June 28, 2021 - DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY WEED?
First fish of the new season was not a bass but a lake trout caught on a bass minnow, from the dock which is a very unusual thing to happen. In fact it’s the first time it’s ever happened in 45 years of fishing!
On Wednesday Julie’s cousin Nancy and her son Danny were visiting from North Carolina. I got to have a meal with some of my "American" family… of course all Julie’s relatives….a couple of her cousins and her parents. I am the dark guy in the back.
I had breakfast on Saturday morning at the Angel restaurant a "long time" establishment on Main Street. The best part of the entire experience was the bulletin board. It shows an entire community in support of each other.
I love historical markers and our dogs love them too. They always check them for any "pee-mail". Ike tends to leave a reply.
As I ride around this small town I see a lot of things and ask my self why? If people are in the rental business and they have a house that they’re making money on, they should be expected to take care of it in the same way that a private owner takes care of his property. After all, they are making a profit off of the house. There are so many tired and poorly cared for houses in this town I’m going to find out why. People in the rental business have converted many of the old mansions into multiple dwellings and are apparently making a profit. If they can’t afford to keep up the house that they are renting, how can a homeowner afford the same, when the only benefit from improving a house is to raise tax rate. Something is amiss.
Sadly on Sunday night, we received word, via Facebook, that banjo maker Mike Ramsey passed away from a stroke. We had known Mike for nearly 40 years. We first made acquaintances when he was working at a lumberyard in Ohio. He called me up and said Mr. Bernunzio "do you think I can make banjos?". I said, "Mike, I think you can do anything you put your mind to." He bought several nice old banjos to copy them and he was in business. I told him to keep that "Saturn" inlay in the peghead, it will become your symbol…and he did.
DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY WEED?
June 28th, 2021
Good Morning Folks,
In the spring of 2016 Julie and I sold our big beautiful house on East Avenue in Rochester. Yeah, the idea was to downsize. We moved into a luxury high-rise apartment in downtown Rochester with the idea that with small space and no maintenance, we would be able to travel the world and do whatever we please. That last about two years and we bought a nice little two family house on Grand Avenue in an interesting section of the city of Rochester. One of the reasons was to have our daughter Grace a little closer to us as she is our youngest. She lives on the second floor and we lived on the first floor. Julie created a comfortable home in what was still a nice small space and an easy life. Then last spring we bought this large trailer with all of its accompanying accessories…..boats, Golf carts etc. The rationale was I had just had back surgery and it would be a nice place for me to recover. It wasn’t enough course and we bought the big house here on Main Street in Penn Yan. So much for downsizing. When we look at each other….when we have time to actually sit down and talk amidst all the different projects we ask ourselves, "Why did we do this? Are we crazy? Do we have no sense of who we are and what we plan to do? Don’t we EVER plan anything out? The answer is simply….no no no. We do things because they’re interesting. Both of us have had that one thing in common it’s got to be interesting otherwise it’s not worth it. We are an interesting couple.
I was walking, well I was rolling my little mobility cart, down Water Street in Penn Yan on Saturday. I could see just ahead two young fellows with closely cropped hair and sporting broad black sashes diagonally across their breasts. They had books in hand, a good stride and they were heading right towards me. I figured I was in store for a sermon or a pitch about some religion and I really wasn’t in the mood. Quickly I thought, what am I going to say to them? How am I going to get out of this? As I rolled closer and closer they approach me and said with, an air piercing boom, " Good morning sir." I looked up from my cart and blurted out "do you guys have any weed?" They looked as if they were struck by lightning or at least had a pigeon poop on their heads. They said, "My goodness of course we don’t!". I just kept rolling on while they scratch their head in wonder. It was a good for a laugh.
All my best,
John
Downtown PY
Angel Restaurant Main Street, Penn Yan
Twilight time at Keuka Lake….An "unenhanced" picture taken from the porch of our trailer.