A Happy Birthday to My Wife, Evie, and Son, Tom, On Another Fine Day (Maple Spring Hike)

The Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to Our Son, Tom, with his family, Mary, Nick, and Marlena

View From Hills Above Maple Springs

Up at 6:20 and I had forgotten how late the sun rises, so the house is mostly dark, the sky dark gray though not black.  It's 48º outside and supposed to warm up later in the day, into the 70's, the 80's tomorrow, then rain for the weekend.  Typical.  It's now 7:04 and the sky is overcast, gray sky on a gray lake.  I was hoping for a groovy sunrise but it does not look likely with the clouds.

What a great day was Wednesday, sunny and warm but not hot so we spent a lot of time out outside enjoying the best of what late summer brings.  I mapped out a walk near Maple Springs, heading up the road into the hillside, a nice walk half of the way but we ended up back on the main road on the way back to our car which was not much fun.  It was not as enjoyable as our walk the previous day around Findlay Lake.

Cool Creek and Home

A Typical Back Country Road

Mary's friendly Little  Lamb

For some reason, the walk took our mojo, and we did not feel like doing anything productive the rest of the day so as I mentioned, we lounged on the dock most of the afternoon, reading or fishing off the dock.  I did kayak for about an hour, trying my luck off towards Wells Bay but no luck.  Still, it was great to be out on the calm lake, paddling around.  About 4:00, we took out the boat, did some cruising along Bemus, then just turned off the motor and floated in the middle of the lake, sun bathing and reading, letting the light wind take us where it may.  It seemed like the entire lake was ours because there were so few other boats out enjoying the lake.

Lake Side Camp 

For dinner, we combined the left over stir fry, with rice, and Evie fried and doctored up some eggplant with sauces. We combined the rice, leftovers, and egg plant in the wok, added some a couple of eggs and we had another easy but good meal.  We forget how much we enjoy eating and making Asian food.  We watched two movies, one with Matt Damon and Ed Norton, called Rounders, about Damon's obsession with gambling, the other, a small independent film I read about called This Is Martin Bonner.  The plot sounds silly, the relationship between a man just released from prison and his mentor but it was quite good, slow moving with interesting characters, the way independent films can be.  It had no beginning, nor end, just a middle.  And as I watching it, I thought to myself that this is one of those films that just ends, no wrap up and just as I thought it, the screen went blank and the music and credits began.  We liked it better than Rounders.

Today is a special day, Evie's birthday.  We will celebrate this evening, with the Mc Clures, by taking a cruise over to Bemus around 6:00 and eating at Evie's favorite restaurant, the Seezurh House, a spot we have been eating at for thirty two years.