As summer draws to a close (sniff), I look back at some of my favorite photos of the lake in spring and summer.  This is one of my favorite shots of our beautiful lake.

I am a warm weather person, happiest in tank top, shorts and flip-flops, so the coming of fall always makes me sad.  It seems that once September hits, the weather gets cooler and I start worrying about my vegetables freezing.

So instead of focusing on the cold to come, I am thinking about all the beauty I see around our beautiful lake, especially on this day, as my FDNY husband is working in the firehouse.

As a city person now living in the country, one of the biggest surprises is all the wild life we see on a daily basis.

I get excited every time I see the Great Blue Heron in our backyard.

I had no idea what it was when I first saw it and had to show this picture to my bird expert friend Lisa.  Great Blue Heron are really hard to get a photo of.  You have to sneak really quietly and slowly closer to them to get a decent photo.  Imagine me very slowly tiptoeing across the great expanse of our back lawn, ever closer with camera in hand, only to have him fly away.  I worked very hard for that picture above.

We also have swans on the lake.

They look so pretty and serene floating on the lake that Pinot tried to get close and make friends.  That swan was having none of that.  She rose up out of the water, wings spread wide and made this evil hissing sound while flapping her wings and had me, my friend Karen and my two little hot dogs beating a hasty retreat away from the water.

I think we will admire swans from afar.

The ducks were much more friendly but like the Great Blue Heron, they don’t like having their picture taken and I was only able to catch them swimming away from me.

The one creature that doesn’t seem to be afraid of us is the deer.  I know people think they cause a nuisance and carry ticks but when you come face to face with some of these Bambi looking creatures, you can’t help but appreciate the beauty of nature.

We are also surrounded by butterflies.  Again, I spent much time trying to sneak up on them.  I seem to be spending all my time sneaking up on wild life.  They keep running away from me.  But I did finally get this shot.

I love walking around the lake with the dogs.  This is one of the scenes we see on our walk.

It is beautiful even right before a storm.

That’s my dad by the water waiting for the storm to come.

It is a beautiful lake even right after a storm.

And beautiful at dusk with the setting sun reflecting off the water.

Any way I look at the lake, it calms me and brings me a peace I didn’t get from living in New York City.

Thank you beautiful lake.  We are so glad we live here.