Overcast and Warm, Heat to Come!

6:13

7:03

East Clevelanders and basketball buddies: John DiAngelo, Tom O'Brien, Stan Marshaus, Don Gacy

Nora Ephron's Peach Pie (from HEARTBURN, her novel)

It's 6:20 and the sky towards Long Point is overcast, no sign of sun rising, as it has yet to burn it's way through the cloud cover.  However, as I write this, at 7:00, it's just appeared high above Long Point, reflecting on the lake.  Today's supposed to be very warm, perhaps hitting 90, then cooling off a bit the next  few days to just the 80's.  Today is a big day as our grandson, Mitchell, arrives at 12:50, to spend the week with us until the rest of the family descends on the 27th.

It's now 8:30 and I just returned from an hour of kayaking on the lake, out to Tom's Point and back around Wells Bay.  When I first started out, towards Tom's Point, I was literally alone on the lake, no boats in sight, no one on a dock, just me, sitting in the middle of the lake, pondering 'life.'  When I concentrate,  I can hear off, behind me, toward Victoria, the sound of trucks on #86, like elevator music, always there but rarely heard unless you are alone.  By the time I got to Tom's Point, however, a couple of fishing boats appeared.  I slowly kayaked back, casting a lure as the mood hit me, got a couple of bites but no fish, alas, as I continue my zen fishing.  When I walked in the house, the smell of a baking peach pie filled the kitchen.  Evie's making Nora Ephron's peach pie, peaches with a custard over the top, for our grandson Mitch. He's going to love it...me too.

Yesterday morning, we converted my den into a bedroom, ready for the arrival of the kids.  Air conditioners are in each bedroom, as we  get ready for the heat, if it comes.  Evie also made a couple of recipes of baked ziti, one of our favorite dishes, so it will be an easy dinner later in the week, when all arrive.  About noon, Stan Marshaus arrived with three neighborhood friends from East Cleveland.  They came up to visit Stan and asked me to come out to lunch with them.  I knew them as well, as we all played summer basketball on the playgrounds.  They lived within five minutes of Shaw Field in East Cleveland, were neighbors, so they have been friends for close to sixty years.  Two, John DiAngelo and Don Gacy played basketball for John Carroll in the early sixties.  I got to know them during the summers when we played against each other, and we became friends later, after graduating, when both Don and John ended up coaching, John for thirty seven years at Painesville Harvey and Gacy, at Cathedral Latin, Shaker Heights, and Orange, all in the Cleveland area.  We ate lunch at the Seezurh House and had great fun reminiscing about the old days playing basketball during the summers, as well as our college and coaching days.  I had not seen Gacy in over forty five years, so it was fun to talk with him again.  Seeing old friends brings back only the good memories, I find.  It's interesting to see what we remember, how seeing someone like Gacy brings back names and actions that you have not thought about for years.

For dinner, we went to the Viking Club with Ron and Linda Mc Clure.  Since it was Monday, it was Reuben's and Cubans for dinner.  One Cuban is large enough to feed two people, so Evie and I shared one, as we had a couple pitchers of beer and watched the sky darken, the sun set off to the west.  The club was moderately crowded, mostly with people our age or older, few young people, no children which surprised me.  Clubs like this are hurting for younger members, no doubt, one of the reasons why we were invited to be members.  They need people.