We continue to get frogs every time it rains. If we don't have rain? No frogs! But now it's starting to get scary. I think they've heard that the pool heater will be up and running for the coming holiday weekend. (woohoo!!) They've morphed into a new species and they are bringing their babies with them!

Does anyone have any ideas of what to do next?

We are having September-type weather in August. It's weird. The nights are so cool that I find myself closing windows before I go to bed, otherwise the house is freezing when I get up. The days are beautiful: sunny, low humidity, and comfortably in the 70's. Although it feels great to not have the air conditioning on, it is just way too early for this. We are still supposed to be enjoying the pool folks! These nights in the low 50's are killing the pool temperature which has now sunk to 71 degrees F.

Our pool heater installation is going slowly. The heater is in and pretty much ready to go but we are waiting on the propane people (who are due on Monday) to lay their gas lines, etc., and also the electrician to make everything work. The electrician is going on vacation and not due until two weeks from now! Ugh. Dennis (our pool man) said he can rig something up in the meantime to get the heater running. So, we might have a few weeks to enjoy our heated pool before we have to close it for the season right before we leave for Colorado. It has not been a good pool year this year. I'm bummed. But, next year—just think—we'll have the heater to start us out early. Definitely something to look forward to.

Today our friend Carolyn arrives for the weekend. We have plans to go in to the city tomorrow to Chinatown for lunch and to revisit some of the shops that were on our tour of two years ago. It should be fun! I can't wait to eat at Dim Sum GOGO again. This time I also want to make it to the big department store, Pearl River, even if we end up taking a taxi!

Totally unrelated photo: bikes in Cartagena!

I swear, every time it rains, it rains frogs. I can't figure where else they are all coming from if not the sky right along with the rain. We've gotten a lot of rain over the past two days and this morning we pulled back the solar cover on the pool to reveal more frogs. Eleven, in fact.

We decided to do as Carolyn suggested and put them in a bucket. Rick is the official frog-fisher-outer since they tend to gather in the bottom of the deep end. It's a good thing our net has a nice extension pole on it.

Bella was intrigued by the whole thing.

She kept sticking her head in the bucket. Before I knew it, she had grabbed one in her mouth and spit it out on the deck. He seemed to be okay and I just picked him up and put him back in the bucket with his buddies. I don't know if it was the movement that intrigued her or she just likes frogs. It was hard to keep her head out the bucket and I kept a close eye on her to make sure she didn't try to eat another one.

One got away as I was trying to extricate it from the net and hopped off. He'll probably be back tomorrow. Or the next time it rains.

Rick took the bucket-o-froggies and walked their little green butts down to the creek and dumped them in. If the same thing happens the next time it rains you are not going to convince me that they aren't coming from the sky.

Pool time on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night dinner: Margarita Shrimp & Scallops with Mango Salsa

The sky as we ate.

Early morning canoe trip on Green Turtle Pond on Sunday.

With water like glass.

A heron.

Reflections.

A lady duck.

A trip to the Warwick Farmer's Market.

On Friday night we went out to dinner at the Rogowski Farm. It's a local farm that has a farm to table supper club once a month. We've been twice in the past and it's always been good. Almost everything on your plate comes straight out of their fields, greenhouses, and bee hives. This particular dinner featured tomatoes, zucchini, radishes, pickled green beans and fresh honeycomb. 

The setting is rustic: one big (or two) communal tables set up in their farm store. The chairs surrounding the tables are mis-matched. I'm sure there are a few chairs that are identical to each other but it's hard to say. The back door is open with a view of the fields. 

The communal table is always interesting since you are sitting next to people you don't know. We've always had lively and interesting conversations here, and this night was no exception. We met a couple that basically live right down the road from us in Awosting, and we got along so well together that we exchanged personal information with them and hope to get together soon. We also met an interesting man who owns a restaurant in Hoboken and learned about a farm-to-table restaurant, Damon Baehrel near Albany, New York that is run only by one chef where the waiting list is four years for a reservation. Four Years! He does all the farming, cooking, etc. all by himself. Not sure if it's worth the wait or not but Rick has put us on the list. We shall see if we ever get there!

Saturday dawned rainy and wet. It rained all morning and it was so cool that we were able to take the dogs with us in the truck to the grocery. They were thrilled to be along for the ride. After lunch the skies cleared and it turned mostly sunny so we took advantage of the pool for a short while.

Sunday found us once again participating in the Del-Val Miata club's run. We couldn't resist since this one started very close to home and ended up at a popular old-fashioned burger joint, The Chatterbox.

Some of the road were familiar, but others were new to us. The run took us through Harriman State Park, over and back up the hill to Warwick and then deep into the countryside between Warwick and Lafayette. There were lots of turns and at one point we lost the car in front of us and we took a wrong turn thanks to my bad navigation skills. (Everyone gets a printed copy of the run with all the turns and roads listed.) It only took us a few minutes to realize our goof and get back on track.

It's interesting to participate in one of these runs because it's not like just driving around by yourself. You need to be aware of the car in front of you and the car in back of you while watching the road. 

The day was beautiful: sunny and warm without being hot. Perfect tops-down weather!

Our burger at the Chatterbox was excellent and we got to talk to a few other couples a little more in depth. I doubt we'll make a habit of going on so many runs, but once in a while it's fun. Right now they don't have any September runs planned and the next one is called Punkin Chunkin in mid-October.

All in all, a very satisfying weekend. This coming weekend we are planning on sticking around the house and we hope to get the canoe out on Green Turtle for the first time this year. (Note: the canoe spent the first part of the summer at Camp Andy getting a spa treatment--buffing out scratches on her bottom, getting a new coat of varnish.) We are looking forward to a laid-back weekend and hopefully get in some pool time too.