Picnic! (Lake Cumberland, Day 2, August 19, 2013)

What a perfect day for a picnic on a boat: warm but not hot, a bright blue sky with slow, tall, fluffy clouds, and hardly anyone at the marina close to Pam's cabin on the lake.  She has a medium-sized houseboat.  It was wonderful to have the leisure to be able to take a bit of food and soft drinks and notice the few passing boats we call 'traffic.'

At one point, we saw an object floating.  It was long and slightly wavy.  Was it a snake?  Was it a piece of driftwood?  When we came closer, we judged it to be driftwood.

In addition to barnswallows, we saw lake turtles, butterflies, and small fish.  The lake water is green and somewhat murky.

Pleasant Hill Marina at Lake Cumberland - private, 73 slips.

Pam beside her houseboat.

Later, we drove north to the town of Russell Springs to pick up a few things for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow: sour cream for the soup, bagels, and replacement batteries. Preston, the teenage checkout guy, was super-speedy and we complimented him, "You get the world's record for fast checkers."  He was quite pleased.

Dinner was superb: zucchini soup with a dollop of sour cream.  I asked Pam for the recipe.  She told me how to cut up the zucchini and carrots, but first cook the chopped onions till they were very soft, crush a couple of cloves of garlic, add a little bit of this and a pinch of that and then put everything in the food processor.  Oh, oh!  No quantities, "Well, I just put in what I have," she admitted.  Pam is one of those creative cooks who manages to produce a banquet with whatever is in the kitchen, unlike me, who am an utter slave to recipes.  I knew I'd never duplicate the soup so I just enjoyed every spoonful!

We considered driving around "deer watching" but changed our minds and settled into the comfy couch in front of the big TV in the "treehouse" room. For a fleeting two seconds, we saw a squirrel run up a branch but that was all the activity outside.  It is such a treat to have absolute silence for a while - no vehicular traffic, no loud lawnmowers, no construction truck 'beep-beeping' when they're backing up, no emergency sirens, no jets overhead, not even an unhappy dog barking, no nothing.  Utter peace!