The Big Chill (46º)

Cairns At 7:00

6:26

6:49

I was up just before 6:00, a foggy morning here on the lake, the steam rising off in the distance because of the cold air.  There's a  narrow cloud bank over the eastern shore, obscuring the sun but it will soon rise above it to clear skies. And a blue heron occasionally drops out of the sky, settling on our dock, looking for breakfast.  It's a beautiful early morning on the lake.

Barcelona Beach On Shores Of Lake Erie

Yesterday began at 7:30 for Beth and me, as we drove 15 miles north to Barcelona Beach, on Lake Erie, for our annual rock collecting excursion.  We spent a good hour, looking for that perfect rock, to paint or to use with a cairn.  It was a stormy, gray morning, a bit of a drizzle, the way we like it sometimes on a beach.  Afterwards, we went to Jack's Diner, just off the beach, a local place for breakfast.  Beth had the Barcelona special, eggs, home fries, sausage, and toast and I had a potato pancake, with sour cream and apple sauce, a strange item on the breakfast menu but it was delicious. I highly recommend it, lots of flavor from onions, egg, as well as potatoes. Yum.  On the way home, we opened up Portage Pie, four or five workers in the kitchen, getting ready for the day.  We bought a cherry pie for dinner, then went to the Lighthouse and picked up four pounds of thinly slice Delmonico steaks, for our teriyaki dinner.  And we could not forget Beth's favorite, pea meal bacon, so we picked up a pound of that and a dozen ears of local corn, the first of the year for us.

Getting In Shape For Cross Country

When we got home, the gang was up, on the couches, wrapped in blankets, on their iPads, with ear phones, watching or playing something.  It was not very inviting outside, so we relaxed until about 11:00 when it cleared up.  So, I drove Hayden, our soon to be freshmen in high school, over to Bemus so should could get in a three mile run along Lakeside Drive, in preparation for cross country season.  I rode my bike back and forth as she ran, so we both got a workout.  Afterwards, we stopped at Wired On Main, the neat coffee shop and boutique in Bemus and Hayden got some kind of coffee frappe.  She loved it. When we got home, the cupboards were bare, meaning all the girls and Evie were off to the petting zoo and campground store.  They were gone until at last 1:00, when they came home and all had some of Evie's corn chowder soup.

The Girls Are Back

The rest of the afternoon was spent outside, off and on, the girls swimming for 10 or 15 minutes in the cold windy air, before coming in to warm up and read or play on their iPads.  Mitch and I built cairns, so we now have four in our front yard.  Evie started getting things ready for Hawaiian dinner, having already made a macaroni salad and put the Delmonico steaks in the teriyaki marinade.

Late Afternoon Swim With Granny

Cozy Cousins

The McClures arrived around 6:00 for dinner, to the delight of the girls, who love seeing them.  We all sat on the front porch, with beers and wine, cheese and crackers, and enjoyed the late afternoon. While we were sitting there, the girls got the crazy idea of going for a swim, so three of them put on their suits and went for a dip in the cool air.  With hardly a hesitation, they all just dove in, loving the water, us watching them swim.  Around 7:15, Mitch and I went out and grilled the steaks, each taking about two to three minutes because they are only a quarter of an inch thick, the way we had our steaks when living in Hawaii.

Dinner With Linda and Ron

Then, ten of us sat around the table, hungry and happy, devouring the steaks, macaroni salad (a must on a Hawaiian plate lunch), salad, and corn.  The meal ended with all of us sitting on the couches, eating either brownies or cherry pie with ice cream, a good way to end the evening.  McClures went home around 9:45 and Evie then hustled the girls up to bed, with little problem as they were all tired from their swimming and hike to the campground.

Looking At The Photo Albums With Linda Hepp

Today is going to be sunny but cool, high in the mid 70's, a perfect day for both the dock and going blueberry picking.