Airplanes next door

Within easy walking distance from home is Vera Lake. It is a curious lake, because it has a more or less circular bottom and a more or less elliptical top, connected by a narrow channel. Two floatplanes seem to live in the bottom of the lake. The other day I walked by and heard the familiar sound of an engine starting. I dashed to the end of the lake, and sure enough, a floatplane.
The plane cruised the lake at idle; the pilot is warming up the engine. The channel connecting the lake bottom and top is right by the plane's tail. Mr plane passed close by.
Eventually, he warmed up, so he did a circular turn, pointed to the channel, and off we go into the wild blue yonder.
Sorry about the blur, the light (bad) was too much for autofocus/autoprogram. I find it hard to believe that something that big and clumsy can fly, but fly it did. It gets up on the step in the floats, friction is cut way down, and it takes off.

Airplanes on the lake are usually a summer phenomenon, but it hasn't been that cold, so Mr Plane took advantage. Half an hour to Anchorage at most, it's only 35 Km away as the plane flies. This is very Alaska; floatplanes in the backyard.