Saturday, July 4, 2026

Friday at Punderson

 Morning pickleball at 7:00 am again.  George S. was the only one who went with us. We played one game with George by himself and Nathan and I on the other side.  That was enough for me.  But Nathan and George continued for a little while.  It was way too hot and humid for me.


We had invited Ben Tomlinson and his son, Davy, to come join us.  They live in the Cleveland area.  They got here a little before 11 am. Some of us had gone over to the lake earlier to rent boats.  Dorothy, Ed, and George S were in a canoe and Kallie and Amelia were in a kayak.  Nathan rented a paddle board. I rented a paddle board for Ben and a single person kayak for me.
George, Ed, and Dorothy

Kallie and Amelia
Nathan 

  Dorothy and Ed needed to leave so George took their place on the canoe.  Davy did not like the paddle board so he shifted to the canoe with the two Georges.


Ben and Nathan look very relaxed.


I paddled over to take pictures of the water lilies. It was hard to paddle through the algae.

Robbie and Ice rented a pedal boat. Apollo liked to jump in the water but he needed help climbing out.


Then we shifted boats again.  Ben took George Singer's place.  George had to take Kallie & Amelia back to the cabins.

Ben and Davy joined us back to the cabin and had sandwiches for lunch.  

We played a rabble rousing game of Go Fish.  

The nature center opened up at 2 pm so we headed back there. 

It was a tiny place but it was packed with a lot of interesting information and activities.

Waiting for instructions for the archery.

Davy's turn.  He did a great job.  He discovered that he is left eye dominant even though he is right-handed.


Ben's turn.

Bullseye, of course.


Not!! 

Amelia's turn

She did hit the target.

My turn

I did manage to hit the target.

Ben and Davy left.  They had another event to get to.  It was fun to see them.

We had a 6:30 pm reservation at Blu Basil.  Martin and Robbie did not join us.  They wanted to watch one of the World Cup games.  





It was delicious Indian food.  We have a lot of leftovers.  






On our drive we passed this interesting building.  We had to look it up. The ASM International (Materials Society) is the world's largest association of materials-focused engineers, scientists, and technicians. Founded in 1913 and headquartered in Materials Park, Ohio (distinctly recognizable by its geodesic dome), it serves as a massive knowledge hub. I downloaded this picture.

Ice, Robbie, and George S joined us for cards.  Robbie and Martin were caught in the storm on their way home from their dinner.  There were power lines down and they were drenched getting to their car. We watched the storm from our porch. It was mostly wind with lightning and thunder. We did not notice much rain. The storm did not cool things down for long. It was the first time we could even use our porch.  Well, we did not use it long, once Ice came with Apollo.  He is a very exuberant dog.  The dining room table was a little more stable.  He quieted down once Robbie came with a big bone for him to chew on.

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Thursday at Punderson State Park


The porch

Sun coming up through the kitchen window.

My usual "work" station. 

 The plan was pickleball at 7 am before it got too hot.  Well, we did not quite make that, but we were out there by 7:30 am.  We played one game. That was all we could manage.  It was already too hot. It was just George S, Nathan, and me.  George W took the pictures.



Robbie, Apollo (their dog) and Martin made it in around 12:30 am.  

George S, George W, Nathan, and I went to rent boats at 10 am when they opened. The two George's rented kayaks. Nathan and I rented paddle boards.  
Getting all of the gear

The boats

Nathan is a natural




I did manage to get standing.


Nathan went into the water.  The first time was on purpose.

The second time was not planned.  He was a lot cooler after getting wet.

A cardinal.  We don't have them in Oregon.

Rob and Lisa arrived.

Martin, Nathan, and Robbie.

We went down to meet Apollo, before heading off to lunch.
We had a 12:30 pm reservation for 15 people at Zeppe's Tavern and Pizzeria.

Kallie, Amelia, Martin, Robbie, Nathan, Dorothy, Ed, Brendon (Mary's husband), Mary (Ed & Dorothy's niece), Rob, Lisa, me, George W, George S, and Valerie.

Brendon and Mary with Apollo.  

When we got back Robbie wanted to take Apollo for a walk on the boardwalk.  I stayed in the cabin.  It was too hot for me.  Everyone else went.  But then I missed the excitement.  Apollo jumped into the water and Nathan (swamp hero) jumped in after to help him get out of the water.  What a mess.





Before and after 


Robbie had to give him a very thorough bath.  Nathan had his fourth shower.

We gathered back in our cabin for dessert.

Soon Rob and Lisa had to head back to Columbus and Mary and Brendon headed back to their place in Cleveland.

Some of us played a game of cards while others napped.  

We had a 6:30 pm reservation at the lodge dining room.  I don't think that we were very impressed this time.  They made a lot of mistakes in our order and the food wasn't that great.
Robbie, Martin, George

We walked back to the cabins.  




We tried to play another round of 10, 9, 8 but we seemed to have trouble staying on track.  I think that we were all tired.  Robbie will have to leave soon to go pick up Ice from the airport.