Another Monday, with High Winds and Rain

7:29

Fall kayaking

Kayaks at Ready

The Ugliest New House on the Lake (Booteys)

Attempting a final swim

The

The Excitement of a sinking sailboat at the Viking Club

It's too early to be up, about 6:00, pitch black outside, only a few lights off in the distance towards Bemus.  It's still warm, 53 degrees, and very windy, gusts up to forty five miles an hour later in the day.  I thought I heard rain last night but when I walked outside, it was still dry...not sure what I heard.

We were able to kayak yesterday, as it was unseasonably warm, in the low 70's, quite a contrast to the twenty four degrees of the other morning.  We went off towards Long Point, then the wind picked up as we headed across to Bootey Bay.  Once we got there, it was calm and easy for some reason, as we must have been sheltered from the gusts.  We did stop to talk with a couple who seemed to live in one of the cottages on the property owned by hotel magnate, sort of, John Mc Graw.  The women identified herself as a member of the family that owns the property.  They are in the process of dividing the waterfront in to lots, so I assume she must be related.  Next to their somewhat run down cottage, a new home has gone up.  It's about as ugly a new house as I have seen on the lake, and I guess it's owned by the Bootey's, as they have kept a piece of the lakefront for themselves.  I am relieved to know that homes may be going up along the waterfront rather than a ten story hotel but I still do not trust the John Mc Graw.  Supposedly he has gone bankrupt, failed to pay his taxes, so I am not even sure if he still owns the land.  All I know for sure is that I new house has gone up.

It was a beautiful morning to be on the lake, sunny and warm, so that we did not even need fleeces.  We were the only ones on the lake, other than a couple of fishing boats and this time of the year, all the kayakers seem to have hibernated till next summer.

The afternoon was spent putting together and baking a couple of loaves of artisan bread from a new cookbook.  This one has you bake the bread in a dutch oven, similar to the no knead bread recipe. We both did some reading, watched some football, and Evie even sat outside as it was that warm. And the wind was so strong, that it knocked our benches in to the water, our Adirondack's over on the dock.  I was able to fish the benches out with a rake.  Evie attempted to take a final swim, as the water has cleared, but it was too cold.  We both swam about this time last year but not this year, I guess.

The Viking Club, over on the other side of the lake, was having an Octoberfest, so we decided to go, thinking it might be fun, with music, lots of people outside drinking beer, brats on the grills.  What a disappointment.  When we arrived, there were so few cars in the lot we thought we had the wrong day. We went inside and there were about 30 people around the bar and that was it.  The dining room was serving brats, cooked in beer, but it was empty.  I did order and brat and we sat in the bar, had a draft, and watched the big action of the day, a buoyed sail boat slowly taking on water and turning over on its side.  That was it for excitement.  We did feel like youngsters, as most of the revelers were older than us.  We stayed long enough to finish our beer and bemoaned the fact that clubs like this seem to be losing their vitality, as most of its members are retired and the younger people don't seem to be interested in being part of organizations like this.

We had tacos for dinner, tasty and easy and watched The Good Wife before going to bed.