Hot and Humid Sunday Sunday/Woodlawn Picnic

Evie and Margie Schultz

We just got back from a nice long kayak ride, along the shore to the end of Tom's Point, then across to Long Point, then back home, about an hour paddle, on a beautiful, hazy, warm and sunny morning, with hardly any boat traffic, other than a few fishermen anchored, tossing their lines.  A great way to start a Sunday morning.

Yesterday, I tried a new bread recipe, Jim Lehey's no knead bread. Basically, I added water, yeast, flour and salt to a bowl on Friday evening, stirred it for about 30 seconds, covered it, and let it sit until yesterday afternoon.  It's a sticky dough but manageable.  I then wrapped it in a tea cloth for about two hours, letting it rise a second time.  I then put a  5 quart dutch oven, in the oven, pre heated for half an hour, took it out, and kind of rolled the dough from the cloth into the pot, covered it, and baked it for 30 minutes, took the top off and baked it till the top was brown, another 25 minutes, then rolled it out and let it sit for an hour. The bread did not rise as much as I wanted, but it's got a tough chewy crust, the kind of wanted (perhaps a bit too hard), and the inside is airy and tasty. I would give it a B, much better than my efforts the past couple of weeks, and I am definitely going to work towards perfecting it because I like the crust...just more bread in between the crusts, and a rising should do it.  Right now I am enjoying two toasted pieces with butter and it's great but the crust may be a little to crusty!

Barb Fox, Flip Lauer, Evie

We had our second Woodlawn picnic of the summer, Saturday afternoon from 5:00 to 7:00, about 25 people showed up, a smaller gathering than usual though it's a busy time of the year. It's nice to get to talk with some of our neighbors that we don't see too often as they too are busy with family, picnics, and enjoying the lake, like us.  We had it at the Schultz/Fox's yard, and everyone brings an appetizer to share and their own drinks.  We were there for about an hour and a half.  One of the group is trying to put together a book of the history of the homes on Woodlawn, complete with pictures.  Some have very old family photos, a couple dating back to 1910 and you can still see the same houses on the lake today, though updated a bit.  We will see how this goes though many residents seem very interested in doing this.  Our oldest photo dates back to 1981 when we bought the house, and various configurations since then and, of course, our new home.

Today we are going to start getting organized for the arrival of our families; Beth will be the first to arrive, a week from tomorrow.  Not only do we need to get out all the toys, arrange the bedrooms, but also shop for the first couple of days.  At least our new lawn is looking pretty good, and Evie may even cut it for the first time tomorrow, which would make it three weeks without rain.

Ken Schultz, Bud Kinney, Paul Ostergaard, Jim Fox

Ron and Linda leave for Pittsburgh tomorrow, so they have invited us over for dinner tonight, around 5:00, for a booze cruise and then dinner.  It sounds good to not have to cook for a day.

Just cut some weeds for an hour, as Evie cut the lawn, the old part, though we she make take her first foray into the new grass tomorrow, depending on the weather.  It's very warm outside, in the 80's easily in the sun, and humid, but much nicer inside, as we tend to close our windows in the morning, which keeps it cool most of the day.  Now it's time to watch the US play Japan in the World Cup Finals.  I have not watched any of their matches so far but I thought I might see if I get into the final game.