Cloudy And Rain (Jack's Farm)

6:11

6:19

6:28

It was a surprise to come downstairs this morning to a ruffled lake, an overcast sky after the last two perfect mornings on the lake.  The lake actually seems to be flowing north, as the wind is coming from the southeast.  It's warmer out than it looks, 56º and we will have rain off and on during the day.
Because yesterday morning was so sunny, the lake calm, I went for a kayak paddle early, enjoying the sunny morning, the lake smooth like glass. I noticed that there were sparrows in all the martin houses at the present so the martins had better get back soon.  When I came in, Evie was up and we finished the blog, putting it to bed so to speak.  I did not go to yoga because we ordered pea gravel for our road and they were going to deliver it in the morning.  So about 10:30, I got a call and the truck came by and was able to spread the gravel on our road and parking spaces so that I had little raking to do.  It will make a big difference, as the gravel I have put down over the years has sunk into the ground and we ended up with mud when it rains.  This should solve our problem.

Evie spent most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon working on the Shutterfly album.  It keeps getting bigger and bigger as there as so any great photographs that she has a hard time eliminating any.   At the moment, she's probably half way home, with lots of lake photos to go.  As Evie concentrated, I went fishing around 11:30, the lake too inviting, so I paddled down to my sweet spot, caught nothing, had one follow but it was nice to be out casting on the lake.

Lunch was easy, vegetable soup and a peanut butter and banana sandwich on my homemade bread, toasted of course.  I watched a bit of TV, read, took a brie nap, then went out and cut our grass for the first time this year.  I gave it a trim, keeping the blades at their highest level because some areas, the grass was six to eight inches high, in others three or four.

On The Road To Amish Country

We were looking forward to a fun afternoon because our friends, Jack and Diane, invited us to go for a hike on their sixty acre farm, on the Chautauqua ridge, with a view of Lake Erie between the trees.

Lake Erie From Chautauqua Ridge, Six Miles Away at 6:25

When we go there,  Jack was working on his hops, Diane in the  garden.  Before we started, Jack packed some beers in a cooler and Diane gathered some snacks, a few folding chairs and we crossed their road into the woods and walked maybe a quarter of a mile to their cabin, one room, set above a creek, surrounded by leafless trees at the moment.

Quiet Among The Hemlocks

Vinca Patch

We left the beer, snacks and folding chairs and then spent an hour hiking through their woods, looking for spring wild flowers, crossing creeks, finding vast patches of vinca, then another area rampant with ramps, but much of the forest floor brown with last fall's leaves.  We really wanted to see spring Trillium and finally found a patch of ten or twelve near the creek.

Spring Trillium

Trillium Opening

Full Bloom

Our  goal was a maple sugar shack, a half mile in, where their Amish neighbors make syrup from Jack's trees.  Because of this sugar making, many of the trees are connected by plastic tubes, which carry the sap to the sugar shack.  And we saw the results of heavy rains last year which not only changed the path of the creeks but moved huge empty vats used for the making of maple syrup.

Porch On Jack And Diane's Cabin In The Woods

We ended up back on the porch of their cabin, overlooking the creek, enjoying a beer and snacks, talking about how much fun they have had as a family over the years at the cabin, often going there at Christmas time with their kids, now their grandchildren.  There's enough room in the one room cabin to sleep two or three people comfortably and Evie and I have an open invitation to try it any time. We both enjoyed the hike, loved the woods and want to hike the woods in the fall, perhaps snowshoe in the winter.

With Jack And Diane

We left around 6:35, stopped at Tops in Mayville to pick up a few things, then drove home to a darkening sky.  Evie got some hot dogs out of the freezer, quickly grilled them and heated up some baked beans because neither of us was very hungry.  It hit the spot, and we watched the usual news, then Vice and the most recent episode of BETTER CALL SAUL.  We are not quite sure what is going on with Gus but assume it has something to do with drugs.  We will have to wait till next week to see.  Around 10:00, I was happy to  get back to my book, Greg Iles MISSISSIPPI BLOOD, the final book of his Natchez series with Penn Cage.