"O, What A Beautiful Morning"

7:16

A Raft of Buffleheads

Up at 7:00 to a clear sky, a hint of blue and pink, as the sun jumps out at the tree line just above Tom's Point.  I run outside, as I love a picture just as the sun begins to become a ball, before it's blinding.  It's 36º, high in the 50's later, sunny all day.  What shall we do today is the question?  Hike around here, take a road trip to Presque Isle or the Evangola State Park, both an hour's drive, or just stay at home and play around in the yard?

Long Point from Chestnut Hill

Recently, the days seem to blend together, making it hard to differentiate one from another,  most likely because they are pretty much the same.  Wake up, read some, write some, perhaps cook some thing before deciding where to walk or hike.  Then, lunch, reading, perhaps a nap, some TV, then a short walk before making dinner, then TV, reading and to bed. Routine or habit it's called.  Not a bad life I admit.   So, yesterday was like that.  We could not make up our mind where to walk, so we went local, up to Morley Rd, then Stow, then Carpenter Pringle down to the lake and home.  Not very interesting, just a wide strip of asphalt most of the way, but we did get three miles in.  We stopped at the newly built house next to Chestnut Hill, which has been for sale since it was built by Gene Heil over two years ago.  The price is now 1.5 million, with a great view but a very difficult access to the lake.  No wonder it's been for sale for so long.  Never been lived in either as we looked, no furniture, no lamps, no life.  Amazing how people can just let an empty house sit worth lots of money, witness the Hazard house here on Woodlawn, which sits empty, falling apart, losing its value though not for sale.

Parked at Sandy Bottom

At noon, Evie ran off to return some things in Lakewood and do some grocery and clothes shopping, so I volunteered to stay at home, keep an eye on the house.  I had a great lunch, a meat loaf sandwich and black bean soup, as I watched another episode of Ray Donovan, a violent, fairly stupid TV drama that I keep watching whenever Evie is not around, my guilty pleasure.  I then read some, took a brief nap, then because it was so nice out, I went for a long kayak paddle from 4:00 to after 515.  The lake was smooth, like paddling in oil, no one around but me, nobody on the lake, no one in the houses that I could see, just me the intrepid paddler, up to Wells Bay and back, up to Whitney Bay and back home. The good life.

Late Afternoon Navigating the Reeds

 Evie got home around 5:00,  showed me her 'bargains,' then took a shower, as we decided to go out for dinner at a Murdock's, a bar/restaurant that we had heard about in Sherman.  We had never been there, hoped it might be crowded and fun on a Friday night but were disappointed, a few at the bar,  two couples in the dining room.  We ordered a beer,  and tried to decide whether to stay or go and finally opted to support the place (they need it), and ordered a couple of fish fry's, with 'hand cut fries,' The food was good, worth coming back for, and as we ate, the bar added  a few couples.  One, a loud, gal in tight jeans and cowboy boots, was downing shots with her guy, looked over at us, came running over to Evie, yelling, 'What are you doing sitting there Barb? Come on over with us?'  She then realized Evie was not Barb, gave her a hug and said, "Come on over and sit with the cool people."  A funny incident.  As we were leaving, they were downing their second round of shots and I assume the place would be getting louder and rowdier but we went home, not feeling like the cool people.  We got home around 8:00 and caught up on a few series we have been watching.  I couldn't wait to get back to my book, to see what was going on in post WW II Berlin.

It looks like we are heading to Evangola State Park, on Lake Erie, about twenty miles west of Buffalo, in Irving, New York.  I better get moving because I have to take our trash to the Transfer Station before we are off, a busy boy.