Listening To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain

7:07

Cascading Petunia Flower Box

It's now 7:10 and I have been up for an hour, sitting on our front porch, listening, at first to a gentle rain, now to a downpour, the flags flaccid, thunder rolling through the sky.   Evie's still sleeping and there is not a boat in view, though a couple of bass boats sped by a half hour ago.  It's 66º,  rain and thunderstorms expected on and off most of the day.  A good day to stay inside and watch the World Cup Finals at 4:00.

Yesterday was perfecto, weather wise, sun all day, temperatures in the high 70's.  I started the day with yoga with Chris at 9:00, just three of us.  Chris ended the class with a brief dialogue on blame, how it, like the past, can take over our lives, lead to unhappiness and anger.  So, as he ended, I said, 'So Obama is not to blame then for everything in the world?" good-humoredly.  Well, immediately, one of the two women, responded, "O yes he is...Romney would have taken care of everything."  And we were off, on a political rampage.  I knew that Chris and Sarah were liberals, which is why I mentioned Obama, not realizing the new student would be so vociferously conservative.  Chris tried to explain his sympathy for Obama but she was having none of it, reinforcing the mantra, avoid religion and politics. We left friends, however, laughing at our disagreements.

When I got home, Evie had been on the dock for an hour, luxuriating in a full day of leisure, playing in the water with the kids next door and reading.  Earlier, Kathy Leonard and Evie took a mid-morning paddle and were out for over an hour.   I scrubbed the bottom of the boat, getting rid of the algae that tends to accumulate and I did some cutting of weeds in the lake though our swimming area is pretty good.  I finished, finally, THE SILKWORM, liked it but not as much as THE CUCKOO'S CALLING.

Throw Back Speed Boat With Rooster Tail

Because of the rain forecast for today, Evie got out the lawnmower and cut the lawn yesterday, late afternoon, and I have to admit I have never seen our yard, our bushes, garden, and window boxes looking so good.  Because of the rain, everything is green, no brown spots in the lawn, no wilted plants, no need for dead heading yet.  Everything is lush and healthy.  After cutting the lawn, we went for another long cruise, up beyond the Viking Club, then back home along Whitney Bay, taking our time, enjoying the cooling late afternoon, the sky covering, like gauze, filtering the hot sun.  We then swam, and I covered the boat as Evie went in and prepared dinner.

The Charm Of The Old Chautauqua,  Of Modest, Affordable  Cottages
and less than a half mile away. . .

Modern Experiments in Architectural Insignificance

Evie got out some of the frozen meatballs she had made earlier in the week, added Victoria pasta sauce, quite good by the way, made a salad and we had a scrumptious, easy dinner.  Everything tasted great, so we must have been hungry.  We watched the final episode of Orange Is The New Black, and it was exceptional, funny and also quite moving, the best episode of the series.  We wished they all could have been this good.  We finished the evening with the humor of Bill Maher, as he once again filleted the right with their fixation on Obama and everything he says or does.  Can one man be responsible for everything, from immigration problems, to Syria's Civil War, to the Palestinian uprising, to Kiev?  I am surprised he's not blamed for Brazil's loss in the World Cup...if you listen to Fox News, you would think so.  He, no doubt, is more powerful and influential then anyone thought!  It was a relief to go upstairs and drop back into Europe, 1937, as the Spanish Civil War raged, and Hitler and Mussolini continue to arm themselves in Alan Furst's new book, MIDNIGHT IN EUROPE.