Dawn On Chautauqua Lake

6:42

6:47

7:15

Again, like clockwork,  I awoke at 6:00 and I am the only one up and it's now almost 7:00.  I have been waiting patiently for the sun to peak over Long Point, which it did around 6:42 and now it's in full bloom filling the lake and our living room with light.  Steam rises on the lake's surface, partially obscuring a fishing boat, as it floats by.  What a dawn.

Day three with my sisters and their husbands was a busy one in the morning, a relaxing one in the afternoon, and a neighborhood party in the early evening, a fun day.  No one was up early, a good sign, the result of the marvelously cool night, the low getting down to 48º, excellent sleeping weather. By 10:00, everyone was caffeinated and bageled, so the girls went off in one direction, the guys in the other.  Evie and the girls went to the Lighthouse to pick up ground chuck for burgers and pea meal bacon for today's breakfast.  We had also read a really nice article about the pie shop in Westfield called Portage Pies (they make five to six hundred a week in old ovens bought at house sales).  They will be featured on a PBS program specifically about pie making in the States.  Anyways, it made us all think about a pie for dessert, so they drove to Westfield, and bought a cherry pie for us, and a strawberry/rhubarb pie for our neighbors.  They then stopped at the Artist's Loft, browsed the gallery, picked up corn and fresh tomatoes from a stand, getting home just after the guys. around noon.  The guys went to Jamestown, stopped for a coffee at my favorite, Ryder's Cup for, of course coffee, and I introduced them to Joyce and Janice, the two  who run the shop.  We then took a brief tour of the lake and drove to Celoron (birthplace of Lucille Ball),  and drove by the Swamp, a bar that's become famous for its parking lot (still flooded with water) and it's new door.  We went as far as McCrea Park in Jamestown,  which they are redoing, the mouth of the Chadakoin, then headed back and stopped at Wegman's, where we picked up things for dinner and Rich, my brother in la, bought ten jars of Wegman's all fruit jams for his kids back in Ohio...they love it.  We then made a quick stop at Evans, picking up some booze (it's cheaper than Ohio) and were home just before Evie and my sisters.

Corn Chowder and Slovenian sausages

It was a beginning to another great lake day, so we all went out on the dock for an hour before eating lunch around 1:00 outside.  We had Evie's homemade corn chowder and Slovenian sausage, which my sister brought us from the neighborhood butcher in Euclid, Azman's (the third generation), where Evie's family has been buying these sausages for at least 60 years.  They are the best.  The rest of the afternoon we spent on the dock, reading, sunning, swimming, and kibitzing until around 4:00 when we all came in and got things ready for our Woodlawn neighborhood picnic which was to be in our yard.

Cooling Off In The Lake

Evie made an artichoke bread, and everyone who comes, brings an appetizer and their own drinks, so it's an easy party to prepare for.  Neighbors started arriving around 5:15 and stayed until 7:00.  Because most of our neighbors are weekenders, none of us get to see each other much because we are usually busy with family or friends.  So these three times a year summer gatherings are one of the only chances we get to socialize.  And they are easy to set up, and everyone brings whomever happens to be visiting that weekend, family or friends.  We had about 30 people I would say and all were gone by 7:00, giving them time to do something else that evening, have a cookout like us, or go to the Celtic Music Festival in Bemus like the Fox's.  It's a nice way to get together.

Neighbors Gather

Anne and Ed Vogeding and Daughter, Kathryn, at Woodlawn Picnic

When everyone was gone, the table cleared, the guys went out and grilled juicy lucy's, ground chuck stuffed with American cheese, my grandchildren's favorite.  Evie steamed a dozen ears of corn and that was dinner,  almost but not quite too much after grazing on appetizers, until 8:00 when Evie and Ellen got out the cherry pie, served it a la mode with vanilla ice cream, the best,  rivaling Evie's fruit crisp from Thursday.  We stayed up listening to music, mostly Neil Young before going to be around 10:45.  We were tempted to watch a movie but knew most of us would fall asleep before it ended, so we put it off for today.

This morning, around 10:00, we are taking the boat to the Chautauqua Institution, to walk around and attend part of the church service in the Amphitheater, then home for a great breakfast of bagels, eggs, and pea meal bacon.  Everyone has decided to stay one more day which is great.  Tonight, we go for wings at the Casino, or burgers/wings at Pine Junction, depending on our mood.