Partly Cloudy With Rain Forecast

Trumpeter Swam

7:32

9:15

It's quite a contrast this morning to yesterday's brilliant sunshine and clear skies. Off to the south is a streak of light on an otherwise gray, overcast sky. There's a decent southerly wind already and it's  44º with a high in the mid-50s later today. It's 9:30, clouding up and I went kayaking for 45 minutes, the only boat on the lake. 

Kayak Morning

North

Swan Among The Canadian Geese

Yesterday was a different kind of Saturday although a typical morning. It began with a great paddle because of the blue skies and sunshine. I didn't want to get off the lake. As I finished up the blog, Evie noticed a swan among the Canadian geese, so I quickly walked outside and took a photo. Once breakfast was done and the blog, I gathered the trash and was off to an always busy Transfer Station. I was meeting our neighbor Bud, his two sons, and two grandsons because we were going to hike the Chautauqua Gorge at 11:30 while the gals celebrated a shower for his daughter-in-law Jen. 

The Boys With Their Grandad

We were not sure where to enter the gorge so I suggested Lyon Road which dead-ended on the gorge. I had forgotten that I was private property but we assumed we were fine and parked our cars and walked to a narrow path to the gorge. We hoped to be able to have an easy walk with the boys, six and eight but the creek was deeper than we thought so we often had to scramble up the gorge's overgrowth and walk alongside the creek. Unfortunately, we noticed ticks, especially on the dog and one of the sons, since it was mostly overgrown. That put a damper on our hike so we decided to turn around and walk back to the car. We were gone for an hour so we got in some hiking and exercise. 

Dad, Arlo, And Louie

We wanted lunch so I suggested the newly opened Sherman Hotel and restaurant, about a fifteen-minute drive. It was open for lunch and practically empty so we had an easy time finding a table, and ordering drinks and food. It was a good choice and everyone enjoyed their meals although it was a bit pricey, thirteen bucks for a burger and fries. 

The Ubiquitous Canadian Goose

We arrived back at Bud's house by 3:00 and joined the gals for cake and cookies. While hiking, they were having lunch and Jen was opening gifts for the new grandson's arrival in a few weeks. We stayed until 4:30 and walked home, happy with our afternoon hike and party. We were both tired so I laid on the couch and started my new novel, Munich, set in 1939 as the Facist, Adolph Hitler, is about to invade Czechoslovakia. How apropos. Neither of us was very hungry so we had the leftover bean stew and brown rice again, with a salad, and watched a new film on Prime called My Old Ass. It was a bit of a bore until the last fifteen or 20 minutes when it became real, moving and thoughtful. I watched some basketball when Evie went up to bed but not for long because I wanted to get back to my book.