Summer Seems Over

6:36

8:12

It's 6:35, and I'm waiting until 6:50 for the sun to rise before I kayak. It's a quiet lake, a quiet neighborhood, as many people head home for the fall, closing up their houses, taking in their boats and docks. For us, September and October are the best times of year: cool weather, a quiet lake, and lots to do.

Sun Rising At 7:00

Into The Sun

Rising Above Tom's Point

North

It's 8:20 and I was out paddling for over an hour on an empty lake. It was a spectacular morning, lots of sun and blue skies, and good for birding.

Heron

Osprey

Heron

Osprey

Labor Day was quiet, as we stayed home and didn't celebrate, mostly because our families live so far away. So it was a normal weekday: we got up early, then took a leisurely paddle on the lake for close to an hour and a half. I didn't feel like coming in, so I just hung out there, luxuriating in a quiet lake morning. When I did come in, Evie was up, so I joined her with a coffee, and we finished off the blog and published it.

Webb's Trail

Shade And Sun

I knew I didn't want to sit around all day, so I drove to Mayville, parked my car, and went for a 50-minute bike ride down two sections of Webb's Trail, an abandoned railroad track. The second section is built up so that there's a twenty-foot drop on both sides of the trail — an engineering marvel. After the trail, I took the Mayville pathway to the Mayville cemetery, rode around it, and then headed back to the car. It was a good day for a bike ride, and I saw lots of riders, mostly on Route 394. On the way home, I stopped at Stedman Corners and picked up a half dozen ears of corn for dinner. And that was it for me physically for the day.

Mayville Cemetery

I was home around noon, and Evie was already out enjoying the sun in the side yard. I had both broccoli salad and an Asian cabbage dish for lunch and watched something on TV. I then read and tried to nap, but by 2:45 I was in the TV room watching the first half of the U.S. women's basketball team's easy win over the Czech women. I was bored after the first half, so I worked in the yard, raking up stones and placing them along our fence to create a barrier for heavy rain.  Meanwhile, Arlo and Louis came over and were busy boys building wooden forts and helping Evie put together a train track.  They had their usual piggys, milk and Calvin and Hobbs on the front porch.

Around 4:00, the wind had calmed down, so we grabbed a libation and went for a good hour-long boat ride on the lake, down to Maple Springs and beyond, across to Chautauqua Institution, and home. It was fun to be back cruising the lake, especially on such a blue-sky afternoon. While I put the boat cover on, Evie had a Zoom call with her sisters, then prepped our dinner — pork chops, seared them, and put them in the oven. We relaxed for a half hour, then had dinner and watched a couple of episodes of ER. The last episode was amazing, as a patient stabbed both Lucy and Carter. Lucy dies and John survives, but the tension for forty-five minutes as the cast tried to save them both was palpable — television at its best. I was in bed reading by 10:00, tired from the day.