Summer Solstice Report

Hi, everyone!

Summer solstice happened this week.  That’s when we have our longest daylight of the year.  Some days have been hot and some are cooler, but I’m definitely thinking summer!  We’ve been able to eat a lot of our meals on the porch, and my lily and penstemon friends are thriving.  I was worried about them, because the concrete chute for the shoreline work went right over them last August!

Right after I wrote last time, Uncle Steven helped Grandpa dismantle the work platform at the boathouse doorway.  It will be a while before we get the new door for the boathouse.  In the meantime, the work platform was in the way of putting out the marine railway.  Now it’s stored against the new retaining wall.

Grandpa reinstalled the boathouse floorboards that Grandma and I had cleaned, so they were ready to be stained.  We had a stretch of dry weather predicted, so Grandma decided  to get the deck around the house and the stairs leading to the waterfront ready to be restained.  I helped with the power washing and bleaching.  That was a lot of surface to prep and stain, but she got it all done!

We solved a mystery!  Grandma has been finding catalpa seed pods in the back yard at Fairport for years.  She knew about the catalpa tree next door at the bay, so she wasn’t surprised to see seed pods there.  She’d never spotted a catalpa tree in town and wondered where the seed pods were coming from.  Then, when she was walking around the street in Fairport with Grandpa, she looked up and realized there was a tall  tree in bloom at the far edge of our next door neighbor’s yard.  She took photos of the blooms with her zoom lens.  Mystery solved!  The flowers looked just like the ones on the tree at Sodus!

When Uncle David was here, he bought more ingredients than he needed to make his salsa.  Grandma said we could use the leftover green onions to make scallion pancakes!  I liked doing that!  First Grandma  kneaded a flour and water dough and let it rest.  After that, we rolled out pancakes and spread them with oil, salt and sliced scallions.  Then came the fun part!  We rolled each pancake  up, coiled the roll,and then rolled the coil back into pancake shape.  That made lots of layers in the pancake!  We cooked them one at a time by frying both sides.  They are yummy fresh or baked after being frozen!

Uncle Steven’s family stayed overnight at the bay two Fridays ago to help get the marine railway in the water.  I helped Grandpa get the lines and pulleys ready.  We even had a toad inspector on scene!  There was too much wind to get the job done, but Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara did bring the kayaks down from winter storage.   James found some sudoku puzzles to do.

Wind didn’t keep Uncle Steven from building a fire to toast marshmallows!  James and Thomas had s’mores for dessert.   The wind blew around the first of the cottonwood seeds, too!  I was glad all the stained surfaces were thoroughly dry, so we didn’t get fuzzy deck!

Uncle Steven, James, and Thomas came back out on Sunday.  Juneteenth Monday morning was nice and calm!  That made it much easier to float the rail sections into place.  Grandpa managed the outer end of the rails, tied under the rowboat, while Uncle Steven connected the sections together.  James and Thomas entertained themselves with electronics, but they did get out to do some swinging later.

Once the marine railway was in place, Grandpa and Uncle Steven launched the Waverblaster jet ski.  Uncle Steven was pleased that it ran and handled perfectly!  I made sure I welcomed the Waveblaster to its new home on the end of the dock!

While Uncle Steven was hauling the Waveblaster, Grandpa was getting the Chaparral power boat onto the marine railway carriage.  I got to ride it out from the boathouse for the first trip of the season!  Uncle Steven found some boat wakes to cross for a bouncy ride.  Thomas and James and I thought that was lots of fun!  Grandma and I let Uncle Steven take James and Thomas for another ride while we made lunch.

We made another trip to the bay on Wednesday.  Grandpa has lots of work to do there on the second half of the boathouse floor.   I helped Grandma do the second harvest of basil.  After we were back in Fairport, I helped make two kinds of pesto.  First, we used the salad spinner to wash and dry the basil leaves.  Then we put the leaves in the blender with olive oil, garlic, salt, pine nuts and cheese.  That blended down to about a cup of pesto.  I helped Grandma portion the pesto into small containers and label it for the freezer.  We made purple stem pesto with cream cheese and lemon basil pesto with parmesan and romano cheese.

We made another trip to the bay on Friday.  Before we went, I helped Grandma made three batches of party mix!  Uncle Steven, James and Thomas always like to have some around, both in Fairport and at the bay!  After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa took me to the Point to watch sunset.  There were clouds at the horizon, but a very pretty layer of clouds just a bit higher.

Yesterday morning, Grandma took me on my first kayak paddle of the summer.  We paddled a figure eight pattern around Eagle and Newark Islands.  Crescent Beach still has a big gap in it! Grandma doesn’t usually harvest invasive weeds when I’m in the kayak, but we pulled one isolated water chestnut plant.  It was wilted and dried by the time we got back from our paddle!

While we were kayaking, Grandpa finished removing the floor boards from the second half of the boathouse floor.  That meant it was time for Grandma and me to clean them up!  We managed to get them scrubbed and bleached in one day!  I helped by pushing them farther down the deck into full sun as the afternoon shadows advanced.  After Grandpa gets them put back down, there will be more staining for Grandma to do!

Love,

Lion-san