How Boring...Another Sunny Day

6:22

Painting Rhododendrons

Fredonia State Modernist Dorm

Fredonia State President's Home

Fredonia Victorian

Fredonia Queen Anne

Up just as the sun rose, about 6:15 and like yesterday, in fact the past three or four days, sunlight fills the living room, forcing me to sit on the couch instead of my usual chair.  Tough life.  There's dew on the lawn and it's 50 degrees, going up to the 80's later in the day.  I expect this to be a busy day on the lake despite it still being spring.  Usually, the lake doesn't heat up till mid to late June.

We took off for the Harvest View Farm Market early yesterday morning, a huge nursery, a few miles west of Fredonia, in Pomfret on Rt. 20.  We had been there a week ago, thought it had an amazing collection of annuals and vowed to return the following week.  We picked up petunias, potato vines, cosmos, zinnas, and various herbs.  We drove the backroads, through the beautiful countryside, mostly farms, avoiding the busy roads, a beautiful day for a ride.

Before we went to the nursery, we decided to walk around Fredonia State University.  We parked just off it's main street and walked about a half mile along the main drag, leading to the campus entrance, a parade of interesting and mostly well kept Victorian homes.  Fredonia, unlike a number of other towns, has because of the University, a wealthy enough community to keep up these homes.  We walked around the University, somewhat of an anomaly because it's architecture is 1960's modern, huge cement structures that remind me of something out of the Soviet Union.  I am not sure but Herman Kahn may have designed some of the buildings, at least it reminds me of his style and the centerpiece of the campus is the Rockefeller Arts Center.  It is an interesting complex of modernistic buildings, library, dorm, art center, student center, but it lacks the trees and old world look of most college campuses that I have visited.  As we walked back to the car, two people were in a yard, painting a garden.  We ended up stopping, talking with them and one was a teacher, the other a student.  The teacher mentioned an art tour the following week, gave us info about it.  He teaches a group for 150.00 a person, two three hour sessions.  Flowers and large landscapes seem to be his forte.  I am tempted to call him and ask how much he might charge to paint Evie's garden in mid summer, when most of the perennials are in bloom.  We hope to go back next weekend when the tour takes place,

We then drove west to the Westfield Nursery, picked up a couple of large pots and potting soil but when we got home, we realized we had left the pots behind.  "I grow old, I grow old, I wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled."  Fortunately, Evie called and they will just credit our visa so we don't have to ride back and fetch them.

We spent the afternoon outside, Evie planting the perennials, me helping, and then relaxed for a couple of hours on the dock, just enjoying the lake and sun.  Even at 6:30 there were few people around and we have to remind ourselves it is still spring, not the middle of summer, which it feels like.  It's also the first time we noticed the roar of speed or bass boats on the lake.  Summer is coming.  For dinner, we had portabello mushrooms stuffed with spinach, on buns, a nice change from a  burger.