How old, how young?

How old do you have to be before younger people step aside on the walking path along the lake?  It's a gorgeous day in the neighborhood--perfect for a walk heading east.  Giant tanker at the Marblehead dock, sunny day, a few clouds, and a nice breeze.  I was almost mowed down by a 20-something jogger--I stepped into the grass--and then a 40-something ran by with her big dog--and I stepped aside.  I was walking on the far right, leaving them plenty of room, but they were enjoying the great weather and not looking.

Flowers are terrific in May. As are the greens that just don't appear any other time of the year.  All the colors and blooms I remember from the days 50 years ago when most people didn't go to the nurseries to buy annuals.  Peach, pink, rose, purple, blue and white iris.  Early rose bushes.  The lilacs are finished now. Bridal wreath just about done. Later in the summer there will be hollihocks along the lakefront, and then the many types of lilies.

This morning I saw a huge hawk circling and two tiny parent birds trying to attack it to keep it away from the nest.  Parenting is never easy, and in the law of nature, only the fittest survive.  I hope my mother duck at the front door is staying close to the nest.  Her coloring is just perfect for that location, but when she gets frightened and leaves the 9 eggs (that we can see), they are so light they almost glow against the leaves and mulch.

As every Spring at Lakeside there are changes.  People scraping cottages and freshening with new paint; ripping off an old porch and adding a new; some cottages sold over the winter; others went up for sale--the biggest gap will be the 3 on our street all owned by the same couple who have relocated to New York; and some deaths.  When we only see each other a few months of the year time is so compressed.

Just heard about the death of my high school classmate Neal--I'd only seen him once or twice in the last 50 years.  He left school early to enter college and rarely came back for reunions, or else we didn't come back at the same time.  But he was a very smart kid who wrote plays for our class to perform.  It was a very small town, but the teachers all knew he was a rare one, and encouraged his unusual abilities. I'm sure everyone in the class remembers Neal, and I'm sorry for his children who have lost both parents within one year.

This year there will be restaurant service at the Hotel Lakeside again--and that is great news.  I stopped in and picked up a menu today--casual fare except for week-end evenings.  Now that Abigail's has closed there were not many choices for dining out, so people were leaving the grounds for Marblehead and Port Clinton.  And that's not good for the rest of the merchants who depend on people strolling by and impulse purchases.  I still remember sitting in the Hotel dining room in the summer of 1988 looking at the newly rebuilt pavilion and saying to Bob, "I think I'm ready to buy a cottage."  I thought he'd pass out from happiness, and he didn't say much for fear I might change my mind.  We took a different walking route on the way back to our rental, and passed this tiny cottage with a for sale sign in the yard, and the rest is history as they say.

And this blog is so long and so all over the place because I'm on the porch picking up a connection from God knows where and it won't last long--so bye, and have a great holiday week-end.