This was our second time participating in the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Butterfly Count.

This cool program is a long-term citizen-scientist project, involving thousands of volunteers throughout North America.





We spent the morning conducting a one-day census of all butterflies sighted within our section of South Lake Tahoe.

Jenny and I took so many photographs. It was hard to stop (I took over 100 myself).
I am certainly passionate about butterflies.



Besides discovering a plethora of butterflies, we ogled a variety of insects that intrigued us.


I do love dragonflies!


We were outstanding in our field.



I even caught an Osprey in flight. So very, very cool.

There are few things that I demand a home to have. One of the most important to me is a fireplace. Edna Ferber was so right when she said, "We no longer build fireplaces for physical warmth, we build them for the warmth of the soul; we build them to dream by, to hope by, to home by."

When we first looked at our cabin, this was our fireplace. I loved the uniqueness of it. It has gone through several changes in its now 83 years of life (at one point someone had even painted the brickwork magenta). Knowing we didn't want the inconvenience of burning real wood, we hired a company to install a gas fireplace insert.
What seemed an easy task proved quite difficult for the installers. First they had to take out a massive Dianoga-like pipe (for those who are Star Wars fans, think the garbage compactor creature).
Another task, once the insert was in its place, was to fabricate a plate to seal the opening. We have delighted in the finished product for the last seven years (warmth, dreams and home).

When we first moved to Tahoe, I joined a book club. One of our first reads was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It is still one of my favorite books.

A couple of years later, I had the great pleasure to meet (and hang out with) Garth at WordWave. I am beyond excited that this novel is going to be a movie.

The last few days have been a whirlwind and not necessarily bloggable.

Jim came by with his niece, Amy. We found out a few years ago that this Law Professor from Houston is a distant cousin of Steve (the Haerrs of Illinois). His family summers in their Tahoe cabin located just down the street from us. It truly is a small world.
Our friend, Fern, moved off the hill to Folsom recently. She is a blog follower and admired my Mickey antenna ball. Steve and I delivered and mounted her custom order. We were paid with a delicious breakfast on our way to the Bay Area.
I will never tire of traversing the Golden Gate Bridge.
Lunch was at IKEA, which recently hosted its annual Midsummer Smörgåsbord. Though we missed the event, we delighted in a meal of their tasty meatballs while traveling back to Lake Tahoe.

There is just something so summery about traveling silently upon the Lake's surface. Our friends, Steve and Cyndi felt the same and included us for a magical voyage.

Since these images demand no comment, I will let Christopher Cross' lyrics from his Grammy winning song Sailing (1980) provide the content for this post.

A priority on Brady's itinerary was to get her new little trailer registered. She chose our South Lake Tahoe DMV in which to accomplish this goal.

Certain trailers can be registered with a permanent, non-expiring trailer plate. This special licensing is based on the unit's weight and length. Part of the awesomeness of this tiny home is this great perk- a Permanent Trailer Identification (PTI) designation. It will save them a ton of money of the years of their ownership.

For those not in the know, thousands of Scamp camper owners have logged millions of miles with the Scamp 13’.
Scamp small travel trailers are durable, lightweight and aerodynamic. The lightweight, hard shell fiberglass travel trailer is durable, easy to tow and maneuver. Scamps are designed to be towed by small cars, SUVs, mini vans, and trucks. The unique aerodynamic design assures high fuel efficiency. I have learned so much about Scamps on this visit. I have a crush on them actually!

For many Americans, July 11 will proceed like any other summer day -- hot, sticky and Slurpee-less. But for 7-Eleven worshippers, 7/11 is a celebration, a gift and the official harbinger of Slurpee Season. Today's the day the convenience store chain offered a free small Slurpee to any customer who walked through its doors, no strings attached (from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

We kicked off Slurpee Season in style! What icy goodness. It has been decades since I've slurped!


Next stop was for a Lake Tahoe History lesson at the Baldwin Estate & Museum. We explored various cabins, watched a short introductory video, perused the exhibits which included a 1920s kitchen and intriguing information about the infamous Lucky Baldwin. We even had fun in their very well stocked gift shop.




I loved the toy collection and its memory-evoking capabilities.




After a busy Tahoe day, the best way to finish is by listening to music at Live at Lakeview.
This was Eric's first Summertime visit to Tahoe, so sharing this event with him was a must.


Tap Water with Barnsmoke played music that got everyone dancing.
Musical magic indeed! What a day.