A Quiet Wednesday

Family, 2023

8:30

Well, it's 6:52, drizzling, and I have been up since 6:00, sitting on the front porch, listening to the occasional rain. It's a gray, overcast morning, 64º and the rain should stop around 9:00 so I may be kayaking in the rain this morning. It's 9:00 and I got in a forty-minute paddle, returning around 8:15. Beth and I have been sitting here talking, waiting for Evie and Tyler to get up.

Kayak Morning

Mallard Family

Finally, An Osprey

Great Blue Heron

Yesterday was a sad day as both Tom and Jill's families left for home. I was up early for a short paddle, then relaxed with coffee with the gang as they packed up and enjoyed a breakfast of egg and cheese sandwiches, compliments of Evie. By 10:30, all was quiet on the lakefront. Mitch and Tyler helped Evie and I break down some of the bedrooms and stuff in the yard, the heavy stuff as it were.  None of us had much energy so we sat around, while Evie and I did stuff to start putting the house back in order. It's always a strange day when family leaves, suddenly quiet and empty, with nothing much to do but clean up which is not much fun.

Aloha, Milena, And Mitch

At 12:30, I was on my way to the Buffalo Airport with Mitch and Milena who were flying first to Charlotte, then to Los Angeles, leaving at 3:40. Mitchell drove and it was fun because we talked most of the way about their life in LA. Both wish they didn't have to work (who does?), and could just play. surfing, skiing, hiking, and traveling, the good life but someone has to pay the bills, the reality of going off on your own. You play on weekends or vacations and work the rest of the time. I dropped them off and except for a brief traffic jam on #90 and road work in Fredonia, I made it home in the usual hour and a half. 

It was a hot and humid day, so Beth, Tyler, and Evie spent the afternoon inside, with Tyler working on his Master's thesis, Evie and Beth relaxing, not worrying about getting anything done. We were happy to be dining out, not cooking, no dishes so after Evie's Zoom call with her sisters, we drove to Greenhurst, for the steak special at Steeners Pub. It was a good choice as the steaks and fries were great, just what we wanted. We were home by 7:30 and spent a half hour trying to find a movie the four of us might like. Finally, we decided on Nomandland, a film Evie and I love and watched twice although Beth and Tyler had not seen it. I don't think Tyler was crazy about it but Beth liked it but did not love it like us. It' 's interesting how different tastes are, especially with the young like Tyler, who would have preferred a vampire film called What We Do In The Shadows. By 10:15, the three of us were in bed, but Tyler stayed up watching another film, one no doubt to his liking. 

Today Beth And Tyler fly back to Dallas at 5:40 and Evie and I will drive them to the airport early afternoon and then all is quiet and empty on the lakefront, alas, until next summer. 

Tyler And Aundraya Cruising