The Fun's Almost Over!

With Chautauqua Institution's Featured Speaker, Trevor Potter

7:46

It' 7:00 and a cloudy and rainy morning, the lake, however, is amazing, with shadows of the shoreline skirting its edges, and fog rising from the hills over Bemus.  It's warm, too, 67º, wet out as it rained some overnight, finally.  It looks like a nice day except for the fact that our families are leaving late morning, my sister back to Virginia, our niece and her husband, to Niagara Falls for an early afternoon visit, then a 6:00 flight back to their home in Denver, Colorado.

Baskets On Chautauqua Grounds

Porches Of Chautauqua

Yesterday was classic Fourth of July, with everyone enjoying the warm weather, the sun and each other, celebrating Independence Day.  Our neighbors' yards were filled with family and friends, playing games, sitting around tables eating and drinking, taking in the day.  My day began early, writing the blog and then heading off to Lakewood to pick up a few things for our picnic.  I was back by 9:30, however, with ice, packed the cooler and then had some scrambled eggs and bagels and jam as everyone was finally up.  Some then went swimming, to wake up fully and by 10:15, we were boating once again to the Chautauqua Institution to listen to Monday's speaker, Trevor Potter.  A renowned election and political guru, having worked for both Bushes and John McCain, he spoke on the theme of the week, "Money in Politics."  He regaled the audience with facts, explaining how money and power poisons the political system, leading to deadlock.  He was, however,  a bit windy as there was little time for questions.  We all enjoyed hearing him, being part of the pageant of the 4th on the Chautauqua grounds, and we stopped by to talk with him briefly afterwards, as he's a friend of our nieces husband's family.  He recognized Hampton, said a quick hello to all of us, and we moved on.  We briefly walked through the flag strewn streets of red, white and  blue, then boated back to Woodlawn, ready to jump in the lake because of the heat.

Lunch

The rest of the day we did our usual, playing bean bag, sunbathing, swimming, reading or taking a nap with a break around 2:30 for some loaded tortilla chips.  Yum.  They hit the spot and with a couple of beers, we were happy the rest of the afternoon.  Our friends Ron and Linda were coming around 5:00, so all of us went swimming and washed our hair in the lake, getting ready for our picnic.

The Old Man And The Gals

Happy Family

Tradition

Cuties Enjoying The Lake

They arrived on time, and we sat around kibitzing until Julia pulled out the bean bag tournament line ups.  So for the next hour, we played some competitive bean bag, enjoyed hanky pankies, endaname, chips and dip, drank beers, as we played.  Julia and I were the winners of course!  Evie and Walt were second, as the homies dominated the boards.  We made them of course.

Hanging Out With Ron And Linda

Watcha Lookin At!

Father And Son In Law

 The guys then grilled some burgers and dogs as the gals got things ready for our picnic dinner.  It was still nice out though it looked threatening and we ate outside, a typical 4th picnic, potato salad, beans, dogs and burgers.  All was good except for the fact I undercooked the burgers.  Idiot!  We then waited for 10:00, when the flares are lit around the lake.  To while away the time, we built a fire in my portable fire pit and roasted marshmallows and made smores.  Julia was happy, happy.  Lots of fireworks were lighting the skies from 9:00 on, in all directions, some from villages, some just locals on their docks.  It was amazing, the amount of money some must have spent on their displays.  The flares went on at 10:00 and we sat ogling them and the fireworks until 10:30 when Ron and Linda drove home.  We quickly cleaned up the yard and all of us, tired from the day, went up to bed early, for us, with no games.

I hear stirring upstairs, so some are getting up.  Both families will be leaving late morning I suspect, in no hurry to get home.  It's been a great five days.  We should make it a tradition.

It's now 8:30 and everyone's up and the newlyweds,  Julia and Hampton, are in the kitchen, making a special breakfast for us, Shakshuka, a Tunisian dish of eggs set atop sauteed tomatoes, spices, and feta cheese.  Double yum.