Fall Like Morning, Amazing Cloud Formations, and Sunny and Windy

Rock Hunting at Woodlawn Creek

Up at 7:00 and it was 61 degrees, as I had to get the fleeces out of the attic to be comfortable this morning.  Drew came in from NYC last night about 9:30, so he will be here for Hayden's 10th birthday, which is today.  To say she is excited would be an understatement, as she was up before me for the first time, to excited to sleep in.  She gets crepes for breakfast, juicy lucy burgers and homemade fries for dinner, and a trip to Midway Park tomorrow.  Also, they are off to the petting zoo again today if they can find something to feed the deer/llamas/pigs at the campground.  We had leftover corn yesterday but are out of anything to feed them, like stale bread, today.

At the Campground Petting Zoo

Halle in the Morning

Yesterday, the girls and I went out to the Woodlawn creek, looking for crayfish but ended up coming up with rocks for some reason.  Hayden, especially, loves rocks so she came home with 51 small ones, how she chooses one over another is a mystery to me.  I found two more large ones for my driveway, which is my obsession, large, interesting colored or shaped rocks, to paint on. For dinner, we had our old sausage, mushroom, zucchini, and cooking sherry pasta, something our kids associate with summer at the lake.  I am not so sure the grandchildren feel the same way about it.

Girls Sleep in, Sunny and Looming Clouds

Cloud Mountain Looms over Bemus Point

A morning of blinding sunshine when I came downstairs around 6:45, strikingly unusual unless I have forgotten the past few weeks, but  I cannot remember waking to the bright sun filling the living room.  Not that the weather has been that bad, just a bit overcast  I guess, when we get up.

Yesterday was a shopping day because of the morning rain, though the girls got in a couple of swims, later morning, late afternoon.  We ate outside, barbecued chicken, noodles and corn, have done so all but one day since the families have been here, which is great.  Played our umpteenth game of SPUD before coming in for our last sticky bun of the day. Yum.  The girls could not decide whether this last bun was their second or third for the day.

Jill shopped yesterday at the Mall for birthday presents and Mitch and I went and picked up the car (rotting fuel line), then stopped off at a skate board store in downtown Jamestown, which had an indoor skate board rink, in what used to be, I assume, an abandoned building.  Quite cool.  We then went to Johnnny's Hots for lunch, a Jamestown ikon, for the past 75 years, and got their dogs with a meat sauce.    Mitch gave it a C, except for the fries, which were excellent.  We then dropped off some books at the Ashville Library, petted Libby, their cat, and headed home to finish the sticky buns with Evie and the girls.

Lunch at Johnny's Hots

The lake has been unusually quiet this week, with few boats, even during the mid day when you would expect people to be out.  I am sure tourism and just leisure boating is way down because of the economy.  I have not had my boat out since last week, as the kids don't much like to just cruise nor are they crazy about tubing.  So it sits.

Sticky Buns!

It's 8:15 and Halle and Marisa are up watching a TV show, the first time I remember this happening since they arrived.  I guess they are waiting for Hayden to begin the day of play.  No great plans for the day, though Ron and Linda asked if we wanted to meet them for dinner at the Seezhurn.  For now, we think we will pass, as the kids just don't enjoy sitting in a restaurant much and we'll be going to the Casino Friday night.  Who knows, maybe our plans will change but for now, we will probably just stay home and eat.  Jill and I hope to take a bike ride though rain is forecast for later this morning, and I want to take Mitch over to Bemus to do some skate boarding.

Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain, Finally!

Ah, Rain 

Pet Slugs

What a delight to wake up to rain hitting the roof, wetting the grass, penciling the lake surface.  It seems like its been forever since the last rain, obviously I am forgetting the two straight months of rain this spring, which filled out yard, our septic, our street, and Evie's garden.  Short memory, I guess.  I was up later than usual, about  6:45 and the temperature had dropped to a comfortable 65 degrees, with a high today of 74, and this cooler weather will continue for the next five or six days, or so predicted.  Evie and Mitch are both up, both on their IPADS at 8:15, so the girls are still sleeping, very unusual for them.  Maybe they too enjoy sleeping in the rain.

We are probably heading to the mall today if it keeps raining, as we have two little girls birthdays coming up and they want presents.  Unfortunately, we don't have any great ideas yet, so we hope to be inspired at the mall, fat chance.  I did order my favorite little girls book, THE LITTLE BLACK FISH, for each of them.  Every little girl ought to read this Iranian folk tale at least once a year.  It's hero is female, she goes against the grain, does her own thing, gets in trouble, worries about other people, and triumphs in the end.  It can also be read as a political satire on Iran in the early 80's.  A great little book, I even used it in my senior AP class for an exam.

The Book Worm at Dinner

NIGHT TRAIN: MARTIN AMIS

Another book by one of Great Britain's most respect writers, Martin Amis, as he dips his pen into a mystery/detective novel for the first time.  I did not like it as much as Benjamin Black's ELEGY FOR APRIL; it's not as well written, and his style is somewhat confusing, abrupt, as if he leaves out words for effect or to match the dialect.  It's set in an unknown metropolitan city in the US for some reason, though the characters seem to me to be British.  The detective, Mike Hoolihan, is actually a large, butch looking women, from his description though she has had he share of men over the years.  She's asked to investigate the startling suicide of Jennifer Rockwell, daughter of the police chief, who seems to have everything going for her: looks, a lover, a career, her health, everything.  No one can believe it's a suicide, thus begins Mike's quest to find an answer.  And like many of the previous novels I have read, we learn that people are not what they seem, that we can never really know anyone, that people are capable of the most heinous crimes, even the seemingly most innocent.  The novel read more like a case study then a mystery though  I did like the main character, Mike Hoolihan, Jennifer's lover, Trader, and other assorted misfits.  Not the best read, but of some interest.

Cooler, Still Overcast, with Chance of Rain

At the Casino

A Happy Mom and Daughter

I slept in till 6:45 (is that sleeping in), and the girls got up fairly early for them, Hayden first at 7:30, the other two to follow.  Today is shopping day, as we have practically nothing left to eat, no eggs, no cereal, no meat, no sandwich meat for lunches, a few assorted leftover loaves of bread, so it' a big day for Evie, to figure out our next three meals, shop for it, and get home in time to enjoy the girls.  The list is primed, gone over twice, breakfast for the girls has been made (french toast), so she will be off soon.  O, yea, she discovered we are out of orange juice as well.

Mitch and I have some whole wheat bread going, the no knead method, and it should be ready to pop in the over in an hour.  It's a very sticky, wet dough, the only downside of making it, as you can hardly do anything with it as it's more like a batter than a bread dough.  But the result is wonderful so I will stick with it.

Tonight is Thai shrimp night, which sounds good, after a  barrage of all American meals, and tomorrow is barbecued chicken night, the kids favorite, especially the noodles cooked in chicken broth.

The house seems lacking, without Beth and Tyler, without Tom and Mary and family, but it is quieter, and it seems like there is more space, as the couches are not all taken, an only Mitch seems to occupy them, as the girls seem to spend their time upstairs in our bedroom, playing some sort of 'reality', whether house or today it's farm.  They will pop down within the next hour, ready for something else, either a swim, a jaunt to the park, or play out side with their slugs and frog, still alive and well, I think.

We are getting set for Hayden's birthday on Thursday, Marisa's on Saturday,  both want Juicy Lucy's but we have talked Marisa in to allowing the adults to eat something else on Saturday night.  Jill will be going out shopping today to look for things for the two of them.

The weather is still overcast, threatens to rain, but doesn't, just another tenth of an inch last night, as it seems reluctant to rain on my new grass, alas.  The highs in the 70's, though 80's in Buffalo, so another humid day, no doubt, so unlike any Chautauqua summer we have known.  Doesn't anything get any better any more?  Thank goodness for the kids, as  I have had no time to listen to the news, which would surely send me up the wall.

I was thinking about how well the little girls play together, one a delight it is to watch.  They were just outside playing restaurant and then moved to a picnic table, are sitting on top, with a little wagon full of dolls, talking non stop, about what I wonder.  These are the days I hope they remember, of no responsbility, few adults around to invade your world of make believe, and it's just you with your friends, delighting in each other, in the world of your imagination, before moving on to another world.  They have just gotten up from the table, still talking and walking, and just ran inside to get their shoes, so they can go into Granny's garden, to pick bouquets, without the help of Granny, who is off shopping.  I want to ask them what's going on but it will break the spell...even asking them what they were doing seemed invasive.  Contrast this with the boys, who spend most of their leisure in the house on one type of gadget or another, rarely talking with each other, listening to music, playing a game, or watching a movie.  Unlike the girls, the videos provides the imaginative world, whereas the girls create their own, with dolls, forts, houses, tents.  I can actually still remember some of those days, playing in the basements of friends' homes, creating hiding places, playing army or cowboys, very real worlds to a 8 year old.

No rain, just a warm day, not unbearable, as we just kept the windows open.  Evie did lots of shopping, came home with some rattling on the Pilot, so I took it in, 100 bucks to fix, plus they noticed by gas line was worn out, leaking gas, another 400-500 bucks.  It makes me question why we have two cars, just two to keep up, and when they are older, you just keep pouring bucks into them.

Tonight's Jill's Thai shrimp dinner, and they have made an extravagant dessert for later, some called molten lava cakes, in little pots, very chocolaty and good.

Overcast and Misty as Tommy's Family Heads Home to KC

La Dolce Vita

Woke to an almost imperceptible light, about 6:00, and decided to get up and see if it had rained.  A bit over night, though it hardly dampened the rain gauge, and a humid 68 degrees outside.  It looks like the kind of day which brings rain on and off all day but it just doesn't seem to want to rain on our little patch of the lake.  No wind just a whisper from the south.  Evie and I are sitting on the front porch, as Marisa and Halle are playing with cars and trains and the frog which they captured at the Gorge last Saturday.  It's hard to believe he has survived but there he is.  Tommy and Mary left about 15 minutes ago, no tears, fortunately, as the departure went easily.  They are such a  great family, easy to be around, both kids happy just to be at the lake with their Granny and cousins.  It amazes all of us how well the girls get along, with hardly a harsh word, mostly taking turns when there is a choice to make.  And Nick and Mitch enjoy each other, with Tyler, the leader, occasionally harassing the girls, which is annoying to all but that's boys, I guess, at any age.

Feeding chickens a the Blueberry Farm

Each day it seems quieter, as Beth and Tyler left yesterday, Tom and Mary and family today.  In a week, the silence will be deafening until next July, alas, though it's always good to get back in to your routine, at least for awhile.  Then, we will just jump in the car and go visiting our kids, spontaneously perhaps or planned, whatever we wish.

Blueberry Boys

We have no plans for today, either during the day or for meals.  Maybe we can get by today with what we have in the freezer, or left overs from the past two days.  I don't feel like going to the store, nor does Evie and a simple meal sounds good have the last two nights of debauchery.

ELEGY FOR APRIL: BENJAMIN BLACK

Benjamin Black is the pen name for Booker Prize Winning author John Bannville, whom I have read before.  I heard that he wrote mysteries but didn't think much about it till I came across a couple of recommendations on line.  I really like his writing in this text, so interesting and imaginative, especially the descriptions of people, feelings, and places.  It puts the pot boiler, once a year, best selling writers to shame.  And you realize you read them mostly for plots, not for the writing and insight into the complications of human character, as well as I new way of seeing the world, especially the simple things like a moon, as he says, 'hoisted' in the sky, a lovely verb.  For another example, the major character, Quirke, a reforming alcoholic, in despair, finally downs his first whiskey describing it as such: "The bar man brought the whiskey, and Quirke drank off half of it in one swallow.  The feeling of it spreading through his chest made him think of a small, many branched tree bursting slowly into hot, bright flames."  If anyone remembers the first time they had a shot of whiskey, this description is perfect.  And the book continues in this way, with one interesting analogy or metaphor after another.

The story revolves around Quirke, a coroner, his daughter Phoebe, though he allowed her to think she was his step brother's daughter until she discovered the truth...Quirke was her father.  The impetus of the story stems from the disappearance of Phoebe's friend, April Latimer, daughter of a grand family, though seemingly the black sheep.  In the quest to find out what happened, we meet Phoebe's friends, Quirke finds love(sort of), with one of them, and we come across the competent Inspector Hackett, an old friend of Quirke, and a potpourri of Phoebe's friends, all interesting in their own way.  Qurike is at the center, trying to escape from himself, or so he says, with drink, at first, hopefully later with Isabella, his daughter's friend.  Phoebe learns the hard way how little she knows about her friends, that we can not really know anyone, not even ourselves, much to her dismay and though she's less innocent at the end, she seems destined to always be disappointed.  This is worth reading for the language and writing alone if not the story, though it pulled me along quite nicely.  I am going to find the next one.