A Humid, Warm Morning, With Heavy Fog

Fog at 6:45

Heavy Rains Pepper the Lake Yesterday Afternoon

Hail stones

Hail Belting Our Poor Honda

The Fishing Begins

Trail Blocked by Down Trees at Dobbins Woods

Greening Undergrowth at Dobbins Woods

Up at 6:00 to a heavy blanket of fog, only the martin house is visible on the lake.  It's 53 degrees outside, after a high of 81 yesterday, according to my weather station.  We had violent hail storms last evening around 7:30 though no damage that I could see.  The cable went off for a few minutes but quickly rebooted.  The morning Post Journal said nothing about damage, so I assume all is well in the surrounding area.  More storms are predicted for today, probably because of the unseasonably warm weather.

Yesterday morning, despite the clouds and chance of rain, we decided to walk Dobbins Woods, just ten minutes a way.  We stopped at the Blue Berry Farm, on Carpenter Pringle Road, to see if we could pick up eggs.  Margaret and Randy Smith were outside, so we talked with them for about twenty minutes.  They were not sure of this year's blue berry crop because of the weather.  At this point, the bushes appeared brown, the buds having been effected by the freeze last weekend.  The two of them are very pleasant, talkative, and came here from Delaware six years ago.  They mentioned an egg producer just down the road, who actually delivers farm fresh eggs once a week, so they gave us the phone number.  We called but had to leave a message.  We'll see how it works out.

The walk in Dobbins was wet, muddy, and buggy, not as enjoyable as we expected.  The low lying bushes have become to turn green, though  most of the trees have yet to turn leaf.  The trails were marred by many downed branches and tree, and the path was often muddy or puddled, from the rain, making it difficult to walk.  It took us about forty five minutes to navigate and the gnats were the worst part, even though we use insect repellent.  Now I know why we prefer hiking in the winter months.

We worked outside in the afternoon, mowing both ours and Leonard's yards, two lawn mowers blazing.  Both lawns look great at this time of year, green and rich, especially since they were just cut.  It was great timing because just as we finished the rain, then hail came, enough so that the hail collected in small piles.

For dinner, Evie put together our son Tom's favorite recipe, sun dried tomatoes, asparagus and shrimp penne, with a salad. It was great, just what I craved.  Vi, our friend from Painesville, Ohio,  called as we finished, so Evie spent an hour on the phone with her, catching up on the news.  She seems to be doing well enough, her daughter and grandchildren her life now.  She's an amazing woman.

I have a few pages to go in The Year Off, the novel set in Istanbul in 1977, written by a former student teacher at the RC Community School.  His name is David Johnson, and he remembers teaching our kids.  I have been enjoying it quite a bit, especially because he's so good at recreating wheat life was like in Turkey back in the 1970's.  And it's well written for the most part.