Heating Up at 7:00 on a Saturday Morning

6:20

7:10

Just got back from a leisurely kayak ride, down along Magnolia, to Whitney Bay and back, a little over an hour.  The weeds at Whitney Bay are pretty bad, especially about 75 yards off shore, less so as you get closer to their docks.  I was up at 6:20, sat out on the porch for my first cup on coffee, on our new wicker couch, enjoying the cool breeze.  At 7:10, I went off kayaking and it's now 8:40, time to get ready to take the trash to the Transfer Station.

Yesterday, like in most places, was unbearably hot if you were not in the water, the shade, or an air conditioned house.  We did work quite a bit outside in the morning, Evie in her garden weeding, me watering various spots, then we both spent close to two hours in the lake cutting weeds, as the CLA was picking them up at noon.  We then spent the afternoon looking for cool spots, under the tree, on our porch, where ever there was a breeze.  Evie did cut the lawn, in between water breaks and Words With Friends breaks.  It must have been in the 90's easily much of the afternoon and because of the heat, there was an algae bloom, so swimming in lake was not very desirable.

For dinner, Ron and Linda came over for a beer, and we then went to our old standby The Seezurh House, for dinner.   Bemus was as crowded as I have ever seen it, as was the Seezurh but we luckily got a table almost immediately.  All our meals were just fair, my fish fry luke warm, Evie's fish almost burned, though all were edible.  Obviously, the kitchen was not used to such a crowd, and food was late as the place was packed.  We got home to a warm house around 9:30 and thankfully, we have a air conditioner in our bedroom, which seemed like heaven when we went up to bed.  A cliche I know but true.

Today, we are going to a wedding in Hudson.  My good friend Scott Shorten's son Pete is  getting married in their backyard, a garden wedding.  It's supposed to be 95 degrees, with a chance of severe thunderstorms, alas.

Humid and Even Hotter Than Yesterday!

6:04

Newest Acquisition of Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy

Joe and Betsy Bergen on an Early Morning Paddle

Back to normal, as I was up at 5:50, out on the lake by 6:10 to enjoy a quiet morning kayaking on the lake before the heat drops on us.  Very little traffic this early, no one on Woodlawn seemed to be up as I paddled by.  I then cut straight across the lake to the Long Point beach, then hugged the show of Long Point all the way around past the Marina, then straight across the lake to Wells Bay and home again, a little over an hour paddle.  I saw lots of ducks, mothers trailed by their brood, three or four blue herons, no fishing boats except a few passing by.  Two yachts, however, were buoyed at Long Point Bay.  There had also set up tables, chairs, even tiki lamps on shore, giving the shore line a trailer park look.  I met Joe and Betsy Bergen out to paddle, just as I returned home.

Yesterday was a lost day for the most part, as we just sat around, cleaned up a bit, but didn't even move a chair in the yard, just left them as they were after the festivities of the 4th.  I did do some weed cutting in the early afternoon, when we found out the CLA was picked them up today, Friday.  Other than that, I watched some Wimbledon, read, and took a nap.  Late afternoon, however, I drove over to Ron Mc Clures and we explored ways to access the Chautauqua Creek, so we could continue our hike without making any one leg more than three hours.  We decided Mt. Baldy road was the place to explore, so we did walk down a natural gas road, only to find a huge drop of at least 200 feet to the creek, not exactly an easy access.  We did speak with a women and her daughter who live on this amazing farm, with a view of Lake Erie on one side, a large valley on the other, with a huge pond on it.  She said there was a gas road that led down to the creek, a few hundred yards from her property.  We went back and looked, walked in about 100 yards, but decided we would have to come back some morning and explore the road down, as it might take us quite awhile to find the trail down and back.  The woods were also over run we huge flies, the kind that constantly circled your face and head, making walking very uncomfortable. We also found two more easy access points farther on, at Lyons Rd and Putnam, then headed back to our ultimate goal, a beer at the VFW in Mayville. Ron treated me to a dollar draft.  I got home about 7:00, just in time for left overs from our picnic.  We had dinner out on our front porch, on our new furniture, and it was delightful and easy.  I assume this will be come a habit.  Can new porch  furniture change your life?  We went up to bed to read, earlier than usual as we were both tired.

More Heat, More Humidity...Where Did Chautauqua Weather Go?

Bosom Friends

Patriotic Leonards

Ron and Linda Mc Clure

Gene Heil and David Jones

Traudi and Gene Heil

Bean Bag Champs

Pat Jones and Linda Mc Clure

Enjoying dinner

Happy Fourth!

Well, a miracle,  I slept in till 8:10.  Perhaps too much to eat and drink, staying up till 12:30 with friends had something to do with it.  It's already hazy over the lake, humid inside, 74 degrees, and it may reach the 90's in the next three days, not my favorite kind of weather.  The humidity, especially, makes it uncomfortable for me.

Yesterday was supposed to be a simple picnic but somehow, to get things organized and ready, we both worked most of the day getting ready, till everyone arrived.  Not that it was that big of a group, a total of twelve, but still, there' lots to do for any gathering.  As my friend Ron said after having company for three days, "I don't want company anymore; I want to be company,"  I added the last line but I know what he means.

It was a fun group, as the combination of neighbors, the Leonard's and  Jones, and our friends, the Mc Clures and Heils, all got along well, enjoyed each others company, and had a good time.  As usual, bean bag was a big hit, with those who had never played before being surprisingly good, which makes it all the more fun.  Evie and our neighbor Joyce Leonard, emerged victorious against the odds I might add.   As I was playing Evie, she said, "I just cannot get my rhythm today."  She then proceeded to throw ringer after to ringer to beat everyone and Joyce played amazingly well.  No sore losers, just lots of fun, a warm but not unbearable afternoon under the the trees, and the beauty of the lake.

Dinner was traditional with great sides.  Kathy Leonard made tabbouleh, Joyce her homemade beans, Traudi Heil warm German potato salad, Linda salad and appetizers, and Pat Jones, her specialties, cookies and cupcakes.  We had the traditional burgers and dogs with a twist.  I read about spiral cut hot dogs on line, so I decided to try it.  You put a wooden skewer through the middle of a hot dog, then take a knife and slowly turn the dog, cutting a spiral around the length of the dog.  The wooden skewer stops you from cutting through the entire dog. Then,  take out the skewer and do the same thing with the next dog.  They brown nicely on the grill, cooking some of the insides, don't curl up or split because of the spiral cuts, and are attractive when you serve.  Some hot dog joint serve them this way, Ted's in Buffalo for example, Leonard's favorite.

Afternoon dinner, we sat in the yard, waited for the fire works at 10:00 and 'oohed and ahhhed" at the flares around the lake and the various displays, first Bemus, then Maple Springs, then Midway, quite a show.  Bemus Point' was amazing because there was a huge moon hanging over the horizon, so that the fireworks literally burst in front of it.  Unfortunately, I could not get a very good picture but our neighbors did so maybe I can get a digital copy.   Everyone left around 10:30, though the  Mc Clures stayed for one last beer on our porch.  A really fun fourth for all of us, worth the effort, Ron!

Sunny and Ungodly Hot

6:20

Up at 5:30 though at first, I did not feel like kayaking as it was overcast.  So, I sat down, had my coffee and read on my computer for awhile but then, about 6:20, then sun burst through the clouds, so I jumped up (not really), got my paddle and life jacket and by 6:30 I was on our large pond, making my first difficult decision of the day, which way should I paddle.  I decided to head north, towards Snug Harbor, skimming along the docks of Woodlawn, the campground, Magnolia, to Whitney Bay, about thirty minutes, then headed back home, as the crow flies, which also took me thirty minutes though I thought it would take less time.  Going out I saw two guys fishing off of the Camp Chautauqua dock, one person dragging a kayak into the water but that's it.  No one seemed me be on their dock or front porch early, like me.  I guess for most people, a morning up here is a chance to sleep in.

6:30 kayaking

Yesterday was an exciting day, though it did not start out that way, as we began with shopping at Wegman's for our picnic today.   As I was waiting for Evie, I noticed a four piece wicker porch set on sale, 50% off.  So,  I sat down in the chairs to wait and found them comfortable as well as attractive.  Various people commented as I sat, wondering where the beer was, my wife, and this looked like a good place.  So, I showed it to Evie and she liked it as well.  We took the measurements, went home to see how it might fit, struggled mightily to decide whether to buy it or not, and finally gave in.  I drove back, got my extra senior day 5% off as well as half price and, in two trips, we had a new porch set.  A settee, two chairs, cushions and a coffee table.  It's seem to fit in well with our house, the wicker shades of brown, the cushions a light olive green.  The Leonards' and Evie spent a good part of the afternoon sitting on the porch, making place setting for today's party, as the Leonard's granddaughter, Isabelle, is excited about today.

Skiing at 7:30

We had an easy dinner of omelette's and quesadilla, watched some terrible TV and went to bed early to read, to get ready for the big day.

Warm, Partly Cloudy, Thunderstorms to Come?

5:30

5:50

6:00

6:05

Up at 5:25, in the water by 5:45 to a long slit of sunlight off over the east shore line.  A placid lake, no boats in view, as I paddle madly towards Long Point, to get a picture of the sun rising over Bemus Bay, as I idle in my kayak, just off of Long Point.  Not as spectacular as  I thought it might be, just different from our front yard.  I then paddles north, along the shoreline, towards Wells Bay, then back across to Woodlawn and home, about an hour.

Not a lot to say about yesterday, other than my kayaking in the morning.  We started to get organized for our fourth of July.  We are having neighbors and friends over in the late afternoon, a total of twelve, for hamburgers and hot dogs, as well as lots of sides.  It is supposed to rain in the late afternoon but it changes almost daily so we are not counting on it.  We need the rain, so if it pours, inshallah.

Most of the afternoon, we just relaxed, reading in the yard or out on the dock, a leisurely Monday, with little we had to do.  Evie did spend quite a bit of time going over our digital pictures from last summer and she's getting ready to make last summer's album, always a huge project, as she needs over two hundred pictures to fill the album.  About 150 have to be horizontal, the rest vertical so you have to be organized before going off to get them printed.  And we have over two thousand pictures from last summer, a combination of our photos and those of each one of our children, who also take photos.  I am glad it's not my job.

We had leftover pizza and chicken picata for dinner, nice and easy, with the usual salad, enough to feed four and watched a mediocre movie from Italy, Bread and Tulips.  It's what I call a Shirley Valentine movie, about a married women who awakens to her dull life, ends up going off to Venice for a lark, meets, of course, a unhappy suicidal bachelor, who offers her a room since she has no money, and thus the romance begins.  It's difficult to say why it didn't work.  Perhaps the story has become a cliche,  or the metamorphosis of the wife took too long.  I did like the lead actress; she was convincing as the unhappy wife. Most of the cast seemed like cliches, the enraged husband, the sappy kids, the idiosyncratic friends.  I would not recommend it though it seemed like a movie we would have liked.

Sunny Monday

Long Point at 6:35

Woodlawn at 6:30

Boys fishing off of Tom' Point

Woodlawn Through the Weeds

Relaxing Back in My Kayak

Up around 6:20 and out on the lake, for a paddle, by 6:30, on a brilliant sunny morning.  Paddling towards Long Point,  I could hardly see because of the blinding sun.  It reminded me of my travels in India, in 1974, where pilgrims in the city of Benares would rise before dawn, go down to the Ganges River, and watch the sunrise as they did their ablutions.  Chautauqua Lake is not quite the Ganges but it's still pretty nice.  I can remember them selling bottled Ganges River water, it was so pure.  Now it's supposed to be polluted like every other river in the world.  It took me ten minutes to paddle to Long Point, twenty to Tom's Point, another forty minutes to paddle along the shoreline home.   I was surprised my the amount of floating weeds on the lake, from boat motors or perhaps the cutters.  Not much action at this hour, three or four fishing boats, no neighbors on the docks, the sounds of crows, some song birds, a heron or two, and a barking dog down at Wells Bay.

After my paddle yeseterday, I felt energized enough to ride my bike through Bemus, out to Long Point and back, before the heat of the day.  Again, few if anyone was on Lake Road, a few bikes, and a single jogger in the Long Point Park.  I came home and Evie had been out in the water cutting weeds, so I joined her, as a new batch are beginning to grow.  Evie made my eggs and bacon for Sunday breakfast and I made hash browns; I am getting quicker and better at making them.  Not quite perfect, perhaps a B- but they are improving.

We spent the afternoon under the trees, reading and relaxing, as the dock was too hot.  I watched the first half of the European Soccer Championships as Spain dominated Italy and went up 2-0 in the first half.  Later, we both watched Tiger clinch another championship at Washington's Congressional.  For dinner, we got a pizza from Hadley House as it was too hot to cook.  And we watched another independent film no one has heard of,  a quiet gem from France called LE GRANDE VOYAGE.  The premise is simple.  An elderly Muslim immigrant from Morocco, now living in France, wants to make the hadj to Mecca.  And he wants to go by land, not by air.  He decides his estranged son will drive him, to the his son's dismay.   Their journey, via car, though Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, eventually arriving in Mecca is the story.  Both are stubborn in their ways, the father a traditional father and muslim, the son modern, a non believer, and skeptical.  They end up sleeping out doors, in hotels, meet charlatans, pick up strangers, argue, almost part, reconcile and eventually make it to Mecca.  As the father explains, as a good Muslim, he must make the hadj before he dies.  And, unfortunately, he does die, after going off the first day to circle the Kabala, the holy shrine in the mosque.  The son must identify his father, wash his body, and see that he is buried correctly.  He then sells the car, returning home by plane.  We are not sure what he understands, only that he does, that his father's wishes have been met and the two have understood each other, setting aside their stubborn ways in favor of understanding and tolerance.  A bit slow, interesting scenery, the kind of movie I expect from France.  It reminds me of the other film we loved, THE GROCER'S SON, and both films starred the same actor, Nicholas Cazale

Kayak Dawn

Kayak Sunrise

6:02

View of Erie, PA, from Presque Isle State Park

House Boats Along Presque Isle Lagoon

One of Many Westward Beaches on Presque Isle

Presque Isle Beach

I have decided to kayak each morning, starting just as dawn breaks, if I am up by then. I hope to do two things, enjoy the solitude and quiet of the lake and get in a semi vigorous paddle.  We will have to see how long this vow lasts.  At least this morning, it was easy and enjoyable, calm waters, brilliant sunrise, few boats, just me on the lake for the most part.  A good beginning to the day.  It's now 7:00 as I sit down to my computer, after a fifty minute paddle, down beyond Magnolia, then back to Victoria, no hurry, just leisurely and to be enjoyed.

I spent a good part of yesterday in Erie, mostly because I spent part of the morning visiting with my friend Stan Marshaus, who has been in the hospital for two weeks.  He had a pace maker put in and various complications ensured, a staph infection, then blood clots, but things now seem to be under control so he hopes to come home today.  He's heard this before; I went in Monday, and he told me he was coming home Tuesday. Right.   Anyways, since I was in Erie and it was a beautiful day though warm, I brought my bike and went to Presque Isle Park, about three miles from the hospital.  Lots of others had the same idea and traffic was quite heavy around the entrance to the park.  I parked my car at the first parking area, got out my bike and pack back, and took off to ride the perimeter, somewhere between ten and fifteen miles.  The ride out was fine, mostly along a path through the trees that line the coast on the bay side of Erie.  Lots of people walking, roller blading, riding bikes, pushing baby strollers, and bicycle carts.  Along this coast, weeds and debris seemed to collect, making it less than desirable for anything other than fishing.  Just before reaching the tip, I came across a lagoon with a number of houses, seemingly permanent, set off the shore line.  Each house was set on  a barge or something of the sort, had a boat docked along side, and seemed to be self contained, a very strange residential area.  Once I got out to the tip, to the Oliver  Hazard Perry monument, the westward beaches took over, and they are as fine as any beaches  I have seen.  Unfortunately, the ride back was not along a separate path, not in the woods, but on a wide berm along the side of the road back.  It was very warm although there was a breeze and I stopped at various beaches just to check them out.  Each one seemed quite busy, with swimmers, sailors, hobie cats, windsurfers, even surfboards.  It reminded me of a calm day at Coney Island, as everyone in Erie seemed to be at the beach.  And each beach seemed to have a concession stand, restrooms with showers, and a number had beach volleyball courts.  For some reason, the ride back from the Perry Monument seemed to take about twice as long as as the going, perhaps because of the heat and riding on a road.  It took me about an hour and a half to make the loop with brief stops.  I got home around 3:30, having left around 10:00

The afternoon here at the lake was quite warm, so we spent the it briefly on the dock, in the water, but mostly under the trees reading and enjoying the breeze.  We had an easy dinner of quesadillas and salad and watched a cheesy movie called TODAY'S SPECIAL, with Aasif Mandvi, from The Daily Show.  Mandvi, the lead character,  is training to be a French Chef when he takes over the families cheap Indian restaurant because of his father's illness.  Of course, since he's French trained, he has no knowledge of Indian cooking, even disdains it.  Slowly, he's taught the allure and greatness of Indian cuisine, begins to learn, and his restaurant metamorphoses into a hot spot, even enjoying three stars from a NYTimes reviewer, changing his life and that of his family.  Filled with cliches but watchable at times, there was nothing else on TV on a Saturday Night.