Amazing Morning Sun Rise (Chalk Walk Saturday in Jamestown)

6:40

Both Evie and I were up at 6:40 and I rushed outside to take a picture of the Arizona like sky, which happens a couple times a year.  And the bass boats just rushed out of the marina, heading north and south, hoping to catch that prize winning bass. On NPR, we are listening to Terry Gross interviewing novelist Jonathan Lethem, as my attention turns on and off depending on whether I am reading or typing something, typical for the morning radio.

We had a leisurely morning on Saturday but finally decided to walk around the Chautauqua Point area, an interesting walk because of the variety of neighborhoods and homes.  First, we checked to make sure Mc Clure's boat was weathering the past week and it was fine.  We then started our walk, along the shore of Point Chautauqua when we were literally caught in a swarm of lake flies.  We quickly extricated ourselves but ended up walking into another swarm.  Not pleasant so we decided to bag our walk and drove to Bemus where they were having a Fall Fest, basically a last gasp to bring shoppers to the shops and restaurants.  It was a crisp, blue sky kind of day, fall like  even though it's not fall yet. Lots of people and cars, so we browsed in a couple of the  shops before getting bored with it all and headed home.

Most of the afternoon, Evie read on the dock, wrapped in a blanket, wearing a fleece, hood up because it was so windy but warm enough.  I kayaked a bit, braved the dock for about 20 minutes and decided to go inside and read, avoiding the wind. Another leisurely afternoon, where we just relax and enjoy the day.  What's happening to us (I mean Evie).

Winning Mural Right Section

Winning Mural Middle Section

Winning Mural Left Section

At 4:00, we drove to Jamestown, for the second week in a row, to be part of the Third Annual Chalk Walk.  Basically, if you have an artistic bent, you can register to be part of the walk and you are given a number and a space on the sidewalk along Third Street and then you have the rest of the day until 6:00 to create your chalk masterpiece.  Some of the artists started at 8:30 and were still working at 4:30 when we walked by.  Four prizes ($1300.00 split four ways) were given, voted on by judges and spectators.  The prizes were for most creative, best copy of an original masterpiece, best representation of Jamestown, and 'fan favorite .  We voted for the one of the winners (above) and would have picked the others if we had time.

Replicating Picasso

Second Best Copy of Masterpiece

Best Copy of Masterpiece

Creating

Chalk Art

Painting with flour, water, and vegetable dye

We missed the announcement of the winners, free pizza and wine and beer because we had stopped at the Brazil Craft Beer and Wine Lounge and ended up sitting at the bar, having a couple of brews, striking up a conversation with a couple,  Tammie and John Merino.  Tammie teaches  English at Penn State Behrend so we had a lot in common, and John just resigned after ten years as CEO of the Gebbie Foundation (County Executive Craig Edwards is taking his place.  As head of Gebbie, he has been responsible for leading the urban renewal of downtown Jamestown and has done a great job restoring many of the classic buildings.  We hit it off, enjoyed learning about their lives, as he's worked in a number of cities over his career, from Portland, ME, to the Watts area  in Los Angeles.  Nothing like bonding over alcohol as all of us were a bit tipsy after a couple of these brews.  They most likely will relocate to Knoxville, TN, where the housing and living expenses are much more reasonable than high tax New York State and John will pursue his interest in music.  He has played the guitar in a number of bands over the years.  It would be fun to get together with them in the next month or two.  It was another great late afternoon and early evening in Jamestown.

Tammie and John Merino

A Very Happy Happy Hour At the Brazil Craft Beer and Wine Lounge

On the way home, we could not make up our mind where to eat so we punted and stopped at Mickey D's for two Big Mac meals, a mistake because by the time we got them home, both the burger an fries were cold.  But we ate them anyways, started another movie which we stopped watching after a half hour called The Sapphires, then read some before going to bed.