Rain And More Rain

 

7:10

7:11

Well, I am sitting out on my front porch, listening to a podcast and guess what?  It's been raining since I got up a half hour ago at 6:00.  And it looks like it may continue on and off most of the day, perhaps the night.  I am beginning to understand what it might have felt like to live in the Midwest where they are having record flooding, not that we have any major flooding here.  Just lots of rain over the past few weeks.

Yesterday was another strange but typical late Spring day in Chautauqua.  Early on, we had a heavy fog after a brief sunrise.  I got in a paddle, then went off to yoga, then a quick stop at Sav A Lot before coming home.  We were having friends over for dinner so Evie had been busy in the kitchen as well as cleaning the front porch.  We had yet to move the couch out, so once the porch was given a good cleaning, we moved it out and we are now ready for summer.  Before lunch, I wanted to plant our hydrangeas despite the soggy ground. So I dug a couple of holes just off our front porch and fortunately, the ground seemed fine.  It was not so true when I put in our hosta because I had to fill the bottom of the hole with compost so the plant would not be sitting in a couple of inches of water.  I hate to think what it looks like this morning after getting so much rain over the past twenty-four hours.  Lunch was the leftover stuffed portobellos and a bagel and I started the second season of Bad Blood, about the Montreal mafia.  

Evie likes to get dinner done before the guests arrive so she can enjoy them without having to fuss last minute in the kitchen and many of her meals can be made ahead of time like yesterday.  Mid-afternoon, she seared and roasted a couple of pork tenderloins, wrapped them in foil and left them to sit until dinner.  She also made a sauce for them and made a brown rice casserole.  So by the time, Fred and Judy arrived, dinner was mostly done.  They have been friends for years and I first got to know Fred through his playing in three on three basketball tournaments.  He's played on teams well into his 70's and they have won many age groups throughout the States.  Judy is an accomplished artist and has had shows all over Western New York.  

Heavy Rain At 3:30

Despite the fact we had a heavy downpour, a half inch in twenty minutes around 3:30, we were able to enjoy drinks and appetizers on our front porch as it had cleared up nicely by 6:00.  Both Fred and Judy are Manhattan aficionados so Fred volunteered to bring a pitcher of Perfect Manhattans.  He makes them a bit different from me, using whiskey or bourbon with Martini and Rossi Bianco with a dash of soda and lemon.  We loved them.  Dinner was great, pork tenderloin medallions, asparagus, rice, salad, and rolls.  We were able to sit on the porch for our dessert of lemon custard cake and we ended the night with a glass of Turkish tea.  It was great to catch up with them, their lives.  They spend their winters in Davidson, North Carolina, next to the college, their summers in the Chautauqua Institution grounds.

Judy And Fred