Listening To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain

Rain At 6:38

8:19

It's 6:44, and I paid attention to the weatherman who predicted rain in ten minutes, so I didn't venture out on the lake. I was up at 6:20, made my coffee, and sat out on the front porch — and it just thundered. Not sure how long the rain will last. It's 6:56, and the rain has let up. I just watched a couple of great blue herons chase each other off the docks, a rarity to see two of them going at each other like that.

It's 7:10, and the rain has stopped for a bit, so I may try to paddle. Well, it was a good choice — I was out kayaking for an hour, and just as I was returning to shore, it started to rain again. I had good luck, shooting an osprey and a couple of herons, as well as kibitzing with our neighbor skiers, Jeff and Nancy, and with fellow kayaker Jim, who attended the Jerry Seinfeld show last night in Jamestown, sponsored by the National Comedy Center.

Kayak Morning

Osprey

Heron

Fishing

In A Tree

Same Guy

Friday was a strange day because I didn't really have anything planned other than a good long paddle to start the morning. Once Evie woke, we finished the blog, had breakfast, and I didn't feel like riding my bike. So I took our friends Tom and Julie up on their offer of a basket of red potatoes from their garden. Around 10:30 I drove to their house, grabbed the potatoes, and then, at their suggestion, picked blueberries for a half hour. On the way home, I stopped at Tops to pick up a few things we needed for dinner, and was home by noon.

Yum

Evie had a hair appointment with Jaret at 1:00 and left around 12:40, so I made lunch — a ham and cheese sandwich — and finished off a bag of potato chips while watching a new Swedish crime series called The Truth Will Come Out. Not sure I'll stick with it, though I did watch two episodes. After lunch I read for a bit, then napped and waited for Evie to get back. After stops at TJ Maxx and Wegmans, she returned around 3:30, and I got busy making a pot of kuru fasulye, a Turkish white bean stew. I put the beans in the pressure cooker for 28 minutes while frying up pancetta, onions, butter, tomato paste, and Aleppo pepper. Once the beans were done, I added them to the pan with the tomato paste, poured in chicken stock, and let it simmer for half an hour — and voilà, kuru fasulye. Good plain or over rice, for lunch or dinner. In Istanbul, there are restaurants devoted to kuru fasulye.

Missy And John

Around 5:30 we had some appetizers and a couple glasses of wine as the day waned. Our neighbors John and Missy stopped by to say hi, and we talked for fifteen minutes — it was Missy's birthday, and they were taking their boat over to Bemus to celebrate. We had dinner around 7:30, leftovers from Thursday's dinner plus the kuru fasulye. We watched a couple of HGTV shows until Evie went up to bed, and I finished the evening with an episode of the Swedish crime thriller and an episode of Dark Winds before heading up myself to read and sleep.

Overcast And Drizzle

Evie And The Boys

5:52

7:24

It's 8:16, and I've been up for two hours — paddling for an hour, occasionally in drizzle, listening to a podcast, reading the NYTimes and Washington Post, writing the blog, and waiting for Evie to come downstairs and pick out the photos. It looks like we might have rain on and off all day — a good day to spend reading.

Morning Heron

Ready To Dive

Neighbors Morning Skiing

The Good Life

The Reeds

Kayak Morning

Yesterday ended up being a good day. It started with an early rise, then breakfast in Bemus Point at 8:00. When I got home, I kayaked for half an hour on a lovely morning, then came back and finished the blog around 9:45, later than usual. And that was it for me for the day — I really didn't do much else besides lie around reading, watch some TV, and nap.

Lunch was great — Evie put together the leftover sea trout with hard-boiled eggs, Sirrachi, tomatoes and mayo, and made me sandwiches, which I loved. I finished my Harlan Coben series and now have to find something else to watch during lunch. I was looking forward to a nap and turned on the air conditioner, since Thursday was quite humid — the kind of day that makes you want to stay inside rather than go out and do anything.

Around 4:00, Evie's boyfriends, Arlo and Louie, came over to play with her. Earlier, she'd made homemade cinnamon rolls for them, and they were in heaven, enjoying them and begging for more. They sat on the front porch shooting airplanes in the air, making friendship bracelets, and reading books. They left at 5:45 because we were going out to dinner, but they are looking forward to a movie afternoon during a future visit to the lake. They are neat kids.

We stopped at Ron and Linda's at 6:00 and gave Ron his birthday presents, a bit late since we'd been away for a week. We then drove to Westfield, where we had reservations at Brazil's bar. The restaurant and bar were packed even though it was a Thursday night. Unfortunately, our favorite bartender wasn't there, which was disappointing.  We finally got wine for the gals and beers for Ron and me, and we enjoyed relaxing with our drinks — ending up in a fun conversation with a group of ladies from the Chautauqua Institution, sitting at a table behind us. 

The Gals

Dinner was burgers and fries for Ron and me, shrimp pasta for Evie, and crab cakes for Linda. We left after 8:00, dropped Linda and Ron off, and were home by 8:30. Evie was ready for bed, but I stayed up until 10:00 before heading up myself — the end of what turned out to be a good day.

An Overcast And Humid Morning

Home

9:50

It's 7:15, and I've been up for a little over an hour. I am going to kayak after breakfast at 8:00, so I won't get out on the lake until 9:15. I'm already bored and should have gone paddling before breakfast.

Kayak Morning

Osprey In The Morning

Yesterday morning was a good one because I was able to get in a good paddle, then a bike ride. It began just as the sun was rising at 6:25. It was a perfect morning to be on the lake, and I was out for over an hour, across to Long Point and back, stopping in the middle of the lake to talk with fellow paddler Jim, also out early for a paddle. When I got home, I finished up the blog with Evie's help and decided to go for a bike ride. So I fastened the bike rack on my Outback, secured my bike, and drove to Mayville Park. I then rode my usual route, down Webb's Trail through the woods on an abandoned railroad track, back to Mayville, then down Sea Lion Drive to the end and back. It felt good to get back on my bike and ride.

Webb's Trail

When I got home, I took my bike off the rack, came into the house, and relaxed, wondering what I'd have for lunch, when I noticed a tightness in my chest and back for some reason. My immediate thought was acid reflux, a strained chest muscle, or heart trouble, but it seemed to be more in my back than my chest. So I looked it up on ChatGPT, and everything I described pointed to pulled muscles. I took a Tums, which helped some, had lunch, and watched my show. Evie was busy cleaning the back porch while I took a good nap. I decided to take it easy and not strain my muscles, so I sat around and read my new thriller, The Stolen Hours.

Afternoon Heavy Rain

Storm On The Lake

Twice during the afternoon we were treated to brief but heavy rainfall, and we even had to leave the porch during happy hour because of it. We received close to a half-inch. By 6:30 we were having dinner — a salad with sea trout mixed in with eggs, tomatoes, and lettuce, a favorite. We watched a couple of episodes of our show, This Is Going to Hurt, and are liking it more and more. After Evie went to bed, I watched two more episodes of Safe and have one more to go. It's funny how the show manipulates the viewer as you try to figure out who's responsible for the daughter's disappearance. I have to laugh because it's so obvious what they are doing.

A 90 Minute Paddle

6:04

7:59

It's 8:10, and Evie's up, enjoying her first cup of coffee with me. I was up at 5:45, alas, and out on the lake by 6:20. It was a beautiful morning for kayaking, the sun filling the lake with its reflection, under a blue sky with a light breeze. I paddled over to Warner Bay on the east side of the lake, a trip that took about a half hour. From there, I followed Long Point to its tip, then crossed over to Sandy Bottom and headed home.

Kayak Morning

North

Canadian Geese And Great Blue Heron

Victoria And Woodlawn

Great Blue

Fishing From A Branch

Yesterday was a good day because I fell back into my routine. I was up early, out on the lake for close to an hour, and had good luck with bird photos. When I got back, I wrote the blog, Evie reread it, and by 9:10 it was published. I had my breakfast of yogurt, granola, and blueberries, then headed off to yoga.

Class was hard, and I worked up a good sweat. As usual, among the nearly 20 gals, I was the only guy. After class, I stopped for coffee and chatted with a couple of my Ryder Cup friends, Bob and Dave, before driving to Home Depot to pick up a few things. Then it was on to Aldi, where I bought three different kinds of cookies! Yep, cookies. I was home by noon, and Evie had been busy, mowing half the lawn and starting to clean the kitchen.

I had lunch around 12:30—leftover pulled pork barbecue and coleslaw—while watching my show. Then I tried to take a nap, but I always seem to have trouble falling asleep and usually end up reading instead. When I came downstairs, Evie was vacuuming the front porch. I powered up the electric mower and finished mowing the rest of the yard, and it looks super. After that, I grabbed the hedge clippers and worked on our privets again, making sure they looked neat and continued to block our view of the cottages.

By the time I finished, Evie was done with the porch, and we were both ready to relax on the front porch with a glass of wine. My new Kindle had arrived, so I downloaded all my books and was happy to see my newest download waiting for me. We sat there enjoying the smell of freshly cut grass and the view across the lake.

By 6:30, Evie had dinner ready: chicken tenders with our neighbor's marinara sauce and spaghetti. It tasted good, and we watched a couple of episodes of a new series, This Is Going to Hurt, about an overworked obstetrician in an English hospital. After Evie went to bed,  I ended up watching a couple of episodes of Safe before heading upstairs myself.

An Eagle, Two Ospreys, And A Great Blue Heron

6:35

8:13

It's 8:20 and I've been up since 6:15 — paddling for 70 minutes down to Wells Bay and back, talking briefly with Tina on her dock, and with Jim, who was out paddling too. At first the sun was hidden by a vast fog bank, but it soon broke through and filled the lake with its reflection.

Kayak Morning

Heavy Clouds

Into The Rising Sun

Kayak Friend, Jim

Fog Rising

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Osprey In Pines

Osprey In Maple

Yesterday began with a cloudy morning and a 50-minute paddle across to Long Point, back to the reeds, and home. Unfortunately, it was a bad morning for bird watching — I saw none. I was home by 7:30 and listened to a couple of podcasts, then wrote the blog and ended up buying a new Kindle, because for some reason I can't download new books to my old one. I've had it close to five or six years.

Once Evie got up, she went through the photos and read the blog, and I published it after rereading it. We didn't have much for breakfast in the refrigerator, so I made myself some toast. Then Evie and I had another cup of coffee and made up a shopping list. We had dinner planned for Monday night — pork barbecue and coleslaw — and our neighbors brought over some homemade marinara sauce, since they figured we might need dinner right after getting back from Topsail.

I left for the store at 10:45 and stopped at Peterson's for peaches, but a basket now costs $25, not $16 like a couple of weeks ago, since they're local now. I passed on those and bought tomatoes and cauliflower instead. Then I drove around the lake and over to Wegmans. Mondays are usually not as busy as Tuesdays, so I was in and out quickly. I stopped at Evans for wine and drove home, getting there around noon, and Evie and I put away the groceries. She offered to make me a ham and cheese sandwich, but for some reason I wanted tomato and mayo instead. So I enjoyed a decent — not great — tomato-and-mayo sandwich and watched an episode of Dark Winds.

After a brief nap I worked in the yard, first cutting down a dead tree and cutting off the branches so it would fit in my Outback and I could haul it up the hill to the woodpile. While I worked, Evie was out on the dock enjoying the sun, and I joined her for a few minutes. I got bored soon enough and moved on to the garden — pulling weeds and deadheading daisies. Around 5:00, Evie had a Zoom call with her sisters, and I tried to find a novel that interested me. I'm getting too particular — I've started a couple and put them down, then started another. Nothing seems to grab me.

After the call, we relaxed with a glass of wine until dinner time, when Evie heated up the pulled pork and made us sandwiches with lots of coleslaw. We watched a couple of episodes of a Harlan Coben novel adaptation called Safe until Evie went to bed. I then watched a couple more episodes of Dark Winds before heading up myself.

Chautauqua Belle At 8:24 PM

We had a great time in Topsail with our family, but it's good to be back home.

Once More To The Lake

My Great Grandson Rhys And Me

8:29

It's 8:08, and I was up just before 6:00 and out on the lake for a paddle by 6:20. My first thought was: where's the sun? After a week of amazing sunrise photos at Topsail, I couldn't find the sun anywhere — just a flat, overcast sky. The lake was practically all mine; I saw only one other boat in fifty minutes.

Kayak Morning

Some Sun, Some Blue

Yesterday was another seven-hour drive, the fourth in ten days. Enough! We left my daughter Jill's house Sunday at 9:00, stopped at Trader Joe's for a few gifts for my sister Ellen, and spent an hour at her house. She's recovering from a hospital stay, and her son Brooks was there helping out. 

Photo Of Ellen With Her Granddaughter Anna In Paris

We left Herndon just after 11:00 and had an hour-long drive in heavy traffic to Interstate 70, which we took to Breezewood — crowded, two- and three-lane traffic, and a heavy downpour didn't help. Once we hit Breezewood, we stopped for gas and were back in familiar territory, so the rest of the way home felt easy. We stopped in Phillipsburg for burgers at McDonald's, then, a half hour later, at Gio's for pulled pork and coleslaw, which was going to be our dinner. Gio's is known for its barbecued pork, and we always stop there. From Gio's it was a two-and-a-half-hour drive home, with Evie taking at least an hour of it to give me a break. Fortunately, the rain had stopped, so the drive through the Allegheny Forest to Warren, PA, and on home was easy

6:57 PM

We got home around 4:00 and quickly checked the house to make sure all was well. I got busy emptying the car — despite Evie's suggestion that I wait until Monday to unpack — and by  5:00,  the car was empty, and everything was put away. I was tired and ready for a beer on the front porch; Evie had a glass of wine. Neither of us was very hungry, thanks to the burgers around 3:00, so we watched TV — Evie had cereal, I had a chicken pot pie. Evie was in bed by 8:00, and I watched the final two episodes of Sugar on Apple TV before turning in myself.