Another Stellar Autumn Morning Of Sun And Blue Skies

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6:29

8:27

It's 8:30, and I've been up since 6:30 and out on the lake at 7:15 for 70 minutes. It was a chilly 45º when I started, just as the sun was rising. It felt great to be out there after skipping yesterday morning. I wondered when I started my morning routine of kayaking and looked back at the blog, and I started kayaking most mornings unless the lake was frozen, since 2017. 

Kayak Morning

Into The Sunrise

Northern Sky

Through The Reeds

Along Bootey Bay

Caught Him

The Big Swallow

Head of An Eagle

Among The Reeds

Tuesday was not a fun morning. We were both up at 7:00 and off to the hospital at 8:00. I was having two procedures, both of which I have had before: a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. Since they put me under, it was over before I knew it. We had to wait an hour and a half before they took me away. I woke in my room with Evie. The doctor stopped in and said all was well and I could go home in a half hour. We left around 11:00, and because I had not eaten since Sunday evening, we stopped at Burger King and took Whoppers, fries, and a root beer home. We sat in the TV room, watched an episode of ER, and loved our Whoppers and fries, the best fast food in this area. At least we think so.

Sunny Morning Drive To Jamestown

By 12:30, I was wiped out from everything over the past two days, so I went up and took a good nap, waking up feeling pretty good. Neither of us wanted to do much the rest of the afternoon, so I mostly read, taking a break to walk around the neighborhood. We had our glass of wine at 5:00 and listened to the news until it was time for dinner. Evie made one of my favorites, fried eggs over mashed potato pancakes. Along with corn on the cob, we were happy. We watched TV until we were tired and went to bed earlier than usual. I'm glad my day was over, and I look forward to getting back to my routine of kayaking, hiking, yoga, or biking.

Hunkering Down On Our Dock Yesterday Afternoon

Fog Rising On A 39º MorningI

6:51

7:01

7:23

\

7:36

It's cold out there, but it's a lovely morning, with increasing fog. I'm skipping a paddle because I have to be in Jamestown at 8:30 for a couple more tests. It should get up to 56º later today.

Yesterday was busy but not much fun, because I was prepping for a colonoscopy. If you've ever gone through this, you know you can't eat, and you have to take various drinks and pills to clean out your system. I did get in a good paddle before starting the routine, and I could have coffee with sugar, no cream. When I got back, I wrote the blog, and Evie proofread it before she left for kindergarten. Then I read the newspapers, but I wanted to do something. I checked the front yard, and the grass seemed dry, so I got out my electric mower and cut it. It took around 20 minutes, and it felt good to accomplish something.

Since I couldn't eat anything, I warmed up some chicken broth for lunch, then read and napped, bored with my day. Around 1:30, I mowed the rest of the yard because the grass had dried out. Evie was home by 2:30 and had a fun day at school. This year's class seems well-behaved, and the kids all seem ready to learn. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and listening to Evie tell me about her day, always fun.

Dinner was a couple more cups of chicken broth, and we watched some TV until 8:00, when Evie went up to bed. I watched a bit of Monday Night Football, then went back to my series, Lioness on Paramount+, before heading up to bed. Not much of a day.

Dramatic Clouds And Sunshine

6:55

7:30

8:34

It's 8:43, and the sun keeps peeking in and out of the clouds. I spent 50 minutes paddling on a spectacular morning of clouds and sun. As I started out, the sky to the southeast was blue, with a blinding sun, while to the north, amazing banks of clouds hung over the lake.

Kayak Morning

Kayaking North

North

Long Point

Great Blue Heron

Sunday was another wasted day, except for my morning paddle, which lasted close to an hour. I was back by 9:00, and Evie already had our dinner made—a pot roast in the slow cooker. After finishing the blog, we sat down and made a list for Wegmans. I had my usual breakfast of yogurt and granola, then went for a walk around the neighborhood.

Victoria/Woodlawn

When I returned, we finished the shopping list, and I drove to Wegmans, leaving around 10:30. As usual, it was crowded, but since I didn't have much to buy, I was in and out quickly. I then stopped at Walmart and picked up a couple more pairs of sweatpants, which I like, for $17.95 each.

Looking Northwest

When I got home, I was hungry, and Evie made me eggs and bagels just as the Buffalo Bills game was starting. And that began hours of watching football.

Wow

The Bills played poorly and lost to the New England Patriots. The Chiefs, our second-favorite team, beat Las Vegas, but it was close. Afterward, we had dinner at 6:00: pot roast, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. Yum.

After dinner, we watched football until 8:00, when Evie went upstairs to bed. I watched another half-hour of Sunday Night Football until I'd had enough for the day, then watched another episode of Berlin ER before going to bed.

I think I must have sat on the couch for at least seven hours on Sunday, watching football on TV like most males in America. Sad-making.

What A Morning Sky

6:50

6:55

7:25

Cardinal In The Morning 

I was up at 7:00, and the sky just kept getting more and more spectacular. Right now, at 8:50, the sun is filling the lake with its light and the sky is mostly cloudless. It was 47º when I started paddling at 7:20, and I was out for close to an hour on my usual route. I listened to a podcast interview with a well-known historian on Superpower Suicide: how Trump's two years have basically destroyed the alliances built since WWII and embraced anti-democratic ideas, cozying up to Putin, Orban, and Xi Jinping while alienating allies like the European Union, Canada, and others. How depressing and accurate.

Kayakk Morning

Morning Sun

Victoria/Woodlawn

Saturday I took it easy, although I did get in a decent paddle and returned to finish up the blog and have some breakfast. The only task for the day was a trip to the Transfer Station. Around 10:30, after a long coffee, we gathered the trash, and I drove off, dropped it all at the Transfer Station, then stopped at the Amish Wagon for a dozen ears of corn, across the street from the Ashville Country Store. While I was gone, Evie was busy catching up on laundry and changing the sheets on our beds. I was home around noon, and Evie made me quesadillas for lunch. I watched some college football until 1:00, then went upstairs hoping for a nap and managed an hour. I came downstairs and watched the Ohio State/Iowa game for a while until I got bored, then joined Evie in the living room for a glass of wine. Before wine time, Evie put together our dinner: chicken thighs, corn, potatoes, spices, and tomato sauce. We ate around 6:45 and watched some TV until 8:30, when Evie went to bed. I watched more football and started a series called Murder in a Small Town. I'd give it a C-, but it was something to watch.

What A Night

Rhys Is Happy To See Tommy

6:45

7:27

8:35

It's 6:20, and I've been up since 2:30. Yep, 2:30. According to my watch, I got three and a half hours of sleep. I'm not sure why I couldn't get back to sleep. Perhaps it was the drugs from yesterday's procedure, or I was overtired from getting up so early on Friday morning. Anyway, it's going to be a long, tiring day. It looks like a fine morning for a paddle, but I'm not sure I have the mojo to get out there. Well, I did kayak, leaving around 8:00 for 50 minutes on a glorious morning, with brilliant sun and blue skies. I love it.

Great Blue Heron

In The Reeds

Kayak Morning

Paddling Into The Sun 

Yesterday wasn't much better. I got up at 5:15, had a procedure at UPMC in Jamestown at 9:00, and we got home around 11:00. We were both tired and hungry from the early start, so Evie made us breakfast: eggs and bagels. By 1:00, I was wiped out and went upstairs for a really good nap, maybe an hour and a half or more. When I came downstairs, FedEx had just delivered two Apple packages. We knew something was coming, and we were excited when we realized that Tom had sent both of us the new Apple Watches. We had talked about the newest model because Tom had just gotten one and loved its new features. We quickly opened the always amazing Apple packaging and began syncing our old watches and iPhones with the new ones. We're luddites at this sort of thing, but after an hour and many wrong turns, we had both watches up and running. Now we'll spend the next couple of days learning all the new features.

Neither of us did much during the day, putting things off until today. About the only things I did were charge the car and read my new novel. We did relax with a glass of wine from 5:00 to 6:30. Then Evie made us sandwiches with chicken tenders, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayo. Easy and delicious. We watched some TV, but both of us were having trouble staying awake. Evie went up to bed around 7:30, and I forced myself to stay up watching TV until 9:15, when I, too, went up to bed.

Friday

10:27

It's 10:30, and I have not had a fun morning. We were up at 5:15, on our way to the hospital because I was having a biopsy of my prostate gland. We arrived at 6:00 and are now home, and I am enjoying my first food and coffee of the day.

Yesterday was, as I mentioned, a sad day. Rhys was awake around 5:00, along with the rest of us, and we had no trouble getting the car packed and on the road by 6:30. Tom drove, so I didn't have to drive both ways, which was great. It rained for much of the first half hour, and near Buffalo, rush hour slowed traffic and even stopped it a couple of times. Still, we made good time, arriving at 8:05. We said our goodbyes; I got a hug from Rhys, and I was on my way home by 8:15.

I stopped at Exit 58 because it's in Seneca Indian Country, and gas was only $3.99 a gallon compared to $4.49 around here. I got off at the Fredonia exit instead of driving another 20 miles on I-90 to Westfield, stopped for coffee and a sandwich, and was home by 10:00, tired from the early morning and the drive. I sat around for half an hour, sipping my coffee, then got busy: putting things away in the garage, pulling down the snow shovels, and finally sweeping and cleaning the back porch, which was dirty from our parking-area sand and mud.

I made a ham and cheese sandwich and watched another episode of a series I started a week ago, Berlin ER. I was tired, of course, so I went upstairs and read, then heard Evie return, went down to talk with her briefly, and went back up and fell asleep for an hour, waking groggy but happy I'd slept. The sun was out when I got up, and after doing a few things, I realized the lake was beckoning. It was a warm 75º, so I went out for a 50-minute paddle and actually worked up a sweat in the sun. It felt good to be out at a different time of day, since it wasn't an early-morning paddle.

Kayak Afternoon

Northern Blue

Around 5:00, we listened to CNN and had a glass of wine, happy to know Tom and family had landed safely in Kansas City. Dinner was breakfast, which sounded good: eggs, home fries, and sausage. TV-wise, we were back to ER and watched a couple of episodes. When Evie went to bed, I turned on the NFL game until 9:00, then switched to the WNBA game between Indiana and Las Vegas. I found I could watch the NFL game on my phone and the basketball game on TV. Crazy. I had enough of both by 10:15 and went to bed, happy to be back to my new book, "We Begin At The End."

A Sad Making Day

A Farewell To Our Golden Boy

Well, it's 6:00 in the morning, and we're leaving for the airport at 6:30. Tom's flight is at 9:40, so I'll be dropping them off, alas, and heading home without Rhys. Sad making.

Yesterday was a busy day, especially the morning. I was up kayaking at 7:00 and having breakfast in Bemus at 8:00. When Tom and I returned home, Rhys, Evie, and Mary were on the back porch, watching Rhys play in the dirt with his trucks. Evie even got him a blanket to sit on, but by the end of the morning it was filled with dirt. While Rhys played, Tom helped me download Muse, a new free AI app from Facebook. So now I have a new AI toy to play with, along with Claude and ChatGPT. Tommy has used it extensively, and it looks different from the other two in some ways. I'll see. By 10:00, we were out in the backyard, and Tom spent a good hour cutting down all the flowers and bushes in the garden with a hedge clipper. We filled four garbage pails with the detritus, and I took them up the hill to the wood pile. The whole time we worked, Rhys played in the dirt with his trucks, happy to be by himself. The garden looks naked now without any green, but it will be ready for next year. We did keep the zinnias, though, so along with the hydrangeas, we still have some fall color.

Before

And After

Zinnias

After our busy morning, Evie made us lunch: eggplant sandwiches for Tom and me, and eggs, toast, and lots of blueberries for Rhys, who went up to bed around 12:30. The rest of us were tired and sleepy, so Evie showered to get peppy, and the rest of us tried to nap. For some reason, I haven't been able to nap recently, so I read for forty-five minutes before coming downstairs, where Evie was organizing the little boy's toys. Rhys woke at 2:30, almost the same time each day, and Evie went up and brought him downstairs, already happy and talking up a storm, ready to play.

Do You Think Rhys Has Enough Toys? 

Bros

Around 3:15, Tom wanted to go for a walk, so we headed through the Victoria/Woodlawn woods, my usual trek, which took close to half an hour. After a quick shower, we left for the Viking Club around 4:15, planning to sit outside and let Rhys enjoy their neat playground before ordering dinner. We got there early so he could play, and he discovered a sandpit with loads of trucks and diggers, all for him. We sat in chairs watching him, with the lake and sky in the background. Eventually we took him to the playground, then into the bar, where we ordered lots of wings, fries, and chicken tenders, along with another beer. The wings were great, and Rhys devoured the tenders. We ran into our neighbors, Joe and Barb, and Jim, who were just back from a trip to the Thousand Islands.

Rhys Navigating The Playground

Kicking Back, Watching Rhys Play

What A Great View

Too Many Trucks To Choose

Father And Son

Trucking It 

We were home early, by 7:00, and Rhys was tired, so we put him down around 7:20, knowing he'd have to be up at 6:00 for our trip to the airport. We sat around on our devices, going over the past few days and wondering when we'd get together next, Thanksgiving or Christmas. We ended the night with peanut butter, chocolate, and cream pie, sinful but delicious. We were all in bed by 9:30 after a great day.

A Tired Boy