(Hiking Patterson Trail in Allegheny Forest)

6:45

Up later than usual, 6:45, as the sun has already risen, filling the living room with light.  It's 33 degrees outside though I just heard on the radio there was a frost warning,  perhaps in Buffalo but not here at at the lake.  It's supposed to be partly cloudy today and it's already quite windy.  I assume I will go to yoga this morning, Evie will work out, rather than hike.

Trail Map

Enjoying the hike

We Discover the Trail is Not a Loop

Mostly leafless Woods at 2200 feet, the Start of our Hike

Yesterday was one of the great spring days here at the lake, sunny, clear, just a bit of crispness in the air.  We had decided on Saturday to hike the Allegheny Forest Sunday because it was supposed to be a beautiful day.  We left at 9:00, drove for about 40 miles, to the Cross Country Ski Area where many of the trails begin.  We seemed to be the only one's around surprising us, and during our two hour hike, we never saw a soul.  We decided to walk the Patterson trail, supposedly 3.2 miles but I did not look at it very carefully, just assuming it was a loop.  About 2.5 miles out, there was a sign to the Patterson/Bova parking area which made me take out my map and realize that this trail was not a loop but a route from one parking area to another.  We had walked 2.5 miles at this point, all a gentle downward slope, perhaps 600 feet total in descent.  So, we reversed out course, and spent the next hour walking back to our parking area, all up hill, alas.  Actually, it was  gradual enough that we made it easily though we both had a good laugh at what would have happened if we had not realized the Patterson Trail was not a loop. The trail itself was great, about 15 feet wide, as it wound it's way down going, up returning.  Lots of branches and small trees were down and when we could, we moved them.  When we started out, the trees were just buds, little if any leaves apparent, just as they seemed to be a month ago when we hiked this area.  Spring had hardly begun as we at an altitude of 2200 feet.  As we wound out way down the trail, the woods became a bit greener, as we descended to about 1600 feet, thus it was warmer and spring was further along.  We saw no animals, heard hardly a bird, and saw no one until we returned to the parking lot when we talked briefly to another couple who was heading out.  It was a great morning for our five mile, two hour hike, well worth the drive.

We took a different route home, driving down to the Onoville Marina, on Kinzua Reservoir since we had never driven down there before.  It's a huge marina, with a couple of hundred dock spaces for boats though it was not yet open.  It would be a great lake to boat on or fish.  We want to come back and hike this area later in May, perhaps when spring has sprung.  We drove back past the Nic L Inn, to Jamestown, then took the Baker Street extension to Ashville and home.

First Sighting of an Evening Grosbeak

We got home around 1:30, had a spinach and feta cheese omelet for lunch, then Evie worked in the garden some, and I read then went for a kayak ride down as far as Sandy Beach.  It was windy on the lake, and I had to fight my way back.  The reeds I mentioned over a month ago, which were sprouting near Giarizzos',  have disappeared, probably as a result of the snow and freezing nights.

We had the left over chicken and rice for dinner, some raspberry pie a la mode for dessert, watched a couple of episodes of The Good Wife, then Mad Men till 11:00 when we went to bed, a great day.

A Thick Blanket of Fog and a Frosty Morning (Millers)

Sun Rising Over Fog at 7:00

An Elderly Couples Cute Cottage

A Happy Girl

Rhubarb and Raspberry Pies

Busy Ovens

The Bakers Putting Together Their Pies

Evie and our Neighbor, Mary Ann Miller

Up a bit late, 6:30 to frosty morning, lots of fog, car windows with a layer of ice.  As I write this, the sun has just broke over the top of the fog, blinding me, making me move my seat.  I have already been up twice to chase the squirrel away from our bird feeder.  He gets to it by climbing up the gutter, then dropping down to the feeder.  Problems.

Yesterday, I went to yoga at 9:30, quite crowded and much more difficult than usual, as many of the group complained, good naturedly, about the rigorous positions.  I did not smell of garlic and onions.  When I returned home, Evie was ready for our walk, so we took off on a partly cloudy morning to enjoy Westfield, about 15 miles away.  I wanted to go to the library to get a book of James Dickey poems, recommended by Pat Conroy in his book My Reading Life.  He felt he was the great American poet; I doubt it having read some of them.  We also had heard about a new pie shop in Westfield, a mom and pop hole in the wall, just beyond the shoe repair store. Well, we found it, a small run down house, went in and found the bakers, a husband and wife, busy cutting up peaches and layering pie crusts over the filling.  There kitchen, as you can see, was tiny, with three used ovens, and between the two of them, they bake pies on Thursday through Saturday, from 9:00 to 2:00 we think.  We talked to them briefly, friendly but busy, took some pictures and bought one of the only pies left, a raspberry pie for 15 bucks, no cheap pies there. They also make sticky buns, a favorite it sounds like. When possible, they use fresh fruit but the raspberries were, of course, frozen.  The rhubarb, however, was from their garden. The baker asked me to go to their Facebook page and 'like' them, which I did.  A type of hype for their business.

When we got home, Evie asked our neighbors, Mary Anne Miller and her son Tom over for dinner.  So she spent a good part of the afternoon getting our dinner ready, chicken picata, salad, rice, and broccoli.  We had dessert of course.  They came over about 6:00, had kashar peynir, a Turkish cheese, for an appetizer, then a great dinner.  All was eaten, no left overs for my lunch, alas.  We enjoyed them, lots of stories about Penn State where they live and Mary Ann's brother is the AD just for football, so they have been very close to the scandal.  Tom, the son, is a real sports aficionado, knows lots of football, loves the game, the players and coaches.  He always seems to be working, a day job, then either teaching snow skiing in the evening, or golf in the spring.  They left about 9:00 as they had been up since 6:00, spending much of the morning working on clearing the downed trees branch in their yard.

After they left, we watched the Press Correspondents dinner on C-Span.  Obama was very funny, as usual, Jimmy Kimmel less so though we did enjoy the fact that he made fun of everyone, from Obama, to Clinton, to Newt, to Romney, even the press.  It's fun to see people laugh at themselves, or at least look 'like' they are laughing at themselves.  With Newt, it was hard to tell.

Since it's a lovely morning, we are breaking our Sunday routine of a walk at CI, then my favorite breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast and are heading off to the Allegheny State Forest, about 30 miles away, for a nice three or four mile hike, depending on which trail we decide to take.

Twenty Eight Degrees and Clouding Up

5:50

6:20

Up at 5:50 to a marvelous sky, reminding me of Arizona, but now, at 8:00, as Click and Clack say good by and Only A Game begins, it's starting to cloud up.  It was so chilly in the house this morning (Evie's always turning the heat down, and I turn it up, just like my Mom and Dad used to do), that I turned on the fireplace and now the living room is nice and toasty.  The weatherman actually predicted snow for last night, a frost warning for tonight.

We went to work out yesterday and I made the mistake, before yoga, of putting together some Turkish lentil soup with a base of onions and  garlic.  Both Evie and I realized, as we were driving to Lakewood that I smelled of both garlic and onions.  I quickly put some hand cream on my hands, to no avail.  So, as I did my various poses, I smelled like a sous chef.  After our session, I apologized to my class and a number admitted that they wondered where the smell of garlic was coming from.  O, well, live and learn and don't make soup in the morning.  It was good to get back to my regular class because I know almost all of them.  They all greeted my return happily.  One mentioned having seen Evie and I at Bemus the night before and said she was there with her sister, who owns the Ryder Cup coffee shop in Lakewood, and they are thinking about putting another coffee shop in the old Picket Fence store in Bemus, a  good idea at least for the summer.

I enjoyed my lentil soup for lunch, though it was quite thick, as it was made with rice and bulgur as well as lentils, with a strong mint flavor, quite different from our usual lentil soup with a lemon and cumin.  After lunch, I raked more of the twigs in the yard, filling up another can, fixed Evie's Soil Screen, and she cut the lawn for the second time this fall.  It's quite tall in the areas where we have new grass, not so much in the front where we have not seeded recently.

For dinner, we had homemade pizzas, quite an effort for Evie actually, making you understand why most people just call Domino's.  The dough was a bit disappointing; we keep trying to find the perfect flat crust but have yet to find it.  The pizza's, however, were yummy, with lots of mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and onions, our favorite.  We watched once again the cult classic film, Memento, which starts at the end and moves backward in time, one of the first films to adopt such a structure.  Even though we had seen it before, we still ended up confused.

Not sure what today will bring, perhaps more yoga, maybe a walk in Westfield, for a sure a trip to the Transfer Station.

Gray and Windy, A Fall Like Day

Fall Like Morning at 6:30

Jane Grice with her parents, Bill and Pat

Finches Turning Bright Yellow in Spring

A Common Red Poll

It seems a lot cooler this morning, as I am up at 6:30 to a choppy lake, some white caps, a cloudy sky, and a windy, cool 36 degrees.  We had hoped to go hiking today in the Allegheny Forest but it looks like another yoga and YMCA day.  The weather here is so changeable, like my moods, and a  gray day like this sucks the 'want to' out of me, makes me want to sit around and just read, sip Turkish tea, and listen to the radio.  Not such a bad idea.

Yesterday, we were back in our routine, yoga at 10:00, then I pick Evie up after her workout at the Y at 11:30 and off to Home Depot, to buy a few items, then over to Weggies to spend a  hundred dollars on groceries without buying any meat. It always shocks me how much we spend, how little we seem to get.  This seems to be the mantra of any retiree...when I was young!  I did have a fried baloney sandwich for lunch, a throwback to my childhood.  Also, I finished Conroy's MY READING LIFE andI began a new book, THE YEAR OFF, written by a David Johnson.   Back in 1977, my last year at Robert College, he was a Princeton junior, taking a year off, spending it in Turkey teaching at the Community School where my kids went.  We got to know him and his buddy, Tom Hanrahan pretty well, partied with them, would go to the Marine House on Friday nights for Buds and burgers.  I forgot about him after we left until about three months ago when he emailed me.  He had a friend who taught at Reserve and when he realized David lived in Turkey, he asked if he knew me, got my email and voila.  This book chronicles the year abroad of a Princeton junior like him, a piece of fiction, but with lots of autobiography.  He sent it to me a couple of months ago, and I just started it.  So far, so good.  It's readable, shows an amazing understanding of Turkey and it's history, so I am impressed so far.

Yesterday afternoon, Jane Grice called to say her parents were coming to Bemus and wondered if we wanted to go out to dinner at the Seezurh House with them.  Since it was burger night, we decided to go.  They all came over to our house for a glass of wine before dinner.  We had not seen Jane's parents in years though we had known them ever since the early 80's when she was still married to Stan Marshaus.  Like Evie, they are Slovenians from Cleveland, so we had a lot in common, especially talk about who has the best Slovenian sausages, Radells or Asman's, two Cleveland meat markets.  We are going to have a cook off.  We all had burgers at the Seezurh and it was good to be back in familiar surroundings for a meal.  The bar was fairly crowded, making it fun but hard to hear.  We got back around 8:30 as Jane's parents wanted to get home to Gerry, their new retirement home, before dark.

Jane had mentioned a book that was racing through the hands of women at her office, Shades of Grey, so I looked it up and sent her a very funny review, suggesting that the sexual gymnastics of the major protagonist gave the reader arthritis.  Great plot though, like reading Playboy to figure out how to tie a tie, a true story according to a young man Piers Morgan had on his show last night.  He is the son of lesbians from Iowa who defended his mothers and their right to marry before the Iowa Senate. It caused quite a stir and went viral on YouTube a year ago and now he has written a book about it.

MY READING LIFE: PAT CONROY

I am not sure how I feel about Pat Conroy as a writer after reading MY READING LIFE.  Though he rambled on about precision and concision, this book is most certainly overwritten, a paean so to speak to Thomas Wolfe, his Look Homeward Angel, which became the model for much of Conroy's fiction.  I don't remember this being so in his early works, THE WATER IS WIDE, THE GREAT SANTINI and THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE though I did feel this verbosity in THE PRINCE OF TIDES, the last novel of his that I have read, other than his MY LOSING SEASON, his story about his senior year at The Citadel when he played on their losing basketball team, a favorite of mine.

I did enjoy his chapter set in Paris, where he was finishing up THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, probably because he mentioned going to two restaurants that I am sure we went to when we spent our three weeks in Versaille.  I assume Manuel mentioned them to us, Vagenende and Le Procope.  He also mentioned spending lots of time on the Rue Mouffetard, at the markets,  which I also seem to remember.  Ah, nostalgia.

He did make me want to reread two books GONE WITH THE WIND  and WAR AND PEACE, two books that he waxed most eloquently about.  I know my brother in law Walt has either finished or is finishing WAR AND PEACE, probably because he read this book as well.  A reader comes away wanting to go back and read, like Conroy, hoping to find that book which will change your life.  For Conroy, it was these two books, the poet James Dickey, and most of the classics.  I did not realize how well read Conroy was, how he set a goal for himself when he was sixteen, of two hundred pages a day, and keeps it up, even today.

I also knew lots of his books were autobiographical but he gets very personal in this book and we realize THE GREAT SANTINI if anything was understated.  Conroy hated his Marine father most of his life, especially when he was a teenager and the hatred seems to have been reciprocated, as his father beat him, made fun of him for reading books, cheered for the opposing team when he played basketball, and made him go to THE CITADEL, a military academy, all with the idea of making a man of him.  I was 'sort of' recruited by THE CITADEL back in 1960, for a few weeks dreamed of wearing the uniform (it gradually wore off), but if I had pursued it, I would have been in his class, on his team.

We learn mostly about a couple of great teachers, both who changed his life, one kind of a Mac figure up introduced Conroy to life, to history, books, racism, music and art.  It began a life long friendship and one of the things I admire about Conroy is his loyalty to his friends.  He talks about a great bookstore in Atlanta, one of a kind, where artists gathered, read their poems or books, socialized and just hung out, the kind that no longer exist.

His life does not sound enviable despite his success, as his has had numerous break downs, contemplated suicide a number of times, and has had four marriages if I am counting correctly.  Coming from his background of a tyrant for a father, a bruised mother, who loved her son, wanted him to become the reader and writer she had always dreamed of, but was locked in a marriage to a man she hated, a life she was not meant for, it's no wonder he was so screwed up.  He loved his mother fiercely but I get the feeling their was more to their relationship, things he does not tell us about her treatment of him.  It makes you feel lucky to have a normal childhood..

He seems to have mellowed, as he is close to seventy now, happily married, living on Fripp Island with his fourth wife, grandchildren, and a house filled with books.  I assume he mourns the ebbing of his creative juices as he has not had a great book since THE PRINCE OF TIDES, if that's a great book.  I will remember him for reminding of the importance of a story, something I preach and agree with all my heart.  It's the story that pulls us in, carries us along, makes us want to read.  Too much of both fiction and film forget this, as they play with structure, with beginnings and middles and endings, and pay little attention to story and character.  I will say this for Conroy, his early novels and characters were compelling and unforgettable, which is why I devoured them.  A good read.

I forgot to mention two things.  He's the first writer that I know of who has read and loved all twelve novels of Anthony Powell's magnum opus, THE DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME, a set of novels that I absolutely loved reading when I was in Turkey.  Conroy even mentions the unforgettable scoundrel Widmerpool, a character I used to tell my classes about.  I even taught the first novel, A Question of Upbringing, to one of my senior classes.  His reading choices parallel many of mine, though he certainly has read a lot more than me, which has made this book personally interesting for me.  And we read them in about the same time in our lives.

Finally, after reading that he had a cookbook, I popped on my computer, went to Amazon and with one click, ordered it and it should be here tomorrow.  No discipline.

Breakfast Club with the Boys and Yoga...Ah Routine

Hiking in the Spring Snow Yesterday

The Green of Spring at Long Point Yesterday as Well

Woodlawn

5:55

6:30

Spring Flower

Up early, about 5:50 for some reason, to a splendid sky of light off to my left and enshrouding darkness to my right.  I wonder who will win, the darkness or light.  It's 36 degrees outside and supposed to be breezy and cloudy, with a  good chance of rain.  I am glad I got most of my outside chores done yesterday.  Nothing we have to do today, of course, we are retired, so it's another great day.

Yesterday, we decided, because it was a beautiful, clear morning, to walk Long Point Park.  What a contrast to our 90 degrees hikes in a brown, rocky, sandy desert landscape of Scottsdale.  Here all was beginning to turn spring green, that bright, rich green only found in April here in the Mid West.  Trees are struggling to come into bloom, or were devastated by Sunday's snow.  Purple flowers are appearing on the vinca and unknown white wild flowers are sprinkled in the woods.  The paths were wet and muddy at times, thanks to the snow, but it was delicious to walk in the crisp spring air, surrounded by the burgeoning spring of Lake Chautauqua.  We took our usual trail, through the woods, out to the tip of Long Point, back through the grove of Guardian Locust trees.  Unlike Pinnacle Peak in Arizona, which was packed with hikers, runners and tourists, we met nary a soul, only a couple of fishermen at the marina's edge, wetting their lines.

We got back to the house around noon and tackled the job of cleaning up the mess of trees limbs and  branches that littered our front and back yard.  I had to saw in half the large limbs, stuff them into the back of my Pilot while Evie raked the smaller branches and put them in garbage cans. I made three trips up to Kinney's Woods, piling on more and more branches in their field.  Our yard is now clear of debris but the grass needs to be cut.  Later, after lunch, I watched the European Soccer semi finals between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, an amazing game.  One of the best players for the Real Madrid team is a German born Turk who I love to watch play,  I taped it, so I could go out and finish painting some of my dock pieces, getting them ready for the lake this weekend.  Unfortunately, the game went into an extra period so I was not able to see the last 15 minutes and never found out who won.  Perfect.

For dinner, Evie put together what we had left in the pantry with chicken thigns.  Always good, we enjoyed this dish with rice and salad, watching an amazing show from the previous night, as Jimmy Fallon had Obama on for almost an hour.  The show took place in Chapel Hill, NC, where Obama had spoken earlier in the day and it was a great show.  Barack is so relaxed, funny, confident and charming, at least to us.  And the students loved him.  It's worth watching if you missed it unless you are a Republican.  Then, it will only reinforce your negatives regarding him.

We view all events through the prism of our emotions and memes, looking for data to reinforce our opinions.  Thus, the Obamaites see only charm and intellect, the Right only pandering and wrong headedness.  This polarity seems a prescription for national failure and decline, according to a number of scholars, like conservative Dinesh D'Souza.  Because of interests groups, increasing polarization, as we all see the world through our prisms, we have a vetocracy, where nothing gets done.  "It undermines the secret of US's success; a balance between private and public policy." Anything one party proposes, the other vetoes.  Nothing gets done.  And we, as a nation, begin to decline.  Big money, pacts, and the increasing power of outside groups, their lobbyists, have led to this.  Partisanship and politics are so bad that Russ Feingold has suggested we might start having to have 'republican and democratic toothpaste.'  Everything becomes politicized.  Scary.

Sun Rising Over Snow Covered Yard

Snow Covered Yard on Arriving Home

Evie's Garden

6:15

Sun Rising Over Long Point at 6:30

Up at 6:15, in time to see the sunrise at 6:22, a sky pink at the edges, the lake various shades of lavender.  It's good to wake up to my favorite view and I am surprised at how far to the north the sun has moved since we left two weeks ago.  In Scottsdale, it rose to the right of Ed's backyard and because of a wall, I could not see it rise above the hills.  In Lee's Summit, it rose out the back window, behind a neighbor's house so I could not see much there either.  Thus, it's always surprisingly to return home and watch it rise and grow in front of my eyes.  The yard still has some snow on it; a few tree branches are down, one breaking the wheel on my grill sitting in the back yard.  We were lucky though as one of our neighbors have a huge branch down in their front yard, a result I assume from the heavy snow on Monday.   It's 35 degrees out, going up to 53 so the snow should all be gone by the end of the day.  No martins to speak of yet though I saw a merganser yesterday on the lake.

Yesterday's ride was uneventful, as we left about 8:00, got home around 1:30, a five and a half hour ride, or 350 miles, 950 total from KC.  It was another beautiful morning to drive, all the way through Columbus, up route 71 to Cleveland, even out towards Erie.  Literally, as we hit Route 86 it clouded up and about Sherman, maybe 10 miles from our house, we ran into a brief snow storm, heavy snow, foggy, and hard to see for about five minutes.  We stopped at the post office in Lakewood, to get our mail and there was little if any snow.  But, when we headed down to Woodlawn, all the lawns were covered with about two or three inches of snow.  I had to move a couple of large branches from our driveway, which had fallen off our willow.  We unpacked quickly and relaxed most of the afternoon, happy to be back in our own home.  Evie got some meatballs out of the freezer, added pasta sauce and we had an easy dinner.  We caught up on some of missed TV shows and went to bed around 10:30, our usual time.  I am reading Pat Conroy's MY READING LIFE on my Kindle and am enjoying it.

Home Again and Looking Back at the Past Two Weeks

Little Slugger Ready for her First Softball Game

Hollywood Tom

The Basketball and Soccer Star

Setting the Table

The Virtues of  Wine

Relaxing with Dot

CLAIRE'S HOUSE AND POOL!

Look Mom, Vegetable  ear rings

Yesterday, was an easy drive, about ten hours and we stayed in a Englewood Hampton Inn, just west of Dayton, 600 miles on the dot, with 350 more to go today to the lake.  Total drive: 950 miles.  It was a beautiful day for a drive, blue skies with amazing clouds off in the distance, like floating ships but we couldn't help but think about the snow storm that was hitting Chautauqua.  From what I can tell, the storm was not as bad as they thought though they did get a few inches of snow, depending where you were.  In the Post Journal, I read that some snowmobilers said it was the best snow of the year, about 7 inches of packed snow, and were out for three hours.  But most of the snow should be gone or melted, at least on the roads, when we get back today.

Getting Ready for Guests

Mother and Daughter at Kite Festival

We ended up going out for dinner to the Buckhorn Tavern, about five minutes from our inn.  It's a local place, off the beaten path, so we sat at the bar though we didn't get to meet anyone other than the bar maid.  Evie got a pork tenderloin sandwich and I got the Pub Special, prime rib on toast with onion rings. Both were quite good, though we wish it were more crowded but that's what you get if you don't go to a chain on the main drag.  This place was just off the beaten path enough to not attract tourists.  We then stopped at Meijers, the local grocery store, to pick up a few things for tomorrow's dinner at the lake, so we don't have to worry about it when we get home.  We were back at our room by 8:30 and spent the evening, like always, reading, watching TV, with Evie playing Words with Friends.

We both are looking forward to getting home; we just hope the roads are decent, not icy or snow covered.

Heading Back to the Lake and a Snow Storm

Jean with Tom and Family

Dinner at Jean's Home

Tom, Mary, and Nick

Playing Apples to Apples with Marisa in Darien, CT, on IPAD

Sisters Petkovsek

I am up too early, at 5: 20 here in Lee's Summit, unable to get back to sleep.  We will head home to a snow storm around 6:30 or 7:00 this morning, stopping in Dayton for the night, about a ten hour drive.  Chautauqua could  get up to 15 inches of snow in the next two days.  We hope that by the time we get to that area on Tuesday afternoon, things will have settled down and the roads will be passable if not completely cleared.  Enshallah!

We had a very busy day yesterday, our last in Lee's Summit.  Evie and I went to Eddie Bauer early, to return some things, pick up a few more while we still have interesting stores around.  Then, around noon, we went to Jean's house, Evie's sister who lives in Independence, about twenty minutes away.  She has a lovely house on a lake whose name I will not attempt to spell...Tapawingo I think.  The house has a great view of this small but fun lake and Jean often kayaks or boats on it when the weather is good.  We had a  great dinner, an eye of round roast, mashed potatoes for Nick, corn on the cob, salad, and homemade cookies for dessert, a feast for a Sunday afternoon.  We relaxed after the meal, uncomfortably full from having eaten so much and at Marlena's request, we played Apples to Apples, along with Marisa Albarran, in Darien, who was following the game on her IPAD along with Marlena.  When it was their turn, Marlena would take the IPAD into the bedroom, taking her cards with her, and talk with Marisa about which card was the best answer.  It was a riot and we played for an least thirty to forty five minutes with her.  Jean is a great host, like her sisters, Claire and Laura, so it's an easy visit and fun.

We left Jean's about 2:30 because Marlena had softball practice, which Evie and Mary went to.  Tom, Nick and I went home for about an hour, then off to his basketball game in north Kansas City, where we met Mary, Evie and Marlena and watched Nick's game.  They won, fairly easily, and Nick had his best game, playing well defensively, snarling at least five offensive rebounds, and leading the charge to take the lead late in the first half by dropping in five quick points.  It was great to see him playing well and having fun.  After the game, the girls headed home and the three guys took off for Nick's soccer game at 7:30, back in Overland Park, Kansas, about 45 minutes away.  It was a cold, windy night, clear skies though, and they played under the lights on one of the 12 turf and lit fields, all full with soccer games, the lat starting at 9:00.  It's an amazing complex, as good as any of I have ever seen and all were busy.  His team came back with a late goal to tie the game 2-2, almost the reverse of yesterday and Nick again played well, confident, skillfully, with great ball sense.  His coach mentioned he was one of the two who played the best on the team.  We rolled home around 9:30, after a stop for dinner at Mc Donalds, and watched one more episode of 24 before we went off to bed, exhausted, after a long day watching sports.  As the grand children get older, their games are more and more fun, as they are more and more skilled and fun to watch.  We will miss not seeing them play.

Basketball, Soccer and Dinner at Jean's Home

Kite Flight Festival at Longview College

Half Time at Nick's Soccer Game

Dinner at Nick and Jake's 

Tom and Mary

Relaxing at the Kite Festival

Crowds at Kite Festival

Entrance to Kite Festival

Another quiet morning in Lee Summit, as it's only me and Bella, the dog up at 7:00.  It looks like a nice day, 46 degrees right now, perhaps a bit cooler than yesterday with a high in the mid 50's, again a good day for being out side, watching more games.

We had a very busy day yesterday; fortunately, it was a beautiful day to be outside.  Early morning, we did some shopping as Evie wanted to hit TJ Maxx for a few minutes.  That took about a half hour, then we stopped at Eddie Bauer and Bed, Bath and Beyond as well.  Around noon, we headed just up the road to Longview College's campus, where they were having a Kite Festival.  As you can see from the pictures it was well attended and there were lots of kites,flown by all ages, as well as food stands to attract the multitudes.  We walked around for about 15 minutes, then settled down in the shade beneath a tree and watched the action, the kites struggling to fly as the wind was not very cooperative and the milling crowds.  There were areas set aside for the professional kite fliers, with the huge kites, then areas for kids and amateurs, so all sorts of kites were in the air.  We stayed for about an hour but had to get home because Marlena had a soccer game at 3:00 and Nick at 5:00, about 45 minutes away from Marlena's game, in Overland Park, Kansas.  Marlena's game was in the Lee Summit soccer complex of 17 fields and it was hard to find a place to park so many games were going on.  It was pleasant, even hot out as we watched her play and though her team lost, she was named player of the game.  She has improved so much since last year, knows the game better and can control the ball.  It's fun to see her enjoying sports, running like the wind, up and down the field, developing her endurance.  After her game, we raced over to Kansas, making it just in time to see Nick's game start.  His team is an elite Kansas City Soccer team, so they were very skilled, aggressive and entertaining to watch, replete with obnoxious fans and a red card.  Nick's team played well, dominated the game and were ahead until the last 10 seconds when the other team scored a goal to tie the game, very disappointing for Nick's team but because of the red card, they played the entire second half with only ten players.

We then went out to dinner at a very popular spot in Overland Park called Nick and Jakes; we had to sit at the bar waiting for our table so I ended up talking to a guy who was a huge soccer fan.  He played college soccer back in the 60's at UConn and his son played at Marquette.  He talked about how amazing the soccer complex was in Overland Park, the best, according to his son, in the world.  We had great dinners, mine the best of course, a rack of ribs big enough to feed the entire table, which it did because I could only eat half.  We got home about 9:30, in time to watch a couple more episodes of 24 on Netflix, then off to bed

Today, we head over to Jean's, Evie's sister for an early dinner, then Marlena has softball practice at 2:00, Nick a basketball game at 5:00 and another soccer game in Kansas at 7:00.  That boy will be tired by the time he returns home at 9:00 and so will I despite not having played at minute, just sat and watched.