A Streak Of Light And A Quiet Lake

6:40

8:06

A lazy morning as its already 7:40 and I have just begun my blog.  I have been up for an hour, a quiet morning on the lake, nary a boat out at this hour, quite a change from a weekend morning.  The weather is beginning to change, some rain predicted, temperatures are beginning to fall, so the warm, warm days of early August may be a thing of the past.  It's 63º at the moment, and temperatures this week should only be in the 70's.

Sunday Morning At Chautauqua Institution

Yesterday morning we decided to forego a kayak paddle and instead, take our boat to the Chautauqua Institution, dock it, and take a walk, something we have yet to do this summer for some reason.  As always, the CI is crowded with people, walking, riding bikes, getting ready for church, or just relaxing on their porch or in their yard.  It's a  virtual Utopia, really, an escape from the real world, with its 'happy people,' what some have suggested is a 'summer camp' for adults.  The religious thread is omnipresent, as is the wealth, the whiteness, and the liberalism.  All these make it an unique place, filled with people who embrace tolerance, education, and the arts.  We both feel fortunate to have it nearby and bemoan the fact we don't take more advantage of what it has to offer.  We walked the north end, admiring the lovely yards, the million dollar homes along the lake front and ended up at the Amphitheater, arriving in time for the start of the church service, the community song.  We stayed for about 15 minutes, had enough of the droning of the speaker, and headed back to the dock, to our boat and lake, our religion, the natural world.

Sunday Morning Service at Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater

When we returned home, it was warming up, the lake was busy, as everyone seemed to want to take advantage of the sunny day.  Before hitting the dock, we had usual breakfast of organic eggs, bacon and toast.  Yum.  I get hungry just thinking about it.  We then enjoyed the rest of the day, reading and swimming, entertained or annoyed by all boats pulling tubes, the jet skis racing up and down the lake, doing wheelies in the water, showing off their expertise.  What is a quiet, empty lake this morning was yesterday afternoon a busy thoroughfare.  Around 5:00, a former student of mine, Eric Rhodes, stopped by on his way home to Akron from a conference in Clinton, NY.  We had not seen each other since he was a senior in my AP English class in 2009.  He's a great kid, one of those students you remember because he was always interested in learning.  He's a senior at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and loving his experience there.  We caught up on his life and laughed about the fact that he had one of my favorite books in his car, ZORBA THE GREEK.  He loves it as well and has read it a couple of times.

Zorba Junkies

Eric took off for home around 6:15 and we then headed over to the McClures for dinner.  Linda's sister Janet is in town for a week, so it was fun to see her again.  We were greeted with much anticipated cold beers and sat outside on their porch, enjoying the cooling evening, as dinner cooked. We had a tasty chicken thigh dinner, with salad and for dessert, Janet made a chocolate mousse like dessert that we were supposed to guess the ingredients.  The cocoa was easy, the almond milk and honey harder, the avocado impossible.  It was great, takes three minutes to make in the blender....a quarter of a cup of unsweetened cocoa, a quarter of a cup of almond milk, of honey and one avocado.  It makes just enough for six in small tea cup sized glasses.

Evie With Linda Hepp and Her Sister, Janet

We stayed until about 10:00, as Evie explained how to play various games.  Their nephew, his wife and son are coming, so they wanted some games he might enjoy, like Apples to Apples, Jenga, and Jishaku.  We played one round of each and had fun.  We watched some junk TV after getting home before going to bed.