Another Good Day At The Lake!

6:13

7:13

7:56

I was up just after 6:00, to a partly cloudy sky, a cooler 63º.  I looked out the window to see another blue heron feeding in our neighbor's shallows.  I knew if he noticed any movement, he would take off so I was careful to walk out into the side yard to take a couple of photos until I made one move too many and he flew off.

Early Morning Heron Watch

For some reason, yesterday for both of us felt like Saturday, go figure.  It's often that way when you are retired and one day is not much different from the next and the weekend is all week long.  I skipped yoga because I had pulled something in my lower back doing something stupid and wanted to rest it for a few days. So the morning seemed longer and more relaxed because I did not have to be on my way by 9:30.  Our first decision most mornings, after writing the blog, is what to have for dinner and did I need to go shopping?  Well, we both hit upon one of our favorites and were in agreement that scallops would hit the spot.  We had most of the makings but I needed to go to Home Depot to pick up a few things, so I might as well stop at Wegman's next door and pick up a few other things.

I was off by 10:30 on a sticky morning, and stopped at Ryder's Cup in Lakewood for a coffee and picked up a couple of dozen eggs and I stopped in the book store and bought a book by a neighbor and acquaintance Rollie Kidder called BACKTRACKING IN BROWN WATER, about his experiences in returning to Vietnam 40 years after having been deployed.  I then headed to Home Depot with a stop at Evans, to pick up a bottle of booze and some wine then onto Home Depot where I am getting to know the greeter because I seem to go there once a week and he is always helpful, sending me to the right aisle this time to pick up some anti vole/mole granules. I also checked out the perennials but none were on sale.  I then did a quick run through Wegman's and once again picked the wrong line.  Cest la vie when shopping.  On the way home I stopped at Harbor Freight to look at a cargo carrier which connects to the hitch on the back of my Outback.  Lots of choices, of course, and I am not even sure if I need one.

When I got back, Evie was ready to hit the dock, after all, we thought it was Saturday, a day of large leisure.  I had lunch, finishing up the matzo ball soup and leftover chicken sausage from the night before and watched the final episode of OZARK which ended as I thought, without an ending, more a trailer for the next season which I assume will come.  I started a recent book called CHURCHILL & ORWELL and it has much relevance to today's world of anti-liberal democracies.  I am liking it because both are beacons of individual rights, with an emphasis on freedom and democracy.  One of Orwell's quotations seemed particularly relevant: "When a man has a black faee, suspicion is proof,"

Neighbors: Sue, Kurt, Their Sons, Zack and Luke

After reading and my nap, I joined Evie, just as the heavy winds blew our umbrella off its perch into the water, forcing Evie to jump in and swim after it.  We then relaxed in the mixture of sun, when we needed shade, and shade when we needed a towel to keep warm.  Our neighbors, Kurt and Sue, pulled up with their two teenage sons and we talked with them for a half hour.  One son, Zack, lives now in Euclid, our hometown, where he's in a coop program where he works a half day and goes to school half day, paid for by his company, a good deal.  And  Luke, their 16-year-old son, is a junior and plays basketball for St. Francis in Hamburg, New York.  It was fun catching up with them since they rarely get down to the lake these days because they are so busy.  We hope to catch one of Luke's basketball games.

The Chautauqua Belle Cruises By Our Dock

After they pulled away, I scrubbed my boat's hull, trying to get all the algae and dirt off.  We both then went for a swim, went in and put on dry clothes, grabbed a glass of wine and some pita chips and back out to the dock and spent forty-five minutes enjoying the late afternoon until it was time to go in and put together dinner.  It was a lovely evening and the weekenders had yet to arrive so the lake was quiet.

Around 7:00, Evie got dinner going, boiling the linguine, searing the scallops, then sauteeing shallots and garlic, then added vermouth, chicken broth, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice.  Once the noodles were done, Evie added the scallops, sauce, and parmesan cheese.  In between preparing the scallops and boiling the noodles, Evie put together a salad and heated up some sourdough rolls, to compliment our scallops.  Quite a dinner and it's no wonder it's a favorite.  We watched two more episodes of THE TUNNEL and like it more and more especially since we found how to put on sub titles, making it easier to understand the British accents.  We ended the evening with peaches and ice cream, a great way to end the day.