Fifty Shades Of Gray

5:53

7:03

Female Purple Martin

Up at 5:45, thinking I would be up early enough to see the sunrise only to find the sky overcast, but when I looked more carefully, I could see the beauty of even a gray sky, its various shades. Compared to yesterday's splendid sunrise, this morning's dawn seems understated, quiet, even lonely as the only action seems to be the martins, house building.  It's 55º and we may have rain later in the day.

Yesterday was a busy day, with a couple of hiccups, but mostly, we spent the day outside in our yard, working on the privets that border our yard.  The winter destroyed all but three of four of them, those towards the water, so both Evie and I got out the shears and went to work, cutting out all the dead wood, then clearing out all the weeds and undergrowth.  A number of the plants have green shoots coming from their bases, so we hope that we can save them, but we are not sure if it will work.  I made at least four trips up the road with barrels filled with the dead wood from the privets.  In the end, though the privets are cut way back, the yard looks much better. We will give them a couple of weeks before buying some new plants although two or three need to be taken out and replaced.

Around 1:30, my neighbor stopped by, and we drove off to where he stores my boat.  Nothing with boats is easy and yesterday was an example.  Last fall, we had trouble getting the lead off the battery. Yesterday, their was a rusted bolt and nut on the lead and no matter what we did, we could not get it off.  So, we had to trailer the boat down to my house because his shed had no electricity.  Once we got it down to our house, we got out the electric saw and cut the bolt off.  I put the leads on the battery and tested my boat motor and viola, it started.  We drove out to Prendergast Point, launched the boat with no trouble, and I drove it to our house, tied it up and we are  ready for a summer of boating fun.

While I was getting my boat, Evie went through another comedy routine at the doctor.  He prescribed an antibiotic; she went to the pharmacy.  They never got it; called the office; they sent it, found that it had uncomfortable side effects.  They called back, got another prescription and a 15 minute doctor's appointment took two and a half hours.  Infuriating.

When Evie got home, she was so peeved, that she took it out on the lawn, cutting it one more time, before jumping in the lake, emerging refreshed and happy.  It was a beautiful afternoon, the lake that dark blue, like lapis lazuli, a color it gets only on spring and fall afternoons.

Dinner With David and Pat Jones

At 6:00, our neighbors, Pat and David Jones, had invited us for dinner, so we walked over to their house and sat on their porch, enjoying their lake view, with a glass of wine and appetizers.  They had driven in a week ago, from Houston where they live, just missing the terrible storms that hit that area. We laugh about who has the best view of Long Point but truth be told, both our views are great but each is different.  We had a delicious Mexican pork stew with vegetables, homemade biscuits, and a salad, an ice cream cake for dessert.  Pat is up for the summer, and David will be in and out.  It was fun to see them, as the neighborhood is beginning to fill up with summer residents.  They have two Westies, one laid back, the other rambunctious, but both loved our attention.

Dusk Along Woodlawn at 9:23

We were back by 9:30, in time to watch another episode of Broadchurch and we are really getting into it.

Breakfast with the guys this morning at the Bemus Point Inn.