Adults Only

7:10

Slept in till 7:00, a quiet night, quiet morning.  I was surprised by the heavy fog this morning, the cool temperature of 61º, and the news that Donald Trump is leading the pack of Republican candidates. Besides NPR, I can hear the cry of sea gulls and the chatter of martins.  It's odd sitting here, knowing that the house is empty of grandchildren, that it's back to our routine after three weeks of fun with family.  Life, briefly, will seem empty, with nothing to look forward to or to do but will change as we reorient our lives to the goings on here in Chautauqua Country, like yoga, hiking, kayaking, and biking, all put on hold when the family is here.  It's been a grand three weeks, one week at Topsail, NC, two here and sad to know it's over.

Jill and family left later than they wanted yesterday, mainly because they had to wait for Halle's iPad to download a movie.  Ah, kids.  Once it was  downloaded, after hugs and kisses, some tears, they were off to Virginia, the girls happy in their new Toyota Highlander, with all its bells and whistles. As they drove away, our mood and mojo deflated, and we wondered what to do next.  No granddaughters to cook for, play with, take on boat rides.  But we have gotten pretty good at dealing with this ennui and Evie had a list of things to do which would take our mind off of the empty house.  So Evie went upstairs, to the bedrooms, to tear apart the beds and wash everything.  And I waded out into the water and brought in the five floats, deflated and washed them down, waiting for the sun to dry them before I packed them up to put in the garage attic.  After that was done, I washed the nine front windows (why Evie wanted this done first thing Sunday morning,  I am not sure).  I just washed them.  We then straightened up the living room, cleaned the kitchen, and then both of us ran out of mojo and collapsed, me in the TV room, watching the US Women' Volleyball team play China in the World Finals.  And Evie went out on the dock, despite the heat and humidity, to relax.

Connor Gail

About 2:30, our nephew, Connor Gail, my sister Linda's grandson, called, to say he was in the area and would it be OK to stop over.  We of course we said fine and he stopped by around 3:00, stayed until 5:00. He's a great kid, a sophomore at Keuka College, plays volleyball and majors in Environmental Studies.  We have not had much time to talk with him at family get togethers, so it was fun to really talk with him. His parents must have done something right because he's an impressive young man, an Eagle Scout, an athlete, and someone who spent a week volunteering in Juarez, Mexico last summer, building two homes for the needy.  We were having a picnic with our neighbors, so they invited him over, and we played a Swedish game called Kube.  Of course, Connor and I won.  He then headed up to Euclid because he has a summer job working at Lincoln Electric, where Evie's Dad worked for forty five years.  After he left, our neighbors could not get over what a fine young man he was, well spoken and polite, shaking their hands before leaving, thanking them for letting him be part of the picnic.  His grandparents would have been proud!

Picnic With The Leonard Family

So,  at 5:00, the Leonards and Evie and I were grandchildrenless!  Both of us have had grandchildren around for the past three weeks, and the Leonards left about the same time as ours, so only the grown ups were left at the picnic.  So what did we do?  Talk about our grandchildren, the fun we had the past couple of weeks, how busy we were, and how strange it seemed to be home alone.  We managed, however, to have a good time, a great dinner of chicken breasts, taboulleh, salad, fresh corn, and cannoli for dessert.

Kathy, Joyce and Beth Leonard

The picnic broke up around 7:30, and Evie stayed another half hour but I was exhausted and went home and collapsed in front of the TV, watching an interview with two documentarians who have a film coming out about the love/hate relationship between William Buckley and Gore Vidal.  It was interesting and I hope to see it .

Around 10:00, we went upstairs to read.  I am half way through my novel about the Mexican drug wars called THE CARTEL by Don Winslow, fiction but based on facts.  It's hard to believe the amount of violence, corruption, and murders caused by the drug habits of Americans.  Without the drug use here in the States, Winslow suggests, there would be no cartels, no violence.  And it's clear the war on drugs was geared in the wrong direction, towards the Mexican cartels, not towards the source of the problem, the use of drugs here in the States.