Fog Bound

7:18

Well, the fog is so dense I can hardly see beyond our lake wall. It's 37º and there's a freeze warning. Once the fog clears, we should have a cool but sunny day for once. It's 10:45 and I just paddled into the fog as it started to lift for forty minutes. It was an amazing morning on the lake.

Long Point

Kayak Morning

Fog Starting To Dissipate

Red-Tailed Hawk

Wednesday was gray and overcast with some drizzle so I didn't kayak once again. It had rained a half inch overnight so our major chore, bringing the air conditioners was in doubt. However, after breakfast and the blog, we took one out and it was not wet from the rain so we took out the other four, put them in the attic and wondered if we would ever use them again because we are thinking about getting split air conditioners for the house. We have yet to contact our plumber but hope to soon. Once we were done with that, I went for a walk around the neighborhood and noticed a V-shaped branch hanging on an electrical wire. So I called Niagara Mohawk and within a half hour, they had a truck down to check it out. 

At noon, my good friend Stan picked me up and we went for lunch in Bemus. My basketball buddies from Cleveland were supposed to drive up but both were sick so there was just two of us to reminisce about the good old days, playing ball and teaching at Painesville Harvey High for a couple of years. I was home by 1:30 and read and napped before driving off to Lakewood at 3:00 to have the battery on my car checked. The mechanic said it was fine so I am hoping for the best. I then did a quick run through Wegmans, picking up prescriptions and a few things for dinner,.

When I returned, I finished my book The Editor, a biography of Knopf's well-known editor, Judith Jones, and started Nuclear War, A Scenario which describes in great detail what would happen when a hydrogen bomb is dropped on the Pentagon. It depicts in detail its terrible effects on people and surroundings and, if I continue reading, leads to the end of the world as we know it. I don't think I will continue reading it. 

At 5:00, we relaxed with wine and it finally cleared up and we had some sun on Long Point again, making for another stellar afternoon view. Dinner was easy, the leftover pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. We watched Kamala's interview with Bret Baier and thought she held her own and showed spunk and grit when answering his questions. At times, he sounded like a Trump supporter, but that's Fox News. We ended the night with Colbert, CNN's pundit's reaction to the interview and Dark Winds. 

Late Afternoon Color

Mostly Overcast And Windy

7:56

8:38

It's after 8:00 and I have been up since 7:20, on a gray fall morning, the lake ruffled, the sky showing just a bit of color. The lake is ruffled and windy so I am skipping a paddle once again because I know if I get out there, I will turn around and come back in. It's just about 9:00 as we finish this and the sun is peaking out above the clouds, filling the lake with its light.

Tuesday Afternoon at 6:30 pM

Tuesday was typical for us although I did not kayak because of the drizzle. By 9:10, I had my breakfast, finished the blog, and was off to yoga. Evie then left for kindergarten at 9:30 and we were both gone for most of the morning. Yoga was fine, lots of tweaking my sore back and on the way home, I stopped at Sav A Lot and bought some pork ribs in case Evie wanted them for dinner. When I returned, I had soup and a salami sandwich and finally finished the sixth season of Justified.

Late Afternoon Sun

Evie was home early, skipping shopping, and had a great story. One of her kindergarteners called Evie over to his table of six and said, "We have an issue." When she came over, they argued over Jesus, whether he was alive, dead, or a God. She told them that 'people have different beliefs and we should respect them. That settled things and they got on with their work. It reminded me of the Art Linkletter show in the 1950s when he interviewed kids on his weekly show. 

Sun, Clouds, Blue Sky, Gray Lake

I then read my book, The Editor, napped briefly then drove off to Mayville to talk with the ironworker about making three aluminum horses/stanchions for the end piece of my dock for 3500 bucks. Nothing is cheap. Since I was in Mayville, I stopped at a practically empty Tops Grocery and picked up some more pork on sale and a few other things. When I  got home, it was time for a glass of wine and to enjoy the majestic, spectacular autumn sky. Every few minutes it would change and remind us of a painting. For dinner, we had my favorite, pork ribs, tomatoes, and Tom's homemade sauerkraut with mashed potatoes of course, and a salad. I can't remember what we watched, the news of course, and reruns of Everyone Loves Raymond, then the first episode of Dark Winds, based on Tony Hillerman's novels set in the Southwest.  

The Golden Hour

Today we hope to take the air conditioners out of the windows, a sure sign of winter and I will meet my basketball buddies from Cleveland for lunch in Bemus, something we try to do once or twice a year. 

Fog Rising And 38º

7:59

8:03

It's mostly gray, with the steam or fog from the lake rising, because of the cold air. It's supposed to rain intermittently for the next couple of hours so I am not sure I will kayak. It's almost 9:00 and the weatherman was correct as it started to rain at 8:00, just as I was about to kayak and it's been drizzling ever since. 

Yesterday was somewhat of a continuation of not a good day. After coffee, I tried to kayak but it started to rain fairly hard so I had to come in after ten minutes. I knew I had to get my KIA to a shop for repairs so by 9:30, I was on my way to the Kia dealer. When they were closed, I left the car there on Friday night and dropped my keys in the safe box. Well, when I got to the dealer, they could not find my keys and were not very pleasant about it. So I drove back to our house, got Evie's keys and drove back to the dealer hoping they found the keys but they hadn't. 

They made it clear I had to take the car to a body shop to get the car fixed and mentioned one across the street. I walked over to talk with the owner and he said he was so busy he couldn't get to my car until November because so many people had hit deer. I finally called Schultz Collision Center, less than a mile away and they said they were not too busy.  So I had to get my car over there and talked with the mechanic who filled my radiator with water and said I should be good to go to the shop. I started it up and drove over with no warning light, dropped the car off, and got a ride back to Kia to get my Outback. I stopped in at Kia and they still had not found my key but would let me know when they did. They think the lost key was my fault, that I didn't put it in the Dropbox.

A Beautiful Fall Afternoon

So that was my morning. When I returned home, I had lunch, tuna sandwiches and cauliflower soup and watched my show. Evie was working on shining up our copper trays and other copper items and I rested some after lunch and read. At 3:30, we drove to Enterprise, to pick up our loaner, a Chevy Malibu and returned home to relax, have some wine, laugh about our weekend, and start dinner, a couple of roasted chicken breasts, brussels sprouts and the last of the noodles. We watched the first episode of Disclaimer, on Apple TV with Kate Winslett and Kevin Kline. We ended the night with Anderson Cooper and the first half of the Buffalo Bills game. 

Wet, Windy, And Dreary

Nick, Aundraya, And Our Great Grandson Rhys

7:18

7:42

It's just 8:00 and I have been up since 6:45, reading the NYTimes Washington Post, and looking at Facebook, and the many photos from the Robert College Reunion. 

Yesterday it drizzled on and off most of the day. Because of the rain, I didn't get into the water until after publishing the blog, thinking the rain had stopped. But within 10 minutes of kayaking around 10:00, it started to pour so I had to cut my paddling short. So we had a long, drawn-out coffee, reading and listening to the various pundits on CNN, spewing mostly depressing news about the election. Kamala's surge has ebbed and Drumpt is gaining voters in the swing states. I feel sorry for America if he wins. At 11:00, I drove to Mayville, to Tops grocery to pick up some things for our dinner. The store was practically empty unlike Wegmans on Sundays which always seemed crowded. 

Around 1:00, we got our act together and Evie made us a delicious breakfast, a Turkish omelet called menemen, with eggs, feta cheese, and tomatoes. We watched CBS Sunday morning, then some of the Browns game. I had enough after the first quarter and read and napped, my usual afternoon. Meanwhile, Evie made a "New Neighbor" cake for our dessert, filling the house with a sweet aroma. The rest of the afternoon I either watched some football or read and Evie did the same once the cake was out of the oven.

Late Sunday Afternoon

By 5:00, we had enough TV and relaxed in the living room with a glass of wine, looking out at a gray, wet fall Sunday afternoon. By 6:00, we were ready to make our dinner, a highly recommended NYTimes recipe called Gochujang Buttered Noodles. Basically, it's spaghetti with a sauce made up of lots of butter, 12 cloves of finely chopped garlic, vinegar, honey, and a 1/4 cup of Korean Gochujang paste, not sauce, Once the ingredients simmered and thickened a bit, Evie poured it over the noodles, stirred vigorous and added salt, pepper and cut up scallions. We loved it even though it had quite a kick from the Gochujang paste and there's enough leftover for lunch or a side for dinner. We watched another hilarious Real Time With Bill Maher, the highlight recently of our week. Then, we watched some home improvement shows, a bit of Sunday Night Football before bed. 

 Dahlias Like Autumn

A Rainy Sunday

 

7:49

8:40

It's 8:30 as I start this and it is raining out. We received a couple inches overnight and neither of us heard the rain. It was 52º when I woke and may get up to 70º in the afternoon.  One of the weather apps mentioned the possibility of light snow Monday night or Tuesday morning. I tried to kayak around 9:40, and was out for maybe five minutes before it started to pour so I came in, soaked but happy to have gotten in a short paddle.

Kayak Morning

Cormorants Hanging Out In The Rain

Yesterday was a depressing day because we should have been in Philadephia enjoying the RC reunion but we made the best of it. I got in a decent paddle to start the day and we had plans to get two things done, stop at the Kia dealer to check on my car and pick up a loaner from Enterprise in Jamestown. Well, I called Kia first, and no one answered at service so I then talked to the operator who said the service department is closed on Saturdays so now I will have to wait until Monday. Meanwhile, Evie called Enterprise and they had our car reservation from our insurance company Erie but did not have a car available. Evie had to cajole them into promising us a vehicle on Monday at 5:00. So our fun continued.

So we were back, then, to a normal Saturday, gathering the trash and I drove off to the Transfer Station, getting at least one thing done. By noon, Evie had my lunch made, cauliflower soup and a salami sandwich. She then went outside and began to mow the yard, hoping to get it down before it started to rain. I ate my lunch, enjoyed some football, and then another episode of Justified. I then read some and briefly napped, did a few things in the yard, then sat out in the sun reading until Evie asked me to finish up the mowing. By 5:00, we had the yard and Evie's garden looking good and everything put away.

We decided to drown our sadness in a Manhattan or two with some good cheese and crackers, mourning the fact that Garrison Keeler is no longer on the radio. We loved to listen to him each Saturday in the 1990s. Evie was smart enough to pull some chili out of the freezer for dinner, no fuss, and with saltine crackers and a salad, we enjoyed our dinner. We watched the usual, CNN, home improvement show, and a quarter of Ohio State football before going up to bed early.

Not The Best Of Days

7:58

Well, you might be surprised to see we are at the lake, that I kayaked, and we are not in Philadelphia for a reunion. At least, we are safe and sound, on a beautiful lake morning. It's 9:40 and I made myself go kayaking, hoping it would change my mood. It was a beautiful fall morning, duck boats floating by, gunshots filling the air and I was out for 25 minutes. 

Kayak Morning

A Windy Northern Sky

As I mentioned yesterday was not the best of days. We left for Philadelphia and within the first 30 minutes, we hit a deer and fortunately, the damage did not seem major, just some breakage on the front grill. We stopped at McDonald's and I looked under the car for leaks but did not see any. So we went on our way through the backroads of Pennsylvania, the road rimmed by beautiful mountains, colorful trees, and, unfortunately, lots and lots of Trump signs. We have driven this road in 2016 and 2020 but have never seen so many signs on this drive. Occasionally, we would see a lonely Harris sign, usually in a larger city, not the rural areas. 

Morning Fog

Beginning Of Fall Colors

Just as we were 20 miles beyond State College, home of Penn State, we reached the summit of Seven Mountain, and the don't drive your car, over heated sign, came on. We were lucky to pull over to a parking area and wondered what was wrong. Fortunately, a trucker came over and we pulled up the hood and it was clear the radiator was damaged and we could not drive our car. We were basically in the middle of nowhere and did not know what to do. 

First, we called the Kia dealer in State College, about 25 miles away but he said he could not work on our KIA for a week or two because he was short a mechanic. If we could have dropped off the car there, we would have tried to rent a car and continue our trip. So that was out. So we called AAA and after a hassle, they sent a truck but an hour later, it had not arrived so I called my insurance company and they had a deal which would allow the car to be hauled 200 miles.  We decided to go with their hauler and have the car sent home. We had a terrible time getting in touch with the Erie Insurances truck, mostly because of the incompetence of the person on the phone. They could not figure out where we were located. Finally, we talked with someone who could help us, figured out where we were, and sent a truck. In the meantime, our first AAA truck arrived and we had to tell him we had to cancel. He was great about it and said to give him a call if it didn't work out. We then decided to see if we could get a rental car and called Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, all in State College and none had any cars available. Go figure. We then had no choice but to go home. While this was going on, we were texting with our Turkish friends in Philly who wanted to come and pick us up, a 3 1/2 drive for them but we refused. It would have meant a seven hour drive for them and they would miss the dinner/party. 

Top Of Seven Mountains

Finally,  around 3:30, the Lion's Den truck arrived, pulled our car up on his trailer and we were off. Fortunately, the driver was a good guy but the truck was not made for three people. He was an aggressive driver, and we had no seat belts so Evie was grabbing my knee as we passed various trucks. Also, the roads were crowded,  and we had to take a detour on the backroads to avoid an accident on #80. We stopped for a pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw at Gio's around 5:00, our favorite stop on the way to my daughter Jill's in Virginia. We finally arrived at Jamestown Kia at 7:30, left the car in their lot and Evie called an Uber to take us home. He arrived just as we finished saying goodbye to our driver. We piled our bags in the Uber and drove home through Jamestown when the cops pulled us over and checked to see if our driver was insured. It sounds like he was late on monthly payment but all worked out so he dropped us over at home for thirty-six bucks, inshallah. 

We grabbed our bags, and walked into our house, more than 12 hours after we left it. We were depressed and tired, watched some TV, and went to bed early, happy we were safe but knew we would probably never see my students from Robert College again. 

Heading To Philadelphia For Robert College Class Of 1974 Reunion

7:15

7:35

7:37

We are both up early because we want to be on our way to Philadelphia by 8:00, a six to seven-hour drive depending on how much we stop.

Yesterday was a busy day for both of us because we had to get ready for our trip but also both of us had a busy morning. I had breakfast at 8:00, then yoga at 10:00 so I was gone most of the morning. Evie was volunteering at her kindergarten class and didn't get home until 1:30, exhausted unfortunately from her class. I had the leftover pizza from last night's dinner so that was easy, just throw it in a pan on the stove, heat it up and its ready to go. I watched my show, then tried to nap to no avail. I started a new book, recommended by my sister, Ellen, The Editor, and so far it interests me. 

Once Evie returned, she relaxed with a show, then got busy deciding on what to bring on our trip, always an arduous task. I have to admit I was not sure what to bring, to wear for the various evening get-together of Robert College, class of 1984 reunion. Finally, we both decided what to bring and Evie packed everything so we could relax again.  Around 5:00, I gassed up the Kia, then charged it, and we both worked on cleaning it inside and out, ready for our trip. I checked the oil, filled the washer fluid and we were basically set for our trip. 

We were able to relax with a glass of wine, then dinner, baked potatoes, fried eggs, and a salad, easy and good. We watched Bargain Block, set this season in New Orleans. We then watched Colbert's interview with Kamala before switching to the NFL game since there was nothing else to watch. 

Answer to yesterday's quotation: Mein Trump