Another Bright, Sparkling Chautauqua Morning

6:46

Yesterday's Sky

It's  almost 8:00 and I have been up over an hour, a typical Saturday in some ways, listening to Only A Game, but all the windows shut because it was so cool last night.  It's 56º at the moment, but will get in to the high 70's, lots of sunshine, a perfect day.  No plans for the day, perhaps a bike or boat ride, depending on the traffic.  And around 4:00, we hope to head to the Great Blue Heron Festival, to enjoy the music, crowds, crafts, and food.

Yesterday, the fourth, was a quiet day for us, no family, in fact,  I cannot remember the last time we were together with family on the 4th of July, perhaps with my parents years ago.  Unfortunately, all of our kids live too far away to get together on any random holiday.  So, we usually get together with friends.  The Ron and Linda were coming over at 5:30, so we did some easy prepping in the morning. We were have the simple but perfect 4th of July meal, hamburgers and hot dogs.  So, my part was to drive to the Lighthouse to pick up some ground chuck for burgers and I was practically done for the day. And Evie did not have to do much either, which was nice.  We spent the early afternoon outside, Evie cutting the grass, me watching the futbol games, victories for Germany and Brazil, who will meet in the semi finals next week.  And, I bought a new tackle box, so Evie, Isabelle, and I spent some time consolidating lures in my new box, throwing out lots of old hooks and stuff.  Now if I could only catch some fish!

When the McClures arrived, we started our fourth sitting outside in the yard, in the sunshine, having a beer and home made blue cheese dressing with veggies and pretzels.  Within the hour, it became too cool so we moved to the porch, protected from the wind.  I can remember only a few 4th of Julys this brisk, one where we had to move out of the yard.  It did not matter, however, as it was still a classic Chautauqua afternoon, puffy clouds in the distance, a blue lake, flag flying proudly over the dock, neighbors everywhere, in yards, on porches, out boating, enjoying Independence Day.

A Couple of Dudes

Around 7:30, I fired up the grill, and Ron and I, the barbecue masters, cooked the dogs and burgers to perfection, the dogs blackened but not burned, the burgers done, but with a slight pink in the middle. Linda had made her famous potato salad, so we had a feast.  We put a card table on our front porch, which worked out fine, so we could eat outside but stay away from the wind.  We were all starved, so everyone had burgers as well as dogs.

Flares Surround The Lake

While the kitchen was being cleaned up, Ron and I built a fire in our fire pit, around 9:00, and we pulled our chairs up to enjoy the evening, the warmth of the fire, and the fire works.  Our neighbors, the Scholtz's son in law, put on an amazing show of fireworks, about as good as the fire works over at Bemus or Maple Springs.  We lit our flares at 10:00, the lake surrounded by them, a Chautauqua tradition,  and sat out until about 10:30, enjoying the fiery shows s at various venues along the lake.  It seemed like everyone had some fireworks to shoot off.

Celebrating the 4th of July

The Ron and Linda drove home around 10:40, and we watched some TV before going up to bed around 11:00 to read...a good day.