Gray Skies And Fall Temperatures Return

6:55

7:30

7:57

7:58

A very different morning after close to a week of Indian summer days.  It's cooled off precipitously, to 55º and the low tonight will be 43º.  It's also windy, a ruffled lake, a sky filled with threatening clouds, not an encouraging start to a kayak morning.

Yesterday may have been the hottest day of the year.  It was 88º on my weather device at 2:00 in the afternoon.  My morning was typical in that I had another good paddle, shot some interesting photographs of wildlife, then came home and got a few things done to get us ready for winter.  Evie did a deep cleaning of our TV room, blinds and windows, and rug, while I spent my time outside, cleaning the gunk off of the buoys before driving to Lakewood, to the opening of the new and approved Aldi's, a big deal as the parking lot was practically full.  It's larger and cleaner with more items, few that caught my interest.  I would prefer a Trader Joe's, which also owns Aldi's.  I, of course, got a coffee and stopped at the bank before coming home.

Evie had a lunch ready when I returned, a tuna and egg salad sandwich,  having finished the TV room.  And despite the heat, she spent a  good part of the afternoon, beneath the umbrella on our dock, occasionally jumping in the water to cool off.  I had my usual afternoon nap, finished up my book, THE GOOD FATHER, and briefly joined Evie on the dock but it got too hot for me so I put a chaise lounge in the shade of our trees and started a new book.

We both swam around 5:00, thinking it might be the last warm day for a swim.  The water was great and I worked on scrubbing the algae off my boat for 15 minutes before coming in and showering and getting ready for a boat ride to the Viking Club for wings.  We left about 6:00 on an increasingly windy afternoon and when waves broke over the bow, getting Evie soaked, with decided to return to our dock and drive over to the Club, as good choice as the wind only increased and the sky became more and more threatening although it never did rain.

Viking Clubbers

We found a seat at the bar and settled in for a fun night, getting to know a couple from Pittsburgh, Henry and Jan, who has a cottage in Maple Springs.  I had talked with Henry before and he is an avid fisherman.  Evie talked with them as I spent most of the evening talking with John, the proprietor of the Chautauqua Iron Works in Mayville.  He made a number of our dock pieces and we often see him at the Club. We got too many wings and fries, so we left almost half on our tray.  It was a fun night, as it was unusually crowded for a weeknight.  We were home just before 9:00, in time to watch another confusing episode of The Five and a Vice News.