Saturday Blues and Grays

Fishing off of Long Point

Evie at Master Cuts with Brie, Accepting Her Prize

Another gray Saturday (getting tired of saying this), as I got up late, 7:10, just in time for Only A Game on NPR.  The first thing I do in the morning is read The Writer's Almanac on my Mac.  Today's poem was perfect at describing my winter hibernation:

Winter Is the Best Time

by David Budbill

Winter is the best time

to find out who you are.

Quiet, contemplation time,

away from the rushing world,

cold time, dark time, holed-up

pulled-in time and space

to see that inner landscape,

that place hidden and within.

There's a light dusting of snow on parts of the lawn; the lake still has ice, gray and dangerous I would think except for the intrepid fishermen who venture forth, and it's 33 degrees, too warm for us.  A mix of snow and rain is expected later today, much like yesterday, much like it's supposed to be the rest of the week.  Where has winter, the snow, the low temperatures, gone?  

Yesterday, we went into Lakewood again, to pick up some hair products that Evie won in a drawing at Master Cuts in the Mall, the first prize we have ever won.  Evie went to work out at the Y, I walked a bit, hit the Ryder Coffee Shop/Bookstore.  Not much else to do on a rainy, cool day.  I did finish my book, Vaclav and Lena, which I loved.  I downloaded it on my Kindle from the library, which is pretty neat, and am starting on my next book, also on my Kindle and from the library, THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GRAY by Walter Mosely.  It's nice to be able to use my Kindle and not have to buy a book from Amazon.

Rod and Gun Club Lounge

Rod and Gun Club Bar

Yesterday evening, we went out for dinner at the Lakewood Rod and Gun Club.  We had not been there in a couple of months so it was fun to get away, sit at the bar for a couple of beers, gamble a bit (we didn't win), then have fish fry in their large, always crowded dining room.  It's a nice place to go, filled with Lakewood and Jamestowner's.  It's strange to think that we have had a house here since 1981 and when we visit a local place like this, filled with people, we recognize no one, know only one couple, the Nelsons, who sponsored us.  We live, have lived, an isolated life on our little island of Woodlawn.  We hope this changes as we get to know more locals. 

Today, the Chautauqua Conservancy is having a hike at the Goose Creek Preserve, near Ashville Marina, then all hikers will adjourn to the Southern Tier Brewery for a happy hour.  It's so wet and miserable outside I am not sure we  will go and the area is not really a trail, just a wetlands, with not much to offer other than getting to know the hikers.