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| Happy Thirteenth Birthday To Our Granddaughter, Halle |
Well, we are back at the lake after a great three-week sojourn, the best part, visiting with our families. Now, however, we are home and I am back to getting up before sunrise, sipping chicory coffee from New Orleans Cafe Du Monde, listening to Morning Joe, waiting for the sun to rise.
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| 7:31 |
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| 7:34 |
I just got back from a windy paddle and as I was kayaking back, I wondered where all the ducks had gone. Just as I was thinking this, a raft of coots scooted out of the shade, into the sunlight, about 15 yards in front of me. No herons, no mallards, just coots remain.
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| Kayak Morning |
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| A Raft Of Coots |
We left the Dayton area yesterday around 7:30, were lucky to avoid any traffic jams as we drove around Columbus and had an easy drive home, lots of sunshine, temperate weather, and a late November drive which seemed more like spring then the onset of winter, not that I am complaining. We both felt the difference between our drive from three weeks ago when some of the trees still had their leaves and there was still some green. Yesterday, however, the empty branches of tree's rising, a purple blush to the woods, and suddenly the openness, the wide open spaces on both sides of the highway. We did have two silly stops, one at a Mc Donalds, just as a bus of retirees had arrived and gotten in line, the other where construction made it difficult to find the way into McDonald's for breakfast. That was it and we were home by 1:45 to a beautiful afternoon on Chautauqua Lake, water a dark blue, the sky, clear and azure.
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| Once More To The Lake |
We quickly unloaded, surprised at how quick it went. Once everything was out of the car, we took our time unpacking and Evie enjoyed taking her time, putting things where they belong whereas I am always in a hurry to unpack and put my empty duffel away. Once all was done, we always feel an emptiness, like now what, its over, what are we going to do. Well, we got back into routine, as I read, took a nap and Evie played Words With Friends as we moved towards the end of the day. Around 3:30, however, I was antsy, wanted to do something so I went outside, picked up twigs from our yard, emptied the five inches of rain from our rain gauge, raked some leaves, filling up two garbage pails, and mulched the backyard, filled with leaves from our still leafy Bradford pear.
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| Long Point At 4:14 |
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| Long Point at 4:30 |
We relaxed with some appetizers and a Manhattan at 5:15, as the sun began to set, the sky darken and by 6:00, it was pitch black, such a contrast to a later summer afternoon when much of daylight was still ahead of us. For dinner, our daughter in law Mary had packed us up some meatballs and spaghetti sauce, so all we had to do was boil up some noodles, heat up the meatballs and sauce, and we had dinner. We watched a couple of old Vice News and Stephen Colbert before going to bed, tired from our driving and happy to be home in our own bed.
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