Once More, At The Lake

6:20

6:21

A restless night, up at 6:20, to an overcast sky, a slight pink on the lake, some in the sky, with thunderstorms forecast for today.  It's warm, 69º, quite a difference from the morning we left for Virginia, last Thursday, when it was 48º at this time.  No action on the lake, though I did hear a boat go out when I got up.

We left the Bissell's yesterday about 8:00, just late enough to give the girls a hug as they were rising for swim practice, a good way to get them up during the summer by the way.  We took our time coming home, taking # 15 to Leesburg, then #7 to Winchester,  #522 to Berkley Springs, then up to Breezewood and #80, to Alttoona on #99, then home through the Allegheny Forest, via Penfield, Ridgeway, Warren, and Sugar Grove to  home, if anyone cares.  We did stop at Gio's, a famous barbecue/gas station just off of #80, just past the Clearfield exit.  We bought a quart of pulled pork, a pint of cole slaw, and we had dinner ready.  We made our routine stop at Town& Country in Sugar Grove, just inside the PA line, to buy a half gallon of Pot of Gold Milk, some bacon, and a half dozen freshly made bratwurst.  Evie also bought a quart of honey, as we have heard that it's becoming difficult to find.

We got home just after three, a little over seven hours, not bad.  It's a pretty drive fortunately, and we avoid the PA turnpike for all of but 15 miles.  We had a quick unpacking, as we are taking less and less on our trip though two cases of wine did test my back.  The Leonard's youngest daughter Chris and her two children were next door and they quickly ran when they saw Evie, to give her a hug and wonder when she was going swimming.  We quickly adjusted to being home and though Evie was tempted, she put off cutting the lawn till this morning.  Since we did not get home till later afternoon, we sat out on our porch for a beer around 5:30, enjoying the air from our porch fan (hung by our son in law Ramiro last summer), as it was unseasonably warm, 85º at 5:00.  We then went out on the dock, fished a bit, then took a cooling, refreshing swim, washing our hair for the first time this summer in the lake, with biodegradable shampoo, of course.

Dinner was easy, heat up the pulled pork, put it on a bun with cole slaw, and we were set.  It was delicious, just what we wanted, and we watched the final episode of Mad Men, one of the best of what we thought was a weak season, especially the last two scenes, where Don shares his childhood story of living in a whore house with his colleagues, then takes his children to see the house he grew up in, after the firm tells him he's on forced leave for his strange behavior.  So the year 1968 ends, with Moon River playing in the background, making us wonder what Don will do next season, quit and start his own firm, go to a rival, or return, changed and chastened.  And The Killing continues to grab us, the best season yet, especially the relationship between Holder and Linden, no romance yet not even a suggestion but there' something  between them.  We will have to see how it develops, if at all.  When you put and man and a woman together, day after day, for weeks, something usually happens romantically, a euphemism for sexually, the prude that I am.