Spring weather

Another week has gone by, it's almost June!   I don't know where the time goes.   We've continued to get the cottage settled and to our liking and enjoyed a bit of socializing in between.

Last Friday we had a genuine, Western New York fish fry in Honeoye Falls (honey-oy) with niece Lisa and her husband Chris.   I took no pictures, we were busy getting caught up and enjoying the fish fry and pints of Smithwicks at Flaherty's.   There will be other times.    Actually, I do have a picture of Lisa taken at Jesse and Erin's pre wedding party in 2015.   It's a favorite one, she's standing back to back with dear friend Tom Bell enjoying their extreme height difference (we'll share Dave's birthday dinner with Tom and Robin this Thursday at one our favorite restaurants, the Rabbit Room).

little lisa and tall tom

Saturday our old friend Barb came down for lunch.   It's great seeing friends that we haven't laid eyes on since Jesse's wedding in Colorado.

While Barb and Lewis were posing for their picture, Dave was behind them, sneaking the left over crispy bits in the baking dish.....shhhh, don't tell that I saw him.

The weather has been exciting since we arrived.   Every day we have a bit of sun then a big thunder storm will roll across us, dumping lots of heavy rain, incredible cloud formations, rainbows, and then it moves east and the sun peaks out again.    This pattern repeats itself, over and over - day after day.

the lake dances in the rain

one cell pulling away from us to the east

socked in

we were treated to four rainbows throughout the day.

We're all a bit tired of the rain part though.    All of us except perhaps the ducks.

One handsome Redhead hangs around our dock

Well, and Lewis.   He doesn't mind the rain much.   He's discovered that he can not only drink from the giant water bowl outside the cottage, but he can swim in it too!    Not a stick or leaf gets past him now.

He doesn't mind diving into the wet day lilies to search for his ball either.   Its all in a day's work for him.

In between swimming and playing ball he manages to help Dave with most of his jobs.

Lew dozes while Dave does some serious mental calculations
about the driveway-deck interface

He makes sure to pace himself and easily falls asleep whenever the mood strikes.

zzzzz

Then poor Dave has to work alone.  I try to help but I'm a poor substitute for Lewis.

setting up the chiminea



So, that's about it for this last week of May.

Work and play at the lake

what are you looking at......

How did he get such a muddy nose you ask?   He helped Dave sort through piles of flagstones left from our old cottage.   Then he helped him begin to lay a path from the deck to the dock with the selected stones.    It's dirty work.

He took a few minutes from his work day for a little play.   He feels it's important to keep things in balance.

in his spare time, Lew practices making "grass angels"
(his summer version of "snow angels")

I found some sweet little portulaca plants at the local garden store.  I couldn't resist their name.....Mohave Sun......so I bought a few for the deck and planted them while the boys were taking a little time to fish.

Lew loves to fish

As I understand it, Dave caught the big one (a large mouth bass) and it broke his pole.   Lewis couldn't believe his eyes.    It got away, I never saw it.

To soothe the fisherman's ego we had a pleasant happy hour on the dock with a "cottage drink".   Our resident Canada Goose family steamed by as we were enjoying our gins.    Their current baby count is 15.    Bass and turtles will, no doubt, lower that number as the days go on.

A group of about 8 or 9 Cormorants flew over, landed in the water nearby and began to fish for their dinners.

It was another good day at the lake

We've been here a week already!

We've been here a week and got lots done in that time.   A few more jobs to be taken care of but we finally feel at home.    There are no pictures of me planting pots and crocks, or doing laundry or locating lost items in the basement, or making lists or cooking in a big kitchen!

cutting the old sewer line

two butts are better than one

Dave cut and moved Beluga's sewer line so that she can be more comfortably situated for her summer role of our second bedroom suite.

Lewis checks the fence line along the road

We had a new (to us) crew of burly lads put our docks into the freezing water on Sunday.   We liked the old ones better.......

Dave keeps them on track

Dave sports a water line!

We bought our Jeep in Utah last year and it came with lovely tinted windows. We really appreciated them when we were autohiking in the hot desert washes.   When the Jeep entered New York State it had to be inspected so Dave took it to our local Jeep dealer for what we thought would be a quick appointment.    It didn't pass.    Evidently it's illegal to have tinted windows in New York State.

 Another job for Mr. David's A-1 Automotive Solutions.    They sent one of their most competent and pleasant technicians over to strip the tinting from the front side windows.   We have an appointment Saturday for another inspection.  Until then we are illegal.    Gotta love New York.

 tint removal is almost done

It's not all work.   The boys are finding a few minutes to relax here and there.

trying out a couple new dock sections

always time for a quick rest in the vinca

At the end of the day we're all quite tired but dear Lewis doesn't bother to hide it.  Dogs are very honest.

a few more

Here are a few more pictures from our first hours at the lake.

Robin's nest over our entry light.....Welcome Home!

shhhh, he's sleeping.  
Don't tell him he has Copper Beech blossoms in his hair, it embarrasses him

a hefty thunderstorm pulls away over the lake

At the Lake

Our last night on the road (til the end of the summer) was spent in old friend Judi's driveway.   She's earned the label of "old friend" by virtue of the time we've known each other.    We've been good friends since I was 7 years old, and that is a very long time indeed.

we just fit!

Little Eedie doesn't care for the camera

We both looked forward to seeing her again to be sure, and staying overnight had the additional reward of sharing our benchmark pizza with her.    Bocce's pizza is just around the corner from her and we've all been eating it since we were around 16 years old.

Oh and in the morning she raced out to Buffalo's famous Paula's donuts to get Dave one of his favorites.....fresh!

Peanut Stick!

And, of course, there were plenty of toys and especially balls, for sweet Lewis.

We said our goodbyes on Mother's Day and turned toward home.   It rained all the way.

rainy Geneseo Main Street

We've been here for about 3 days now and are finally getting our arms around the cottage.   We lived in this little place for just 6 weeks before heading west and we've been gone 2 years.   We have not spent the summer here yet and there are lots of details to finish up.   Cleaning the overflowing gutters, lawn mowing (the fabulous Fred took care of that job while we were gone), finding someone to put our docks in the water, getting the air conditioning hooked up, reorganizing and reshaping the deck, springing my little car from storage, etc., etc. so we're plenty tired at the end of the day.    Lewis is a big help.   He goes everywhere Dave does and offers what help he can.

Having Beluga right outside makes it easier to unload!

 

Cleaning of the gutters

Second cup in the sun

Lew loves his giant water bowl

a little after dinner fishing

Some lovely springtime treats were waiting for us when we backed into the driveway.   Some years ago Jesse gave Dave three lilac bushes for a birthday gift.  They were happily blooming for our return.

The birds are happy to have us back.   Baltimore Orioles are everywhere in the newly budded trees.   Lots of warblers and waterbirds, Merganzers, Loons, ducks of all kinds.

doing a little underwater reconnaissance 

Lewis pines if Dave goes outside without him.....