More views from the River...

As some of you may remember from earlier blogs, there was this table devised by John for Terry's porch that used a Rube Goldberg type arrangement of pool table legs turned upside down as its base. While incredibly "funky" looking, one dared not touch it, let alone lean on it for fear of tipping it over. (Admittedly, it probably was a good training devise for teaching manners, i.e. do NOT put your elbows on the table during dinner, but does one really need that at a summer cottage?) So.... in my ramblings I happened upon an old examining table from a doctor's office with "sturdy" written all over it. If it could hold bodies it certainly could hold a table top plus it was the perfect size. One drawback... it was a bit high for a dining table. Let's just say it provided the dynamic duo of John & Terry with several hours of contemplation about just how high the table should be and thus how much to take off leading to how to take it off... I finished my book.

The house on the water on the right is actually the Frontenac, NY post office where you can still mail vacation postcards... I didn't.

The Wellesley Island State Park that all of us NYS residents own has many beautiful trails with overlooks of the St. Lawrence. The one on the bottom right is the Eels Cove overlook. The Park must also have at least one gigantic beaver if the size of the tree it's trying to take down is any indication.

Did I mention that this summer on the River has been unseasonably cold? Ruby's Christmas cactus must think so too. She brought it up to the island to vacation for the summer and it's blooming its heart out. Bundle up! Winter must be just around the corner.

Oh! Those Pies!

Support your local library and buy a pie - what could be better?!

The library buys the pie pans, volunteer pie bakers pick them up and deliver pies at 8:30 in the morning. The first photo shows one of the bakers and the community's ace pie buyer, Tom, who is always first in line. Tom gets before 8:30 so he can look over every pie as they're delivered. This way he can also know where to head when the sale opens. (He also has other secret pie buying strategies which I'm not allowed to divulge.) By 8:50 the line for the sale stretches down the street. You may not be able to tell from the second photo but Tom is first in line and I'm second as "pie buyer in training". (I felt very honored as not everyone is invited to train under Tom.) The tapes across the doors are cut at 9:00 and folks rush in ("rush in" is more like stampede but you get the idea). I have my eye on a blueberry and a lemon meringue. Score the blueberry but the lemon disappeared before I could edge my way there. 9:15 and half the pies are sold. It takes a while to take in all that money after all. 9:30 all the pies are gone and the library has made well over a thousand dollars. Wow!

Now for a piece of that blueberry pie....

Roquet Court Update

Will the real Tom Sawyer please stand up?
First there was Terry's idea to redo the court...
Then there was John's idea to rototill it...
Then there was Terry's idea to add top soil...
Then there was John's idea to roll it...
Then they both had the idea to get Fred to water it...
Then there was Terry's idea to aerate it...
Then there was John's idea get a reel mower...
Then there was Terry's idea to add more "stuff"...
It seems like there's no end...

(Frankly folks, the court still offers as many bumps and dips as it ever did. And, just like that fence of Tom Sawyer's, I suspect it will always need work. Either Terry will be trying to convince John or John will be trying to convince Terry that it ain't work... After all, does a boy get a chance to tend a roquet court every day? Where's Fred in all this? Somehow, I suspect Fred did a little reading of Mark Twain over the winter.)