A Hazy, Lazy Friday Morning

6:16

6:24

6:25

A muted sunrise, as the haze has created a light pink morning sky and lake.  It's 6:45 and I have been up since before 6:00, sitting on our front porch until the sun rose.  It's 68º (humidity: 98%) and I assume we will be having another warm, close day, with a slight chance of rain.  Always slight.

Tres Chic

Granny And H and H

Marisa's Smile

Thursday was another busy family day at the lake.  As usual,  I went off to breakfast with the guys before anyone got up.  Four of us ordered our eggs, coffee and sides, the one time a week I eat supposedly unhealthy.  When I got home, the adults and even grandchildren were up because both Mitchell and Hayden wanted to get in a run over at Long Point.  So after a quick breakfast, five of us drove over to Long Point for a morning run or ride.  Jill and I rode our bikes, through the park and neighborhoods, all the way to Midway Park and back, and the rest ran through the woods and out to the tip of Long Point and back.  I came straight back, the others had to have their iced coffee and they shopped briefly at the Bemus Point Market.

The Bissells At Play

Dad And His Girls

Ladies Of The Lake

And that was it for trips until later in the day.  The girls were getting ready to go out on the dock with Evie and the gang would then spend much of the afternoon out on the dock, mostly lazing in their floats or rafts, the coolest place in Chautauqua County.  I did some weed gathering, took them up the hill, and mid afternoon, Evie and Mitch made a short cake, with lots of heavy cream.  Various groups of two or three would come in for something to eat or drink, but eventually head back out on the dock to enjoy the sun.

Around 4:00, Drew and I drove off to get a few things done. First, we stopped at Keystone Used Cars, to look at trucks.  I want a truck.  They had a couple that were interesting but when I checked the blue book prices, they were asking twice what the blue book said it was worth.  And so it goes. We then stopped at Wegman's and Home Depot briefly, then Hollyloft Bike shop to pick up another gadget for my bike that I don't need.  All this was preparation for the real reason for the excursion.  A stop at Brazil's Craft Beer and Wine Lounge.  Drew loved it, of course, a real local, yet upscale bar, and he ordered a flight of beers, one that had an 18% alcohol content.  Needless to say, he did not finish it.  We stayed for an hour, then headed home because we knew dinner was awaiting.

Neighborhood Duck

Up Close and Personal

Petting The Ducks

Toe Feeding

When we got home, all were in the front yard, as Mitch was flying his drone and the girls were at the water's edge, feeding a raft of baby ducks with cracked corn.  We then had some serious games of bean bag; once again Marisa and I lost in the first round to Mitchell and Evie, the eventual champions, and I got one chance to throw the bags before losing 15-0.

Bean Baggers

Around 7:15, Mitch and I fired up the grill and browned some marinated zucchini before filling up the grill with spicy Turkish koftes.  We hardly had room to turn them but between Mitch, Drew and I, we did a fine job of grilling them.  This Turkish Iskender kebab is a family favorite.  Once the koftes were done, dinner was easy, squash, green beans and salad.  And we had strawberry shortcake to look forward to after dinner.  We kept going back for seconds until we ran out of strawberries.  We then had to decide between a fire or Telefunky, a card game our family has played for years.  Telefunky won and we played until 10:30 and Mitch and Evie won again.  It seems to me as though the teams are fixed, with Evie and Mitch winning at both bean bag and Telefunky.

Dinner With Mitchell

Strawberry Shortcake

It's now 7:30 and Drew and Evie are up, talking politics, as we listen to a wrap up of the Democratic Convention on MSNBC.