the fairest of havens

My wife, Banu, and I had the past two Sundays off (the last two in August).  That is, we weren’t preaching and leading worship at our church.  Last Sunday, August 29, we finally went to Lake Ontario.  I say “finally” because we have lived in Cayuga County since 2016.  We went to Fair Haven Beach State Park.  On the way there, we had some moments of almost monsoon-style precipitation.  Eventually, the clouds lifted, and we even had an appearance by the sun.  (The sunburn on my neck was testimony to that.)

[Here we are—prior to my sunburn.]

When we arrived, there were only five or six people at the beach.  The gulls were in force: swooping and sailing, squawking and screeching.  Unfortunately, their territory was soon to be invaded.  Most of them took their “fowl” ways elsewhere.  Below, we see a bird going against the tide—you know, not going along with the crowd. (And yes, the Great Lakes do have tides, but they’re so miniscule as to be almost without notice.)

Speaking of a fair haven, Banu’s and my 27th anniversary was yesterday (Friday the 3rd).  Well, our marriage really has been a fair haven!

I have a confession to make, though.  My plan was to make this anniversary extra noteworthy.  I had plenty of time to set things in motion.  And then came our semi-vacation.  (I call it that because we stayed at home, with the exception of our outing to the lake.)  Still, it was enough for my usual schedule to be thrown off.  The date crept up on me.  I had one hope, though, which I noted in my journal.  “Maybe Banu has forgotten it’s our anniversary, since she always thinks it’s the 4th.”  (This is no surprise to many who know us.)

I was able to sneak out in the morning and go to Wegmans to get the ingredients for a Turkish breakfast.  I know black olives qualify, but do French bread, prosciutto, and Israeli feta cheese go into a Turkish dish?  Anyway, I think that got our anniversary off to good start!

We were still smiling as evening drew near, so I guess I was right.

I have one more photo of a bird at Fair Haven, so here we go: