Post Memorial Day Joy

5:41

6:01

8:06

What a beautiful morning, an empty lake, the only sound purple martins gabbing as they build their nests, find their mate.  I was out paddling for an hour and was practically the only out enjoying the lake. A funny thing did happen.  I saw an empty boat tied up to the Long Point fishing dock, something I have never seen before.  I wondered if something was wrong so I went over to check, make sure there was no problem, peaked in the hull and woke up an Amish kid who spent the night sleeping in his boat. We both had a good laugh and I went on my way.

Kayak Morning

Turkey Vultures Roost On Long Point

Great Blue Heron Along Woodlawn

Great Blue

Quite A Profile

Yesterday was a busy morning, an afternoon for leisure, and a breezy cruise before dinner.  I had an early paddle, ran into other paddlers as well as fishing boats; after all, it was Memorial Day.  I came home, finished the blog, had breakfast, and then Evie and I spent the morning working in the yard.  I did a lot of edging, pulling weeds, moving plants along with Evie.  She finally decided to mow the lawn in shifts because it was getting really warm, in the '80s by mid-morning.  By the time I was finished, I had worked up such a sweat that I took Evie's advice and showered before a lunch of a couple of salami and ham sandwiches.  It felt good to cool off, put on dry clothes, enjoy lunch, and watch my show.

Evie finished mowing about the time I was ready to read and nap.  She, too, had enough yard work and gathered up her book, iPhone, and water and went out on the dock to enjoy the sun.  She lasted about an hour because it was too warm, so she set up a chair in our front yard, in the shade of our maples where she also could get a breeze.  I joined her and read for about an hour. 

While I was reading, Evie was obsessed with a Facebook app called View From My Window.  We joined it a month ago and people from all over the world share the view from their window and people comment on it.  We sent a view from our living room about a month ago but it did not appear on the app until yesterday.  It was amazing to see how many people reacted to it, over twelve thousand.  Many people from every corner of the world also commented on our photo.  It was fun and everyone was so nice, complimentary, always wishing us good health  It gives us faith in humankind.

Around 5:00, I bit the bullet and gingerly stepped off our dock ladder into the lake, finally, going underwater, always a shock.  As always, I got used to it and loved being there and worked on our boat moorings and the buoys for 15 minutes.  When I had enough, I dried off in the sun and then came in because we were going for a boat ride.  We brought a cooler, some pretzels, and cruised down beyond the Chautauqua Institution, taking our time.  We were amazed at how many neighborhoods still don't have their docks in the water.  In our neighborhood, Woodlawn, everyone's dock is in whereas along Prendergast Point, probably the gold coast of the lake,  very few docks are out in a neighborhood of probably twenty-five houses.  Our boat ride was well timed, as most boats had headed home and we had the lake and the spectacular sky mostly to ourselves.

Blue Waters, Puffy Clouds

Spectacular Cloud Art

After our ride, we sat out on the dock, nursing another beer, as this beautiful Memorial Day waned.  We were reluctant to leave the dock but eventually went in around 7:45.   Evie grilled sauteed mushrooms, grilled a couple of tenderloins, made a salad and we had another good dinner.  We watched Hometown and a couple of episodes of Better Call Saul then went to bed, our bedroom hot and humid for the first time in months.