Summer's Back, As 80º Weather Returns

6:32

6:44

A mostly clear sky on a still nippy morning of 57º.  At the moment, 8:00., its hazy, the sun muted, as the day begins to warm up.  It looks like a fine day, with a high in the low 80's.

Yesterday was another near perfect day from our point of view, sunny and warming up as the day progressed but little humidity and warming sun.  I could not face a yoga studio on a morning like this, so I packed up my bike and drove 17 miles to Findley Lake.  It was a good idea, as the lake and its surroundings were at its best.  The around the lake trip was just over five miles, with few hills, and I took my time, sometimes biking down into neighborhoods to look at the homes.  And I biked around the major campground, Paradise Camp, which was busy, with mostly permanent RV's or manufactured homes.  Kids were riding their bikes up and down the roads as the smell of bacon wafted through the woods.  The west side of the lake is called Shadyside, for obvious reasons, and is the most interesting to bike.  It took me just about an hour to meander around the lake.  I then stopped at the new restaurant, the Brigadoon, owned by the son of the owners of Pine Junction.  It's open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and instead of burgers, it offers various interesting paninis, along with pizza, some pastas and wings.  And it has a full range of micro brews on tap, so its worth trying out some evening.

On the way home, I stopped at the Lighthouse Grocery, picked up a beef on wick sandwich for lunch (they have them on Tuesdays and Fridays) and drove home to find Evie had been busy working in the yard all morning.  Because it was such a beautiful day, we decided to work a bit longer, than take a nice long boat ride for lunch.  So around 12:30, Evie packed up drinks and lunch and we cruised slowly down towards Point Chautauqua and back, as we were one of only a few boats out on the lake. The lake in front of Woodlawn was calm, flat but as we got farther down the lake, the wind picked up, ruffling the lake's surface, a good day for sailors.  We were back about 2:00 and Evie quickly readied herself to get out on the dock, putting aside gardening and cutting the lawn.  I did some reading, napped, then worked in the yard, edging and digging up around the side yard beds.  Around 4:30, I joined Evie and we both had a beer to celebrate another good day and the fact that we were invited to dinner by our neighbors, so Evie had an easy evening.

Al Fresco Dining At Our Woodlawn Neighbors

We went over to our neighbors, Ken and Marjorie's around 6:30, and they had invited Charlie T and another colleague, Susan,  from their teaching days.  It turns out she knew many of the people I taught with as she has worked at various schools in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh over the years. Dinner was barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, and a great salad.  We first, however, had wine and appetizers on their porch, always pleasant and were able to eat dinner outside for the first time in weeks.  It was nice as we had much in common, as all of us were in the teaching profession.

When we got home, we watched some news, got caught up on the political gossip and scandals of the day before going up to bed to read.