Sun's Up, Partly Cloudy Morning

Storm's A Brewing At 8:53, Late Tuesday Evening

6:07

I was up just about 6:00 and was surprised to see a sunny living room, after the rain and thunderstorms from last night though the worst of them were south of us.  We did get a little rain, about 2/10ths of an inch, if that and this morning, the lake is quiet, a shimmery mass of wrinkles, the sky at 7:30 mostly clear.

Evie was up early yesterday and I slept in till almost 7:00, if that's called sleeping in.  After writing my blog and breakfast, of a granola mix put together by Evie, with yogurt and blue berries, I drove off to yoga with Courtney at 9:30.  This is usually a class of two but three new students appeared, much to Courtney's delight.  All seem to be visiting for the summer so they may return.  I came straight home, no stops for me, and Evie had basically put together the eggplant parmesan for dinner and was busy with getting the house ready for our weekend guests, Ron and Vickie Armontrout, friends from our early days at Western Reserve Academy.

It was an uncommonly humid and warm day, the high of 87º, not your typical June weather at the lake.  While Evie was working inside, I did a few chores outside, trimming hedges, putting the cover on my boat, watering plants, things like that and worked up enough of a sweat to jump in the lake before lunch.  Evie made me tuna melt sandwiches, and with a bowl of soup I was happy, watching the Mexico/Brazil game on TV, in our cool house, a contrast to the humid outdoors.

Because of the humidity, we did little the rest of the afternoon; Evie read on the porch for awhile, then braved the heat and humidity by sitting on the dock for a short time.  I decided to do a weed check, got out my weed rake and bucket, and dodged barn swallows for about thirty minutes, cutting weeds in our swimming area.  The weeds are just starting to sprout which is good, especially compared to the Bemus Point area, and I gathered only a partial bucket of weeds.  It looks like we are fortunate in this part of the lake (so far).  The lake bottom has changed somewhat, much more mud than sand, as things shift each year, a result I suppose of a long winter, spring rains.

Around 6:00, Evie went in and made the bechamel for the eggplant parmesean put it in the oven, and we sat on our front porch with a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc, enjoying the late afternoon, waiting for the clouds and heavy winds and thunderstorms to arrive.  We ate around 7:00, and the eggplant parm was great, along with a salad, accented by the bitter arugula greens.  We caught up on Nurse Jackie and Bill Maher from the weekend, as the thunder and lightning began in surrounding areas.  Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, we were spared the heavy winds and rain, but to the southeast, lots of trees were downed and 10,000 people are without power in Olean County.  I finished my George Pelecanos fix, the third and last of the Nick Stefanos books, and started American Romantics, a new novel by Ward Just, set in I assume Vietnam though it's not named, in the mid 1960's, as America is beginning to increase its military presence.  It reminds me of Graham Greene's The Quiet American, one of my favorite books.

As I finish up, I am sitting on my front porch and the martins are filling the morning air with their songs, or animated conversations.  They are happy birds at the moment, flitting from house to house, sharing their hous keeping secrets.


Random Think: "Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think." A quotation by Albert Einstein that guided my teaching for forty five years.