The heat is gone, but the lake days are with us for a few more weeks

VALOIS, New York, USA - The stifling heat of earlier this month has passed, blown out by a cold front (that wasn't that cold) and a few thunderstorms that were incredible in their power.

One storm dropped trees all around us and bounced a four-inch diameter branch off the front window of the cottage.

One damned strong window.

For several hours, we were without electricity (and Internet! Madra Mia!). The lakefront resonated with the sound of chainsaws.

Branches - and whole trees - came down in the storm

Adm. Fox and I took a three-day sojourn to New York City to stay with sister Anne and also to have lunch in the city at Sam's Restaurant in Manhattan with brother Tony and sister-in-law Marion.

Sam's is the restaurant my brother has had lunch at for, oh, maybe 40 years, and everyone knows him and the service he gets, well, it's incredible.

Michael, Anne and Tony Fitzgerald

We had a center-room table which wasn't that hot for conversation but great for seeing people come and go.

Afterwards, Tony and Marion piled into a taxi/limo to head to the ferry for New Jersey (where they live in Shrewsbury). Anne, amigo Father Joe Lynch, Adm. Fox and I headed back to Penn Station were we took the Long Island Railroad back out to Hewlett.

Back at Seneca Lake at the cottage, we are watching July slip into August, and summer is still in full swing, especially at the Valois Point Yacht Club.

Saturday afternoon we had Joseph and Yvonne arrive aboard their fabulous Sabre sailboat and spend an hour or so tied to the dock. We chatted about sailing - and local politics - while they waited to head across the lake to go to the Glenora Point anchorage from which they planned to watch the fireworks from the Hector Fireman's Fair.

Adm. Fox and I hit the fair Friday, first going to Eric and Tina Hazlitt's for a fun parade party, then we hit the beer tent and toured the fair exhibits.

A video of the parade is still in the *subject2change Media video camera... It will show up here another day.

Here's several photos of Joseph and Yvonne's entrance and exit.