A Janus Like Morning Sky

A Visit With Old Friends

A Fun Night With Joyce And Bill, Friends and Neighbors

6:55

7:42

7:52

It's just about 8:00 and we are waiting for the cable guy to come and return us to Spectrum Cable TV.  Yes, instead of cutting the cable we are reattaching it after a couple months of inconsistent DirectTV now.  I have been up since 6:30, watching the striking multicolored sky in the south, the dark threatening one in the north.  I assume the north will win out.  And I did get in a twenty-five-minute paddle, coming back just in time for the cable guy.  It's 8:15 as I finish the blog and raining!

Kayak Morning, Southern Sky

Kayak Morning, Northern Sky

7:33 Clouds

7:37 Kayaking

7:40 Sun Rising

Yesterday was a busy but fun day here at the lake.  We were expecting old friends for lunch.  We lived next door to them our first couple of years of marriage when we lived in Babbitt Gardens in Euclid, Ohio.  So I skipped yoga and we spent a part of the morning getting a few things done around the house and the lunch ready for their arrival.  We also were having our neighbors, Bill and Joyce over for dinner since yesterday was their last night at the lake.  So there was lots to do but Evie, always organized, had most of the lunch and dinner done on Tuesday.

Judy and Ray arrived around 11:15 from their home in Austinburg, Ohio, about an hour and a half away.  We have not seen them in many years, too many to mention but it seemed like we just carried on as though we were still neighbors.  They, of course, like us dote on their grandchildren.  We learned about their two sons lives, one living in the Florida Keys, the other in South Carolina.  They have had the luxury, however, of having their grandchildren around through their high school years. Both are retired and happy in their home set on four acres with a pond, built by their son Danny a few years ago.  Lunch was great, eggplant BLT's and a Turkish soup with red wheatberries and lentils, healthy and filling.

Evie And Judy

It was great seeing them and we vowed to see each other more often.  They have friends in Maple Springs so they have been to the lake before.  It was a fun get together and brought back all kinds of memories of our first two years of marriage and the birth of Beth, our first child.

When they left, we both relaxed for a bit but then Evie began, with my help, to get dinner organized for Bill and Joyce.  Evie, as I mentioned had most of the dinner made but at the last minute, she remembered that Joyce and Bill loved her Higbee muffins so she quickly threw them together and baked them.  I did a few things outside as the sun had come out and it was finally a nice afternoon. Joyce and Bill came over at 6:00 and we had our wine in the living room with appetizers, baked pickles stuffed with mozzarella cheese, an Evie specialty.  They were quickly gone.

A Farewell Till Spring Dinner

Dinner was chicken thighs marinated in yogurt, lemon, and oregano, a la Greek. We had rice, eggplant, and salad along with the muffins, pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert, so we certainly had enough to eat.  We had fun reminiscing about the past 37 years we have lived next door to them here at the lake.  They head home tomorrow to Philadelphia, stopping at State College overnight.  We will miss them, but there is always Spring.

As I said, it was a busy but fun day.