A Bright, Shiny Morning (Panama Rocks)

6:07

6:42

Hiking Panama Rocks

It's just after 7:00 and I woke at 6:00 on the dot, either to the sound of a jet ski starting up or just after I woke, not sure which.  I hurried down to a sky of rouge, as the sun had yet to arise.  It's another chilly morning, 54º, and at the moment, the sun has risen, some steam is rising from the warm lake. And Evie is up now, sitting with me, sipping coffee, as we ponder what the day might bring?  Perhaps an early kayak paddle, a boat ride, or a fish fry at the Rod and Gun.  Lots if choices mean making decisions, something we are not good at.

The Rocks

The Gorges 

A Single Maple Leaf

We took the road not traveled yesterday, perhaps 'kayaked out' from the previous mornings.  So, Evie suggested we go for a walk at the Panama Rocks Park.  We have passes, good for anytime, and have yet to use them this year.  It's about a twenty minute ride, a privately owned park, of amazing rock formations, and an easy circular, well marked trail.  It only gets difficult if you decide to climb into the various rock formations, their narrow paths.  We took over an hour to meander, take pictures, no sense of finishing, just paying attention to our walk, being mindful I guess.  We both had our cameras, so we took mega photographs, as you can see from the blog.  We met a number of families on our walk, their kids seemingly loving the rocks except for one who blurted out, just as they started: "This is boring."  Typical.  When we finished, we talked with the owner, who we had met at last year's Blue Heron Festival.  She and her husband bought the place in 1979.  It had been a farm, also a hotel, but when they bought it, all was in disrepair.  They fixed up parts of the hotel, to live in, and their son is redoing another section for his family.  She mentioned that Panama used to be a destination place, much more popular than Jamestown, and couples on honeymoons, would go to Panama if not Niagara Falls.  We follow their Facebook page, kept up by their son, and it's really quite good, all about the natural world, not just the park.  It was a good way to start the day.

Rock Climbing. Sort Of

A Flash Of White

The Cat In The Woods

A Sign On A House In North Harmony

We got home around noon and Evie wanted to work on our painted rocks, so we weeded around them (they form a bridge between our lawn and road, then we put a lacquer on them, to preserve them through the harsh winters.

Painted Rocks Rock

On Wednesday, Evie had pulled a turkey out of our freeze; we bought it for a song from Wegman's back in December.  Well, it was ready to cook, so Evie cleaned it, basted it with butter, and put it in the oven for four hours.  So we had Thanksgiving like smells emanating from our house.  Around 3:30, we decided to take a cruise over to Bemus and back, waiting for the bird to finish cooking.  We were both hungry, so we got dinner going, boiling the potatoes for mashing, and making up a stuffing and gravy to go along with the turkey.  We had a great turkey dinner for two (a 12 pound turkey), with lots of leftovers of course, my favorite.  We may not have to cook till Monday.

We watched lots of old Jon Stewart shows, waiting for the entertainment of the night, the Republican debate. It reminded me of gaggle of circus performers, led by the head clown, Donald Trump.  It's embarrassing to see them go at each other.  I thought Marco Rubio was the most articulate, made the most sense, kept his cool.  Jeb Bush has the Bush 'discomfort' when in a public arena.  Trump was trump, a bully but the audience seems to like that.  Ohio's Kasich was bearable, Ted Cruz wasn't.  The rest made no impression on me.  The moderators were excessively verbose and treated the debate like an Inquisition, wanting to embarrass or put each candidate on the spot.  I had enough after an hour and went upstairs up to read.  Its going to be a long 16 months before the election.  For me, Bernie Sanders is the only politician that makes sense, tells the truth but he has no chance of winning.

An Autumn Like Crispness In The Morning Air

7:00

7:05

It's 8:00 and Evie and I are sitting here drinking coffee.  I have a fleece on, Evie a couple of shirts.  It's neat to be cosy once again.  The 53º temperature has brought a foggy morning on the lake, along with an overcast sky.  A few fishermen are out, no skiers or jet skis just yet.  Correct that... our neighbors just flew by in their boat, pulling a skier.

Because we did not get started  early yesterday, we passed on kayaking and I remembered that we have the Chautauqua Institution three miles away.  I literally have not thought about it or its programs this summer.  So I checked out the speakers for the day and Erik Larson, one of my favorite writers was speaking at 10:45.  I quickly changed, got my bike and a bottle of water,  jumped in the car and drove to Chautauqua Shores,  just outside the grounds, parked my car and rode my bike to the gate, about five minutes.  If you are a local and have a library card, you can get a library pass, good for a couple of hours, long enough to sit outside the Amphitheater and listen to the lecture.

Writer Eric Larson

I sat outside on a bench and listened, as a packed Amphitheater listened carefully, occasionally roaring with laughter.  He spoke mostly about his new book, DEAD WAKE, about the torpedoing of the Lusitania in 1915.  I have yet to read it but want to after hearing him talk.  My favorite book by him, soon to be made into a film with Tom Hanks, is IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS, set in Nazi Germany in the late 1930's.  His best line, bringing the most laughter, was when he talked about the title of his next book: KILLING BILL O'REILLY.

What most impressed me was how much he loved to do the research on his topic, and how long it took, usually a couple of years.  And, interestingly, his wife is his editor, the one he trusts most.  At first, they had to get over the confrontational nature of her correcting his writings.  Eventually, they worked it out by making sure he was not around when she read the draft.  I left about 10:15 and was home by 1:00, a great way to spend the morning.  I hope to go back a couple of more times, next Monday I hope, when Roger Cohen from the New York Times, one of my favorite columnists, speaks.

Evie was off to Lakewood to do some errands, something she does reluctantly.  I had soup and chicken salad for lunch, watched an episode of a new series I am beginning to like from the Sundance Channel called Deutschland, about a young East German soldier who is spying on the West Germans, the reverse of The Americans in a sense.  It's growing on me.

A Perfect Wednesday: Sun, Clouds, And Lake

It was a surprisingly cool afternoon, so I spent a good part of the afternoon inside reading until Evie got home, with a car packed with goodies and groceries.  We both then went out and enjoyed an hour on the dock reading and taking in the lake before Evie decided to cut the lawn.  I read while she mowed, helped move the chairs. When she finished, she jumped in the lake to cool off, the air by far cooler than the water.

The Chautauqua Belle Off Of Long Point

We then sat on the front porch for a good hour, listening to Potus, reading, and enjoying the waning of the day.  Around 7:45, Evie put together an easy dinner, a salmon salad and that was our dinner.  I have to say it's one of my favorite salads, great with leftover salmon.  We watched The Daily Show, two more to go alas, some other forgettable TV before going upstairs to read and sleep.

A Partly Cloudy, Pleasantly Cool Morning

6:29

6:35

8:12

A lazy morning so far, as it's 8:00 and I have yet to get up off the couch except for a second cup of coffee.  Evie is still sleeping, lucky gal as I have been up since 6:25.  The lake was busier at 6:30 then it is at the moment.  It's 57º, and the never to be trusted weather report suggests the next three days will be sunny with the high only in the 70's, our favorite kind of days.

Kayaking Snug Harbor Swamp

Unidentifiable Birds?  Any Thoughts

Yesterday we took another  not too early morning, let's say 9:30, kayak paddle,  Instead of our usual crossing over to Long Point, we got wild and crazy and paddled for forty minutes down to the Snug Harbor sign, just this side of Prendergast Point.  We then meandered home, along the swamp like area around Snug Harbor, rift with ducks or some other kind of birds,  then around the point to Whitney Bay and home, a more typical route.  On the way, we had a brief shower, a heavy wind, a hot sun, and calm waters, all in our one trip.  We talked about putting our boats on the roof of our car and going off to another part of the lake to explore, or even driving to Kinzua Dam or Findlay Lake, to get some different.  I don't think it will happen this morning because of Evie's sleeping in.  We were home by 11:00 and I decided to enjoy a swim, the dock and  and my book before lunch.  It was a good choice, not too hot, a nice breeze and the water, as its been, was refreshing and clear.

Water Lily

Water Lily And Its Reflection

Evie came out just about the time I went in for lunch; I had leftover eggplant pasta and watched the newest episode of Ray Donovan.  What a hard ass,  just like me!  When I finished, I noticed one of our neighbor's friends was out on the dock with Evie.  He's a talker, and discovered that we have something in common, that his father worked at our school back in 1980's.

Around 2:30, I took my bike to Jamestown, parked it next to the Lakeview Cemetery and went for a ride, through the cemetery, a beautiful place, filled with trees and lots of shade, then the neighborhood surrounding it.  It's a slowly degrading area, like much of Jamestown, but it's also peopled with some amazing houses, what's left of a prosperous Jamestown.  It's sad to see a well kept home sitting next to a home that's been abandoned.  I rode for about forty five minutes then drove home through Lakewood, stopping at Sam's Club to pick up dinner, salmon and spinach.

Around 5:30, we went out on the dock with a libation and enjoyed the end of the day on the lake.  We never get tired of sitting on the dock and enjoying the ever changing sky, the clouds, and the colors of the lake.  And the lake traffic, if any, always settles down about this time.  Around 6:30, we went in and Evie broiled the salmon, sauteed the spinach, cooked the rice and made a salad, while I watched and did some dishes.  We also watched the first episode of the last week of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  It's amazing the press his show is getting; one of the headlines reads "Farewell To The Last Honest Newsman".  The critics are suggesting that he's changed the way we see the news, that he's a iconoclast, which I suppose, is true.  This apotheosis, however, is getting a bit too much, at least to me.  It's like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon the last few months.  We have been watching him now for close to 15 years.  Where were these pundits five, ten, fifteen years ago?

We then watched Masters of Sex, not as compelling as the first years, some junk TV,  then went upstairs to read.  I was tired from both a long kayak paddle and a bike ride.  O, yea, I did swim, too, about ten yards.

Here's today's poem from The Writer's Almanac which, if you read my blog, with its numerous photographs, struck a chord of awareness  Enjoy.

The Vacation  by Wendell Berry  Listen Online Once there was a man who filmed his vacation. He went flying down the river in his boat with his video camera to his eye, making a moving picture of the moving river upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly toward the end of his vacation. He showed his vacation to his camera, which pictured it, preserving it forever: the river, the trees, the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat behind which he stood with his camera preserving his vacation even as he was having it so that after he had had it he would still have it. It would be there. With a flick of a switch, there it would be. But he would not be in it. He would never be in it.

Mostly Overcast And Cool

7:32

7:37

It's 59º at 7:30, another quiet morning on the lake, except for our neighbors ski boat, up early for a morning skiing.  Some light over Bemus Bay as the sun tries to break through the heavy cloud cover but not too successfully.  Today should be like yesterday, partly cloudy with the highs in the low 70's though this morning hints at the rain that never falls.

Kayaking Bemus Bay

We began yesterday with another kayak morning, along the Woodlawn/Victoria shore line because it was so calm, then to Wells Bay and across to the Long Point Marina and back, about an hour of meandering, close to the shore, looking for shore birds, rousting out the ducks as you can see.

A Morning Family Huddle

We were back by 10:30 and could not resist a swim.  I hate to mention the water for fear of raising the anger of the Gods but the lake has been amazing this summer, clear and algae free and the weeds for the most part, have been tame.  I am not sure why, most likely noone has the answers...it just is so we might as well enjoy it.  I decided to hang out on the dock late morning, before it got too warm and Evie was easily convinced to put aside bed making to join me.  Another swim around noon and I went in for lunch, chicken salad sandwiches with mushroom barley soup.  We watched a Jon Stewart from last week, listened to his guest deify him, and then went back to our typical afternoon the last ten days, spend much of the day out on the dock.

I have to say we seem to be the only ones to sit out on our dock, treating it like a living room, reading, surfing the net, napping, eating, drinking.  It's become our second home, especially yesterday when the sun often hid behind the clouds, giving us a respite from the sun.  We put off taking the boat cover off because rain was forecast on and off for the day.  Weather forecasting has begun to ruin my day as they predict rain, so you plan your day around it, and it never happens and you realize all you have missed or not done because you assumed it would rain.  Yet I have already checked out the WeatherUnderground for the next few days and it predicts no rain.

At 4:00, I forced myself to get out my bike and go for a ride, through the campground, up to Rt 394, down to Victoria, then to Stow Rd.  I then biked around the Stow neighborhoods, stopped by the water at the Stow Ferry, and biked home the same way.  A few simple hills almost killed me but I stuck with it and did not stop. At least I got in an hour of exercise to go with my morning paddle.

Our only major decision of the day was what to have for dinner, steak, scallops, or go out to eat at the Viking Club (we set that aside because it was supposed to rain).  Scallops won out so after my bike ride, a swim and beer on the dock with Evie, we went inside and Evie seared the scallops, added shallots, garlic, chicken broth, vermouth, lemon, red pepper flakes and poured it over spaghetti.  It was nice and saucy, restaurant quality I thought, and with a salad, we were happy.

We watched a Russian movie called Leviathan, highly rated on the Rotten Tomatoes website.  It was about the battle between a fisherman and the town, especially the corrupt mayor, over Kolya's ancestral home.  The town has used its right of eminent domain to take the property for communal use.  Kolya, the owner does not want to sell, goes to court, loses, and the price decided upon is below what it's worth.  Meanwhile, his wife has an affair with his lawyer, so he is set to lose both his house and wife.  They seem to reconcile but she ends up committing suicide in despair over her actions and Kolya goes to jail because the authorities think he killed her.

The movie ends with the Mayor and the local Orthodox Priest admiring the new church, built on Kolya's land.  Not a happy movie, and the only message seems to be that the church and state have colluded to destroy a man and his family.  This was not on our favorites list but it was interesting to see Russian life on the Barends Sea, in northern Russia, an amazing setting for a film. The life was more modern then we would have thought, with cell phones and cars, but the remnants of the whales carcasses and Communist life were everywhere, giving the film a depressing feel.

A Streak Of Light And A Quiet Lake

6:40

8:06

A lazy morning as its already 7:40 and I have just begun my blog.  I have been up for an hour, a quiet morning on the lake, nary a boat out at this hour, quite a change from a weekend morning.  The weather is beginning to change, some rain predicted, temperatures are beginning to fall, so the warm, warm days of early August may be a thing of the past.  It's 63º at the moment, and temperatures this week should only be in the 70's.

Sunday Morning At Chautauqua Institution

Yesterday morning we decided to forego a kayak paddle and instead, take our boat to the Chautauqua Institution, dock it, and take a walk, something we have yet to do this summer for some reason.  As always, the CI is crowded with people, walking, riding bikes, getting ready for church, or just relaxing on their porch or in their yard.  It's a  virtual Utopia, really, an escape from the real world, with its 'happy people,' what some have suggested is a 'summer camp' for adults.  The religious thread is omnipresent, as is the wealth, the whiteness, and the liberalism.  All these make it an unique place, filled with people who embrace tolerance, education, and the arts.  We both feel fortunate to have it nearby and bemoan the fact we don't take more advantage of what it has to offer.  We walked the north end, admiring the lovely yards, the million dollar homes along the lake front and ended up at the Amphitheater, arriving in time for the start of the church service, the community song.  We stayed for about 15 minutes, had enough of the droning of the speaker, and headed back to the dock, to our boat and lake, our religion, the natural world.

Sunday Morning Service at Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater

When we returned home, it was warming up, the lake was busy, as everyone seemed to want to take advantage of the sunny day.  Before hitting the dock, we had usual breakfast of organic eggs, bacon and toast.  Yum.  I get hungry just thinking about it.  We then enjoyed the rest of the day, reading and swimming, entertained or annoyed by all boats pulling tubes, the jet skis racing up and down the lake, doing wheelies in the water, showing off their expertise.  What is a quiet, empty lake this morning was yesterday afternoon a busy thoroughfare.  Around 5:00, a former student of mine, Eric Rhodes, stopped by on his way home to Akron from a conference in Clinton, NY.  We had not seen each other since he was a senior in my AP English class in 2009.  He's a great kid, one of those students you remember because he was always interested in learning.  He's a senior at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and loving his experience there.  We caught up on his life and laughed about the fact that he had one of my favorite books in his car, ZORBA THE GREEK.  He loves it as well and has read it a couple of times.

Zorba Junkies

Eric took off for home around 6:15 and we then headed over to the McClures for dinner.  Linda's sister Janet is in town for a week, so it was fun to see her again.  We were greeted with much anticipated cold beers and sat outside on their porch, enjoying the cooling evening, as dinner cooked. We had a tasty chicken thigh dinner, with salad and for dessert, Janet made a chocolate mousse like dessert that we were supposed to guess the ingredients.  The cocoa was easy, the almond milk and honey harder, the avocado impossible.  It was great, takes three minutes to make in the blender....a quarter of a cup of unsweetened cocoa, a quarter of a cup of almond milk, of honey and one avocado.  It makes just enough for six in small tea cup sized glasses.

Evie With Linda Hepp and Her Sister, Janet

We stayed until about 10:00, as Evie explained how to play various games.  Their nephew, his wife and son are coming, so they wanted some games he might enjoy, like Apples to Apples, Jenga, and Jishaku.  We played one round of each and had fun.  We watched some junk TV after getting home before going to bed.

Sunny Sunday Morning

7:05

It's a blinding Sunday morning, so much so that it's hard to look out at the lake.  It appears to be another fine summer day, a welcome beginning to August (can't believe it's already August, that autumn is a month and a half away).  It's delightfully cool, 56º, the high, however, should get into the 80's again. What a week of sun at the lake, like living in Florida in March, sun and water.

So started the day with a Saturday kayak morning, which is fast becoming our morning routine.  The lake is so inviting in the morning it's hard to resist its lure.  And it's still cool out.  We paddled over to Long Point, along the water's edge, said aloha to a couple of yachts that had spent the night parked there, as a woman was washing her hair, waist deep in the water.  We then paddled back to Wells Bay and home, happy to have had another morning on the lake.  We both then got busy around the house, cleaning up, organizing, getting rid of the old newspapers, trash, so that I could head to the Transfer Station.  It was easy this week, only one trash can, though I also had three old plastic tubes/floats which were no longer usable.  Surprisingly, they were checking to see we were local residents this week; obviously, our neighboring towns were taking advantage of free trash disposal.

Evie's Catch

Around 11:00, since I was hot for eggplant pasta for dinner, I drove into Lakewood, stopping at Ryder's Cup for coffee and eggs, then on to a very crowded Wegman's for a quick shopping list.  It's amazing how busy Wegman's seems compared to Tops, which rarely has more than two or three cashiers.  Wegman's had ten to twelve aisles open when I was there. Enough of my shopping adventures.  While I was there, Evie went fishing and caught a nice large mouth bass but threw it back.

And that was it for the day, no chores until dinner time.  I had mushroom barley soup for lunch, a quesadilla and watched some TV before going out to the dock to enjoy the afternoon, the increasingly busy lake.  Evie is loving her book, so she spent a good part of the day reading, on the dock or under the tree.  I have started NATCHEZ BURNING, as I may have mentioned yesterday and really like it. To keep cool, we occasionally jumped in the water, or sat under the trees.  Because there was a college fishing tournament going on, we ended up talking to the guys from the Ohio State team, much depressed because they were having little luck. And it was an good day to just enjoy the cloud masses, elegant and always original, puffs of white, with darken bottom edges.  We never get tired of photographing them, and our daughter Beth loves to paint them.

Puffy Cumulus Cloud Awe

Late afternoon, we went in and got dinner ready, as Evie breaded and fried the eggplant, and I cleaned up.  It cooled off some, so we had a beer on the dock, then came into the porch, to listen to Garrison Keillor.  Around 7:15, we kayaked over to Long Point because we thought there was to be a Twilight Paddle on the lake.  But no one showed up and I checked their blog and the date was correct, Saturday evening at 7:30.  Perhaps it was called off because of the wind.

Dusk Kayaking

So we paddled some, then headed home to finish off dinner.  Evie put together the eggplant, with a tomato sauce and spaghetti, made garlic toast and we had dinner.  We watched another episode of Rectify, some junk TV before going up to bed.  Another good day.

"O What A Beautiful Morning"

6:30 

Forget about what time I was up; it's not important.  What is important is the view, the lake, the sky, the  temperature, not what I am listening to (NPR) or drinking (coffee, lots of sugar and milk, whipped, dusted with cinnamon).  So, it's another great morning, made even better by some rain last evening.  I was up just in time to see the sunrise above the horizon.  It's actually chilly, 62º, the lake surface wrinkled though there's no wind.  More action early than usual, it's the weekend after all but no bass boats rushing up and down the lake which is strange because we noticed a large trailer over at the Long Point Marina, the kind used for weighing in your catch.  There are a few boats out but nothing like it usually is when there's a tournament.  Maybe it was cancelled because few have been able to catch bass this summer.  Either they are not biting, changed their habitat or have disappeared.

I am getting bored with describing warm, sunny days on the dock.  Never thought I would complain about fine weather.  Anyways, we hung out all day at the house, never venturing beyond Woodlawn, even missing the opening of the Reverie Creamery, now open in Barbara Barry's Used Bookstore at the top of our road.  Cheese in, books out I guess.  We went kayaking again, this time over towards the Long Point Pavilion, hugging the shoreline, paddling down to Warner Bay, then back. If we get close enough to the eastern shore in the morning, we have shade, which is pleasant as the morning sun was beginning to bake us.

We were on the lake for an hour, getting back around 10:30.  For some unknown reason, I was motivated to crawl into our privets and rhododendrons, along the north side of our house, pulling weeds and vines that wrap themselves around trees, eventually choking them to death.  I found lots of weeds, vines that strangle our bushes but for now, it's looking pretty good.  Afterwards, I took the weeds and other branches to the wood pile.  While I was working outside, Evie was in trying to figure out why our refrigerator is no longer making ice cubes, an annoyance only when its not making ice cubes.  No cure yet so I fear a new refrigerator may be in the offing.  After weeding the fence line, I decided I might as well continue with my chore, so I grabbed my lake rake and went out and cut weeds again, for an hour, enjoying the water and sun.  Evie, meanwhile, got her fix in, cutting the lawn even though it hardly needed it.  The grass, at this time of the year, grows slowly, mostly because of the lack of rain.

So by lunch time, we were ready for a leisurely afternoon.  I enjoyed a another chicken/black bean enchilada for lunch, watched another episode of Ray Donovan so I am caught up, and Evie went out on the dock for the afternoon, happy to be reading her book.  We then alternated between the dock, the yard, and house, both of us reading, occasionally taking a swim, waiting for late afternoon so we could take a booze cruise, which we did around 5:00.  We hoped to boat up to the Chautauqua Institution but it was windy and choppy, so we were getting soaked as we head north, so we decided to turn around and cruise Bemus, the area protected by Long Point.  By the time we got back, the lake had settled and we could easily have gone to the CI.  No big deal I guess, as it's always a thrill to just be out on the lake.  Lots of boaters had the same idea, though they were parked in the curve of Long Point protected from the wind.  I counted twenty five boats anchored off the shoreline, swimming, no doubt drinking and partying and a number of boats were tied together.  It looks like fun.

7:05

We came home and enjoyed some St. Andre cheese and crackers on our front porch, with a mannie or two, watching the sky turn from blue to a darkening sky, as a storm was coming.  I hurried out on the dock and put the cover back on my boat.  By 8:00, however, the storm had passed and things cleared up.

7:55

We had Trader Joe's ribs for dinner, we some glorious home fries with onions, so good.  We watched The Daily Show and while we had our ribs and  also watched the first episode of a new series on Netflix, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day at Camp. The previews looked terrible and it was, typically gross and vulgar.  It seems when you don't have a good story, you just try to gross out your audience with jokes about sex and private parts and digestive disturbances.  O, yea, throw in a bully too and burp contests instead of a  fist fight...got to be politically correct.  Don't watch it