A Chilly End Of July Morning

7:09

It's 7:35 as I start this on a clear and sunny morning. It was 56º out when I woke, so I am sitting here with my blankie, keeping me warm. I love it...bring on the fall weather. Because it's Monday, the weekenders have left so the lake is quiet at this hour. Just as I was about to get up and get ready to kayak, I looked out my window and saw four kayakers go by, kinda neat. 

Kayak Morning

An Osprey Breakfasting

Heron On The Shore

Yesterday was a productive Sunday in a couple of ways. First, I paddled for over an hour, down to Snug Harbor and back, a beautiful, calm morning for kayaking. We were in no hurry to get started so the blog did not get out til maybe 10:00. Evie, then, suggested we go for a walk on Webb's Trail in Mayville, so we put on our walking gear and drove off by 11:00, It was an easy walk, wooded on both sides because it's a former train track, so its straight and flat. It's not quite a mile one way, so we were out for only forty-five minutes but it felt good and the weather was cool enough so we did not work up much of a sweat. 

Webbs Trail

In The Shade

We were home by 12:30 and while I set up the umbrella on our dock, Evie made me an omelet with spinach, cheese, tomatoes, you name it. I watched my series, enjoyed my breakfast with a bagel, and then looked forward to reading and napping. 

An Abundance Of Clouds

Meanwhile, Evie was out on the dock but it ended up being too windy, so she returned to the porch where it was too hot. She tried a chaise lounge under the trees and it was just right. And that's the way we spent the afternoon until 5:00 when we both showered because we were going out to dinner at 6:00. 

The Girls

Linda and Ron picked us up at 6:00 and drove us to Jamestown to Pace's Pizza, our favorite because we can dine alfresco on their fairly new patio. We waited maybe ten minutes and were lucky to get seats outside. This is our go-to pizza place so we know what to order, salads, pizza of various size and toppings, meatballs, and beers. It was a fine night to be outside, on their busy patio. It was a good choice, perfect timing, and it was fun to be together again. 

The Four

We were home 8:30 on a quiet night on the lake, We thought we might watch a series on TV but Jon Voight and Jane Fonda's Coming Home had just started, a powerful, tragic look at the consequences of war. Both are amazing in their roles and we remember watching it for the first time in 1978 and were blown away by the final scene, a great film. 

Bright Sun, Calm Lake, And Cormorants

Cormorant Perched Near Snug Harbor

7:11

It's late as I start this blog, 9:45, because I woke later than usual and took a long paddle, down to Snug Harbor and back probably close to an hour and a half. It was a beautiful morning for kayaking, not a breeze, a not-too-warm sun, and 64º as I paddled. And I was able to shoot a group of cormorants, hanging out near the Snug Harbor inlet. 

Kayak Morning

Snug Harbor Inlet

Cormorant

Yesterday was back to normal, with a morning paddle, and some good photos of herons and ospreys before coming home to finish the blog and have breakfast. Like many Saturdays, the only 'must do' is a trip to the Transfer Station. So by 10:30, the trash was gathered and I was off and surprised, I was the only one getting rid of the trash. Usually, there are seven or eight cars if not more. That was it for the morning other than some straightening up of the kitchen. 

Evie's Garden

Chautauqua Belle

Lunch was soup and a bagel with chicken salad, compliments of Evie, and a leftover rotisserie chicken and I watched my show. Because I was up so early, I actually took a good nap, upstairs in the bedroom with the air conditioner on. For some reason, by 4:00, I was hot to go for a walk. So I drove over to Long Point State Park, just as it was beginning to cloud up and walked for over a half hour in the rain, often protected by an umbrella of trees. It felt good to be in the woods again, on empty trails, enjoying the quiet.

Hiking Long Point In The Rain

I was home by 5:00 and Evie was already on the porch enjoying a glass of wine while the buttermilk cake she made was cooling in the kitchen. Best of all, because of the rain, it cooled off, and both of us felt like it was an autumn afternoon, with a breeze and banks of fluffy clouds. We loved it. 

Fall Like Afternoon

8:29 PM

Dinner was easy, the leftover pork tenderloin medallions with rice, corn, and a salad. Once again we struggled to find something to watch and settled on the Second Season of The Lincoln Lawyer. After the first episode, we were about to bag it when we saw the credits. One of my students from Western Reserve Academy, Ted Humphrey, both wrote and produced the series so I guess we are sticking with it. He was also responsible for many of the episodes of The Good Wife. We ended the night with ER, of course. 

Overcast, Drizzle, And Cooling

6:07

It's 6:30, alas, and I was up at 5:45, not ready for bear, just coffee. I am sitting on the front porch because the sun is not up yet and will be hidden behind the clouds after it rises. Not a soul is out at the moment, so it's quiet, except for an occasional bird. It's 6:50 as I finish and am tempted to get out on the lake but rain is predicted for the next hour, and thunderstorms to follow. It looks like it might rain but I am anxious to get out there and don't mind rain, just thunder and lightning. Well, I beat the rain and got in an hour paddle, my usual route, with the same two birds, a heron and a couple of ospreys, a good morning. 

Kayak Morning

Great Blue Heron

Dishelved Osprey

Cooling Off? 

Yesterday was a day of large leisure for both of us because of the heat. It may have been the hottest day of the summer, with temperatures in the high 80s until late afternoon when it attempted to rain and cool off a bit. I had a long boring morning because I took a day off from kayaking. I obviously spent much of the morning reading my John Lescroartt novel Hunt Club, with a new protagonist, Webb Hunt. So after the blog and breakfast and a quick cleaning up of the kitchen, I found something to do. So I went out on the dock and washed bird droppings off of my boat cover. It must have been a big bird! Once that was done, it was time for lunch, Evie's soup and the leftover baked potato topped with cheese sauce. And I am now on the third season of Friday Night Lights, a new season, with new players. 

Evie was like me, a slug much of the day because of the heat and humidity. I tried to nap, got bored and then volunteered to pick up some corn and a few items at Tops grocery in Mayville.  That gave me something to do until 5:00 when it was wine time on our front porch. Before joining me, Evie had marinated a couple of pork tenderloins, then seared them, before putting them in the oven to bake. We enjoyed our porch moment, the sky changing, threatening at times to rain, always changing. We never get tired of our view.

View From The Porch

6:15

Dinner was great, pork medallions with a sweet sauce, rice, and corn. We struggled to find something to watch and ended up watching a couple more episodes of ER.

Morning Fog

6:48

7:46

It's 7:25 and the fog has dissipated, then regrouped as the sun tries to break through the gray. It's 62º and supposedly getting up to the high 80s in the afternoon. It was suggested that I skip kayaking for a couple of days, alas, so I will have a long, boring morning. 

Thursday was a day to forget as I spent most of it at the Cath Lab in Ashtabula. I was going for a cardio conversion for my afib and was to arrive at 9:30. So we left before 8:00, and got there a few minutes early. We were soon taken in and then realized that I would not be taken care of until 11:30, a two-hour wait. It was actually later than that and once I had the procedure, I had to wait an additional forty-five minutes before being released. I think that's the story of most people's experience in hospitals, lots of waiting. At least we really liked the nurse who took care of me. We didn't get home until 3:00 although we did stop for gas and something to eat because I had not eaten since dinner on Wednesday. So what I thought might be four hours really took seven. 

We were both happy to be back and I took a brief nap, then spent the afternoon reading and enjoying being home. We were not sure about dinner until Evie suggested baked potatoes, with broccoli, a cheese sauce, and bacon which sounded good and tasted good. We watched the breaking news, the new Trump indictment, then a couple of more episodes of the seemingly endless True Detective before bed.

Cloudy And Rain

6:24

7:08

It's 6:50 and we are both up, looking out at a gray sky and lake. Overnight we got an inch and a half of rain and there were heavy winds and lots of thunder and lightning last evening. This morning I skipped kayaking because we are going to the hospital in Ashtabula for another cardioconversion of my afib. We leave around 7:45 and should be home before noon. Because of the rain, today's high will only be in the 70s but tomorrow, it heats up again, in the 80s.

Yesterday was hot and sticky, not our kind of day. We wonder how friends and family survive in the southwest with temperatures in the 100s day after day. Air conditioning is the answer I guess and at least it's dry heat except if you live in the southeast like Florida. I did get in a great paddle and saw a green heron for the first time. After that, we had a long coffee and neither of us was up for much because it was getting warm. Around 10:30, however, I drove to Lakewood, stopped at Ryders Cup and talked with the guys for 15 minutes before a stop at the bank, and then Walmart, to pick up a few things for our dinner. 

When I got home, Evie had a pot so summer vegetable soup with turkey meatballs simmering on the stove. So by 12:30, I was happily enjoying lunch of soup and cheese sandwiches and watching my show. I started a new book, Old God's Time, by Sebastian Barry. So far I am not taken with it but will stick with it for another day. I napped briefly, showered, and then drove to pick up a friend because we were having beers at Jack's Hawthorne Hill on Chautauqua Ridge. Four of us then spent an hour and a half enjoying beers, the view of Jack's garden and fields, catching up on our family visits this summer. We were back by 6:00 and Evie had dinner almost ready, Japanese vegetable pancakes, rotisserie chicken, and fried potatoes. We watched a couple more episodes of True Detective and are at the point where we wish they would end it.  Too many digressions and unimportant relationships. We were happy to go to bed earlier than usual. 

Storms At 7:34

A Green Heron And Osprey Morning

6:23

6:24

I am starting this blog at 8:55, after my paddle for once. It was an amazing paddle and I was out for over an hour and shot six ospreys in different trees although one of two may have been the same. And then I saw this strange bird fly into the bushes along the shore and I paddled in, within ten feet taking photos of it.  Evie discovered on her bird app that it was a Green Heron, small and chunky compared to the Great Blue Heron. It was my first sighting ever. Exciting. 

Kayak Morning

Northern Sky

Osprey # 1

Osprey # 2

Osprey # 3

Yesterday was not the best of days although I did get in a decent paddle and a walk around Woodlawn. For the past few days, I have been in afib again which limits many of the things I would like to do. I saw the cardiologist on Monday and have another cardioconversion scheduled for tomorrow if I am still in afib. So the past couple of days I have taken it easy, helping out occasionally, but mostly reading and lounging and enjoying the view. It's not debilitating, just annoying, 

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Green Heron

Same As Above

I spent much of the morning and afternoon reading Independence Day by Martin Cruz Smith while Evie sweated, mowing the lawn on a sunny, 80º day. Smartly, she took many water breaks. I had the leftover mushroom pasta for lunch, watched my show, and tried to nap but it was stuffy and humid. Mid-afternoon the sky darkened and we received a few raindrops. Thinking it was over, I opened the windows but then it darkened again, rain hard for 15  or 20 minutes and we got maybe a quarter of an inch of rain, perfect for Evie's dahlias. 

Evie had a Zoom call with her sisters at 5:00 and once she was done, we relaxed on the front porch as usual, with a glass of wine and enjoyed the late afternoon breeze as the rain had cooled things off. Dinner was BLTs on brioche buns for a change. We were not sure what to watch so we scoured HBO and decided on True Dectectives third season. We loved the first season, but not the second, and decided to try the third and liked it enough to stick with it. 

Overcast Morning On A Quiet Lake

6:36

It's 7:00 and there is not a boat in sight although they will be coming. It looks like a decent day, the last before the heat wave hits us starting tomorrow. It's after 9:00 and I paddled for 50 minutes. It was a good morning for birding despite the gray skies. 

Kayak Morning

Heron On A Dock

Osprey

St

Stretching

Heron In The Trees

Heron Yoga

Victoria Trees

Yesterday was a bore. It began as usual with kayaking, so that was not so bad. We had only one thing we had to do, change the water filter, and that took all of ten minutes. So we had a relaxing morning, tidying up the kitchen and living room but that was about it. I had a bowl of soup for lunch and then we drove off to Ashtabula Cleveland Clinic for a scheduled appointment with my cardiologist. That takes up a good chunk of the afternoon, with an hour and a half drive there, the same back. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long to see him which is the usual case. On the way back, we stopped for gas at Love's and Evie got us large fries and drinks from Mc Donalds since we had not had much of a lunch.

We were home by 5:00 and Evie quickly put together our dinner, a pasta sauce with mushrooms and then we relaxed for a good hour on the front porch with a glass of wine on a beautiful late afternoon. Around 7:00, Evie made a salad, heated up the noodles and we had a tasty dinner. We were not sure what to watch so we tried the first episode of Grantchester on PBS, then watched a couple of episodes of Daisy Jones and The Six, about a rock group in the 70s. And that was it for the evening.