Sittin' on the dock of the bay lake

Our view at lunch. The blue smudge in the
background is Lake Michigan.

One of the Canasta Chicks moved this spring to a town north of here (she's straight up the highway from me, so you can sort of say we live on the same block, if the "block" is twenty-six miles long) and I'd missed the first game night at her new place. Sooooo...when she e-mailed the group to see who was available for an impromptu game for today, I jumped at the chance to visit.

The condo is gorgeous. Spacious, comfy, bright, with a wonderful view of a mini-wood out the back windows. The complex is just over ten years old and still has that squeaky-new feel to it.

Carol does not, however, subscribe to my belief that a good hostess always plays the role of loser in any game played with her guests. It was a hard fought battle, with a fairly close score, but in the end she triumphed.

After the game, we headed out to catch a late lunch at a place her husband had discovered on one of his long bike rides. It must have been a very long ride, as we had to take the freeway north another two exits before heading east towards the lake. The Dockside Deli in Port Washington is indeed dockside. In warmer weather, one presumes they would have more tables outside than just the two tables just out of view on the left. There's a decent view of the boats from inside the deli, and a better view of the lake from the outside tables.

As a side note, the historical marker in the background commemorates the great Wisconsin Chair Factory Fire. The fire started small, in the veneering room, but a series of unexpected building and equipment failures allowed the fire to regain energy and spread. In addition to wiping out the factory, it consumed a number of other businesses. Roughly six hundred people lost their jobs as a result of the fire.

We forget, these days, what a scourge fire was a hundred and more years ago. What our modern firefighters could put out in a very short time would take hold and run the risk of burning down the city back then.

It's only 53 degrees, though sunny. I refuse to turn the heat back on (well, at least until my fingers turn a deeper shade of blue than they already are). It may be time to start machine quilting one of the two quilts we layered at yesterday's craft day - at least sitting under the quilt will warm me up a bit.