A Strangely Quiet Monday at the Lake (Algae Bloom, too)

6:22

Farewell to our granddaughters, Hayden and Halle

Up at 6:15, after a fitful night of tossing and turning, to a pink sky, the sun struggling to top Long Point.  It's 55 degrees outside, and we can expect a clear, sunny day, rain returns late tonight and tomorrow.  We did get more rain yesterday (1/2 inch), a misty day till the afternoon, when it cleared up, the sun returned, a fall like afternoon.

I just  got back from my first morning kayak paddle in a few weeks, ever since Mitch and I went down Prendergast Creek.  It was overcast when I started out towards Long Point, the Marina, but when I headed back to Wells Bay, along the shoreline, it cleared up, blue sky and sunny, the statt to a beautiful day.  The lake, unfortuanately, seems to have begun its late summer algae bloom, especially along Long Point Marina bay, as it seems thicker along the shoreline, less out in deep water, but for most of my paddle, I could see algae on the water surface.  We were so lucky it held off until the families headed home, in fact, the lake has been clear and fairly weedless through most of the summer, at least along Woodlawn

After Jill and family left yesterday morning, we set to work, getting the house organized, changing the beds, all the things we do after a family visit.  But we soon ran out of gas, or were overcome by depression, at the quietness and lack of activity in the house, no grand children, no need to cook, to play,  to swim or fish, to do anything, just sit around and do nothing if we wanted.  How different from the past weeks, with grand children constantly wanting something, either your time, something to eat, or just your attention.  For a few weeks, then, what sportswriter Bob Ryan called the goal of retirement, 'personal life flexibility and the elimination of obligation (how nicely he puts it)[, was willingly suspended.  But now, we have to relearn how to live with this freedom, like learning to retire once again.

We did get some things done yesterday, but also relaxed quite a bit, especially Evie, who needs a few days to recover from a marathon (twenty six days, not miles) of grand kids.  She did take a hiatus to watch the amazing Russian comeback in Men's volleyball.  Down two games, they came back to win the next three, as Brazil slowly fell apart, what a game of momentum and confidence.  Fun to watch the Russians, sad to watch the Brazilians fall apart

And for dinner, we went out with the McClures, who had just returned to the lake.  We went to Guppy's, over in Bemus and despite being a Sunday night, there was a line of people outside, waiting to get a table.  We sat outside, in their outdoor bar, really quite nice, had a beer before getting a table inside.  It's a very popular place, much more crowded then the Seezurh House, with a more varied but also expensive menu.  I had a Texas burger, Evie an Asian chicken salad, both  decent not great, but it was a good way to fill the void of being empty nesters once again.