Sunny April Saturday

April Morning on Frozen Lake

Another surprisingly bright morning, lots of sun, shimmery frozen lake, just below freezing though snow flurries are expected later in the day or tonight.  We have get outside and take advantage of the sun rather than sitting around wasting time on my computer.  Evie's up making stifado for tonight, a Greek beef stew with various spices, red wine vinegar, and tomatoes.  I remember really liking it in Greece because it was different from the typical American stew of potatoes and carrots.  We'll see.  We are going to Lakewood this morning, to stop at paint store, Evie will hit Old Navy and I will pick up my bike which I was having tuned up for the season.  I just read an article in the paper about the bike shop.  It sponsors a bike club of over 200 people, one of the largest in the state.  I assume them compete against other bike clubs but wonder how it's done with 200 people participating.

I took a great walk yesterday afternoon, down the lake's edge almost to Giarizzo's, then up their road to the new house beyond the pillared Chestnut Hill house, then I headed into the woods and walked all the way back through the woods, ending up at the Woodlawn Road. From Chestnut Hill, I could look up the lake towards Mayville and also noticed a a huge crack in the lake  across to Long Point, barely visible from our house.  One of the sounds of the past few days has been the lake cracking, a resounding sound like a bowling ball being dropped.  It was fun to bush wack through the woods, filled with leaves, downed trees, various brooks or ponds, some amazing pine forests, as well as the typical trees.  There was less snow than I expected, mostly a mat of leaves, snow only in crevices untouched by the sun.  I did not notice any green shoots yet, as spring has not arrived in the forest except for the melting of a blanket of snow.

We watched FAIR PLAY last night, the Varlerie Plame story, about the White House's manipulating of Saddam's non existent nuclear program, its scare tactics, which led us in to Iraq.  It seemed more like a documentary then a movie, perhaps because we knew most of the facts.  I would give it a 2 1/2 stars, perhaps just 2.  It does not make you any more confident about the integrity of the government officials.  They seem to do what they want and twist facts or make them up to justify their actions.  I wonder how Obama's people are twisting facts to justify our incursion in to Libya.  I did cringe during his speech on Monday when he used various euphemisms to explain his actions.

Just returned from a one and a half hour walk through the woods of Long Point.  It was a beautiful sunny day, many of the paths just leaves though just as many had a three or four inch pad of snow.  Nothing in the trees, just buds beginning to swell.  We were sweaty back in the far eastern corner, but as we moved to the lake, to the pavilion, it was chilly because of the wind.  Then, once we got down to the boat launch, the Long Point peninsula protected us from the wind, so it warmed up.  The water on either side of the bridge is open for perhaps a 1/4 to a 1/2 of mile and we did see one lonely boat out fishing, the first of the year.  A couple of neighbors are up, a sign of spring, no doubt, as it's supposed to warm up tomorrow though rain, of course.