A Mountain Like Morning

6:58

8:16

Looking Out of Forte's Window

Enjoying Forte

Thee Audience at Mojos

Enjoying a couple of  Yuengling's at Mojo's

The Elektra Kings

Up just before 7:00, much later than usual, to a cloudy sky, puffs of fog dotting the the dark green hills over Bemus,  reminding me of summers camping in the Dolomite's and Alps during the 1970's, back when I was a young boy.  I used to love waking early, the tent muggy, going out side in the crisp mountain air, watching the sun on the dark green and stone gray mountains.  Ever since then, any time there's wisps of fog on the Bemus hillside, I think of our seven summers spent camping in Europe, thirty five years ago.  It's much cooler today, 56 degrees, a drastic change in weather from Friday, when it was warm and humid. In Evie's garden, towards the west, the sky is clear and blue, the garden looking clean and fresh, as if it was just washed.  Now, however, off towards Bemus, a huge gray cloud bank sits on the shoreline,  threatens a storm, what a contrast between the east and west.

Yesterday was one of those rainy days we love, as long as there are not too many in a row.  It rained off and on most of the day and we collected just short of an inch in our rain gauge.  I drove off to Westfield in the morning, to pick up my Keen sandals from the shoe store.  I picked up some vegetables at the open air market on the square, despite the rain, and got home around 11:30 to what looked like a clearing sky.  I decided to take advantage of the lacuna and get a bike ride in, heading towards the CI and back.  Unfortunately, the threatening clouds cut my ride short, as I got soaked the last mile by a storm.  The rest of the day we spent inside, relaxing, watching the US Open, reading, like most days. Evie decided to tackle the attic, a mess since our family left in August and spent much of the day working upstairs. It's going to take both of us a good day to get it organized and back in recognizable shape.

Around 6:00, the Mc Clures came over for a sundowner before we were to go downtown to Forte, Jamestown's fanciest restaurant, and celebrate both Evie and my birthdays.  As usual, they came up with great presents, a John Deere cap for me, a casserole, a dish, and coasters for Evie, all quite cool.  I even wore my John Deere hat to the restaurant, the farm boy in khakis and button down shirt.  Forte was great, a packed not too noisy bar, great table next to the window, looking out on the street, and all of us loved our meals.  I had a seafood stew called a seafood lagniappe, with shrimp, mussels, clams, scallops, and chorizo to give it a great flavor.  Evie had chicken Milanese, a tasty fried chicken breast with a salad on top.  Ron had a scallop risotto and Linda had a steak salad. We also had a great shrimp teriyaki sushi for an appetizer.  After our dinner, we took in the Infinity Music night, an event we attended last year.  To support the Infinity Youth Music School, we bought a wrist band, ten dollars each, which allowed to you visit five or six venues in downtown Jamestown, where bands were playing from 7:00 till midnight.  Various groups donated their time, from rock, to folk, to Irish, to eclectic.  We spent a couple of hours sampling the musical fare, ending up like last year at Mojo's.  We happened to run into the owner on our walk there, and he told us all about running the bar, the bands, the value of this event in supporting young musicians, an interesting guy.  He also mentioned that above the bar was a new, cool boutique/antique store, run by a guy from LA, who used to provide props, especially clothing for programs like The Seventies show.  I guess he has some cool stuff, from bizarre shoes to handbags to clothes.  It's on 2nd and Pine, second floor, above Mojo's but I don't know the hours.  A very enthusiastic young woman told us how much she loved the store as well, though it was open a couple days a week, from early afternoon to the evening.  More on this later.  We got home around 10:00, read, watched some TV and were in bed by 11:15.