Morning Orange Sky

Early May Sunrise on Lake Chautauqua

Awoke at 5:00, got up at 5:30 and watched the sky gradually lighten, turn orange, then blue and gray as the sun rose.  It's 38 degrees outside and it looks like a decent day, sunny this morning, clouding up this afternoon, with the possibility of rain.

We caught up on THE GOOD WIFE and GLEE last night; I think we must be one of the few retirees to watch GLEE, and I actually don't know anyone other than us that watches it.  Is there something wrong with us that we actually like this show?  Like any show, some are better than others; those that have a theme or message to send seem more interesting to me though some may object to the obviousness of the idea.  Last night it was embracing our faults, our weaknesses, the things we don't like about ourselves and realizing that they are what make us unique and interesting.  A bit corny and obvious I suppose but true.

Saw our first heron this morning, on the dock next door, with a six inch fish in it's mouth.  It dropped it on the dock, picked it up again, and flew away to it's nest, to feed it's young if they have hatched yet.  It may be too early.

I have two light reading books to go and then I hope to be serious for a few weeks, read a Lincoln biography, then a history of the Civil War, then GONE WITH THE WIND, which I downloaded for free on to my Kindle.  We'll see if my resolve actually matches my actions.  I have to be in the right mood for this; I was when I left, starting Lincoln, really into it, but I decided it would not be good vacation reading so I put it off.  I hope I can pick it up again with the same interest.

The Sun! Blue Skies! No Rain!

Blue Skies

The Sun

After arriving yesterday to rain, supposedly two inches fell during the day, flooding our yard, creating puddles on our road, I woke to sun, a bright, clear morning, almost blinding after the past few days of gray and rain.

We spent yesterday in Hudson, both of us getting our eyes checked.  They were able to see that one of Evie's implanted contacts was cloudy, needed touching up with a laser and when they realized we had come from Chautauqua, they were able to squeeze her in their surgery center about a half mile away.  Within an hour, she was done and we were heading home.  They were so nice to push it through so we would not have to drive back later in the month. And now she can read easily, without needing a light over her shoulder to illuminate the text.

It feels good to be back at the lake, a bit strange, too, after having been away from our routine for a couple of weeks.  I got up around 6:40, having slept better than I have in a couple of weeks (nothing like your own bed), watched the lake shimmer, surfed the net, before going over to have breakfast with the boys.  All are back, so there were five of us.  Lots of stories, about the weather mostly, fishing, golfing, not much politics though Charlie always seem to inject his conservative point of view into the discussion.  I assume Stan would agree with him, but Joe and Dick are most likely liberals like me.  They kind of chide Charlie good naturedly when he says he wants to get rid of funding for NPR.

I would like to get some stuff done outside but it's so wet I don't think we can.  The lake is high, just over the edge, and I read in the paper the reservoir south of us, the Kinzua dam, is at its highest level ever.  They cannot open the marina as it's underwater, so there's high water everywhere in Chautauqua County, record setting rains, I assume.

We went off to Mayville, to the library, to A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, which recently won the Pulitzer Prize and Evie got CUTTING THE STONE, by Abraham Verghese, also highly recommended.  We then walked for the first time in a couple of weeks in the CI, where lots of work was going on, houses being opened, refurbished, built, you name it, a busy place this time of year.  The only trees that seem to have blooms are the crab apples, I think, with white blossoms or some early blooming fruit tree.  Most trees have swollen buds, ready to burst, a few have the beginnings of leaves.

It's good to relax, enjoy the sun outside, read some, write on my blog, surrounded by the good smells from the kitchen, of chicken with mushrooms and artichokes.  I thought about kayaking but the water is so high, it would reach over my boots if I stepped in the water, plus the rocks are covered with moss because of the high water.  Pine Hill is putting their dock in today, alas, so we will be having fishermen next door most likely this weekend.  It does not look like much fun out on the water, as it's windy with some white caps but there are still  boats out there.

Once More to the Lake

It's Wednesday morning here at Linda and Rich's in Euclid, all are still asleep but me as I sit at my computer, looking out at the gray sky and lake, waves pounding the shoreline, wind blowing the tree limbs.  It looks like another rainy day in Ohio and Western New York.  I thought that getting away from Chautauqua for a couple of weeks might allow the rain to abate, the lake level to decline  but it looks as if there's been little change in the water tables, still soggy here in Ohio and the same will be true of Chautauqua.  I am afraid the weather gods will have skipped Spring and we may just jump into summer.  We will just have to wait and see.

Fun Days in Kansas City

We went out to eat at Bistro 180 on 185th Street in Euclid, a really nice restaurant which used to be my Dad's favorite Friday night fish fry, Fritzie's, a local bar and restaurant for 40 years.  I can remember going their with my Mom and Dad, my Dad sitting at the end of the bar talking to Fritzy about old times.  It was  sold probably five or six years ago, refurbished, and has become a fairly up scale restaurant for Euclid.  The menu is amazing, with choices from all kinds of cuisines.  Linda and Rich had Moroccan lamb shanks, I had Argentinian steak with chimchurri sauce, and Evie had Myer Lemon chicken palliards, all quite good.  Calamari as an appetizer and a nice Pinot Noir from St. Salisbury finished off a great dinner.  And we could not resist their 8 inch high coconut cake, so we got two pieces to go, came home watched the end of movie about Houdini and ate our cake, light and fluffy with lots of whipped cream.

We head off this morning to Trader Joes, then eye appointments, then Crate and Barrel, and home.  We should get there some time in the mid afternoon and both of us our looking forward to it.   We are happy where ever we are, it seems, but it's also always nice to get home.

Home Again: Sunny KC to Rainy Cleveland

Jean's Pontoon Boat 

Enjoying the spring

Marlena Swims in May

A sunny morning, as we are up early, so we can see Nick off at 6:50, with a protein smoothy, his most recent breakfast food.  Lots of fruit, yogurt, bananas, and protein powder make it delicious, filling, and healthy.  Marlena got up around 7:00 but doesn't leave till 8:20, a lucky girl.  Tommy was going to play basketball early this morning but his back has been bothering if so he's sleeping in.  He is usually off by 7:30.  Jean's offered to drive us to the airport this morning, giving Mary a break.  She will be here around 9:20, as our flight leaves at 11:47.  Although it's nice here, it looks like it's going to be cool and rainy in Cleveland, what else, and what a contrast to Scottsdale.  This has certainly been ten days of contrast.  Chautauqua looks no better, with rain forecast for the next few days.  It's been rainy spring in many parts of the Mid West  as they just opened a two mile gap in a levee here in Missouri to avoid the flooding of some river towns like Cairo much to the regret of farmers whose land's will be flooded.  Why do people continue to build on these flood plains?

Sitting in the airport, waiting for our flight, tired of reading, not much else to do but surf the Internet and write on my blog.  Jean picked us up around 9:30 and we made good time, around 50 minutes to the airport, with little traffic.  We bid Nick farewell early and walked Marlena to he bus at 8:30 with Bella.  She sure is a happy girl.  I tried to get Nick to trade me his new Android phone for my old one but no deal.  He loves it, as do most of the kids, when they get a new gadget, phone or box.  I have to admit I 'm the same way, loving my MacBook Air though phones don't really interest me other than a means to communicate.  I don't care about music, apps, or pictures on it; in fact,  I get so for calls that I might as well turn it off most of the time.

Jean' Lake Tapaswingo Home

Hookie Monday with Nick and Marlena

Jean's Back Yard on Lake Tapawingo

 It looks like a nice day, a bit warmer, and it was fun to wake to all the news about Osama's death in Pakistan.  As the story unfolds, it was obviously a pretty intense time, as the White House had live feeds as the attack was happening, and one of the helicopters malfunctioned and went down.  Fortunately, unlike Jimmy Carter 30 years ago, Obama had luck with him and the attack was successful.

Jean's Kitchen

We had a great day yesterday, with Nick's team winning the tournament 4-0, and then going to Jean's for a great dinner and evening.  Her house is really great, set on a small lake called Tapaswingo, just perfect for cruising in her pontoon boat or kayaking.  We cooked steaks out side, played Bogle on the IPAD, and enjoyed ourselves, watching the sun set, sipping wine, and catching up on the news.

We relaxed in the morning, till about 11:00, then went and picked up lunch at Spin Pizza and took it over to Jean's house on Lake Tapaswingo.  Because it was a nice day out, we did a little work, moving some furniture, then had our lunch on her pontoon boat as we cruised the lake.  It's 88 acres, perhaps a half mile long, with various arms reaching off in different directions.  Everyone seems to have their own pontoon boat and any one who lives in the association has the right to put a dock on the lake.  Owners do not own the shore line so people one of two streets back may put their dock in your front yard, though their are rules as how close to another dock they can be.  Jean's dock seems to be the only one in front of her house, which is nice.  And, because the winters are milder than Chautauqua, she can not only leave her dock but boat in the lake.  It does freeze over for a short period of time but then unfreezes and I guess it doesn't bother the docks or boats. The entire shoreline seems built up, with no open spaces, as it's a desirable areas to have a house. Evie and Jean kayaked a bit after lunch and crazy Marlena said she wanted to go in the water, so we got a life jacket out and she went in up to her waist and wisely stopped their.  I think the water temperature was about 55 degrees, about what it was outside.

After Jean's, Evie, Marlena, Bella and I went on a hike through their woods, following a creek that separates parts of the development.  It has a trail, with various wooden bridges to cross the stream and trails leading up to the ends of each street.   Marlena loves it, as we did it in the snow at Thanksgiving, in fact, we have done it each year.  For the first time, we took Bella along, and she was a bit cowed at first but got used to the trail and led they way, though Marlena was our 'donkey,' because as I explained, in Turkey, the leader is always called the 'donkey' because donkeys know the trails, especially mountainous ones, where there's danger of following, thus they lead.

Teriyaki chicken for dinner, cooked outside, with rice and salad.  Tom won't be back till 6:00, his usual time.  We head to Cleveland tomorrow, leaving at 11:47 and Rich is picking us up.  How nice, the good life, to have a 'driver' in Euclid!

Playing Bogle on IPAD at Jean's

Soccer Sunday in Overland Park

At Nick's soccer game

Up at 6:00 to a quiet house, with Bella on my lap, reading the paper and NYTimes on the Internet and blogging a bit before we head off at 8:15 to Nick's game.  Later today, both he and Marlena play at 2: 15 before we head over to Jean's for dinner.  We had great ribs last night, as I mentioned, and watched an oldy, OVERBOARD, with Goldie Hawn. I think I have seen it about five times over the years but we thought Nick might like it.  It's a bit overcast today but some sun and it's nice to be surrounded once again by green, as all the trees and bushes have really bloomed in the past week or so.  The trees surrounding Tom's house are really getting large and will give him great shade in a few years.  It was worth spending the money planting them 11 years ago when he moved in.  And all the tree lawns have Ash trees put in by the association so that in another five years or so, their street will have a canopy of leaves during the summer.

Soccer stars

I briefly saw that Trump got his comeuppance by Obama at the Correspondent's Dinner yesterday in Washington.  I dislike Trump about as much as anyone in the US.  He's a bore, blow-hard, bully, braggart, know it all and rich supposedly, a master self promoter as well.  How anyone could seriously consider him a presidential candidate depresses me.  History shows that voters will vote for just about anyone, regardless of their past, their sleaze, their ignorance, see Marion Berry in DC as a great example.  People are so willing to overlook incompetence if they have a connection with a candidate: race, political views like pro life, things like that.

Watching Soccer and Softball in KC

Marlena Gets a Hit

Marlena scores a run

I was up at 6:00, a nice day so far outside, though it's supposed to rain later in the day.  Marlena has a soccer make up game today at 8:00 and Nick has three soccer games in a tournament, so it looks like we will have a busy day ahead of us.  We went to Marlena's softball game last night, a very windy evening like last year but not as cold.  Marlena's team won and she made about the only two plays of the game which ended in outs.  When playing first, she caught a line drive to put out the batter, and when playing second, she fielded a grounder and ran to second to force out the runner.  A third time, when pitching, she field a grounder, turned to throw to second to force out the runner, but no one was there.  She really seems to understand the game for a second grader.  She also got two hits and scored a run, so it was a good evening for all. We ended up at BW-3 for wings, at Nick's request, to celebrate the victory.  Tom played in the Raytown Chamber of Commerce golf tournament yesterday with three other USA-800 employees, and with best ball, they shot 12 under for 18 holes.  A good day to play golf.

We are back home for a couple of hours before Nick's second game at 5:00.  Marlena's team lost 3-2 in the last second but she scored the second goal for her team, putting them ahead 2-1 with about 15 minutes left.  It's her second goal this season, the first in front of us.  And Nick's team easily won, 5-0, and Nick scored a goal as well, which was nice for him.  Tacos for lunch and we are all kind of tired, Marlena even going upstairs to lie down on her own.  It's been quite nice outside, sun out for both games but windy.  The complex where Nick played at today, in Overland Park, a suburb of KC is amazing.  Built by the city, it's a soccer complex of 18 fields, all regulation size, all astro turf, all with lights and cement walks in between fields so spectators can sit or walk on a walk.  It's an amazing complex, costing 35 million to build but seems well worth it as games seem to be going on at all hours. There was a similar baseball complex a mile away and I think I mentioned yesterday the amazing softball complex for the girls' teams in Lee's Summit.

We back back for Nick's game at 5:00 which they won easily, then we stopped at Jack's Stackhouse barbecue for ribs, chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, and creamy cheese corn, all excellent.  I got my barbecue fix.  It's been beautiful all day, nice and warm and sunny but tomorrow is going to be much colder.  We have games at 9:00 for Nick, then both Nick and Marlena play at 2:00, so we will have to split up to cover both games.  Jean is having all of us over for dinner after the games, which will be really nice for all of us.