A Gray, Overcast And Foggy Morning

6:09

I was up at 6:00, to a dreary, gray morning sky.  It's still humid, 66º, and may get up to 80º later in the day.  The lake is smooth, hardly a ripple, with no boats to mar the surface.  I cannot wait to get out there and kayak.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday we took it easy, maybe because we received more rain on and off during the day.  I did kayak early, came home to get organized for a trip with multiple stops to Jamestown and Lakewood.  It felt good, though, to have my life back to normal, normal wake up times, coffee, good food, no fasting, the good life.  One forgets how good the simple routine of our days are until they are changed.  So I took off around 10:30, after a couple of long phone calls.  One to Panasonic about my year old Lumix which was refusing to extend the telephoto lens.  So I packed it up and am sending it to its repair/replacement office in Texas.  So my first stop was at the post office to send my camera and insure it for 400 bucks.  I then drove to Jamestown, to Spectrum's office, our internet providers to return their remote and DVR since we have gotten rid of cable.  It will be interesting to see what my next bill will be.  I then stopped at Auto Zone and picked up spark plugs for both our Honda Mower and Mariner Outboard motor.  My next stop was at Sears in our seemingly neverending quest to replace our Microwave.  We had decided on an LG model finally, one we had looked at last week at Sears.  It was out of stock, however, and we would not be able to get it until October. Typical.  So I looked around, found a Samsung which was similar and twenty bucks cheaper and ordered it. We will get it in a week.  Finally, that's done.  I then mailed another package at the Car Wash, which takes UPS packages for Amazon, bought some gas, and finally headed home.

First Budding Yellow Dahlia

Fragrant Gardenia-likeHosta

Evie was on the front porch, talking with United Healthcare, making sure everything was in order for her back surgery in September.  Unfortunately, she spoke with an agent who knew practically nothing about our insurance, so it was a frustrating phone call and Evie was ready to cancel everything until she talked to someone who knew what she was talking about and could reassure her that insurance would cover her surgery, at least Medicare would kick in as well as United Healthcare.  It's unbelievable how some people still have jobs when they are so incompetent.

Lunch was delish, a meatloaf sandwich with ketchup, of course, and a pickle.  And I watched another exciting episode of FAUDA before taking a cat nap.  Both of us relaxed then as it looked like rain and read or played on our devices.  Around 4:00, I went out to make sure our boat was in tip top shape because we are taking a trip down to the Chadakoin River, Mc Crea Point and back with our friends, Ron and Linda.  Well, I discovered the reason why my boat seemed slower than usual.  Thousands of zebra mussells were attached to the boat bottom.  I got out my ice scraper for windshields and worked on scraping them off for a half hour until the clouds, thunder and rain came in.  So I took a half hour hiatus until it cleared up again and I went out and scraped for another half hour until the boat's bottom was clean.  Now I know why everyone but me has a boat lift. 

Dinner At Rocco's With Joyce And Bill

At 5:45, we drove off to Rocco's, our favorite Italian restaurant with our good friends and neighbors, Bill and Joyce. It's about a forty-five minute drive through mostly farmlands, hills, and corn fields.  We were lucky to get a table because Rocco's was really hopping.  We ordered our usual, Evie and Joyce the eggplant parmesan, piled high and Bill and I ordered chicken parmesan.  All four of our meals were great, much more than we could eat so we all took home doggy bags or in this case styrofoan containers (not good).  It was an exceptional night out, with good neighbors, good food, and a fine country drive.

We were home in time to watch another episode of THE HANDMAIDS TALE.  It surprises us in how it moves from Alfred/June to her husband, Luke, and lover, Max's lives, giving us the background for both of them. 

A Bit Of Nostalgia: Evie with our good friend, Dick Allen on the right, and Battal on the left, a BJK teammate and good friend who sadly passed away yesterday in Istanbul.

Probably 1974