A Windy And Sunny Sunday

8:23

February, 2026

It's 8:40 and I've been up since 7:00. When I started out kayaking around 7:15, the wind was light, but on my return fifty minutes later, the northerly was a bear as I struggled to paddle home. Still, it was a fine morning to be on the lake — lots of sun, some clouds, nary an osprey or heron, alas.

Kayak Morning

Mallards In Flight

Choppy Seas, Striking Clouds

Yesterday turned out to be a productive day. It started with an early paddle as usual, and on my return, the guys were already in our yard, starting to put in the dock's end piece. It's the most difficult part because the stanchions are eight feet high and hard to handle. It took them a good hour and a half to get the three stanchions level and the six dock pieces. Once they were done, I grabbed the wheelbarrow and wheeled two Adirondack chairs, a table, and a couple of benches out onto the dock. Now we can use our dock. I forgot to mention that they also attached a ladder — so once I was done with the chairs, I was so sweaty I went for my first swim of the year. It was cold, of course, but refreshing; exhilarating might be the more fitting word.

Biff Or Buoy

When I finished swimming, I came in, and Evie had made three sliders with egg, tomato, and ham on brioche buns. I watched the second half of the Knicks/Spurs game and then decided to nap and read a bit. I managed at least half an hour, and with the windows open, it was pleasant to just lie there and read my novel. By the way, the buffalo hunters overstayed their hunt in the Colorado valley — the game gave out, and they had to stay put and attempt to survive until the following spring, eight months later.

I got a few other chores done as well: moving chairs out of the garage, weeding, gathering deadfall, and hauling it up to the woodpile at the top of our road. It doesn't seem like much, but by the time I returned, I was hot enough to decide on one final dip before wine time. It was another lovely late afternoon — early evening — to relax and enjoy the view, and we realized we've been enjoying this view of the lake for forty-five years, starting in August 1981. Dinner was Mandarin Orange Chicken, compliments of Wegmans, with rice and a salad. We finally got on Apple TV and watched "Friends and Neighbors" with John Hamm.  I then watched the second half of the Indiana/New York women's basketball game. Caitlin Clark continues to struggle, largely because she has difficulty getting her jump shot off.

Rain Last Night, Sunny Morning

8:21

Putting In The Dock

It's 9:40 as I start this, having slept in until 8:00. I got out for an hour on the water, and when I came back, the dock guys were busy installing our end piece — finally. It's been a nice morning so far, though the wind is supposed to pick up this afternoon and we might get some rain. The workers are completely submerged at times, and I can only imagine how cold that lake is. Glad those days are behind me.

Kayak Morning

North 

Yesterday turned out to be a good one, mostly because we actually got a few things done. I kayaked early as usual, came back and finished up the blog, then handed it off to Evie to edit and pick out photos. We had no grand plans for the day — just taking another bite out of the elephant, which in our case is a yard full of weeds. I tackled the main bed where Evie usually plants her dahlias, pulling weeds and roughing up the soil for replanting later in the week. It was hot enough that I worked up a real sweat and had to take a couple of breaks. All around the house we have hydrangeas that are being slowly choked out, so it's easy to spend a few minutes here and there pulling weeds and giving them a little breathing room.

By 12:30 I'd had enough. I made myself a chicken, tomato, and mayo sandwich, then read for a while and tried to take a nap that never quite happened. Meanwhile, Evie was upstairs and organizing the kitchen and getting things in order. I'm deep into my buffalo hunt book, so the afternoon became a loose rotation — a chapter, some weeding, then out with the weed whacker to work around the trees and along the lake wall.

Wine time at 5:00. We sat outside and enjoyed the late afternoon blue sky and sun. Dinner was easy — leftover pasta with mushrooms and meatballs. We watched a couple of HGTV shows until around 8:30, when Evie called it a night. I stayed up for the first half of the Knicks/Spurs game, which the Knicks won by a single point. I'll catch the second half over lunch today.

A Bright Shiny Lake Morning

6:51

8:02

It's 8:12, and I just returned from a good hour's paddle down Woodlawn, across and along the shore of Long Point, then across to Sandy Bottom, where my good kayak friends Tina and Jim live. We talked for ten minutes; they've been up all week enjoying the sun and warm weather. 

Kayak Morning

Canadian Geese Along Shoreline

Yesterday, Thursday, I think, was a busy morning. It started with coffee at Lake Life Cafe in Bemus until 9:00. When I returned, I kayaked for the first time in a while, spent 45 minutes out, and was lucky to get a photo of a heron. I came home, wrote the blog, let Evie read it, and published it around 10:15. Because I have a couple of doctor's appointments next week and needed a blood test, I drove to Jamestown and quickly got it done — the only one in the office. I then drove to Wegmans and did quite a bit of shopping, running into one of my former students, who knew Rami had passed, and my yoga teacher. I was home just after 12:00, and Evie helped put away the groceries. Wanting an easy lunch, I microwaved a chicken pot pie and watched some TV.

Our Rhododendrons 

By 1:00, I was tired — especially since I'd been up so early — so I went upstairs and read my new book, Butcher's Crossing by John Williams, a cowboy story set in the late 1800s. I napped briefly, then felt like getting some things done outside. Evie was out in a yard chair, enjoying the sun, then the shade. For some reason, our dock guys had left the rowboat in the yard, so I tugged and pulled it down to the lake and tied it up to the dock. I then powered up the mower and cut the grass in the back yard around the garden, and did a bit of weeding. There's so much of it that we're going to hire our good friend Austin to help. Around 4:30, Evie put together dinner — a pasta with mushrooms and meatballs — and by 5:15, we were enjoying appetizers and wine on the front porch. 

Wine Time

What a luxury. By 7:00, we were having our pasta dinner, along with a salad, and watched Caitlin Clark's Indiana team defeat Atlanta.  After the game ended, and I watched some junk TV until 10:00, then went up to bed to read.

Lake Life Again

6:14

It's 6:50 as I begin this, having been up since 6:10, awakened by the sun. I shouldn't be surprised at how early it rose — 5:42, because it's June. One of the virtues of living on the lake is that we always catch the sunrise but miss the sunset. It's later than usual because I went to breakfast in Bemus at 8:00 and returned home around 9:15. I then went for my first paddle in June, across to Long Point, back to Sandy Bottom, and home. What a great way to start my day.

Kayak Morning

Kayaking To Long Point

A Great Blue Heron

I started this yesterday while sitting in the Dallas airport. We were in the Fort Worth/Dallas terminal, a sprawling place with concourses A through E. Our Uber ride was fine, though the traffic was relentless, especially looping around Dallas toward Fort Worth. For someone from Chautauqua County, it's unnerving — we simply aren't used to that kind of volume. Check-in went smoothly, a welcome contrast to our trip out from Buffalo, where we waited at least forty-five minutes in line. With nearly two hours before our flight, we settled into Terminal C and relaxed. The terminal was lively with shops and restaurants, and Evie made an early score: a stash of fireballs for her purse. The crowd was wonderfully diverse — young and old, all kinds of cultures — everyone just eager to get out of Dallas.

The flight home was uneventful, a few bumps but mostly smooth. The plane was packed. We had aisle seats, but Evie gave hers up so a father could sit with his wife and their little girl, who was three or four. Evie charmed her the whole flight and even gave her a pop-up bracelet we'd found at Beth's, which kept her happily occupied. We landed in Buffalo around 3:45, a few minutes early. Finding our hotel van took some doing — we wandered before locating the pickup area outside the concourse — but we were on our way soon enough. We took the scenic route home, exiting the freeway at Fredonia, because Chautauqua County in June is something else: a deep, rich green of trees, hills, and farms. When we stepped onto our porch, we found dinner waiting in a cooler, courtesy of Linda and Ron, and flowers from Barb and Jim.

We always come home with a little trepidation, but the house seemed fine. The flower beds are another story — overgrown with weeds — though the lawn looks great, thanks again to Jim for mowing. The dock is only partially in, missing the end piece, so we'll need to call our dock guy today. 

7:32

Once we unpacked the car and did a walk-through, I retrieved the porch cushions from the attic and we settled outside with a glass of wine under a late-afternoon blue sky. Dinner came later — the chicken Linda and Ron left us, with potato salad and chips. Evie was worn out from the day and headed up to bed at 8:30, just as the Knicks-Spurs game was tipping off. I watched the first half but ran out of steam by 9:45 and went up to read and sleep.

Once More To The Lake

Thanks For Putting Up With Us For Three Weeks

It's early — 6:30 — and we have a couple of hours before our Uber picks us up for the Fort Worth/Dallas airport. We're basically packed and ready for breakfast. Our flight leaves at noon, and we should be in Buffalo by 4:00.

Tuesday was a quiet day for Beth, despite it being her birthday. We were up by 7:00 and sat around as usual with our coffee, talking, while I worked on the blog. Once Evie woke up, we finished it up with photos of Beth that Evie had collected over the years. What memories. Unfortunately, one of Beth's teeth was giving her trouble, and despite the Advil, it wasn't letting up — so she managed to get a dentist appointment at 1:00. Just what you want to do on your birthday.

Knowing it was going to be another 90° day, I harnessed up the dogs and took them down to the lake for one last walk. We were out only 25 minutes, but both dogs were huffing and puffing when we got back and made a beeline for their water bowls. Evie and I did some window washing before tackling the less glamorous task of packing for the flight home. Just after noon, Evie checked us in with American Airlines, and I made myself some Asian soup for lunch. Beth had left around 12:30 and returned at 2:30, bringing sandwiches and fries from Chick-fil-A.

We spent the afternoon reading, napping, packing, and waiting for Marisa to return from her final med school exam. She has a couple of weeks off before her second year begins. Around 4:00, I took the dogs out and let them sniff whatever they pleased in the two yards — until thunder sent them scrambling for the door. Marisa arrived around 4:30, and we helped her bring in her cats and bags, keeping the dogs corralled in a bedroom.  

We had our wine at 5:00, and Marisa caught us up on her classes, exams, friends, and the world of her 50-person med school cohort — a selective group, no question. Beth ordered Mexican, delivered by Uber Eats at 6:15, and we gorged on various delights — the highlight being fried plantains with a dab of sour cream. Beth also received phone calls from both Tyler and Mitchell wishing her a happy birthday. We watched a couple of episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, but by 9:45 we'd all had enough, and everyone headed to bed, tired and full.

Happy Birthday Beth Lynn

Prom Night - Dress By Vickie

It's 7:15, and I've been up for an hour already — going through old photos spanning the past fifty years,  starting with Hawaii in the late 1960s. Today is our daughter Beth's 60th birthday, but we celebrated it early with a birthday dinner on Sunday.

Monday was largely a lazy one. I was up at 7:00, and Beth joined me at 8:00, having slept in for the first time in weeks, maybe months. I had my two cups of coffee and the last of the scones for breakfast. Once the blog was published and everyone was up, Beth and I took the dogs for a long walk down to White Rock Lake and back. It was already in the 80s, and we were a bit worried about Tin Tin, who doesn't do well in the heat on long walks, so we kept it to just over half an hour.

Walking Tin Tin

Walking Kaia

Around 10:30, Beth and I headed out. We stopped at Wells Fargo for some banking, then decided to get a coffee at El Porton, one of the many coffee shops in the area. It wasn't very busy, so we ordered and sat down and talked for twenty minutes before braving the heat and driving over to Curiosities and Oddities — a not-so-thrift shop, literally across the street from Beth's neighborhood. The shop is unbelievable, packed with just about everything you could think of that you don't want. How they've accumulated all of it over the years is a wonder. After a good half hour of browsing, we drove home.

Need Anything

Clothes, Jewelry, Knick-Knacks

Lunch was easy — just a package of dumplings from Trader Joe's, heated up. Plenty if you weren't too hungry. Afterward, I watched some tennis during the early afternoon, then took a nap with Tin Tin.  Even Evie napped in the afternoon, which is unusual for her. While Beth worked through some baskets of things — sorting and tossing what she didn't need — I sat out on the front porch and read until 5:15, which meant wine time.

Reading on the Front Porch

We had a couple of good cheeses and crackers as an appetizer, then an easy dinner: leftover chicken, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts with rice and a salad. We finished Margo's Got Money Troubles and ended up really liking it. We closed out the night with a couple of episodes of Neighbors and Friends, with Jon Hamm.

This Morning's Moon

94º In The Shade (Sunday Afternoon)

Celebrating Beth's 60th Birthday

It's a bit unusual, but I'm starting the blog on Sunday afternoon, sitting on Beth's front porch in 94° heat — which sounds like the title of a novel I've read. Between the sun and the stillness of a Sunday, not a soul has passed by. I'm warm but not terribly uncomfortable as I sit here writing and reading, having just finished November Road a few minutes ago. I liked it. Tonight we're going out to dinner to celebrate Beth's 60th birthday, two days early, at a restaurant she recommended called The Lounge. We are looking forward to going out to dinner, especially Beth. 

For some reason, the heat made me think of my first swim in the lake, usually sometime in late May or early June. It's so cold that I ease down the ladder one body part at a time — feet, then legs, then stomach and back, getting my arms and chest wet — before diving under all at once. The shock of it is both stunning and exhilarating, and after two or three strokes, I'm used to it. I will give it a go this coming weekend. 

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It's now 8:10 Monday morning. Tin Tin just ran in, which means Beth is up, having slept in for once. I was up an hour ago and have been sitting here reading the newspapers on my Mac, waiting for someone to stir. Kaia is out in the yard, being a good boy and not barking. Yet.

Sunday was a warm one. Beth and I were both up early, and I got the blog written and published before Evie woke around nine. We had no big plans for the day other than the birthday dinner at six. Once everyone was up, I had breakfast — a couple of scones with coffee — and by 9:15, it was already warm enough that I decided to take the dogs out early.

The walk was warm but still manageable. We headed down to the lake, hugging the shade where we could, and came across a couple of women out on horseback. Tin Tin, naturally, went into a barking frenzy and lunged toward them, so I had to haul him back. The path around White Lake was busy, probably owing to the Sunday crowd. We were out for about 25 minutes and were glad to get back into the air-conditioned house.

Horses

Bikers

We managed to knock out a couple of things before lunch — Evie vacuumed while Beth and I set up a printer in the spare bedroom. By midday, Beth and I were hungry, so she offered to make BLTs. Most of the afternoon, we sat around on our devices, watched some tennis, and waited for late afternoon when the three of us would shower and get ready to go out.

By 6:00, we were showered and comfortably dressed and drove the half mile to The Lounge. Walking into the air-conditioned restaurant after even a short drive in that heat was a genuine relief. We were happy to snag a booth and settle in with drinks and menus. Beth ordered a dirty martini; Evie and I went with beers. We loved the feel of the place, and within the hour it was packed — tables full, bar crowded, people waiting at the door. The menu leaned Southern and retro, with most entrées in the twenties, which felt right. We were in no hurry, lingered over our food, did some reminiscing, and finally headed out around 7:30.

Back home, we changed into something comfortable and stayed up until ten watching a couple of episodes of Margo's Got Money Troubles. It turned out to be a really good day.