Friends Visit

 Well, I better squeeze in a blog post before we start another month. Last week was again very warm down here. Actually it was really hot! Amazingly the grass keeps on growing and the weeds and crabgrass are spreading in overabundance all over our lawn. Oh well :))

At this time of year the waterlilies emerge in the marsch areas of Lake Erie, just a short distance from where we live. Really pretty to look at.

Not so pretty were a cluster of Webworm Caterpillars I discovered in our front yard berm. They quickly defoliated a branch of our tall shrub. These fall webworms develop into small white moths and the adult moth lays her eggs, a few hundred at a time, on the underside of leaves in hair covered clusters, which hatch in about a week. When I looked again, the web was empty!

Lots of hungry webworm caterpillars

I needed to renew my passport and at the same time decided to have our two dogs microchipped. This is a new requirement the USA has put into effect since the beginning of the month if you want to bring your dogs into the country. Apparently Canada is exempt, but I could not find verification that it’s true. Their distemper (rabies) shots are not due until November, so I have to book another vet appointment for them. 

The external tags for the microchips

We were expecting Marcie and David, our longtime cruising friends who circumnavigated the world on “Nine of Cups”, to come for a visit before they would again cross over to the USA after their extensive travel through Canada including northern Quebec and Labrador this spring and summer on their up-fitted Promaster 1500 van, which they lovingly call “Blanche”. You can read all about their travel on our side menu: Our Blog - Just a Little Further.

We sat out in front of the house because the deck got too hot

Photo of their van is from their webpage

David is explaining the interior

Amazing all the clever storage arrangement

However, another longtime cruising friend, Richard, who cruised with his sailboat “Pandur” and who we shared anchorages with during our sailing years on “Najade” surprised us for a visit on his land yacht, i.e. his beloved Chief motorhome, a Dodge Sportsman, just a couple of days ahead of Marcie and David. So Benno and I reminisced in cruising tales and the wonderful times we all had on the water with our friends. Gosh, we should do that more often!

Richard with a care package for later

Richard explains the layout

And last, although lately there was quite a bit of cooking going on, I forgot to take any photos except of the almost demolished Zwetschgenkuchen / Pflaumenkuchen (blue plum cake) that is a German specialty cake for the month of August and is eaten with a generous dollop of whipping cream.

Oops, almost ate it all up before the photo

Let’s hope September will bring a bit of relief in the weather so Benno’s project will keep progressing!

Wishing everyone a happy Labor Day and thanks for dropping in.