A Busy Early Morning

5:48

View From Our Porch At 6:14

7:14

It's 8:30 and Evie is still asleep, lucky girl.  I, however, have been up since 5:30, awakened by the caws of the crows.  When I got up, I made the coffee, grabbed a cup when it was ready and sat out on our porch, listening to the sounds of various birds, as it drizzled on and off for a half hour.  Around 7:00, the lake looked inviting, calm and gray, so I put my coffee in a mug, put on my life jacket, put my camera in my pocket and went out and jumped in my kayak, seemingly the only boat on the lake. Usually, Sundays are very busy but I was out for at least an hour, paddling over to Long Point's Pavilion and back along Long Point and I saw only one boat, anchored off of Long Point fishing.  I wanted to go beyond Warner Bay but the wind picked up on that side of the lake and I had to fight my way back to Long Point and home.  By the time I got to Woodlawn, the lake was calm, like glass. It's a great way to start the morning but now I am ready for a nap.

Kayaking On A Cloudy Morning

 Wild Phlox Along Long Point State Park's Shoreline

Yesterday was a busy, back breaking day for both of us.  It started, as usual with a trip to the Transfer Station.  Then, however, I drove to the gravel/top soil/stone pit.  Even though it was a Saturday, it was open and Clyde was busy filling up trucks with his tractor.  I paid him a couple of bucks and filled up five buckets with topsoil.  We still have a couple of bare spots on our lawn.  I worked on them before we left but there was so little rain that the grass seed I put down hardly took.  So I raked both areas again, spread all the top soil on top of the areas, then spread seeds on top of the top soil.  I then decided I needed another layer of topsoil, so off to the Gravel Pit I went, filling up five more buckets with top soil, about all my back could take.  And I then spread it on the bare areas and hoped for the best, especially for some rain over the next couple of weeks.  Before I left for me errands, Evie and I cleared off the back porch and took down the winter curtain which encloses our porch. While I was gone, Evie washed down the curtain and the back porch, and then we just waited for it to dry.  We both went for a cooling swim after the lawn and back porch were done. It felt amazing, just like the day before and we were probably one of the few brave souls swimming in the lake.

Lunch was leftover curry and then I did some reading before taking a nap.  Evie kept busy until about 3:00 when the sun came out, the temperature got into the 80's, so we decided to take a boat ride, cruising slowly down to Whitney Bay and back.  There were lots of boats out and most had the same idea, a slow cruise, enjoying just being out on the lake.  When we returned, both of us had lost our mojo, so I did some watering and closed up the garage.

After showers, we drove to McClure's around 6:15 for dinner, a welcome respite from our busy day. We had not seen them since early May, so we had lots to talk about, our trip of course, and their always eventful life.  We sat outside, with beers and appetizers until the gnats or some kind of bug forced us inside for dinner.  Ron grilled four nice Delmonico steaks outside and Linda made twice baked sweet potatoes (fabulous) and a Caesar Salad.  It was a great dinner, a fun night, and good to see them again.  We didn't leave until just before 10:00 and as luck would have it, a program at the Chautauqua Institution just ended, so we had a hard time getting out of their road because of the never ending trail of cars heading towards Mayville.  We finally forced our way out and drove home in traffic when, usually, we are the only car on the road (in winter).

I am not sure what today will bring, perhaps some rain and a Cavs victory.  We can only hope.