THIS IS THE WAY TO KAYAK

That's me on the end of the tow-rope with my feet all propped up there on top of the kayak.  My kids really love me to take such good care of me........

 Zac and Sharon took turns pulling me back across the lake.  I did paddle myself for the first two or three hours, but then Suzanne decided that it was time to tow me for a while so that I wouldn't get sore.  I have such sweet thoughtful kids & grandchildren always thinking of dear old mom's welfare.  I love them all.

Kayaking with the kids

 The kids have been kayaking for many years now, but for me I'm new to it and this was my 3rd time.  The first time that I ever kayaked was at Eastern Kentucky University in a class that I took prior to 1990 with my daughter Suzanne.  There we learned how to roll a kayak completely around, but it was in a swimming pool with an instructor looking on and keeping us from drowning.

Then in 2023 Suzanne and Ray asked me if I wanted to go kayaking with them and I agreed to go.  It was fun, but getting into and out of the kayak was very difficult for me because of my recent total hip replacement.  I let myself down so hard on the kayak that I bruised myself and after that for a while I just fished from the banks of Owsley Fork Lake and any other lake I could easily drive myself to.

Suzanne & Ray use their kayaks to fish out of and to observe nature and the beautiful peaceful surroundings.  They see deer, big fish swimming by, green turtles sunning themselves on downed trees and tree limbs, and of course they watch the sun come up in the early misty mornings and the sunset in the evenings. Suzanne & Ray's grandson Carson also goes kayaking with them at times, and so does Matt, Victoria and her boys.  Kayaking is a family affair.

My other daughter Sharon, kayaks with her children & grandchildren, among other activities.  She has so many outdoors interests and you just never know what Sharon is doing from week to week.  Sharon may be on her Razor 4wheeling, her dirt bike, kayak, boating or camping primitively somewhere out in the woods, or on her motorcycle riding around the countryside or to another state all by herself.  There isn't anything out-doorsey that Sharon can't do.  I failed to name cycling 60 miles before breakfast on her mountain bike, mountain climbing or running in a marathon.  Sharon and her kids can do about anything they can afford and put their mind to doing.   

I've been pretty much a couch potato since Jimmy died, but then Rick came along and we fished and boated for a little while, but his job got in the way and we stopped going anywhere until Suzanne got me interested in fishing again this year.  Below are some pictures of last weekend when both Suzanne & Sharon got together and we all went kayaking, even me.......

We got on the lake very early.  

Suzanne & Ray arrived there at around 5:00 a.m., I got there around 5:30 a.m. and Sharon & Zac arrived around 5:45 a.m.

We immediately launched our kayaks when Sharon & Zac arrived and started on our journey.  Everyone except Sharon & I fished.  I didn't fish because it was all that I could do was to paddle myself around. Zac, Suzanne & Ray fished, but mostly we observed our beautiful surroundings and visited a lot.  Suzanne spotted a 5 foot long carp and we all got to see it as it fed around the banks of the lake.  It looked like a shark with half of its tail fin  out of the water.  No one wanted to cast near that fish because we all knew that it was way too big and would easily turn a kayak over.  I'll try to put the video of the large carp up on a later post once I figure out how to do it.

I'll attach 5 more pictures of us kayaking in the next post.  And also,  if you look closely at the last picture you will see a towrope going from Zac's kayak to mine.  We were on the lake around 5 or 6 hours with two very brief stops, so the last hour Suzanne suggested that I get towed for the trip back to the docking area.  Sharon volunteered to tow me and then Zac took over.  In the picture above, Zac is towing my kayak.  Getting towed is great and allowed me to take pictures, but only pictures of everyone's backs.  I was extremely sore the next day, but an Aleve helped with the soreness for a day or two.  My kids and grandkids are so considerate and thoughtful.  I love my family so much!  Even the ones who weren't with us.  I have a great family!!!

 

Fall is here

Fall is here with beautiful colors and the autumn colors are just beginning to appear.  It's definitely going to be a very pretty Fall this year.  Here are a few pictures that Suzanne, Ray & I managed to take.

 

More Kayaking pictures and a video: Fall is definitely here.

 

 

Kayaking with Suzanne & Ray

 On Monday I had the pleasure of being invited to go kayaking with Suzanne & Ray.  I hadn't been in a kayak in about 36 years, but I was extremely excited about going kayaking again.  It is so relaxing just floating around quietly in a lake.  You can see so much wildlife when you are quiet.  The green turtles don't even bother slithering off of their logs when you quietly glide by.  I really like that.  Suzanne even saw 3 deer coming to the water's edge to get a drink, not on this day, but the last time she went kayaking.  It is amazing what you can see while floating around on a lake.

Here are a couple of pictures and videos from my first time kayaking in 36 years.

By the end of the day I was tired, so my sweet daughter had a solution.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE SUZANNE

Today is Suzanne's 58th Birthday and it is hard to believe that she is 58 years old.  She's my baby and the youngest of my three children, whom I love very much......I love all of them very much.

I hope that today and everyday is a very special day for her and that she spends her birthday with those she loves, and those that cannot be with her today, I'm sure that they are thinking of her with love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET SUZANNE!!!! And I hope and pray that you have many more birthdays to come.  I love you!

 

This last picture of Carson, Suzanne and myself was taken today, and as you can see, Suzanne hasn't aged at all since that older picture was taken years ago.

James Brian Hatcher giving us a sign

"I said a prayer for you today, I know God must have heard. I felt the answer in my heart, although he spoke no word."

Brian's sister, Suzanne, prepared the prayer cloth to be wrapped around her only brother's ashes before he was laid to rest at Shady Oaks in the family cemetery today.

Suzanne went out there over the very hot weekend, mowed and weed-eated a large area around the cemetery in preparation for Memorial Day just in case someone wanted to come visit the graves of James E. Hatcher and his son James Brian Hatcher on or around Memorial Day.

Brian's sister, Sharon, had a stone made and placed it on Brian's grave  with the names of those who dearly loved and will forever miss Brian.
She placed the stone on his grave.

Some of Brian's ashes were laid to rest on top of a bed of red roses provided by Suzanne.

The beautiful Peonies that Brian and Reva had planted were beginning to bloom and have many buds ready to pop open yet,  and Brian was placed right next to one of them. 

 It was just Suzanne, Sharon and myself who went out there and we sat under the shade of a redbud tree, (it was so hot 90 degrees), and we

played some of Brian's favorite music, Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of them.  After Sharon had played a selection,  then some how mysteriously, Spirit in the Sky  by Norman Greenbaum just started playing on its very own from my cell phone.  It was a little eerie at first, but then we saw it as a sign from Brian.  This is something that none of us will be forgetting anytime soon.  For just  half a second or so I thought Brian was calling me on my cellphone, but then I realized that this couldn't be possible.

Spirit in the Sky was the ringtone that Brian had chosen to put on my cell phone so that I would recognize that it was he who was calling me.  Brian loved that song, and today, sitting by his grave,  I definitely knew that it was Brian who was reaching out to us to let us know he was still watching out over all of his family, and that he is fine.

Here are some more pictures of our day and also some taken previously of Shady Oaks where some of Brian's ashes have been laid to rest: