Hookie Monday with Nick and Marlena

Jean's Back Yard on Lake Tapawingo

 It looks like a nice day, a bit warmer, and it was fun to wake to all the news about Osama's death in Pakistan.  As the story unfolds, it was obviously a pretty intense time, as the White House had live feeds as the attack was happening, and one of the helicopters malfunctioned and went down.  Fortunately, unlike Jimmy Carter 30 years ago, Obama had luck with him and the attack was successful.

Jean's Kitchen

We had a great day yesterday, with Nick's team winning the tournament 4-0, and then going to Jean's for a great dinner and evening.  Her house is really great, set on a small lake called Tapaswingo, just perfect for cruising in her pontoon boat or kayaking.  We cooked steaks out side, played Bogle on the IPAD, and enjoyed ourselves, watching the sun set, sipping wine, and catching up on the news.

We relaxed in the morning, till about 11:00, then went and picked up lunch at Spin Pizza and took it over to Jean's house on Lake Tapaswingo.  Because it was a nice day out, we did a little work, moving some furniture, then had our lunch on her pontoon boat as we cruised the lake.  It's 88 acres, perhaps a half mile long, with various arms reaching off in different directions.  Everyone seems to have their own pontoon boat and any one who lives in the association has the right to put a dock on the lake.  Owners do not own the shore line so people one of two streets back may put their dock in your front yard, though their are rules as how close to another dock they can be.  Jean's dock seems to be the only one in front of her house, which is nice.  And, because the winters are milder than Chautauqua, she can not only leave her dock but boat in the lake.  It does freeze over for a short period of time but then unfreezes and I guess it doesn't bother the docks or boats. The entire shoreline seems built up, with no open spaces, as it's a desirable areas to have a house. Evie and Jean kayaked a bit after lunch and crazy Marlena said she wanted to go in the water, so we got a life jacket out and she went in up to her waist and wisely stopped their.  I think the water temperature was about 55 degrees, about what it was outside.

After Jean's, Evie, Marlena, Bella and I went on a hike through their woods, following a creek that separates parts of the development.  It has a trail, with various wooden bridges to cross the stream and trails leading up to the ends of each street.   Marlena loves it, as we did it in the snow at Thanksgiving, in fact, we have done it each year.  For the first time, we took Bella along, and she was a bit cowed at first but got used to the trail and led they way, though Marlena was our 'donkey,' because as I explained, in Turkey, the leader is always called the 'donkey' because donkeys know the trails, especially mountainous ones, where there's danger of following, thus they lead.

Teriyaki chicken for dinner, cooked outside, with rice and salad.  Tom won't be back till 6:00, his usual time.  We head to Cleveland tomorrow, leaving at 11:47 and Rich is picking us up.  How nice, the good life, to have a 'driver' in Euclid!

Playing Bogle on IPAD at Jean's