A Morning Darkness

6:00

6:14

7:10

I woke at 5:45 and was surprised by how dark it was, a harbinger of winter.  It was mostly a heavy cloud cover, blocking out any indication of light.  Now, at 6:41, it's foggy, with a touch of pink over the Bemus shoreline.  A 60º morning begins should be a hot, 85º day.

Kayak Morning

Long Point and Tom's Point

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Yesterday was screwed up by having our septic tank drains "roto-rootered." I kayaked early enough however so when he arrived, I was just finishing my breakfast.  Once he was finished, I took my boat out for a brief cruise, to make sure it was running well.  It was.  It was 10:30 before I got moving, having decided to go for a bike ride in Mayville and do some shopping at Tops and Rite Aid.  So I parked my car at our friends, Linda and Ron's driveway and took a forty-five minute easy ride along the lake, on the new asphalt path, then Sea Lion road and back.

Mayville Hiking/Biking Path

Newly Erected Sign Along Path

I then did my shopping and stopped at the Lighthouse Grocery to pick up a sub.  I ran into our good friend Charlie who, unfortunately, is going home this weekend because the Chautauqua Institution's season ends on Sunday.  When that happens, summer is over for the most part because thousands of CI residents go home, leaving us locals to our beautiful autumns. 

When I returned home at 1:00, Evie had been busy, getting some wash done and was ready to go out on the dock and enjoy the sunny, hot, and humid afternoon.  I had half of sub for lunch, watched my show, read and took a great hour nap.  Nothing like a good nap, not one of those lousy cat naps.  It was after 3:00 by the time I walked out on the dock to join Evie and it was surprisingly pleasant because of the breeze. 

By 4:00 we had enough sun so what does Evie do this beautiful afternoon? She powers up the mower, walks four miles, enjoying every minute.  Not to be outdone, I gathered the weeds Evie had cut this morning, the deadfall from Sunday night's wind storm and took them up the hill.  We relaxed on the porch at 6:00 with pretzels and a frosty, cold beer.  We had planned on making a stir fry dinner but that sounded too much so Evie sauteed some mushrooms, pan-grilled a couple of New York strips from Tops and I attempted fried rice, by adding soy and mushrooms to Sunday night's leftover rice. The steaks and salad were great, the rice edible, and we were happy with our choice.  We watched a Colbert, some news, then three episodes of Fleabag before bed.