An Early Morning Sky Of Red, White and Blue

6:20

6:21

6:40

Awakened around 6:30 by the honking of Canadian geese, a huge flock floating by our dock.  When I came downstairs, Evie was already up and had taken mega pictures of the morning sky, like something out of Arizona.  It looks like a great day for the dock, a boat or kayak ride, or just relaxing.

Yesterday was forecast to be warm and sunny the entire day; surprise, the sun did not come out until around 2:30, the morning cloudy, the lake choppy, reminding me of a fall day.  I was up early, before 6:00, so I was up for a couple of hours before my sister and her husband arose.  The lake air must be good for their sleeping because Walt often gets up at 4:00 to head in to Washington, DC, to avoid the heavy traffic.  Anyways, around 9:30, I drove into Mayville, to shop some for dinner at Tops, then stopped at the Lighthouse Grocery, to pick up ground chuck, peameal bacon, and ice.  When I got home, everyone was up, relaxing over a cup of coffee.  We decided to have a late breakfast, so  I decided to get the ice bucket challenge over with, not something I was too thrilled about doing.  First, Evie practiced taking a video with the iPad and we went outside and filmed it, then putting it on Facebook, and challenging three more people.  I don't think they were too thrilled to get the challenge.

Ready to Cruise

We then had a great breakfast, of pea meal, eggs and bagels.  And just as we were sitting down, friends of my sister's from Chagrin Falls, the Netschke's, stopped over, so they sat with us and talked for about forty five minutes, mostly about their trips to Africa.  After they left, we cleaned up and got ready to boat to the Chautauqua Institution, despite the cloudy sky, choppy lake.  Fortunately, the sky began to clear up as we cruised along Prendergast Point to the Institution.  We docked, walked up to the bookstore, ran into the Leonards, then went to the Amphitheater to listen to Razz, Pete Pepke, and their Dixieland Band, a free concert on the last day of the season. We had seen them before at at restaurant in Frewsburg, even talked with them some, and they were amazingly good, with the help of three other really talented musicians from the East Coast.  We stayed for an hour, then wanted to get back to the lake because it was a beautiful day.

Razz And Pete Pepke

We decided, however, to show Ellen and Walt the Viking Club so we cruised over to the lake's east side, docked our boat, and went inside, signed in, drew stares, ordered a couple of beers, got some free popcorn, and sat outside on their terrace, in the shade, enjoying the view, the club, and lovely sunny afternoon.

Enjoying Beer and Popcorn At The Viking Club's Porch

We returned from our voyages around 5;30 and we were all hungry so we started to get dinner ready. The Bottiny's shucked the corn, Evie put together the koftes for Iskender Kebab, and then Walt and I grilled the koftes, which took about ten minutes.  We put together our kebabs on the island in the kitchen, took some corn and salad, and adjourned to our front porch, for dinner and a chilled white wine.  We are beginning to really enjoy eating on our front porch. After dinner, we took our wine out on the dock and sat their for an hour, until it got too dark, sipping wine, then coffee, then eating brownies and cookies as the sky changed colors and we talked about Ellen and Walt's visit to Acadia Park, in Maine, hopefully our destination in October sometime.  We came in around 9:30 and stayed up talking politics, the state of the world, until 11:00 when we all went to bed.  We all agree on most things politic so there were no fisticuffs! And we did agree that the world looks particularly troubled this summer though nothing like living under the threat of nukes during the Cold War.

Ellen and Walt are just getting up, as it's 7:30, and Evie making pancakes for them before they head back to Herndon, VA, after a weekend filled with FUN...a couple of clubs, a concert, and great food.