Sailing and rainbow trout

Greetings from Sanger again.

My time with my Grandparents is still magical, consisting of bike rides (averaged 28.8km/hr on my 31km route this morning!) and baking (banana, walnut choc chip bread and zucchini bread!). But whenever they can, my uncle Kirk and Jamie whisk me off to enjoy the good ol' outdoors.

After the lovely party in honour of my Grandmother, where we experienced a crazy dust storm, we set off to Huntington lake again in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I'm officially used to driving on the right side of the road, which is the right side, right?

Upon arrival to the cabin Kirk and grabbed the fishing poles, and I donned my new (from an op shop) stylish-yet-functional overalls and headed for the lake to catch dinner before dark. Now, imagine, a beautiful lake, pine trees in the distant, light fading, nothing but you, water and your fishing pole. Well, Kirk is quite the fisherman, patient, strong and quiet.

I am the opposite, fidgety, talkative, impatient and I like casting more than waiting. So it was to my absolute delight when I got my first bite, a 10 inch rainbow trout I named George. Cast again (wee!) and wait all of 3 minutes before reeling in and casting again. After doing this little dance for a while another bite. Boom, 9 incher named Jemima. Anyway, you get the idea.

Final fish count:

Tina: 4

Kirk: 0

So basically you can call me Fishman Tina is you want. But really, I attribute my luck to the dungarees!

After a good dinner of fresh fish and a good nights sleep we headed to 10,000 ft for a stunning view and spot of wild flower hunting. It was a beautiful sunny day, and as the wind picked up we decided to go sailing.

So, dungarees and bathers on and aboard I hopped. Now, like fishing I've only been sailing twice. Once on the Huntington lake for a moon light sail where there was NO wind so we paddled for an hour or so.

But yesterday, the whole crew set out, Neeners and Shila (dogs) in their little life vests. It was glorious. We saw a juvenile osprey diving for fish (and failing) and a nest with little ones chirping away. The sun was shining, the water was crisp. Beautiful.

So, you can imagine my joy as I was given the opportunity to steer, aka to BE captain. So, dungarees on I jumped into action steering the boat this way and that. I turned us around a couple of buoys to the screams and shouts of Kirk and Jamie- dogs and people flying from one side of the

21 ft boat to the other.

Basically, you can call me Captain Tina too.

As we pulled in to dock I walked the plank and swam among the fishies.

What a day.

So today, I'm back in hot hot Sanger. Better get back to it, Grandma and I are going to tie-dye a bunch of my clothes.

Anyway, hugs from central California.

Sailing and rainbow trout