The Relentless Rhythm Of The Pouring Rain (Hiking Chautauqua Gorge)

'Gorging It'

Texting Their Girl Friends,  Hannah and Mimi

Marlena Swoons

6:30

Both Beth and I are up at 6:30, to a dreary, gray morning here on the lake, a cool 60º outside, high around 70º today and because of the rain, we are going to have to find things to  do with the kids inside, perhaps a group painting session, guided by Beth, a movie for the kids, maybe an excursion somewhere.  The one thing we know for sure is we are going out to dinner tonight at the Casino, for wings.  This is a must.

Hiking Down To Chautauqua Gorge

Twelve Of Us

Tyler and Helen

Zeus

The Old Man And His Daughter

Hiking the Gorge

The Family Females

Cousins

Nick and Baba, Copping Rays

Sunday was a great day to be on the lake, sunny and warm.  My day began early, as I mentioned yesterday, with a trip to the Lighthouse to pick up dinner and some pea meal bacon from breakfast. Everyone was up, finally, at 9:30, so Evie started frying the bacon and eggs, toasting the bagels, so one by one, the kids tromped in, had either cereal or the eggs and bacon.  We devoured the pea meal of course, and everyone was happy.  We knew yesterday was going to be a sunny day, so we drove off to Chautauqua Gorge,  a spot everyone wanted to visit because we missed it last year.  It's an amazing Chautauqua treasure, a twenty to thirty mile gorge, high walls, rocks, rushing water, minnows, fish, frogs, and swimming holes, everything kids would enjoy.  We hiked it south for a half hour, to sandy, steep cliffs, which kids climb.  We wondered how they were going to get down.  We then returned to our original spot, where the trail from Hannum road ends, and swam in the cold, cold water, sun bathed, and did jumps into the deep pool, and we, of course, took mega photographs, numerous cameras and iPhones shooting during the hike.

At Boxcar Barney's 

Rami took all the kids to Boxcar Barney's for ice cream, our car stopped at Chautauqua Marina, where Tom rented a wake board for the day.  We were home by 1:00, for many of us, a lunch of brisket, gravy and mashed potatoes.  The boys immediately got the boat ready, so Tom took them out and they must have wake boarded for at least an hour, having a great time.  Finally, my boat is good at pulling something, a wake board!  We all spent the afternoon on the dock, sunning, swimming, playing on the tubes, reading, just enjoying a beautiful day on the lake.  Nothing like a sunny, comfortable day on Chautauqua Lake, blue sky and water, green shore lines, and family.

Playing Wipe Out

Tom and Marlena

Young Love

For dinner, Evie and Mary started by forming five pounds of ground chuck into forty koftes (egg shaped hamburgers), heavily spiced and chilled.  Then, along with the boys and Tommy, she breaded eggplant squares, and deep fried them on our back porch, as an appetizer.  They were amazingly good, as everyone crowded on the porch to eat them.  After the eggplant, Evie and Beth and Mary, got the dinner ready, set the table, things like that, while Tom and I took  Marlena and Marisa out for a cruise, down to Whitney Bay and back, arriving just as it started to cloud up.  I put the cover on the boat and it started to rain.  About 7:00, I started the grill, in the garage, with open doors, because of the rain, grilled a couple of portabellos, then put on the koftes.  Tom, Nick, and Mitch helped me with the koftes, as it takes alot of hands to turn the koftes from sides to side, making sure they are browned on the outside, tender and moist on the inside.  They were done by 7:30, when we sat down to eat our feast, squares of toasted pita bread, topped with three or four koftes, then tomato sauce, then yogurt, every one's favorite summer meal.  With a salad, that's all we needed.  We went through about thirty three of the meat koftes, so some will be leftover for today's lunch.

Dinner For Twelve

After dinner, we had a rip roaring game of Telefunky, eight played while the rest watched or helped the two girls play.  The game lasted until about 10:45, with Mitch and Nick winning, despite numerous bone headed plays, typical guys, clueless but lucky.  The adults went to bed, as did the girls.  When I turned out the lights downstairs, Mitch and Nick were watching TV, texting, I assume their respective girl friends in Darien, CT and Kansas City, MO.  And Tyler was on the front porch, with Helen, strumming his guitar as they listened to the fallen rain.

Playing Telefunky After Dinner