Ten Minutes of Light Rain Ain't Going to Do It!

Dinner on Miller's porch

The gods are playing with us, as the skies are threatening, but only a light rain has been falling, now stopped, hardly wetting the grass under the big trees.  More thunderstorms are forecast but it looks like its clearing up around here.  It was 62 degrees when I got up, about 5:30, walked out on the dock, to see the darkening sky, as clouds were moving in.  I woke at 5:00, did not hear any birds yet, stayed in bed another 10 minutes till I heard them begin to sing, like clock work.  I wonder what it is, other than dawn, that sets them off.  Perhaps it was still too dark at 5:00 but by 5:15 it was light enough to begin singing.  I have not noticed the martins this morning, not sure why.  Perhaps they are sleeping in.  As I write, the sun tries to peak through the clouds above Long Point, a heron flies buy, and I can hear thunder rolling off in the distance.  Not a boat on the lake, a few ripples, no breeze to speak of, as I sit on my porch enjoying the morning, listening, sort of, to Morning Joe, sipping the remains of my coffee, as the crows caw off in the distance, drowning out the song birds.

We were invited to dinner by our neighbor, Mary Ann Miller, three houses down the road, twice widowed, the sister of Margie Schultz, who lives next door.  She said this was her 67th summer here at the lake.  She first came at 15 with her boy friend, then husband, Tim Broeren, who owned the cottage next door.  They married, it became part hers, then he died, she remarried Pastor Miller, and they bought the cottage next door, so now the two sisters live next to each other.  She is a delight, always doing, inviting friends up for the weekend, letting it out to family and distance relatives.  We had her and her son Tom over for dinner this past winter, and she has been wanting to have us over since then.  She teaches accounting at Penn State, as he husband used to work their in the alumni office, and her brother is Joe Paterno's long time assistant, so Penn State football is part of her life.  She is very outgoing, a real talker, dresses like a fashion plate at, I guess, in her 70's but does not act it.  She teaches on Mondays and Wednesdays, comes her Thursdays, heads back to teach on Monday morning.

She loves to have men around, has always had either or sons or male friends up at the lake.  Charles, in the picture, is her most recent friend and I might add, he's quite taken with her, just like a school boy crush.  She met him through a business program at Penn State; he's starting up a small business, driving a bus for retirees and tourists.  They hit it off, and she has been seeing him on and off for awhile.  He calls her every morning, wakes her with a 'Hi, Sleeping Beauty,' though they are not living together.  She mentioned that she was depressed earlier in the week because it was the anniversary of the Pastor's death three years ago.  When Charles heard this, he drove right up to be with her.  The funny thing, when her son Tom heard Charles was coming up, he told his mother to make sure Charles stayed at Pine Hill, not in the house.  They both laughed and giggled about this, about Tom's concern, and about the silliness of someone thinking there might be something tawdry going on between these two widowers.  I felt like I was with a couple of teenagers, smitten with each other, just happy to be together.  Charles seems quite nice, a retired bus driver, not the sharpest tool in the tool box, but affectionate and happy to just be around Mary Ann.  He seems quite handy, was doing painting and fix it ups for Mary Anne, and they also have been sight seeing as this is her second time up.  Charles alluded to another one of Mary Ann's admirers, an 80 year old man, who is jealous of Charles and does not like him being around Mary Ann a  bit.  They are cute together.

Evie, Mary Ann, and Charles

Mary Ann also talked about the various organizations she is part of, one being something called Stay At Home, a service designed to help older people stay in their homes rather than go to assisted living.  The at starting it at State College, and she has been instrumental in setting it up.  They did a survey asking people what they needed, then went about setting it up, things like groceries delivered, a bus to drive you somewhere, in home health care, help with banking or financial matters. I guess this program also is going on in other areas.  It sounds pretty neat, and Charles has been contracted to drive and pick up people in his bus.  People pay a certain fee each month to be part of this non profit cooperative.  Mary Ann, because of her account background, also talked about her methods with money.  It came up because a few weeks ago she misplaced or lost her for checkbooks!  She cancelled them immediately, with the help of Charles.  Anyways, she allows herself 100 dollars a day, and each evening writes down on a spreadsheet what she spent, how it was spent.  One of the financial advisers suggested this for retirees to make sure they keep track of money.

Well, it actually had a gentle rain for about a half an hour, enough to wet but not drench the lawn.  Under the trees, the rain was negligible but it had to have helped Evie's garden in the back yard.  The martins have mysteriously returned; they were nowhere to be found early this morning, either sleeping in or off somewhere but now they are cruising in front of our houses.  At least 10-12 houses can be found along Woodlawn, and they fly back and forth between the houses and the yards, busy with getting ready for their fledglings or just kibitzing about their lives.  Who knows.