Maybe A Winter Morning (Photo Overload)

Granny And Her Girls At Ryders Cup

Reiki On Call By Beth

8:09

I slept in till 6:30 and it felt fantastic when I looked at my watch and noticed the time.  I got up quickly, walked outside for the paper, saw a light salting of snow on the car's windshield and came in and turned on the coffee pot before settling down on the couch with my Mac Air.

Mary And Daisy

Mitch And Coco

Marisa

Yesterday was the first full day with a full house and I mean full house, twelve of us and two dogs.  During the summers it's easy and does not seem crowded because we are outside most of the time, swimming, boating, enjoying the yard but not this time of year, especially when we get rain and not snow.  It does not seem to matter, however, since we are together, a rarity this time of the year.  And most of the morning, it's just the five adults, sitting in the living room with our devices, while the rest sleep in.  Late morning the crew of six finally rose from their blankets, hungry and ready for the day. Fortunately, Evie had been busy, putting together a double batch of pancake batter and cooking up some bacon.  Everyone 'chowed down' on the buttermilk pancakes and bacon until there were none left, a good way to start the day.

Drew On the Porch

Yesss?

Mom, Daughter and Pups

We then had the dilemma of figuring out what to do with our day since it was gray and wet outside although quite warm, a 50º.  We decided to get out of the house, so Evie took the girls into Lakewood for hot chocolates at Ryder's Cup Coffee, a must when the girls come to the lake.  They then drove over to Bemus Point and met Drew, Beth, Jill, and Mary at Skillman's, a neat clothing store that was having a great sale.  The boys and I stayed home, happy to be in a quiet house for a bit.  The girls came home with some cool sweatshirts and zippered fleeces, so it was a fun day of shopping.

The Lake (photo by Beth)

More Lake

They were home by 2:00, ready for lunch of the leftover ham and chicken tortilla soup, a perfect lunch for the hungry crew.  We then hung out in our respective spaces, the TV room, fireplace or living room.  Around 3:00, I noticed the lake was smooth and calm, the sky starting to open up to some color, so I put on my boots, grabbed my paddle, and went kayaking for forty minutes, down to Sandy Bottom and home.  It was neat to be back out on the lake, as the reflections of the sky on the lake's surface were amazing.  In fact, Beth, our painter, was out taking photographs of the lake, thinking she would love to try painting the colors. 

Kayak Afternoon

Returning Home

We had planned earlier for anyone who was interested to drive to Jamestown and have a beer at a couple of the Microbrews.  So five of us drove first to Brazil's Micro Brew and Wine Bar. 

Brazil's In Jamestown

It was fairly busy so we could not sit at the bar but we all found beers to our taste.  The bar has a nice ambiance and Evie and I have been there many times.  We then walked around Jamestown, ending up at a just-opened beer place called The Beer Snob.  They have around 30 beers on tap but the place lacks the ambiance of our first stop.  We had a difficult time deciding on our beers, finally make a couple of good choices, some bad. 

The Beer Snob

We were home by 6:30 and while we were gone, Beth and the girls had made a pan of baklava and as we came in, the girls were pouring the sugar syrup over the finished product.  It looked amazing. 

Baklava Girls Layering the Phyllo

Dinner was practically ready so we were sitting down by 7:00, to a dinner of Slovenian sausages, from Asman's in Cleveland, of course, a brand we have been enjoying since the 1960s.  We had mac n cheese to go with it, along with roasted cauliflower, and a great salad with avocados and tomatoes. 

Slovenian Dinner In Honor Of Our First Lady (Barf)

The Slovenian sausages hit the spot and many went back for seconds.  I like mine with horseradish, the others with Stadium Mustard, also from Cleveland.  Best of all, the grandkids happily (reluctantly) did up the dishes. 

Amazing Grace

A Scary Lady

The grandchildren had been watching a series called THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE.  They were anxious to get back to it and had six more episodes to finish the series so that was the last we saw of them last night except for an occasional excursion into the kitchen to get another piece of baklava.  By the way, there's none left this morning.  The adults then sat in the living room, talking, reading. crocheting, or on our devices, listening to music until it was time to say goodnight to the kids, leave them to their TV and go up to bed.  It was a good day.