Hazy, Lazy Days Of Summer

6:27

Well, those hazy summer days have arrived, the weekenders have arrived, as have the fishermen and tourists.  Chautauqua Institution's season also opens today, so the area is beginning to look like the summer season has begun.  Mostly sunny today, with a high of 84º, a perfect day for locals and tourists.

Yesterday was a great day, lots of sun, a nice breeze most of the afternoon and both of us seemed to have our mojo back.  I left early for Lakewood, to return a hose I bought from Home Depot and picked up a new garbage can (it's sharp) and more grass seed, the third bag this summer (so far).  And I stopped at our local department store, Bon Ton's, because they were having a 'great sale.'  I have been there before but never seem to learn.  The deal, buy a 100 dollars worth of items, including sale items, and get 50 dollars back.  I picked out my items, went to check out and guess what, my sale items were not the sale items indicated in the small, tiny print in the newspaper.  This has happened to me before.  'Fool me once...shame on you. Fool me... You can't get fooled again.' (thanks to George Bush).  When I returned home,  Evie had turned the kitchen into a wreck and was sitting on the back porch, frying eggplant.  Yum.  She had spent much of the morning making Eggplant Parmesan Bites, a delicious appetizer of ricotta cheese and other goodies sandwiched between two slices of slice eggplant, breaded and fried.  And she made more hanky pankys, sausage, hamburger and velveeta cheese on rye bread.  All of them were made, then put in bags and frozen, ready to be pulled out at any time for appetizers.

Lake Weeds Drying

While Evie was finishing up, I watered many of the plants in our backyard, using the hose from the lake to fill up water cans.  Lots of hydrangeas needed water as we still have a parched earth area. I then wanted to get some weeding done in the lake before lunch, so I went out in the water, with my gloves, a bucket and weed rake, and filled a couple of buckets with weeds, layering on the dock to dry before disposing of them.  Lunch was once again, leftover tacos, still good and I watched some Sports Center, as the NBA season seems to be ending, with their draft.  Now it's time for a bit of baseball, then some European soccer championships before the Olympics from Brazil in August.

After my brief nap, I woke once again with energy, scaring Evie because I was up so soon.  I wanted to get more weeds out, so I filled a couple of more buckets with disgusting weeds and algae, making our swimming area clear for our family fun over the next month and a half.  Evie was out helping as well, often getting her feet stuck in the lake mud.  By 3:30, we had both had it.  We originally thought we would take a nice boat ride but neither of us felt like it so we just went out on our dock, sunbathed and occasionally swam.  About 5:00, I went in and got a cooler with a couple of of beers and pretzels, and our neighbor's daughter, Kathy came over, so we talked with her until after 6:00.

Cloud Art

We then worked on the bare spots on our lawn with the new, guaranteed to grow grass seed (fat chance) which took all of 20 minutes.  Evie then went in and put together an eggplant and tomato sauce pasta as I watered the grass for another 20 minutes.  I love fried eggplant with a tomato sauce over pasta.  I remember having it for the first time in Istanbul, thinking where has eggplant been all my life.  Turks are noted for their eggplant dishes and have many different combinations of eggplant with all kinds of different ingredients.  We watched a movie we have been intending to watch for a couple of weeks, The One-Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared, an award winning book and film.  It follows a 100 year old Swedish man, who ups and leaves his nursing home, accidentally ends up with a drug dealers suitcase filled with money, and the rest of the movie is about the friends he makes, how the drug dealers eventually meet their end, with flashbacks to his life, one in which he meets the likes of  Franco, Truman, and Stalin.  Quirky and silly, we surprised ourselves by not liking it more than we did. O, well, who can account for taste.

We were in bed by 11:00.

Brilliant Sun With A Crispness In The Morning Air

6:52

Up at 6:00, too late to see the sunrise but its brilliance filled the sky, the lake and our living room.  It's a chilly 52º but should hit the 80's later in the day, in short, another crummy day on the lake.  And I am listening to the pundits dissect the UK's decision to leave the EU.  It's implications, for me, are scary in that the populism that propelled the Brexit or 'Leave EU Movement' in the UK, mostly angry, white, anti globalism/free trade/immigrant, is the same base supporting the Donald.  Is this populism in the US large enough to elect Trump?  Well, if a historic change like this could happen in the UK, then a similar historic Trump victory could also happen. Scary.

Yesterday was a busy day for both of us, not that we did not enjoy it.  For some reason, we both spent most of the morning in the yard, doing those things that don't really show.  We watered all the bushes, the grass, the trees, and did lots of weeding.  I also turned the lake weeds numerous times, helping them to dry before getting rid of them.  Evie also had a few projects in the house and did some washing and drying, catching up on things.

A Beautiful Late Afternoon Kayak

I had leftover tacos for lunch, watched some junk TV before taking a nap and doing some reading, as I am slowly working through the Pulitzer Prize winning THE SYMPATHIZER.   I like it but for some reason it's taking me a while to get  through it.  Most of the day we worked under overcast skies, so we did not take advantage of the lake.  Around 5:00, however, the sun came out and we decided to take a kayak paddle over to Long Point and back.  As we were kayaking, we heard raucous voices coming from the Marina; they were filled with laughter and as we got closer, it was four guys struggling to move a boat lift into place.  They had no floats, the water was deep, so they had to synchronize holding their breath as they moved it ten feet at a time. Obviously, this was not a very efficient method.  We laughed along with them, and then paddled back into the sun, warming but blinding.

Four Stooges

We were home just after 6:00 and Evie quickly got busy in the kitchen because we were both hungry. Our meal was one of our go to meals, our typical orange marmalade sauce on salmon (thanks, Ellen), with rice and garlic spinach.  We seem to have it at least once every ten days.  We were not sure what to watch on TV.  I tried to get a movie on Apple TV but it wouldn't work,  of course, so we said the heck with it and watched some Stephen Colbert. As we were finishing our meal, we heard a pounding out on our dock, and, Chris, who helps us with our boat and dock, was pounding one of our errant poles into the lake bottom.  I went out to talk with him, and he then helped me put some stringers under the dock pieces at the end of our dock.  It's the reason I bought the 2x6x10's earlier in the week.

Steadying The Dock With Chris

Around 8:30, I tried Apple TV again and found that one of the buttons was turned off but not by me.  It's one of those things that happen in technology that you cannot figure out how it happened. Anyways, I got it to work so we watched the first episode or Season 2 of Bosch on Amazon Prime. It's a decent series, following Harry Bosch, the detective in Michael Connelly's novels. That was it for the night.

Overcast After A Brief Sunrise

5:41

5:53

I was up at 5:30, to a purple then orange glow on the lake, as the sun struggled to rise above the horizon.  Now it's mostly gray, the lake and sky, as the clouds have arrived.  It's 56º as I listen to the pundits discuss the democrats sit in, whether it's a publicity stunt or a heart felt belief.  Most believe it's bad news for the republicans because of this possible bumper sticker: Republicans Want Terrorists To Have Guns.  It's not true but it seems that way from the way they are refusing to allow a vote.

Yesterday was somewhat different, as Evie was off to drop off the first round of checks to the Chautauqua Lake Association, do some shopping and get her hair trimmed leaving the house by 8:30.  Since she would be gone much of the morning, I decided to take my car to Jamestown and get the oil changed on the Pilot.  I brought my bike along, so when I dropped it off on Washington Street, I then rode my bike to the Prendergast library, picked up Rodger Rosenblatt's latest, THOMAS MURPHY,  then rode to the Labyrinth Press Coffee shop, bought a coffee, sat down and read for a half hour before heading back to pick up my car.  For once, they did not list any problems with my car (I suspect they never checked).  I then stopped at Tops, to see if they had any of the soft drink Squirt, and they did so I bought a 12 pack.  The new drink of summer: a Paloma,  Squirt, with tequila in a rim salted tall glass.  Sounds good, like a margarita but easier.  I then went to Home Depot, picked up two 2 by 4 by10 boards, managed to fit them into my Pilot and drove home.  Evie was back already, so I helped her unpack.

Around 12:30, Evie made me BLT's for lunch, to go with some veggie soup.  I ate and watched the Cavs victory parade in Cleveland, as an estimated one million fans came out to honor them.  I am glad I wasn't there but it looked like fun if you don't mind crowds.  And so far, I have not read about any violence, rioting or the burning of cars which often accompanies this kind of celebration.  After lunch, we both spent a good part of the afternoon, either watering the parched plants around our house, napping, sun bathing or cutting lake weeds.  It was a nice 78º on the dock, with a breeze and there were plenty of weeds to cut if we wanted.  I stayed in the water for about an hour, cutting and piling on the dock to dry and Evie worked on the algae which floats on top.  By late afternoon, our lakefront looked fine, so we rewarded ourselves with cocktails on the porch, along with hummus and pita chips.  It was a beautiful late afternoon, the lake a brilliant blue, a light breeze, and sunny, as the shadows slowly took over the lawn and dock.

We had an easy dinner of tacos, with all the fixings, always a satisfying dinner.  And we struggled to find something to watch.  We started a fairly new series called AQUARIUS, set in the late 1960's, with a focus on Charles Manson and his group of followers.  We could only take a half hour before we changed channels, and watched the most recent Real Time with Bill Maher.  We loved his interview with Rebecca Traister.  She wrote ALL THE SINGLE LADIES and we were wowed by her insights into women's rights and how they have slowly changed over the years.  She was so good, so quick, that she actually shut Maher up.  Her thesis: women are slowly becoming more independent, marrying much later in life, if at all, and as a result, cultural norms, the idea that a woman is not compete unless she marries,  are changing. I want to read her book.  We both were tired from our work in the lake so we went up to be around 10:00, rare for us.

Puffy Afternoon Clouds And A Low Hanging Strawberry Moon

6:20

6:25

A pleasant morning  on the lake, 60º, a partly cloudy sky, as we both are up, sipping our coffee, planning our day.  It looks like a good day to be living on a lake, no rain in sight, perhaps for a week, alas, moderate temperatures until the weekend when it may get up into the 90's, not so good.

Yesterday, a Tuesday, was not much different from Monday, nor from today.  Mostly hanging out at the lake, occasionally doing something in the house or yard, then heading out to the dock to enjoy the sun.  We  did get a nice kayak paddle in around 9:30, over to Long Point and back to Sandy Bottom and home.

Kayaking Past A Hillside Of Lupine

Around 11:00, however, I decided to get some shopping done for the week, so Evie made a list of staples, of the heavy things for me.  I first stopped at Ryder's Cup, for a coffee and a dozen organic eggs.  Then I stopped at the new discount hardware store, Harbor Freight, because they were giving away free 25 foot tape measures and I lost mine, at least for now.  So I bought a packet of micro fiber cloths for five bucks and got a tape measure.  Wow, what a deal.  Then on to Wegman's, to begin the summer season, stocking up on staples, to get ready for family over the fourth of July, then late July and early August.  It's never too early to start getting ready, especially when theres a sale on things we know we will need.

Our Humble Abode

I did not get home until 1:00, as the lines at Wegman's were epic; it's 5% off day for seniors and with the onslaught of Chautauqua Institution people, the lines were long and slow, slow, slow.  I had vegetable soup and half of a Cuban sandwich for lunch.  Evie meanwhile put away the groceries and could not wait to get out on the dock.  I relaxed inside, of course, for a nap, then went out to join her on the dock.  And we played that kind of game the rest of the afternoon, inside for a  bit, then back out on the dock, watching the changing clouds.  We should have gone for a boat cruise but I was too lazy to take the boat cover off.

Late Afternoon Fluff

Around 5:30, Evie went in and put together a cheesy cauliflower for dinner, and she pulled out some slices of ham which she had vacuumed packed back in May.  With a salad, we had dinner and as always, the ham tasted good, the cauliflower, great.  And we watched the last two episodes of OJ...Made In America, a series from ESPN.  It was as much about America, about race, the judicial systems failures, lawyers and anger of African Americans towards not only the LA police, but the lack of white empathy for the stacked deck world of African Americans.  It was worth watching.  As I walked into the living room, to lock the front door, I was shocked by the strawberry moon, sitting atop the shore along Tom's Point.

Strawberry Moon

Summer Begins, A Parched Spring Ends

5:52

5:58

6:00

6:22

Well, there was a 95% chance of rain last night, which means we were in the top 5%, no rain. Whenever rain is predicted, it seems to pass by our area.  Evie even closed the windows last night, thinking a storm was coming.  Anyways, no complaints about this morning, as it's cooler, blue skies, puffy clouds, and I was up with the fishermen, in time to see the sunrise around 6:00.

Yesterday began with the usual coffee, listening to MSNBC, then a good half hour of watering the newly planted grass before it gets too warm.  So far, it looks like we have well watered dirt.  I think my thumb must be brown, not green.  It was another fine morning on the lake, the typical blue sky, motionless lake.  So we got out our suntan lotion, sunglasses, and a bottle of water, and kayaked down towards Whitney Bay and back.  It was warmer than we thought, so we did not linger on the water. We met some of our neighbors, also out kayaking and paddle boarding.  Yesterday if you woke up on the lake, you wanted to be out on it.

When we got back, we both had worked up a sweat, so it was time to jump in the lake.  First, I got together all my weed raking tools because the lake weeds are starting to take over parts of the lake. Some summers the weeds are not too bad, like last year but it looks like this will be a bountiful summer of weeds.  So, I spent an hour in the lake, cutting the weeds with my weed rake, then pulling them up out of the water, putting them in to a tub till it was full, then putting the weeds on the dock to dry out.  Evie helped as well, so we managed to fill up a good part of our dock with weeds.  Once they dried, they are much lighter and I gathered them in garbage cans and took the up the hill to the wood pile.  This is a task we have worked at almost every summer mostly because we tend to use our lake more than anyone.  We like it weed free when our kids arrive.

After the weed cutting, much of our work for the day was done.  And we did not feel like doing much either.  So I had lunch, homemade vegetable soup and a bagel, watched some TV and, yes, took a nap.  Evie spent a good part of the afternoon on the dock, occasionally jumping in the lake to cool off.  Around 4:00, despite the heat, Evie decided to get some exercise and cut the lawn.  Afterwards, she showered in the lake because we were going out to dinner at the Viking Club with Jackie, our neighbor.  Just before we left, Evie went to a couple of the neighbors, soliciting donations to give to the Chautauqua Lake Association and Woodlawn is nearing 100% participation.

Evie and Jackie, At The Viking Club

We met Ron at the club around 6:30 and it was fairly crowded for the Viking Club.  We grabbed a table inside, with a view of the lake, and talked with Jackie, mostly about her memories of Woodlawn back when she was young, in the 1940's an 1950's.  She seems to remember everyone and everything.  We both want to be like her when we are in our 80's, independent and with it.  We waited too long for our Cuban sandwiches but they were worth it and I even brought home half of sandwich, that's how big they are.  Just before we left, we ran into one of my breakfast buddies, Joe, who spent much of his youth on Woodlawn, so both he and Jackie reminisced about the good old days of Woodlawn, our neighborhood on the lake.  It was fun to listen to them.

We were home before dark.  We then watched some TV, Bill Maher's Real Time because we did not want to start a new series and had a bowl of ice cream, to end a pretty good day.

Miracles Do Happen -- Cavs Win NBA Championship (Solstice)

5:45

6:02

6:05

A partly cloudy morning, already warm, with rain predicted tonight.  I was up at 5:30, hoping to see the sunrise but it was hidden by some puffy clouds, popping out occasionally for a few minutes, then hiding behind them again.  Because it's Monday, the lake is quiet, hardly a boat in sight, quite a contrast to Saturday.

Yesterday was another unseasonably warm day, not what we expect in June here at the lake, but compared to Arizona, we are having a cold spell.  I heard this morning that two hikers in Phoenix died from the heat.  We have been on those mountains and cannot believe anyone would hike them in the heat of the day.  We did have our typical Sunday morning walk through the Chautauqua Institution and it was warm, making us look back at our walks through it in the winter, bundled up and happy.  Obviously, we are not good in heat.  When we got home, we did a few things in either the house or yard, not sure whether to stay inside or go out.  So, instead, Evie made a good breakfast of eggs, bacon, leftover noodles and toast.

Poppies At Chautauqua Institution

A Canvas Of Poppies

The rest of the day was a blur, not sure what we did till later in the  day when it cooled off some. Evie braved the heat, with the help of a breeze, and enjoyed the dock for an hour or two, jumping in the lake when it got too warm.  I did some reading, The Sympathizer, about the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the main character a mole of the Communists.  Around 4:30, I rose from my couch and washed my car, filthy from the sap falling from our trees.  We then decided it had cooled off some, so we took a boat ride over to Bemus Point and back along the bay, mostly pleasant, especially when we were cruising into the breeze.  There were a surprising number of boats still out on the lake for a Sunday evening, as the majority of boaters head home for the week.

For dinner, Evie had pulled out some scallops from the freezer, so she seared them, made a sauce with garlic, lemon, chicken broth and vermouth and served them over pasta, another one of our favorite dinners.  We watched another episode of the OJ series on ESPN, then watched the Cavs win an NBA championship. It's difficult to criticize Lebron since he had a triple double, finished with 26 points but he's not fun to watch when he holds the ball and dribbles for 15 to 20 seconds, slowing down the Cavs offense and the game.  That being said, it was fun to see the ecstatic Cleveland fans and the Cavs players, many in tears.  It was a tough road back from a 3-1 deficit and I think it was Kyrie who really saved them averaging over 40 points in games five and six, hitting the game winner last night in the last minute. As one of the announcers said, Kyrie's the best player in the NBA.  I agree.

We went to bed around 11:30, tired and happy.

Summer Came In A Rush

6:00

It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood, lots of sunshine, a cooling breeze, a pleasant 62º at the moment, with the high later in the day getting into the mid 80's.  It's 7:40 and I have been up since 6:00, listening to a podcast from Pop Culture Happy Hour, about the seven hour OJ documentary from ESPN.  We have watched the first couple of episodes and it's more about racism and America at that time than just OJ.  He seems to be the nexus of a large range of issues.  It is worth watching, especially for those who were too young to understand the implications of the trial.  We learn lots about OJ as well as LA, the police, and racism at that time in our history and it ain't pretty.  They replayed the beating of Rodney King, and it's still difficult to watch.

A Busy Kayak Morning

Yesterday was very warm, in fact, uncomfortable enough, at least for us, to spend much of the afternoon inside our closed window house.  Once the outside temperature matches the inside, we close the windows and it keeps the house cool for the most part.  We both had more energy in the morning, having recovered somewhat from our week of fun.  Around 10:00, we decided to kayak, so off we went to Long Point, but it was not much fun.  Too many boats, their waves, and the water had lots of floating weeds, even smelled in some areas, so we paddled back.  But by noon, we were back to our old apathetic, tired selves, ready to nap, just relax.  The extent of our efforts was to do some watering.  Evie did make some vegetable soup in the morning, so I had a bowl for lunch with a cheese sandwich, minus the jam, since the boys cleaned us out of Wegman's Triple Fruit jam!

I watched some futbol (soccer), took a nap and woke up strangely energetic despite the heat.  So I got out my bike, pumped up the tires, put it in my Pilot and drove off to Bemus for a ride.  I was gone about an hour, my usual ride, from the bridge, to Bemus, through Long Point Park, to the end, and back.  It was a busy day in Bemus, lots of people and cars, the new Ellicottville Brewery's porch was packed with people, enjoying a brew, the view, the sun.  When I biked out to Long Point, at least 50 boats were anchored together in the bay, drinking beer, wading in the water, playing their music. Thank goodness they are far enough away that we cannot see or hear them.  I have never seen so many boats anchored in the bay and I have to say, the lake was as busy as most holidays, as if everyone had decided to take their boats out because of the sun and warm weather.

Around 5:30, we walked over to the Woodlawn neighborhood right of way, for our first of three gatherings.  Each family brings their own drink and an appetizer, and we socialize from 5:00-7:00, coming and leaving whenever we want.  It's fun to see the neighbors who have been gone most of the winter, to catch up, and enjoy the afternoon.  We had about 30 people, not as many as usual because of previous commitments.  We went home around 7:30, both of us extremely tired for some reason and hardly had enough energy to make dinner, a stir fry of leftovers.  We shouldn't have made it because once I was done, it looked like dog food though it didn't taste like it...close though.  We watched the OJ documentary before  going up to bed, hoping for a good night's sleep.

And we would like to congratulate our daughter Beth and her husband, Ramiro, on their 25th anniversary, a few days late but better than never,

June 15th, 1991