A Bright Shining Day (Hiking Webb's Trail)

7:45 AM

Up at 7:30, later and later, to a clear sky, a beckoning sun, white snow covered lake and 17 degrees, a perfect day ahead of us, or so it seems.  The lake is frozen enough for some intrepid fishermen to venture forth, as I saw a few off of Long Point yesterday afternoon, albeit in what would be shallow waters.  I took a hike up and down Woodlawn and Victoria as well, to see what the lake was like.  Interestingly, where the streams feed into the lake, the lake was frozen over with ice, whereas the areas covered with snow were mushy though I assume beneath the slush was a few inches of ice.  Unfortunately, it is supposed to warm up some tomorrow, so we will continue to get the see saw effect of freeze, then thaw, then freeze.

Old Train Track Bridge

Paul and Nadine Webb Trail

We did cross country ski yesterday morning, on the Webb Trail.  It starts just beyond Webb's, just behind the ice cream stand called Boxcar Barney's.  It was a perfect trail to ski, a slight incline, mostly woods, and it went west over a mile, to Rt. 426, the road from Mayville to Sherman.  The going and coming took us an hour and a half, so we both got a good workout and I worked up quite a sweat.  The woods were lovely in their quietness, each bough snow covered, creating a spider web like vista of trees and snow covered branches.  Interestingly, snow mobiles are not yet allowed on the trails; they are maintained and groomed by the local Association, which does not allow snow mobiles on the trails until they are frozen enough to protect the trails from abuse because many of them go through private land and need the owners' acquiescence to pass through.  And, because of the winds, a crew of guys was on our trail looking for downed trees, as they would be a real hazard to some of the wild trail riders, especially at night.  I mentioned that the other day, when we skied through Long Point, a number of trees had fallen during the night, creating hazards for a snow mobile.  I can see the necessity of either having volunteers or the park management insure the safety of these trails, something which from what I hear, is increasingly being taken over by concerned citizens, as the Parks and Villages are running out of money.

Beth's Pasta

I took it easy the rest of the day. Evie, however, before we went skiing, put together the dough for our new favorite, black bread with coffee, molasses, and cocoa, let it rise while we skied, then baked it when we got home, later in the afternoon.  Later, she made a recipe that Beth composed with whatever she found in her pantry, aptly named Beth's Pantry Pasta.  It was easy and great, meatless with various dried mushrooms, capers,  and a spicy tomato sauce.

Black Bread Arising

GADFLY ALERT:   We watched with dismay the triumph of Gingrich over Romney, once again confirming my belief in the irrationality of the American voter.  Newt is serial hypocrite, a twice divorced family values man, disciplined for ethics accusations by the House, eventually forced to resign, has profited off the public cow(Fanny Mae) since leaving office. yet remains insufferably arrogant, full of himself, and condescending towards those who 'think otherwise.' If he could, he would, like most conservative Republicans (though none have the courage to say it), get rid of social security and medicare and welfare (all three examples of the best of the socialism they abhor).  If this is so, why are so many retirees or near retirees willing to vote against their self interest.  The excuse used to be for moral or ethical reasons (a candidate was pro life, for example, thus no matter how competent, they would vote against him).  But one cannot justify voting for Gingrich on moral or ethical beliefs unless you believe him when he 'asked God's forgiveness for his past indiscretions' and has become a new man.  Let me remind people, we don't change.  We do for a week, perhaps a month, perhaps six months, but we inevitably return to form.  The Gingrich we have now is not a new Newt; we are getting the old Newt just repackaged in gloss.