The Morning Roar Of Bass Boats

Porch Party!

6:09

It's 6:52 and I have been sitting on the front porch, watching the morning wake.  First, a bright morning sunrise and quiet, now a heavy cloud cover and the roar of boats.  It's a pleasant 60º and should cool off some, with highs in the low 70's and I am listening to a Bill Simmons podcast as he discusses the NBA playoffs.  It's 9:25 as we finish the blog.  I took an hour and a half paddle, over to Bemus Bay and back, hugging the shoreline looking for birds.  It started out calm, then as I turned the point, it became windy, then settled down as I came home.

Kayaking Bemus Bay

Enjoying Long Point In The Morning

A Hungry Spotted Sandpiper

Yesterday was excruciatingly hot by midafternoon, with an 84º high, making me sympathize with those who live in Arizona and Florida where the heat gets even worst.  It was, however, bearable in the morning, so we were outside getting things done before the heat.  Evie had been busy the past few days clearing out some of the unwanted junk from our attic, so I had to make two trips to the Transfer Station, getting rid of the trash.  I also have to admit to a guilty pleasure in throwing away things that we no longer want, clearing up space, putting things in semi-order, in other words, downsizing.

Around 11:00, it was heating up and I was working up a sweat just walking around in the yard so I decided to get in the water and rework the ropes holding my boat in place.  I wasn't sure I could do it because the lake temperature is still in the 40's.  I went slowly, first to my knees, then waist, then chest so I could work on my boat which took about 10 minutes.

First Swim

By then, I was either used to the water or numb so I decided to go all the way and dove under water.  Honestly, it felt great, energizing but I did not linger.  I came out and lay on the dock, warming up with the sun, drying quickly.  Evie and l lingered until we decided to go back to the house.  Evie put on her suit and went back out to enjoy the sun.  I heated up the leftover chicken marsala with rice, watched another Bosch and wrapped a blanket around me because my body was still cold from my swim.

Our Yard On A Saturday Afternoon

I am reading one of Don Winslow's earlier novels and fell asleep reading it till 2:30 when I went out to join Evie on the dock.  The heat was oppressive so I lasted only a half hour and both of us came in, having had enough of the 84º afternoon.  Fortunately, we had closed up the house late morning so the house felt nice and cool.

Betsy And The Birthday Girl, Barb

Our neighbors, Barb and Jim, were having their annual porch party so Evie put together both our dinner, portobello mushrooms stuffed with spinach for dinner, and guacamole to take to the porch party.  We walked over at 5:30, with our appetizer and beers.

Neighbors

It was fun to get together with some neighbors who we have not seen since last fall.  We sat around talking, enjoying the appetizers since everyone brought something, as dark clouds, heavy winds came in and left, with hardly a drizzle.  The highlight was the 72 bottles of homebrewed beer, given to Jim by his brother in law Chris for his birthday.  We didn't get home until 8:00.  Evie quickly heated the mushrooms with spinach for our dinner although neither of us was that hungry.  All I really wanted was the last piece of cheesecake with strawberries. We watched the end of a Colbert, a boring Barry, then started a movie we have both seen a couple of times, THE HELP.  I was happy to get back to my book.