Chautuaqua to Woodstock, Vermont

It's 5:30, pitch black and rainy, about 42 degrees, as I sit her with my coffee, thinking about our 8+ ride today to Woodstock. It would seem we are going to be cursed once again by bad weather for our trip, like our trip to Bristow two weeks ago, rain the entire time. Let's hope it lets up a bit as it could be a beautiful drive as the leaves around here are at their peak. I had a bad night, waking up every hour, to see if it was time to arise. Finally, I did.

Dock Blind

Unfortunately, we woke to a new dock configuration, one that blocks our view of the lake more than usual, and will entail getting Billy and friend back to put it back the way it was last year. Why he put it the way he did, I am not sure, but I should have been more observant and stopped him when he got it started. We were upset with his later arrival, something I get uptight about for some reason, and I decided not to watch them take it out, as it upsets me with their carelessness and inefficiency, and I paid for it with the way they stored it. So, I will have to call him this morning, and get him back to set it right. Maybe it will cost me more money, maybe not if he is empathetic. We woke to a sunny morning with temperatures in the low 40's and it is supposed to get up to the 60's today, though tomorrow they are predicting the possibility of snow, making it difficult to decide which care to take East, the Accord with good mileage, the Pilot with four wheel drive. As usual, I will go with what Evie wants.

Autumn Rains

Now I get it, as it was gray yesterday morning, rained last night, this morning, and, as a result, the morning is gray, threatening gray clouds hanging over a gray lake, and Bemus Bay(44 degrees). Although it may clear up this afternoon for a bit, it looks like another gray,rainy day. Barry is stopping by in about 15 minutes, to check out our fire logs, which seem to be shutting off for no reason. Today, our dock is supposedly coming in, if Billy and Chris Kent make it over, which is often questionable, but we take off for Vermont and Maine on Thursday morning, so we want it done before we leave.

Evie had a good time last night at Roberta McKibben's home, her first meeting of ladies of the night. It sounds like they have a good time, playing various games, kinds that revolve around personal stories (like your best Halloween costumes). She knew almost all the people their, Anne Marshaus and her Mom, Jane, Roberta, and met Charlie Heinz's wife, and another women who runs the local 800 number company.

A New Living Room

A gray, gray morning, gray lake, gray sky, with a glimmer on light gray on lake, the far sky, as I was up by 6:00, after a restless night, the kind you seem to keep waking up every 15 minutes and going back to sleep, or not. It was 41 degrees as I got up, pitch black, and I came down to a new living room configuration, our first since we moved in. Ron and Linda came over last night and Linda had ideas about to reconfigure our living space to take advantage of our new fire logs, so we moved the love seat opposite the couch, and moved the swivel chairs towards the fireplace, so now we have two sitting areas, one geared towards the lake, one towards the fireplace, and because of the swivel chairs, one can also see the lake. My morris chair is in such a place that I can see the fire as well as the lake, so I may end up using it alot more. I started listening to Thich Knat Hahn live from Bangkok but it was just the introduction, a singing of breathing out and in, so I will go back in a bit and see if it's interesting. Our dock did not come out yesterday, as we had thought. In fact, we missed brats and beer at the Southern Tier Brewery because Billy said they would be here about 4:30. They were here, at Woodlawn, but took out the public dock and Maryanne's, not ours. C'est la vie. They are coming Tuesday afternoon. The lake now has various shades of darkness and shimmery gray, matched by the cloud sky, another view I have never seen in this never ending spectacle of water...always changing,never the same.

Because the lake was so placid, we decided to kayak, despite the gray, and it was a marvelous paddle, across to Long Point, along the Marina, where what seemed to be 'inmates' were bringing in the park's dock. We then headed back across to Wells Bay, then skirted the coast back to the house. Evie then spent the rest of the day fine tuning our new living room, polishing furniture, cleaning the books and book shelves, vacuaming, and making it as perfect as she can get it. I went to Snug's, to pick up a lost drain plus for my boat, went up to check it was the right size, then came home, for lunch, and TV and a cat nap. While Evie got ready for her gathering with the Ladies of the Night, I took a nice walk through Victorian, saw the new house being built just beyond Giarizzo's, walked up to 394 then back down through Victoria, Aultz's, and home. Evie leaves at 7:00 tonight, so I am having left over pizza; she's taking deviled eggs for her pupus and has mixed emotions about going. I am sure she will enjoy getting to know the various women, though Roberta seems to be in such poor health that we were afraid she would have to cancel it.

Sunday! Sunday!

A clear morning, as the sky has gradually changed from gray to varying shades of pink and light blue as the gets lighter and lighter, until the sun has risen literally over Bemus and Tom's Point, as it moves more south each morning. It's strange that I have not really paid attention to where the sun rises until this fall, when I decided to take a snapshot of the sun rise each month, but as near to the four equinoxes as I can. It looks like another beautiful fall day, 44 degrees when I awoke and 6:40 and as of now, 7:50, I have yet to see a boat on the lake. Last night we tried to watch the first of the Inspector Lynnley mystery series, but it was too slow and hard to understand(British English)and not worth the effort.

Fall Saturday

Woke a bit late, around 7:20 and it was already 43 degrees outside, sunny, and not quite as windy as yesterday, which had winds of 30-40 miles most of the day. My new Slovenian flag is still flying despite the wild winds. I wonder how long it will last this winter. Evie is in the kitchen, getting ready for the arrival of Shortens and friends, making a spinach borek. Yesterday she made her homemade tomato soup and lemon squares, so we will be ready for them Last night, we went to the Seezurh with Ron and Linda, saw the Jones, Johnsons, and Mike Giarizzo. It must had been a good night to head to Bemus. The bar was not that crowded when we arrived, though it ebbed and flowed, and when we left, about 8:30, it was beginning to get more crowded, especially around the bar. We heard all about Ron and Linda's hike in California, around the Point Reyes state park, which is set on the ocean, about an hour north of San Francisco. It sounds like an amazing place to hike, with hundreds of trails, some along the ocean, others into the hills. It was not an inexpensive trip, obviously, and they seemed to eat at great restaurants each night. Why not if you have the money. I think I would find it difficult to spend 500 a day or so, which might be close to what they spent, my guess. We agreed to meet Sunday afternoon, at the Southern Tier Brewery, which is having a mini Octoberfest to benefit a local charity. It's nice to have the sun out, after all the rain, and I can hardly write here, at my couch, as it's so bright. Time to wash the windows, with my special mix of corn starch, ammonia, and water...much better than windex. We had Scott and Michelle and two of their friends stop by for lunch, otheir way to see Andy place at Cornell. It was a beautiful day, and a good time, homemade tomato/carrot soup,spinach borek, and hot dogs, plus lemons squares for dessert,as well as pears and Turkish tea. They stayed until about 2:00, then headed off. Fortunately, all of us were liberals, hate Glenn Beck and W, so we had lots to talk about. I wondered what it would be like if they had brought along a Republican couple? I am sure it would stifle conversation. Michelle mentioned how her entire group of physicians are all republican, which certainly upsets and dismays her. I then took the boat from Snugs out to Joe's garage, only to find the plug was missing. Another thing I have to do next week, get another one from Snugs. We basically wasted the rest of the afternoon, Evie watching tv, me reading and taking brief cat naps. We then walked through the campground, as the wood were filled with leaves. We are about to sit down to mannies and brie, a typical Saturday night.

No electricity!

I awoke about 4:30,heard a strange noise, and all the dials in our bedroom went off---no electricity. I stayed in bed, thus, fortunately going back to sleep, awaking around 7:20 to light in the bedroom but no electricity. I headed off to Hogans, which was closed, went across the bridge to the Bridge store, and was able to get coffee. I brought it home, to a just awakened Evie, and we read the paper, drank our coffee, and about 9:00 the electricity went back on. It made me think about having an emergency kit ready, in case of a prolonged black out. So, I got out my Coleman stove, made sure it worked, and we began to think more seriously about setting up an emergency kit of food, batteries, flashlights, radios, things we might need. Fortunately, we just put gas logs in our fireplace and that would work even if the electricity is off. It was around 37 when I awoke, a combination of sun and clouds, and now as I write, the sun is out, and it's a fall day, breezy and puffy clouds, the lake ruffled, the wind blowing from the north. We had another half inch of rain last night, so it's been an amazing two weeks for rain, at least 6-7 inches. The lack of electricity though off our routine, if we have one, and I am not sure what we have planned for the day, other than dinner at Seezurh House with Ron and Linda. It's been a windy day, lake filled with white caps, Slovenian flag fly horizonally, leaves falling, and Evie cutting the lawn for the third time in a week, trying to keep up with the leaves. I went shopping, got a map, some groceries for the next week, so we may not have to shop again for our trip. Like yesterday, the far hills, are lit by the sun, the lake in shadows, so it's really spectacular, the kind of day we jump in our kayaks and go, but because of the wind we cannot. Evie made lemons squares, the tomato soup is ready for the arrival of the Shortens, tommorrow, for lunch, and just needs to make a spinach borek in the morning. We are starting to think winter, to things are getting stored, the dock comes in on Sunday, the hobie, benches, all that stuff gets hidden, either on the hillside or up in the attic. Lots of little things to do to get ready for winter.