Overcast Early On A Friday Morning

6:52 AM

Up at 6:00 to a dark house and lake and it's warmer outside, 55º, a high today of around 80º depending on where you live.  I expected another clear morning but I am not going to get it as right now, at 6:52, it's still overcast, gray, gray, gray, a slight breeze from the south.  Everything is wet outside, from dew I assume. Let's hope we have some sun today.

I began yesterday with breakfast with the boys, a good way to start the day.  Usually we talk about local happenings, this time a trail which they hope to build between Barcelona, on Lake Erie, and Mayville and beyond, the old Portage Trail.  It would be for hikers and bikers and much of it is already being used because it's part of the Rails for Trails, using old railroad paths for hiking.  After breakfast, I stopped over Joe Johnson's home because he thought he might have a fishing rod tube which would hold my hiking poles for our trip West.  It worked perfectly, the size is variable, so my poles fit in easily.  We are getting ready!

Around 11:30, we decided to go in to Jamestown to visit the Dykeman Young Gallery and Vintage Emporium, a spot we have been meaning to visit for months.  It's a classic, old Jamestown building, three stories, on 2nd Street. just south of Main.  It has three floors, the first a trophy/jewelery store, the second the vintage clothing emporium, the third an art gallery.  We loved browsing the vintage emporium, talking with Mike Dykeman, and the art gallery was also fun, mostly pictures of TV personalities like Lucy and Desi, The Three Stooges, and Charlie Chaplin.  We also stopped at Brigiotta's, a local grocery store that always has good food stuff, like fresh mozzarella, feta, and home made Italian sausages.

Why We Love Chautauqua County

We came home and spent the afternoon on the dock; it was beyond warm to hot when the sun was in full force, an amazing afternoon, one of the last hot days of summer.  At 5:30, the Mc Clures came over for Evie's birthday celebration dinner.  We took the boat over to Bemus, cruising the shoreline for about 45 minutes, up to the bridge, before mooring, and walking to the Seezurh House.  It was packed yet we were able to get a table immediately.  For some reason, that always seems to happen.  We all had fun, Linda having a bagful of fun gifts for Evie and the busyness of Seezurh made it all the more wild.  We took our time boating back on a moonlit lake, seemingly the only boat on the lake, in no hurry to get home.  Again, it was a perfect night for boating, windless and warm enough with a fleece though damp from dew.  We got home around 9:30, watched Stewart and Colbert and went to bed to read, a good day.

Moonlight Cruise on Lake Chautauqua