and some bowls, and the ingredients, and I went to town.

I souped it up some: I substituted half and half for some of the milk, added a squeeze of lemon to the cheesecake mix, and sliced some strawberries my husband had brought home on the top. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! It was surprisingly good, was really easy to make, and tasted delicious. I am not ashamed to admit that the two of us ate about half of it already.

So there was a tale of our very good day, which was really not at all spoiled by an unexpected pouring-down rain! I wish for you a life of love and adventure, some outdoor time with exercise, a bunch of fun photos, and delicious treats to snack on when your day is done.  :-)

I've got three photos so here are three soundtrack songs. First, for our day without rain (ha ha ha!!!! what a kidder!), I've got Enya, with A Day Without Rain; yep, here's the whole album; my favorite might be the second song, Wild Child. Second, for my dragonfly with a heart of gold, here is REO Speedwagon, with Girl With a Heart of Gold. And for my super-easy strawberry cheesecake in the extras, I've got the Eagles, with Take It Easy.