the stars in the sky...

The crickets and the stars on a clear night out in the country...meteor showers in August, too. Ahh, summertime in New York state.

Our beach trip was gorgeous, but here's a conundrum: the bath house, restroom/changing room was closed, you know, have to keep people safe from Covid. So there were porta-potties lined up in the parking lot. No sinks, and not everyone carries sanitizing wipes in baggies in their purse, uh-hum. Stupidity or what?


Somewhere along the line, we got a great idea: visit a Lake Ontario winery! We followed the GPS along country roads that none of us had ever been on, but arrived at a beautiful place only to discover one has to have a reservation for a tasting. Harrumph, we weren't about to wait over two hours. We decided to buy three bottles of different wines and have our own tasting.



We took turns being the pourer, and fudged our way though the little info speeches, the dry Riesling was good, the regular Riesling better, but the bubbly Rose' took the cake. We had some cherries and popcorn, and pepperoni with crackers, no one wanted cheese. It was quite fun. Evelyn arrived with Amanda, Char, and Cam from their waterfall hike.



We grilled burgers and hot dogs, and asparagus, and had tomatoes from the garden too. Dinner on the deck on a warm afternoon is always nice. Margaret and Adrian and Wulf joined us.


Paul is a bit devilish, giving Wulf the hose to play with.

The weekends just speed past.

Molly is coming over later with baby Ophelia and Lydia. It's very warm today, hopefully it won't be thunder storming because Lyd will want to go in the pool.

I'm kind of excited about camping. It's hard to get a campsite in a state park these days. And, it's rather unfair, if you don't mind me venting a bit. This place we're going, has opened up reservations for next summer already, and if you want a nice water site, forget it, until like 2022! I think since these parks are taxpayer funded, there should be sites left for walk-ins, or last minute people. The early bird gets the worm, I guess, getting a good campsite isn't the right game for the procrastinators and the indecisive of this world.

(We do have a site for this weekend, Ben has the one next to us.).

I like planning the meals and making my packing lists and getting everything ready. I think the kids are getting on board with going. Camille has serious aversion to bugs and spiders, so tenting isn't her favorite. She doesn't like sleeping without a fan, and getting woken at dawn to the sound of screeching seagulls. She also doesn't care for campfire smoke. And she thinks beaches are boring. I get some of it, but WHERE DID SHE COME FROM?! I made her sound whiny and entitled, and she's not, well, maybe a little bit. But she's the youngest, so it's all of our faults. Okay, mostly mine. She will be fine though, she won't drag her feet and whine too much. I think she'll end up having a really good time.

Margaret is due in less than three weeks! I'm thankful that Adrian will be allowed to be with her. He cannot leave the hospital, however, or he won't be able to return. So no going out to get fast food, or home to feed the dog. I can't be there this time, they allow only one person, dang it. We are all so excited though, that baby is already either a boy or a girl, but it will be a huge surprise to all of us! We don't know their name choices yet either, which makes it fun. Hmmm, will Wulf get a baby sister or a baby brother....?