Hi, everyone!
It’s rained hard this morning, but mostly we’re continuing to have lots of warm, dry weather. Locally, there aren’t as many people getting sick with the bad virus. That means contractors could get busy with outside projects. We had a very busy day on our street! On one side, foresters were taking down a major branch of a very big tree. Right across the street, our neighbors were getting a new roof! I guess if you are on top of a roof or at the controls of a boom truck, you don’t need to wear a face mask to keep the bad virus from spreading! My groundhog friend was doing prairie dog imitations again that day, too!
The sour cherry season is over, now, but there are lots of local ripe peaches! When Grandma and Grandpa took me to the bay two weeks ago, we stopped to buy some. Then I helped Grandma make a sour cream peach pie. It was yummy! Grandma has been weeding water chestnuts out of the bay and came back with a big pile from the Shaker Tract shoreline. Moose-san would think they were yummy, too!
Even after peach pie dessert, James and Thomas wanted to toast marshmallows! Thomas showed me how to make a s’more, and Aunt Kara taught me how to toast a marshmallow without burning it! Then we all went on a pajama boat ride before bedtime!
The next morning, Uncle Steven decided to try slalom water skiing again. It’s been a long time since he got up on a single water ski! We all went out in the boat to watch him try. He got up on the second try and skied for a long time! I wanted to try, too, but the ski is too big for me!
On our pajama boat ride, Grandma had spotted a big patch of blooming rose mallows on Eagle Island. After Uncle Steven went skiing, Grandma and Aunt Kara took me on a kayak paddle to go see the rose mallows. They were very pretty!
Panda usually comes to the bay with James. We’re old friends, from the very first day we got Panda at the National Zoo when James was a baby. When we had a chance to chat, Panda told me he thinks the bad virus outbreak should be called a panda-demic, not a pandemic! James thinks we should write a book about it together!
When we went back to Fairport after the weekend, Grandma finally finished the Mt. Fuji jigsaw puzzle! She cut two pieces of stiff cardboard and slid the puzzle onto one of them. Then she could make a sandwich and flip the puzzle between picture and back patterns very easily. When there were only twelve pieces left to put in, she discovered she needed to switch two pieces on the edge to make them all fit! I helped her number the pieces on the back, but we didn’t take the puzzle apart. Grandma put the sandwich together with binder clips and took it back to Joe-san and Nancy-san that way! Grandma and I made another coffee cheesecake, then Grandpa and I made wild blackberry ice cream with last year’s blackberry crop.
When Uncle Steven’s family came out to the bay for the weekend a week ago, James had a surprise. He had just come from tae kwan do summer camp, where he won the best student trophy! James, Thomas and Grandpa got busy with their iPads! Uncle Steven started working on Uncle Bill’s second jet ski, the Waveblaster. That’s the one with a broken engine, and Uncle Steven wants to fix it. He’s still figuring out all the parts that need repair.
On Saturday, the weather was nice for jet skiing and tubing. Uncle Steven took the jet ski out first. At the end of his ride, he put it back on the lift. The lift pivots, so the rails slide under the front of the jet ski in the water. When the strap attached to the jet ski is cranked back up, the weight of the jet ski returns the rails to horizontal.
We were all waiting to get into the powerboat as soon as Uncle Steven was through with the jet ski. Thomas took the first tube ride, but it was very, very short. I think he just likes to get into the water! James went next, then Uncle Steven, then James went again. James and Thomas wear their swim goggles so they don’t get splashes in their eyes!
After Uncle Steven’s family went home, we went to the Point to watch sunset. Before we went back to Fairport the next day, I checked out this year’s blackberry crop. Something has already eaten it! There were only two blackberries left! The basil I helped Grandma plant is doing well, so we’ll be able to make lots more pesto. And when we got back to Fairport, Grandma’s Peace rose had a blossom. Most years, something eats the flower bud off that bush before it can bloom! All the little unripe apples are gone from the trees in Fairport, and that has never happened before. Either we have new nibblers in our area, or their tastes have changed from last year!
Thomas loves Grandma’s goat cheese biscuits, so Grandma invited him over to make a batch with her. The recipe involves a lot of steps! I helped get everything ready before Thomas came. He used the pastry blender to cut the cold butter and goat cheese into the flour mixture. That was harder work than he expected! Thomas said he wanted to take all the biscuits home and eat them in his bedroom while he played Minecraft! One of the biscuits didn’t even make it home, but Thomas shared the rest with his family and his next door neighbor. Some even made it into the freezer for him to eat later!
This past weekend, when we got to the bay, there was a big boom truck next door! It was picking up parts of two trees the neighbors had cut down. One of the trees was dead and had poison ivy growing up the trunk. Grandma said it was safe to sit on the other stump! Aunt Kara and Grandpa and I had a frisbee toss game with James and Thomas. There was marshmallow toasting and eating after dinner again!
Saturday morning, Uncle Steven was ready to put the engine back in the Waveblaster jet ski! Grandpa and Aunt Kara helped him. He’s almost ready to see whether the engine will run!
When that was done, Aunt Kara and Grandma decided to go for a kayak paddle across the bay to Clark Creek. Thomas said he wanted to go, too! He paddled all the way across the bay by himself! When he got to the lily pads in Clark Creek cove, Grandma gave him a lesson on how to paddle in weeds. Thomas tried following Grandma’s kayak through the channel upstream to the beaver dam. When he got tired, he grabbed onto the rudder of Grandma’s canoe to hitch a ride the rest of the way. That turned Thomas’ kayak sideways, so Grandma had extra work to paddle! On the way back, Thomas figured out he could grab on to the front handle of Aunt Kara’s kayak to hitch a ride. That put his kayak next to Aunt Kara’s, forward of where she needed to paddle. That worked much better for everybody!
After lunch, Uncle Steven’s family took the powerboat to go swimming. Thomas wanted to go to the shallows at Sodus Point. There were a lot of other boats there, but we found a spot where we could anchor and do social distancing. James and Thomas had ninja battles with the swim noodles!
The impatiens in the front window box in Fairport are getting so big it’s hard for me to see over them to greet passersby. I have to sit on my folded-up new blanket to be tall enough!
Love,
Lion-san
The groundhog does a great of imitation of a prairie dog. It is nice that peaches are in season they make great pies and other desserts. Waterskiing, tubing, jet skiing and kayaking are all great fun things to do on a summer day. Moose-san would love some of those tasty aquatic weeds. Tilly is looking forward to the Panda demic book. It looks like Thomas might grow up to be a great baker like his Grandma. We were surprised that Aunt Kara is a jet ski mechanic.
With all that baking and toasting and eating, I hope you don’t gain too much weight, Lion-San! I guess all the water sports will help keep you fit and trim! It sure seems like you have had a very busy couple of weeks!
Love,
Grandma Sue