THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS: JOHN BUCHAN

I am not sure what motivated me to read this thriller, written in 1915.  Maybe because it was one of the first ever spy novels and has been made into a motion picture three times, first i 1939 by Alfred Hitchcock.  It's set just before WWI, seems prescient in its plot, the attempt of the Germans to steal plans from the British before starting a war in Europe.  Fortunately, the South African roustabout, Richard Hannay is there to foil the plot.  He's made aware of the plot by an American spy named Scudder, who fearing for his life, trusts Hannay and tells him about  a group called the Black Stone, who have plans to assassinate the Greek prime minister, using it as a pretext for starting the war, reminding me of how WW I started, with an assassination in Sarajevo.

Shortly after, Scudder is found murdered and the police with the help of German spies in the British government, blame it on Hannay who is staying in the same hotel. Hannay flees north, to Scotland, to avoid both police and the Black Stone.  Much of the story revolves around his meeting up with people who take him in, believe his story, and help him, eventually to get to the authorities.  After much discussion, they believe his story and amazingly, put him in charge of foiling the plot, capturing the spies, and making sure the secret documents never get to the Nazis.  If you want to know how he does it, read the book, see the movie.  By the way, this is only the first of five Richard Hannay novels.  A short read, worth reading for its importance as one of the first spy thrillers.  Other than that, a bit silly but well written.

Rainy Sunday Morning Leisure - Brazil Craft Beer and Wine Lounge, Southern Tier Brewery

Renee, Barkeep At Brazil's, With Doug Young, Southern Tier's Lead Brewer

6:59

7:19

I was up just before 7:00, gray sky and lake, a warm southerly wind, on an almost empty, wrinkled lake.  Since then, it's rained briefly, the sky a mellow yellow, and now the rain has stopped, and some brightness has developed to the south.  For the day, it looks like more rain, a high of 70º.

Yesterday must have been the last warm day of summer, the high perhaps 75º.  We did not have much to do until later in the afternoon, so we quickly got our chores done, and I took lots of junk to the Transfer Station, having cleaned out the garage attic somewhat with the theory that if you have not used it in five years, throw it out.  I am sure I will regret having thrown out something...it never fails the minute you throw something out, you need it, like Murphy's law.  It was, however, a perfect day to be on the dock, or to cruise the lake, as it seemed as if everyone who owned a boat was out taking their last cruise of the year, as most boats will be going in this next week or two before it gets cold.

Wendy and Charlie Heinz, Cruising The Lake

Pogo, The Water Dog

Evie enjoyed the dock for a couple of hours, and the Heinz's stopped by on their cruise from Chautauqua Shores, with their dog Pogo, in the front seat.  Before I, too, came out to sun, I rode my bike at Bemus, for about 50 minutes, at times difficult when riding into the wind but still a fun ride, little if any traffic on Lakeside Drive and some dirt biking in the trails of Long Point State Park. When I rode by the Casino, a group of kayakers had just pulled in, having paddled the first half of Chautauqua Lake, taking a time out for lunch before finishing their five hour paddle from Jamestown to Mayville.  Later, they paddled by while Evie was on our dock, and she took a few pictures of their regatta.

Paddling The Length of Chautauqua Lake

At 4:00, we drove to a surprise birthday party for Sam Nelson, an old friend who were knew from our days at Bud's Carriage House.  Like Evie, he had just turned seventy and the surprise party was at the lakefront YWCA building.  It was a nice place for a party, lots of older citizens like us, and appetizers, sandwiches, and homemade pie for the guests.  We stayed about forty five minutes though we did not know anyone other than the family.

Donna and Sam Nelson

Around 5:15, we hightailed it to Brazil Craft Beer and Wine Lounge, on 4th Street in Jamestown. Only two or three people at the bar but we struck up a conversation with Doug Young , the lead brewer at Southern Tier Brewery.  And we found out that the barkeep, Renee, also works during the day at Southern Tier.  Both were fun to talk to, as we learned a lot about the brewing process, the various beer offerings, and our common interest in Blue Grass Music, and the great performer Sierra Hull, a singer and mandolin player we both enjoy.  Doug also plays the mandolin in a Blue Grass Band called South 79.  In fact, they are playing at Pine Junction in October.

Brazil Craft Beer and Wine Lounge

It was a fun afternoon at Brazil's and we left too early because our next venue, the bar at the Rod and Gun, was not nearly as enjoyable or interesting, in fact, it was a very slow Saturday night.  We had one beer and left, not staying for a prime rib dinner.  Instead, I guiltily admit, we went to Mc Donald's and ordered two big burgers to go, with fries, took them home, and greedily enjoyed them in our own TV room.  We settled into our TV room for a couple of hours, watched Bill Maher's Real Time and a tribute to Joan Rivers, both fun to watch.  I went upstairs to read my new book, The Boys In The Boat around 10:30.  It was an interesting night out, the highlight, making new friends at Brazil's.  

Windy And Warm

6:59

It's just about 8:00 and the sun, high in the sky, has just peaked over the clouds which hid it's rising for the past hour as gray passes to light.  It's windy, 59º, with a high in the 70's.  A number of boats are out fishing already though I don't think there is a tournament, just a nice day to be on the lake fishing.  It is supposed to be sunny today but the huge cloud bank over Bemus seems to contradict that forecast.

No yoga yesterday because I have decided to take a hiatus, to change my daily schedule and start getting in some walks, hikes, or bike rides, taking advantage of the great weather the next couple of months.  So it was strange to relax most of the morning, with Evie, no taking off for yoga.  We must have stretched out our morning coffee till at least 10:00, as Evie opened a few presents from the kids and me, texted her grandchildren, thanking them for the birthday wishes, and talking with her sisters, all of whom called to wish her happy birthday during the day.  Evie's one wish for the day was to lounge on the dock, reading so she got her wish as she braved the wind, wrapped in a fleece and blanket.  Around 4:00, I decided to go for a bike ride, off to Prendergast Point, then Davis Rd, then home through Victoria, over an hour ride.  It felt good to be on my bike but riding along #394 at that time of the day is not fun because of the heavy traffic.

Evie With The Breakfast Club Wives, Wendy Heinz, and Caran Redington

Evie's Special Cap

Just as we were about to leave for dinner at the Redington's,  Mike Cassell, our good friend from Hudson, thoughtfully stopped by after playing golf in Rochester, to wish Evie a happy birthday 'after she told him it was her birthday.'  He then presented her with a baseball cap from the US Senior Amateur Championship, which he qualified for and played in last week at Newport Beach, CA  He stayed only ten minutes, so we were at the Redingtons on time, along with another breakfast buddy, Charlie Heinz and his wife.  We enjoyed wine before dinner, with brie and Dick's home grown peppers.  We sat and talked for about a half hour before going into their dining room for our first course, potato soup with scallions, all from their garden.  We then had a pork roast, with maple flavored squash, sweet and slightly chunky.  We spent most of the evening, like most grandparents, swapping grandchildren stories, though towards the end of the night, we ended up talking about politics, Charlie the one conservative, the rest of us liberals.  Fortunately, we have all been there before, so it was a spirited, even fun discussion, ranging from Ken Starr to Benghazi, as we agreed to disagree.  We stayed till about 10:30, late for all of us retirees which means we must have been having a good time.  We were home by 10:45, and I went up to read my new book, highly recommended by our neighbors the Leonards called The Boys In The Boat, about the determination and hard work of nine lads who ended up won a Gold Medal in Crew at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, quite an accomplishment for a group who had never rowed before the fall of 1933.

Happy 70th Birthday To My Dear Wife Evie

The Birthday Girl, Wife, Cook, Mom, Granny, And Friend   (photo by Ellen)

7:45

Well, we slept in till about 7:45, probably because our darn new fire alarms went off last night at 3:00, seemingly for no reason.  We finally got it off for good when Evie turned off the breaker.  Not sure what set it off.  When I got down stairs this morning, the fog was rising from the lake, the wind blowing it rapidly down the lake, on a damp, cool morning of 41º.  And when I stepped out side, the lake flies swarmed around me for a moment, and they covered most of the white surfaces on our porch...gross.  I thought the lake fly season was over three weeks ago when they first appeared.

It's Evie and our son Tom's birthday today.  Evie is already getting texts from our kids, even our grandchildren wishing her a happy birthday.  How cool even though all of us celebrated her birthday in August when the entire family was here.

Yesterday was a busy day, mega busy for Evie, sort of busy for me.  As usual, I started with yoga, a different class in which we concentrated on our feet and ankles, stretching and massaging them. Interesting.  When I got home, our neighbor Joe Deault came by, picked up my car, to go get my boat trailer because I decided to take our boat in before our trip to KC next week.  Of course, when I went to start my motor, it wouldn't start, not sure why.  I waited a few minutes, and it started up, so I was able to cruise to Snug Harbor, where I dropped the boat off to be serviced, power washed, new plugs, and winterized, not an inexpensive procedure but hey, why live on the lake without a boat pit to throw your money into, something people don't realize until after they get a boat.

While I was taking my boat in, Evie was getting the house and dinner ready because we were have our neighbors, the Scholtz's and Mary Ann Miller over for dinner.  So in between the vacuuming, straightening the house, she was browning, then roasting the pork tenderloins, as well as making a cabbage strudel of phyllo dough, cabbage, cheese and spices, one of my many favorite dishes she makes.  Getting dinner and the house ready took a good part of the afternoon, but she topped it off with an early birthday present to herself, cutting the lawn, then going for a swim on a chilly, 50º later afternoon, before the company arrived.  The water was warm, the wind bone chilling, so she stayed in for quite awhile, the water clear enough so she could wash her hair.  She's looking forward, in fact, to the Polar Bear Swim at the Viking Club next February.

Dinner with the Neighbors

Cabbage Strudel, Not Baklava

At 6:30, we got a call from our neighbor, Mary Ann, saying she could not come to dinner because her son Tom had just arrived, so we said, or course, bring him along because we had plenty of food and we know him well.  So we had four for dinner, enjoying appetizers and wine, as Evie showed the Scholtz's the summer photo album she had made of our kids visit, Summer, 2013.  They loved it, could not believe how professional the book looked, a result of many hours of her work.  Dinner was great, the pork tender and juicy, the cabbage strudel flaking and yet moist,  homemade applesauce, salad, and everyone had a tin roof for dessert, vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and Spanish peanuts.  They stayed till about 9:30.  Evie and I then thought we would just let the dishes sit, but our better sides took over, so we spent twenty minutes, washing and drying them, making sure we would wake up this morning to a clean kitchen.

Mary Ann with Son Tom

Ken and Margorie Scholtz

We had a nice birthday dinner planned for tonight but friends, the Redington's, invited us over for dinner, so we decided to put off Evie's birthday dinner till a later time.  We had just been out to dinner on Tuesday, had friends over last night, and are going out tonight, so we have been busy.

Mostly Fog

6:20

The Lake And Me

Up at 6:20 and surprise, a heavy fog, the steam rising off the lake, moving slowly along the coast. Not a morning to be out fishing and all I can hear are the caws of the crows, the rest of the morning is silence.  No wind, a cool 45º and it's supposed to get down in the 30's tonight.

Yesterday was another classic almost fall (three more days) day.  Warm, sunny, no wind, a lake smooth with only a few wrinkles.  I went to yoga at 10:00, a tough class and I came home sore from some of the asanas, but it's a good kind of sore.  When I got home, Evie was out kayaking and I decided to kayak as well because it was so inviting.  I found her paddling along Long Point and we then headed to Wells Bay and home.  A few fishing boats, a ski boat early in the morning and that was about it for a weekday in September.

In the afternoon, Evie had to drive to Mayville, to shop, get her driver's license renewed, and a doctor's appointment, not the kind of afternoon she wanted on such a nice day.  While she was away, I read some on the dock, got the boat ready to put away today.  Evie did not get back till 4:00.  I then went for  a walk, around the campground, empty of people, but I was surprised by the number of permanent modular homes, many landscaped as well as homes in a nice neighborhood.  Maybe its always been that way and I haven't walked the campground in months, but I really noticed it this time.  I was gone for close to an hour, a nice afternoon for a walk, even if it was not in the woods.

For dinner, Evie made salmon with garlic spinach, with a salad, and we enjoyed it as we watched a couple more episodes of Stewart and Colbert, then the most recent episode of Masters of Sex, which we continue to lose interest in.  The story line seems blurred, the episodes are mostly dialogue, which I think I mentioned last week as well.  I am reading a new book called Moving Day, which I got free from Amazon.  I don't think I would have picked it up but since it was free, I downloaded it and its not bad, about grifters who take advantage of guys my age by pretending to be a moving crew one day ahead of the scheduled move, and steal the contents of the house. They meet their match, however,  in seventy two year old Holocaust survivor, Sam Peke.

Autumn's For Real - Rocco's in Fredonia

7:14

Woodlawn Creek

Up at 6:40, some clouds over Long Point, a chilly morning of 44º, though at the moment, 8:06, the sun has risen above the clouds, filling the lake with its reflection, making it difficult to look out our front windows.  It looks like a perfect day, sunny but comfortably cool.  Nothing like a fall day.

Yoga yesterday morning, what else, as I have really become the most consistent student, attending classes almost every day of the week.  It gives me something to do in the morning, but also eliminates doing anything else in the morning, the bad part.  Because of it, we have not done any hiking this September, though we have lots of fall days to get some in.  I assume once we get back from Kansas City, on the 1st of October, we will begin our quest to finish the East Side Trail.  For now, I am content to stick with yoga.  After yoga, I did stop at Home Depot, to pick up some hinges and a bucket of granules which take the moisture out of the air, in this case, I hope from our crawl space.

Most of the rest of the day was sunny, the kind of day we long for during our long winters.  Sunny, a slight wind, but warm enough to sit outside on the dock, which we did much of the afternoon.  I did walk the Woodlawn/Victoria woods around 4:30, just to get in some physical activity and enjoy the woods in the late afternoon sunlight.  The shadows begin to lengthen, the colors brighten at this time of the day, making it a perfect time for a walk.

Dinner at Rocco's With Joyce and Bill Leonard

Stacks of Eggplant Parmesan

At 6:00, the Leonard's picked us up and we drove the back roads, through the green of farms and forests, to Fredonia, where we were going for dinner at Rocco's, the neighborhood bar/restaurant we have been to numerous times, in fact, just a week ago.  The Leonards had never been, knew we loved it, so we decided to go.  It was the right choice.  We loved our meals, Evie and Joyce the eggplant Parmesan, stacked about six inches high, Bill and I, the chicken and veal Parmesan.  Mine was about as good a veal Parmesan as I have had, and Bill's was equally  good.  Though Rocco's does not take reservations, we had no trouble getting seats, as it was a slow night, about fifteen people.  It was well worth the drive.  We were home about 8:45, as the sky had darkened, the stars were out.  It was a great night, as we celebrated the end of summer, the beginning of fall.  When we got home, we watched the final episode of Happy Valley, moving and tension filled.  We will miss it and wondered if there will  be another season.

Gloom Of A Gray Morning And Lake Flies Return

7:09 AM

Dusk: 6:46

Heavy gray rain clouds hang over the lake this morning at 6:45.  Lots of rain last night, though at the moment, 7:48, the sky, the outdoors, has lost its heaviness, perhaps a pleasant day to come.  It's 50º out, steam rising from the hills above Bemus Bay, not a boat on the lake.  

I really like today's poem from The Writer's Almanac...it rings so true.

Grandchildren by Olivia Stiffler They disappear with friends near age 11. We lose them to baseball and tennis, garage bands, slumber parties, stages where they rehearse for the future, ripen in a tangle of love knots. With our artificial knees and hips we move into the back seats of their lives, obscure as dust behind our wrinkles, and sigh as we add the loss of them to our growing list of the missing. Sometimes they come back, carting memories of sugar cookies and sandy beaches, memories of how we sided with them in their wars with parents, sided with them even as they slid out of our laps into the arms of others. Sometimes they come back and hold onto our hands as if they were the thin strings of helium balloons about to drift off.

Yesterday I took my fourteen year old Honda in for a check up, just like an aging retiree and found, after the mechanic's going over the entire car to make sure it was safe, I needed new break lines.  I had dropped it oft at 9:00 and then walked to my yoga class in Lakewood.  We did lots of work on the back, cobras and leg lifts, more rigorous than usual.  I then had a coffee at Ryders,  talked with Dave, one of the local regulars at the coffee shop until Evie picked me up.  We then went to the dentist, where Evie had a brief appointment, and then we did our first really mega shopping trip since the kids left in mid August, stocking up for the winter (15 cans of crushed tomatoes, for example, at $.79 a can). Our bill was close to two hundred dollars, typical for a weekly run for our kids but unusual for us.

For lunch, I picked up a Danny's Favorite sub from Wegmans, had a half along with black bean soup for lunch as I watched the first half of the World Cup final basketball game between the US and Serbia.  It was played on Sunday but I saved it, did not know the score so it was fun.  The US started slow but were up by thirty at half time, having shot an amazing 67% from the shorter three point line. We both relaxed the rest of the afternoon, though Evie put together our dinner of pork ribs, sauerkraut and tomatoes, popped it in the oven, and let it bake for four or five hours.  Around 5:00, the lake was like glass, the sky slate gray, so I had to go out and kayak.  And our neighbors, the Johnsons, were out skiing as well, taken advantage of the calm.  I talked with a fisherman, who seems to park his boat about five house down from us each fall.  This is the third year for him, and he thinks the area has lots of mussel shells, which the fish love.  He has good success, catching mostly perch.  He will be there the next few weeks for four or five hours a day, a patient man.  

Dinner was great with mashed potatoes of course and we are hooked on a BBC series recommended by my sister, Ellen, called Happy Valley.  Though we miss some of the dialogue because of the English accent, we really got into it, as the lead police officer, Catherine Caewood, must deal with personal as well as professional problems, while she tries to thwart a kidnapping.  The series builds each episode, as we see the pressure on her build to a breaking point.  I won't go into all in problems, the somewhat silly coincidences, but the series is well worth watching, the acting superb, the story riveting.