WE GOT RAIN (one inch) ON A MID SUMMER MORNING

6:45

6:50

Jim and Barb Fox

Enjoying Woodlawn gathering

The Three Minute Meeting of Woodlawners

Jackie Riek and Evie Davis

Up at 6:20 to a wonderfully cloudy sky, damp air, and a wet lawn and garden, something we have not seen in a couple of weeks.  Most of the lawns are parched, so this may revive them a bit.  Right now I am sitting out on our porch, listening to the rain, watching a ski boat and skier fly by, our neighbors, no doubt.  Rain is forecast on and off most of the day.  Let's hope so.  I seem to remember Chautauqua summers being filled with rain, not so the past four or five years.  Just a moment ago, the sky visibly darkened, the rain started, pelting the lake, and thunder began, off behind our house, accompanied by lighting as well.  It looks like a real summer storm.  So far, I have not gotten wet, the rain falling vertical, the air windless, but that's beginning to change as I write.  Ah rain!  Inside I go.

After the rain stopped, about 8:30, I went out kayaking towards Wells Bay, hoping to do a little bass fishing but ended up with mostly weeds, each time I cast.  Next time, a weedless lure is the thing.  It was a strange morning to kayak, no sun, shades of gray (not a thousand shades), a welcome change from the past two weeks of sun, glare, and heat.  A few fishing boats were out but the threatening skies must scare most away, back to the docks.  I was out for about forty five minutes, just right for a overcast morning.

Saturday was another hot day, lots of activity on the lake, most neighbors up for the weekend.  We did not have  a lot on our to do list, other than my going to the Transfer Station and to the Mayville Garage for hazardous waste disposal, for things like pesticides and paint thinners, that have been sitting around for years.  The workers who handled the products all appeared to be the 'underclass' as if no one else but the desperate would do this job.  Just an unsupported observation.  Evie also cut the lawn, in phases, as it was warm and humid, too hot and humid to sit out on the dock.  We both did a lot of reading and relaxing under our trees.

About 5:30, we went to our second Woodlawn picnic of the summer; we have three a year, one in June, one in July and one in August.  This one was sparsely attended but fun, as usual, to spend an hour catching up with the neighbors.  For some reason, this particular time, mid July, is hard to remember.  I did not realize there was a picnic until about 2:00 in the afternoon when I happened to see the sign.  And my neighbor, Jim Fox, laughed about last year's picnic, when he mentioned to his next door neighbor, Ken Scholtz, that he was hosting the gathering in an hour.  He had forgotten about it as well.  We stayed until about 7:00, came home and had a glass of wine on the porch before dinner.  Evie had made up one of our new favorites dishes, Saag Paneer, a very spicy Indian spinach dish, with small squares of paneer cheese, browned and put in the dish.  We were also able to use ghee this time, making it more authentic.  Evie served it over brown rice, with yogurt, just perfect.  And the peaches are now available at the Lighthouse Grocery; they are sweet and juicy, perfect to cut up and put over french vanilla ice cream.   We watched two more episodes of Breaking Bad and  Walter and Jesse were able to escape from Tucco, the psychopathic drug dealer, though  not without mucho violence, stupidity (they left him alive) and some comedy, Tucco's father, wheel chair bound, with a school bell on his chair to signal a 'yes or no', a great touch to a very violent scene. Brian Cranston continues to amaze me with his ability to play this role so well, moving back and forth between a loving husband and reluctant drug dealer, forced into violence though hating himself for its necessity,