FORTY NINE YEARS AGO

Ah Youth--- August 21, 1965

6:14

6:43

I was up at 6:00 for some reason, light filtering through our bedroom blinds, so I came down, made the coffee, turned on Erie's NPR, and took a couple of pictures of the lake before and after the sun rose. The hum of lake flies greeted me when I walked out to the dock, a couple of weeks earlier than usual. Another bother!

Yesterday it was forecast to be cloudy, with heavy rains on and off during the day.  It did not happen, though it rained briefly in the morning, then looked overcast much of the day, clearing up around 3:00 for a couple of hours.  Strange day.  I went to yoga at 10:00, the most rigorous class of the week, with many new asanas, which I like.  After class,  I hurried home, had lunch because I had an appointment for my Pilot's NY State inspection at 1:00.  Evie was off at the dentist and shopping, so I was the only one home for lunch.  I dropped the car off at 1:00, and then went for an hour bike ride, through Lakewood, down to Celeron, to the edge of Jamestown and back, mostly along the lake road.  I stopped in Celeron and found that the restaurant on the marina, which closed earlier in the year, will reopen in a week or two The Main Dock.  No one has been very successful in this spot so I wish them well.  I rode back to the Johnson's Garage and found that I needed new rear brake pads and rotors, a result mostly of the winters here in Chautauqua county.  Ray offered to drive me home, throwing my bike in the back of his truck, if I wanted to leave my car because he could work on it that afternoon.  So I took up his ride, and he dropped me off at Victoria and I rode home from there.

I was home around 2:30 and Evie had just had the Joneses grandson, Ben, over to go through the treasure chest, fast becoming a yearly routine for the neighboring grandchildren.  He went home with numerous goodies, not only for him but for his grandmother as well, a good boy.  The rest of the afternoon we spent on the dock or in the house, taking advantage of the late afternoon sun before getting ready to go out to dinner with Ron and Linda.

At Rocco's

Wouldn't you know that the moment we stepped into the car to go pick up the McClures, it started to pour.  We drove over in a sporadic but heavy rain, stopped at their house for a beer, waiting for the rain to stop, then drove a half hour north to Fredonia, to eat at the local Italian gem, Rocco's, a simple bungalow set in a modest neighborhood.  We ate there last fall, loved it, especially the huge pieces of eggplant parmesan.  Linda and I got the shrimp pasta with artichokes, and Evie and Ron got the eggplant.  We all enjoyed our meals, especially the salad with the lemon asiago house dressing and we were the last to leave the dining room, about 8:30.  At the bar, however, there were six or seven guys, all enjoying a plate of pasta, a beer and a ball game on the TV, a real neighborhood spot.  We drove home in the dark, taking our time, fortunately in dry weather despite the lightning off in the distance.  We dropped off Ron and Linda and were home around 9:50, to read and watch a bit of TV.