GRAY ON GRAY, A RAINY WARM MONDAY

7:44

A Brace of Coots, not Canadian Geese, Very unusual

Up at 7:00 to drizzle, gray lake and sky and 44 degrees.  One year ago, I woke up to 16 inches of snow, with another 12 to come according to the weather bureau.  Slightly different this year as it's supposed to stay like this for another day or two before it gets colder.

Pieris Japonica at CI in December

Yesterday, we took our Sunday walk at the CI and like today, unusually warm, in the 50's, but a good temperature for a walk.  Later, Evie started making cookies for Marisa to decorate when we get to Darien, later in the week.  She also made a batch of new cookies, basically peanut butter and rice krispies rolled into small balls, then dunked in chocolate and refrigerated.  How can they not be good?  This is something my son in law, Drew Bissell would love.  Too bad he's in Qatar for another week.  For dinner, we had an easy recipe from friends of my sister Linda, onions, potatoes, and Italian sausage thrown in a dutch oven, baked covered for 1 hour, uncovered for 15 more, and it's ready to eat.  Simple but good.

We also watched a movie that we really liked, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.  It's a bizarre story of a square, bookish young Jew from NYC, who travels to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather's life, thus begetting him.  When he gets to Odessa, he's met by Alex, a Borat like travel agent, who steals the film, with his malapropisms, love for anything American, and sense of humor.  On the journey, Alex is also accompanied by Alex's grandfather and his dog, Sammy Davis Junior Junior.  They end up finding the remains of a Jewish village, where 1800 Jews, including some of Jonathan's relatives, were buried.  The road trip is one disaster after another, a strange combination of the absurd and the tragic, the trip and its people, and the reality, the murder of the Jews by Nazis in the 1940's.  The original music alone makes the film worth watching, amazingly energetic and catchy, a combination of polka, klezmer, Eastern European, Russian and gypsy music.  It's a counterpoint to the seriousness of the journey, reflective of the new Ukraine, their pride and optimism though the reality of their tragic past still intrudes.  We laughed and cried watching this film.  The only recognizable actor is Elijah Wood, the rest are from the Ukraine I assume.  Alex and his family are memorable.  I liked it so much I started reading Safran Foer's novel the next day.

Just a few minutes ago, we witnessed a brace of coots on the lake, black ducks with white beaks, something we have rarely seen before.  There are close to two hundred or more, a mass 50-75 feet long, as they float up and down the lake, in front of Woodlawn, diving briefly as they float.  Amazing.