Gray, Gray, Gray, and Wet (Hiking Audubon)

Hiking Audubon

Pond at Audubon

Johnson's skating at dusk

Snow covered Board Walk at Audubon

Pine Forests at Audubon

Slept in till 7:00 but now it's 7:50, 36 degrees outside, about the high for the day, according to the weather report, and it's all Chautauqua gray outside, sky, lake, hillsides, with long fingers of the tree framing my view.  The lake still looks frozen though there are some wet spots.  If we had another day like yesterday, I am sure we could have gone skating with little fear.  But because it's supposed to warm up tomorrow as well, we will just stay off it, not as brave as our neighbors the Johnson's, who we found skating yesterday at dusk, just as we returned from our walk.  It was strange, as we walked along the lake, to see black shadows moving in the distance on the lake.  As they got closer, we realized they were skaters, our neighbors.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, crisp but not cold, a perfect day, as I thought for a walk at the Audubon Nature Center.  It's twenty two miles to the south, about a half hour, a pleasant drive if you avoid Rt. 62 and head there via Busti.  RT. 62, especially into Jamestown is one of the most depressing and unattractive drives in the area.  We were the only ones, as far as we could see, walking the trail at the Audubon, though it was open, with staff on hand, cars in the lot.  It felt great to be outside, feel the warmth of the sun when we would walk out of the pine forests, to the fields.  It took us little over an hour to make the loop and, as usual, we saw no wildlife, no birds in the trees, on the lake, not even a squirrel.  It just feels good to be outside, to feel the wind, enjoy the sun, the shade of the pines, the colors, the shadows, especially, for me, walking in a forest of pine trees, a ground covered with pine needles.

We did talk to the volunteer at the desk about the absence of birds at our bird feeders , here on the lake, and she mentioned they had gotten lots of calls from the locals about the same thing.  I wonder if this weather, so temperate for this time of the year, has something to do with it.  We have only had flocks of sparrows at our feeders, then they disappear, a few chickadees and finches, no woodpeckers, titmouse's, cardinals so far.

Full Moon

We ended up in Jamestown, as Evie, through her health plan, Independent Health, gets a free YMCA membership.  Though it's in Jamestown and they have another site in Lakewood, it was worth the time to see how much she will use it.  They have two pools, two gyms, free classes, like zumba, and a exercise room.  It reminds me of the gyms in downtown Cleveland, when I was a boy, huge stone buildings built in the early 20th century.  It appeared to be quite busy; the sign in was interesting, as they  actually ask for a photo and a thumb print as part of the sign up and sign in process.  They obviously have to control who enters, especially downtown.

We had he leftover Asian chicken thighs and rice for dinner, and settled down to watch the second year of Downtown Abbey, on PBS.  We both felt it was not as compelling as last year's but there's still four hours to go.  It took awhile to remember where they left off, who was who, things like that.  Then, I watched some of the BCS bowl, boring for the most part, then went up and read more of 1Q84, a compelling read but troubling, as one of the major characters had 'little people' walk out of her mouth as she slept soundly, work together, and pluck translucent threads out of the air and weave them together.  This is typical Murikami, to throw something so improbable and far out into an otherwise realistic novel.