A Clean, Rain Washed Morning Vista

6:27

6:29

I woke at 5:00, went back to sleep till 6:10 and got up just in time to see the sun struggle and finally rise above the clouds hanging over Long Point.  It's partly cloudy at the moment, though we should have sun and heat and humidity much of the day.  Highs like yesterday in the 80's with the possibility of thundershowers later in the day.

Ring-necked Ducks

Saturday was extraordinarily hot for May, getting up to 87º here at the lake.  Fortunately, we spent most of the morning working outside before it became too hot.  We worked mostly on the red twig dogwoods, which border Evie's garden, trimming them back, cutting out the dead branches, things like that.  This as well as pruning hydrangeas and raking took a couple of hours.  About 11:00, I drove to the Transfer Station, getting rid of numerous kitty litter filled paint cans as well as other detritus from my garage.  It feels good to have 'tidied up' my garage, just like we did in the house much of April.  For lunch, Evie had come across the 'perfect toasted cheese sandwich,' from the NYTimes.  Basically, she put mayo on the outside of four pieces of bread, then put them in pan, mayo side down. Then, buttered the other sides, put cheese on all four slices.  When the cheese started to melt, she put the two pieces together, and kept turning till both sides were brown.  It was yummy, along with asparagus soup.

Evie Of The Lake

After lunch, Evie worked in the yard until about 2:00, when the temperature was in the 80's, then decided to cut both yards.  She cut it in batches, taking time out to rest or have water, and by 3:00, we had yards that looked like Augusta.  Then, it was time for her to relax on the dock, playing Words With Friends on her iPad, watching the various ducks and martins, busy with nesting and finding food.  I took out the kayak for about an hour, fishing the various 'hot spots', catching nothing, as usual, making yesterday's bass seem like a joke. As predicted, it started to cloud up about 5:00, so Evie jumped in the lake, her second dip of the afternoon in the 54º lake while I watched and then went in and took a shower, like a wimp.

Rain Pelting The Lake

We settled in on our porch around 6:00, with Manhattans, nachos, edamame, the local newspaper and Garrison Keillor on the radio.  We were happy because we were able to sit outside, as the storms and thundershowers and lightning, came and went.  Nothing like sitting on an outdoor porch during a storm over the lake.  We must have sat outside for close to two hours before coming in for dinner. Prior to or cocktails,  Evie made a German potato salad and cole slaw, and boiled some Slovenian sausages, so dinner was already made.  We ate dinner and watched the penultimate episode of American Crime and another episode of the Danish series Rita.  Then, we went to be to read around 11:00, wondering if rain or thunderstorms would wake us during the night.  It did not.