Sunny and Warm Winter Day, High in 50's

7:35

Morning Sun

Long Point, Late Afternoon

I am starting to sleep in, getting up at 7:40, after Evie, which is very unusual.  Surprisingly, the bedroom was lit, as the sun had started to rise, the sky was clear, a surprising morning of blue skies, thin, long puffs of clouds, and melting snow, dripping gutters, as Sunday's snow begins to disappear.  This is the kind of winter Chautauquans warned against, the kind we did not have the past two winters, our first two up here full time.

Yesterday morning, we did head into Lakewood, for Evie to work out at the YMCA and I went to the Eight Limbs Yoga studio for my first class; it was perfect, not too arduous for a beginner, but lots of stretching, various poses, and help from the instructor when I needed it.  It went from about 10:10 till 11:15 with the ending relaxation period.  There were about eight people there, various ages though I was the oldest and one of the women knew me as Tom Davis from Woodlawn.  Her name is Julie Lescynski (I think), and her father was Doc Langdon, so she grew up on Woodlawn.  I decided on the monthly plan, the cheapest if I use it by far.

We tried skiing in the afternoon but the lake was too wet, the bottoms of our skis froze, so we ended up hiking up Victorian Rd and back for about 45 minutes, in late afternoon, just as the setting was sinking behind the western sky.  We talked with Hayden and Halle for a bit, on Facetime, then had one of my favorites Turkish meals, Tas meal, a simple stew of meat, tomato paste, and Turkish spices served on mashed potatoes.  Simple but satisfying, with a  great flavor.

Evie just headed off to the YMCA, to take a yoga class, than work out, then shop at Weggies and Bon Ton, the local department store and the Dollar Store, to stock up on items for the Treasure Chest.  So, I am not sure what to do, most likely I'll go for a hike somewhere to the north, stop at a coffee shop or library, to use their wireless, as I am having problems with my Internet connection and want to know if it's the modem or the computer.  It looks like a beautiful day, as I mentioned but warm, so the trails will be soggy and muddy, so may have to stick to the roads.  I finished THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GRAY yesterday evening which I really enjoyed, and starting Abraham Verghese's CUTTING THE STONE, a novel recommended to me by both my sister Ellen and Evie.  I read his first work, the non fiction MY OWN COUNTRY: A DOCTOR'S STORY, published in1985, where he describes his work as a doctor in the rural Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, dealing mostly with the then 'new' influx of HIV patients among the poor.  I really liked it and was surprised when he came out with a piece of fiction,