Burgers At Pine Junction, Night Lights At The Heron

Burgers and Beers At Pine Junction

7:00

"Almost A Game" is just about over, so I have been up an hour.  Lots of sunshine at 7:00, a thin cloud cover at the moment, muting the sun.  It's 52º, a high later in the 70's, the perfect combination of cool nights, mild, sunny days. Go Chautauqua!

I have gotten back into walking the last few days, having walked the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, which can be up to a forty five minute walk, as short as thirty depending on how far I walk in Victoria. Woodlawn is overgrown, as no one has been on the path, so I have been trying to blaze a trail.  Nothing like walking in woods and I am ready to get back on the East and West Side trails as it cools.  I did walk around Chestnut Hill, the huge, pillared home on the hill above the reeds.  It was recently sold, and all the outer buildings as well as the house have been repaired and painted, so it looks like new.  And I peaked inside the windows, and the inside is being totally redone, so someone is putting lots of money in a house which was falling apart over the last ten years.  It's good to see, I guess.

When I got back, Evie was doing a major cleaning of our Accord, so I worked on the Pilot as well and we now have two squeaky clean old cars, both vacuumed, windows and insides washed.  Around 11:30, Milhon Troyer, of Troyer Tree Service, stopped over and picked up the branches cut by Niagara Mohawk the day before.  A good guy, Amish though modern, he also did some trimming of our trees in the front yard, opening up our vista from our porch, letting in more sun as well. The tree trimming and car cleaning took up a good part of the morning.  In the afternoon, Evie got back in her routine, cutting our lawn, while I ate lunch and watched another episode of Ray Donovan.

Mid afternoon found us both on the dock, reading and sunning, a nice breeze, even a bit cool when the sun hid behind the clouds.  Evie even went for a swim, rearranging our buoys, as a boater got stuck in them earlier in the day, chopping off the rope on one of them.  He was very apologetic, however, offered to pay for any damage which we did not accept. Obviously, he was a neophyte boater.

Chalk Board At Heron

We then both took showers, got out our warm clothes, and drove the back roads, as the sun's glare filled our windshield on the way to Pine Junction, just out side of Findlay lake, about a twenty mile ride.  The parking lot was as crowded as I have ever seen it, and we were lucky to find a spot.  We went inside and fortunately, we found a spot at the bar, which we wanted.  It was wild, lots of people standing, drinking, and waiting for tables.  We struck up a conversation with two fishermen from Pittsburgh, who had been bass fishing, with little luck, on Chautauqua Lake during the day.  We invited them over for a beer on Saturday if they could find our dock.  Good guys.  We both ordered the Down Under Burgers, with mushrooms and swiss cheese, and fries.  Both were great, just what we wanted, and with a couple of beers, we felt ready for Night Lights At The Heron.

Night Lights

More Night Lights

It was a fifteen minute drive from Pine Junction, and by the time we got there, it was dark.  We were able to park easily, walked to the outbuilding, paid our ten bucks apiece, and then went on a mile long walk through the woods, lit by various colored lights, some blinking, others stable, creating an amazing experience of woods, light, darkness, and trails.  We ended up at the Cafe In The Woods, where Uncle Claude's Band was playing, the Heron's go to band.  They love the Grateful Dead, played many of their songs, and were amazingly good musicians, as we sat for an hour and watched them jam, allowing one, then the other guitarist to solo or sing.  There were four guitars, a base, and a young drummer.  Uncle Claud was the lead guitarist, though a much younger, Amish looking guy/kid really could rock out on his guitar.  I have never like The Grateful Dead much, though I have not listened to much of their music.  But we really enjoyed listening to these guys.  What energy despite the sadly small group of spectators, at times up to twenty, by the time we left, we were the only two left and they were still playing.  We brought beer along remembering that we should have brought some when we went to the Blue Heron Festival on The Fourth of July,  but we were not thirsty perhaps because one of the spectators offered us a brownie, which we both took, enjoying as we listened.

Uncle Claud's Band

 We walked back to our car through a well lit, colorful path, got in our car, drove home on a pitch black night, as Bailey Road is not exactly developed, a farm every mile or two, perhaps a light.  We were home by 10:45, read some then went to bed.