Fifty Degrees and Clear

6:10

7:01

Farm on Mt Baldy Road, near Gorge

With Mike Cassell

Up early, at 6:10 to a ribbon of pink along the skyline, steam rising from the lake, another great day on the horizon.  Not much action though there is supposedly a fishing tournament going on.  The sun now rises to the right (south) of Long Point, on its journey towards Wells Bay, its winter home.  It's hard to believe August is almost history, fall about to begin.  A great night for sleeping with the windows open, the kind of nights I remember as a kid in Canada on a vacation with my parents, a memory I have never lost, perhaps embellished.

Early yesterday morning, Evie and I went for a short kayak ride over to Long Point, along its shore line and back, a smooth, windless morning, on a very green algae ridden lake.  Unfortunately, the algae bloom is still with us. Then, my buddy Ron Mc Clure and I took off to Westfield, to Mt. Baldy road, in our never ending quest to walk the Chautauqua Gorge.  We were searching for an access road or trail, some where in the Mt. Baldy area, so we would not have a six or seven hour walk, from the Westfield Water Station to Taylor Rd.  We parked our car at the farm about half way between Taylor and the Water Station, and started hiking into the woods, looking for a path in and down to the gorge.  We crossed fields, meandered through woods, found natural gas roads, paths, followed some of both and wandered around for close to two hours, getting near the gorge but nothing seemed just right.  Thus, Lewis and Clark failed in their expedition to find an easy path to the gorge, thwarting our plans.  It was a lovely walk, however,  thick woods, quiet, hills, not a person or vehicle, and only a slight twinge of fear that we might get lost though I had my trusty compass.  "To travel is better than to arrive."

We then drove to Westfield, to the Patterson Library, where I picked up a biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion.  I hope to read it if I am in the mood and learn more about this only American grown religion.  We then went to the shoe shop in Westfield, a cool little place, with a very personable shoe maker.  He's going to reinforce my Keen sandals, and Ron's bringing in a couple of baseball gloves for him to restring.  A neat shop and guy.  We then drove down to Barcelona Harbor, on Lake Erie and ate outside at Jack's Drive Inn, one of Ron's favorite spots.  I had a fresh perch sandwich, a cup of chili and Ron had a dog with sauerkraut and soup.  We left home around 9:30 and did not get back till 2:00.  We failed in our expedition but enjoyed the going.

While I was  gone Evie made a beef stew and my favorite cookie, snicker doodles, so I had a treat waiting form me when I came home.  We both then spent the rest of the afternoon out on the dock.  It was a beautiful afternoon, cool and comfortable in the sun.  Around 4:30, our good friend, Michael Cassell, from Hudson, stopped by for a couple of hours.  He had just played in a US amateur qualifying tournament in Amherst, NY.  Unfortunately, he finished second and did not qualify.  We sat out on the dock and caught up on  his family and all the doings in Hudson.

We had the beef stew for dinner, a salad, and watched  Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, both honed in on the Republican Convention.  Jon Stewart is actually in Tampa.  Neither show was that funny as the convention had not really begun yet because of the weather so they did not have any really  good sound  bites.  Just wait till tonight.  O, yea, we also watched a  couple more episodes of Breaking Bad.  What will we do when we are finished, in about a week?