A Tree Grows In Chautauqua

7:15

7:45

It looks like a groovy kind of day despite the frigid 37º at the moment, blue skies, a strange black cloud early, but now, nothing but blue and a bright sun, filling the morning with light.  It's 8:00 and I have only been up for forty five minutes, so I missed when the sky began to lighten, usually around 6:30.  Today's forecast is for sun all day; tomorrow, alas, when we have a neighborhood clambake here at the the lake, it is supposed to rain and get colder.

Planting A Tree

Well, it finally happened, our Red Sunset Maple was finally planted, an hour later than expected but once our house was found, the truck parked, the hole dug, the tree pushed into the hole, straightened a couple of times, steadied, dirt put around its roots and staked with guide wires to hold it in place, we had a new tree.  Whew! We did like the two nursery workers, Scott and Terry, both were pleasant and seemed to enjoy the work, and need it.  Times can be tough around here once the summer is over.

Paul left just after the tree was planted, on his way home to Xenia, Ohio, about a six hour ride.  He was meeting good friends of both of us, Joe and Mary Lou Barry for dinner.  Wish we could have been there as well.  The rest of the day was a mystery in that we were so satisfied with the tree, we were going out for dinner, so nothing had to be done.  We got a little bored later in the morning from doing nothing and went outside and raked leaves in some of the flower beds, filling a couple of garbage pails.  And I topped our compost with a foot or two of pine needles, thinking it would make great compost for next spring.  It felt good to be doing something outside, working in the yard and was warm enough that we both worked up a sweat.

A Lonely Maple

We spent our afternoon as usual, reading, napping (me), and getting a couple of things done either inside or out.  For some reason, we did not kayak event though the lake was calm enough.  My major effort during the afternoon was skipping flat shaped rocks at the Canadian geese, getting them to fly off elsewhere.  As I write this, I just noticed a raft of sixteen mallards floating off the shoreline.  It is unusual to see that many at once.

Around 6:00 our friends Jane and Jerry Grice, picked us up and we drove across the bridge to Steener's Pub in Greenhurst for dinner.  We had not seen them in months so we had lots to talk about because they had just returned from a three week trip to the Florida and Alabama Panhandle in their RV.  They loved it, found great campgrounds right on the beach and it was hot enough at times to use their air conditioning.  They are avid travellers, always off somewhere.  And they are not afraid to change their plans.  At first they were going to travel to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan but because of weather, at the last moment they changed their minds and went to Florida, a bit of a change. Dinners were fine, mine especially, a couple of Southern Tier Harvest beers and pot roast tacos, their specialty.  Evie had a great taco salad and a basket of their great fries.  Needless to say, we were all happy, with our meals, with  getting together after at least six months.  We vowed to see each other more.

Dinner With Jane And Jerry Grice

We were home by 9:00, in time to compare MSNBC's coverage of the 'prosecution of Hilary,' with Fox News coverage of 'that liar.'  I did enjoy the spirited debate between Megan Kelly and a Democratic supporter, both knowledgeable and passionate about their opinions.  It did not, however, seem like either was listening to the other.  Typical.  It was good to get back to my latest Charles Cummins novel, the TRINITY SIX.