Fall Equinox, Finally (Pine Junction)

Bros For Forty Years

Girlfriends and  Grannies

6:30

6:57

8:15

I woke at 6:25, came downstairs to a gray lake and morning, Long Point just visible.  It's now 7:30, and a wall of fog has rolled in, completely obscuring the Point, our boat barely visible. And it's already 70º and we have a week of sunny weather ahead of us, with temperatures reaching the 80's each day, as summer refuses to go away.

Yesterday, we woke up to a fog just like today's but it hung around a good part of the morning, so we had to put off our kayaking until 10:30.  It gave the four of us a nice long morning to reminisce about the good old days teaching at Western Reserve Academy.  We never seem to run out of things to talk about with the Trouts especially the current political climate.  Ron and I paddled down to the end of Magnolia, where one of our students from Reserve, Amy Fibus, has a home.  Unfortunately, it looks like they have closed up their house for the year.  By the time we got back, we had worked up a sweat, the temperature already in the high 70's.

We had a quick breakfast of bagels or granola, then boated over to Bemus Point, docked our boat at the now empty village dock and took a morning perambulation down Lakeside Drive, just like the old days when they would visit us in the 1980's.  The street has changed some, with new homes, but it's the same walk.  It was a warm late morning, so by the time we got back to the boat, I had worked up a sweat so it felt great to race home on the unusually placid lake.

It was 1:00 by the time we returned, so we were all hungry.  Evie had microwaved some potatoes before we left, so she cut them up and fried them, put some bacon in the oven to crisp and made some eggs and toast and we had a great brunch. All of us were whooped from our three-mile walk, so we took it easy the rest of the afternoon, reading, napping or sitting on the dock under an umbrella.  And since Ron is a handyman, he always fixes something for Evie.  This time it was putting a couple of new handles on our pantry door.  It took about a half hour with me watching or holding the tape measure and Evie is thrilled with the result.

A Final Selfie At Pine Junction

We left for the Pine Junction restaurant in Findley Lake around 6:30, hoping to enjoy the ride there through the countryside.  Unfortunately, the sun had not yet set, so that we were constantly driving right into it making it difficult to see not only the countryside but the road, especially when we reached the top of a hill.   We made it in just over a half hour, found seats in the main dining area and had a great meal.  Trouts really liked the place, Ron admiring the post and beam construction as well as enjoying the various microbrews.  The location, too, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods and farmland, makes it a special place.

We arrived home around 9:30 and stayed up till 11:00, Ron and me,  talking sports and teaching on the front porch, Vickie and Evie talking in the living room.