AKZ and I took our Buffalo canoe out on Lake Wilson yesterday, we used it as an excuse to drink a few cheap beers. As it turned out AKZ caught herself a few limbs and a largemouth bass (of which I have no picture).

Because I always have my camera with me, I'm always taking shot of AKZ while she isn't expecting it. I've now been instructed to let the ladies know if I am aiming the camera anywhere in their direction by yelling out "Camera ladies!" with a slightly effeminate tone in the style of one of the participants on a Bravo TV show. Yet, even with this fantastic preparation, I still manage to capture the "ladies" in bad form (in their opinion) with the inevitable response of "I look fat!", or "What's wrong with your fucking camera, asshole!". 

So, in celebration of the "ladies" here is a perfect photo from the float out on the lake.

It's been a few days since my last post, but I haven't done anything or thought of anything worth mine or any one's time. Until this past weekend. I went canoeing with AKZ, Colin, Faith, their demon son Kirin (that's for you Faith) Jessica and Tato. Everyone wanted to fish, and when i say everyone that means Colin. The original float was planned for the Buffalo, but supposedly there are no fish on the Buffalo. So we went to the King's and of course got there around 2pm the day we planned on floating. Then we had to wait for a freak storm to pass by. No drownings or electrocutions here. So the float began around 3pm or so. A few strokes downstream I noticed a jeep on the riverbank. Either some idiot decided he could drive across the river or it was washed down after a huge flood.

Fish were caught and beer was drunk, though for some odd reason there were more fish being caught than there were beers being drunk. I think maybe as we all get older the more we hate feeling like crap. So a sober day on the river and then the storm hits us. I could see ten feet in front of the boat it was raining so hard. AKZ brought her rainjacket, so she was comfy. Just as the rain started to intensify, i noticed large plops in the water that looked like fish jumping. My infinite knowledge of fishing shows itself. It turns out we were being bombarded by hail the size of golfballs. Sorry no pictures of that, I brought my dive camera with me, which is film, so after using one roll and rewinding it i forgot that i was using film. I think the pro film people are correct in assuming that digital cameras dumb down the average photographer. So, no shots of monster iceballs from the sky or heavy rain. Just some fish and the people who caught them.

Amanda and I went for a hike on the Buffalo River Trail this week. We spent Monday through Wednesday on the trail and covered a bit over 26 miles, most of that during the first two days. Wednesday was a leisurely walk of about 2.5-3 miles. For a more technical look at our hike check out AKZ's blog. 

I spent most of the time shooting pictures and playing catch-up to Amanda. For this hike i took my EOS 30D and the 50mm 1.8 lens. No tripod, which shows on some of the shots, I'm trying to travel light these days. 

The views could have been more majestic, but we got on trail about one week too late. The trees have all leafed out, blocking most of the river and bluff views. The view of Steel Creek though was fantastic, and little hints of the river from above were beautiful. There were so many flowers in bloom; dogwoods, trillium, May Apple, columbine (red & white), and many that I don't know. So goes my education in plant identification. It looks like a trip to Dickson Street Bookstore.