(Hiking Nancy Diggs Trail) A Foggy Morning on the Lake

7:30 and Fog

Redpoll at Feeder Outside Evie's Kitchen Window

Hiking Nancy Diggs Rails to Trails

Up at 7:00, just in time to listen to Only A Game.  At the moment, Long Point is a faint outline through the heavy fog on the lake.  It's 37 degrees outside and the two inches of snow that was forecast for last night did not happen though it did rain.  It looks like a decent day, partly cloudy, highs in the forties, much like yesterday.  I am not sure how much it rained last night but I am sure we could use it as, in contrast to last year's deluge, it's been very dry.

Yesterday, I went to my last eclectic yoga class for awhile; it's been four ladies and me for the last couple of weeks, so I have gotten to know them a little which has been fun.  Two are single, rent apartments, and are struggling to make it on their own.  The other two are married, one's daughter is our teacher, the other grew up on Woodlawn, Doc Langdon's daughter.  Evie decided, since we were going to hike later in the day, to stay home, work in the yard, and cut the lawn for the first time this spring.  It looks great, green and healthy.

Trail Head on Rt. 430

For lunch, she made lentil/spinach soup (Turkish), and toasted cheese and capricola sandwiches, again one of my favorites, to rival the fried bologna from yesterday.  About 3:00, we headed off to walk the Nancy Diggs Trail.  It begins on the Mayville/Sherman road, just before Hannum Road, follows the old railroad tracks for a mile and a half and ends up on Hannah Road, about a half mile from the Gorge.  It was a partly cloudy day and though it seemed cold on the lake, we were dressed too warm for our hike, ending up shedding clothes along the way.  It was a good afternoon to hike, partly cloudy most of the way but by the time we got back to the car, the rain clouds were forming off to the northwest.  Because it's an old railroad track, it' quite flat and easy to hike.  It's amazing to think that someone built the mounds on which the tracks ran, at times 30 feet above the forest floor.  So much of the way, it's like walking on an elevated mound, surrounded on both sides by woods.  At the beginning of our walk, just off of Rt. 430, there was a sign explaining that for the next 250 yards, we would be walking through the remains of the tornado from the summer of 2010.  The path has been cleared but on both sides, the devastation is apparent, with piles of downed trees, on top of downed trees.  And, interestingly, there's a sign noting that off to the north sits the hill where the last person was hanged in Chautauqua County.  We are slowly getting to know many of the trails in the area, which has been fun.  It's always nice to walk somewhere new.

For dinner, we had salmon, spinach, and sweet potatoes and watched Bridesmaids for the second time, an often gross and vulgar movie but also extremely funny, even touching at times.

Tornado Devastated Landscape

I just got back from Saturday's Restorative Yoga, where we held three positions, each for 20 minutes.  I am beginning to really like this.  And Evie walked four miles at the gym, met me at Ryder's Cup Coffee, picked up a few things at the bookstore, then came home.  Right now, at my request, she's making salted double chocolate peanut butter cookies for this afternoon and another one of my favorites for dinner, Turkish Tas Kebab(beef stew with allspice, tomato paste, onion, and cinnamon) served over mashed potatoes.  Just the ticket for the NCAA b-ball games tonight.  I am a lucky man!

Sunny and Clear, Snow Expected Tonight

7:15

At Seezurh with Jerry and Jane Grice

Up at 6:45, to the faint quacking of the pair o ducks; we got smart and closed our window!  It looks like a nice morning, clear skies at least for awhile, in the low 40's, and it's 33 degrees right now.  The sun, on a morning like this, is blinding, forcing me to sit in another chair.  A sunny morning perks me up, makes me want to get outside and hike, walk, or work in the yard.  I am sure this is true for most people.

Yesterday was Restorative Yoga, where we held simple, relaxing poses for ten or fifteen minutes.  It's a very popular class, lots of women of all ages and me, of course.  None of the poses are difficult and the aim is to get you to completely relax, to almost fall asleep.  Our teacher suggested that these types of poses, as least for her, has led her as close to bliss as she has ever been.  As Joseph Campbell says, "Follow your Bliss."  I don't think I will get there.

Evie worked out at the Y as well, then we headed to both Sam's Club and Weggies, to do our weekly shopping, spending lots of money on groceries.  I don't know about others but we pay little attention to our grocery bill, getting what we want, even if it's a little extra.  Our thinking being we must eat, we are not extravagant, and sometimes eating healthy is worth spending a little more.  The amazing thing is we can end up spending a hundred dollars without buying any meat. I wonder how families and seniors make it who are on fixed incomes.  Food, for most Americans, has always been affordable but I fear this is changing with the rise in energy costs and the loss of good paying jobs.

Yum, Fried Bologna sandwiches

For lunch, we had one of Evie's favorites, fried bologna sandwiches, something her Mom used to always make.  I admit to liking bologna as well and can remember most of my friends having either bologna or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch at school.  It was delicious, taking me back and could only have been better if scrambled eggs were included on the sandwich.  Next time.

Jane Grice and Evie

Last night, we went out to dinner with Jane and Jerry Grice.  They came over about 6:00 for a glass of wine and we then headed over to Bemus, to eat at the Seezurh House.  We had not been out with them for months, even though they are around.  I am not sure why because we get along well, have lots in common.  Jane remains very busy with her real estate, doing quite well, and seems to really enjoy selling.  No retirement for her, she says.  Jerry also keeps busy, mostly on the business end of the construction business, leaving the actual construction to his son, Scott.  They both look good, seem happy, like traveling, in fact, they are taking a river trip in Europe in May, starting in Budapest.  They have been all over the world, quite adventurous compared to us.  We all enjoyed our meals and the Seezurh has a new burger menu, offering about ten different choices, with fries, for $7.99.  I got the chili, cheddar and grilled onion burger which was great and Jane got the Wing burger, with hot sauce, blue cheese, and onion rings, also quite good.

Well, off to yoga, then to buy my Lotto tickets.  Let's hope I win; I will share it with my followers! Fat chance.

Drizzling Rain, Much Cooler, Overcast and Gray

7:20

Beginning Greening of  Kinney's Run

Awakened again by the ducks, a pair, and I wish I knew who did the quacking, the husband or wife.  I have my opinion but because of self interest, will not say.  Although it was a high of 70 yesterday, with strong winds and lots of sun, today looks to be much cooler and wet and gray, at least for the morning.  The forecast was wrong yesterday, predicting rain and they may be wrong today.

Skunk Cabbage Row

Yesterday, as I mentioned, rain was predicted so we did not plan a hike though we wanted to.  It did rain around 8:30 but by 10:00,  it was sunny and clear though the wind had really picked up, with gusts of 30mph, bringing down branches everywhere, making it a bit scary to even walk in the woods.  So we walked the campground, the first time in awhile, checked out the petting zoo for the grand kids, and made the circle.  It was a nice walk, with little activity, a few workers and that's it.  When we walked down to the water, we could see a dock being put in, just beyond the campground, and we have seen docks in on other parts of the lake.  People are getting anxious for summer, but I remember last spring when many docks were lost because of the rains, so I am waiting until we return to the lake in May from our trip West.  Later in the afternoon, we took the Woodlawn/Victoria loop, just to get energized after a lazy afternoon.  Again, the winds were so strong that they bent the trees, and we walked with some trepidation, worrying about falling branches.

Petting Zoo at Campground

For dinner, we had Trader Joe ribs, with coleslaw and baked potatoes, easy and good then watched The Descendants, an Academy Award nominated film.  I had mixed emotions though Evie really like it.  At first, I was a bit put off by the extreme stereotyping of the dysfunctional King family, especially the two daughters and the boy friend.  They all had potty mouths, mean spirited and angry, nothing like any teenagers that I had taught or knew.  As the film progressed, the teen aged daughter tempered her rage, showed her humanity and took over the film, by far the most interesting character, a wonderful actress as well.  Clooney was Clooney, with his reserved, emotionless face, an occasional smile.  The boy friend even grew on me, though how they cast him in the role is a mystery.  They certainly did not pick the usual pretty boy.  An interesting side note, both the daughter and her boy friend were students at Punahou School, the most famous school on the island, where I taught in the 1960's, centuries ago.  This was one movie that got better, the characters became more likable and by the end, you empathized with them.  I did wonder about the decision, made by Clooney, whether to sell or save the property on the island of Kauai.  It was a very small part of the movie, like an afterthought and though Clooney made the liberal choice, to save the parcel from developers, it had little to do with his dying wife, his dysfunctional family, at least from my point of view.  It seemed tacked on, a paean to the environmentalists in Hawaii who hope to salvage the beauty of the island from developers.

HEADHUNTERS: JOE NESBO

This is the third novel I have read by Nesbo, the Norwegian writer.  All of his novels seem to take place in Oslo.  This being an exception in the sense that it's not about Harry Hole, the detective, but about Rodger Brown, a headhunter for a large firm.  Confident, able to see through any defense, he has made a name for himself for always convincing clients to hire his man.  That is, until he interviews, at the suggestion of his gallery owning wife, Diana, Clas Greve, fired CEO of HOPE, a company that makes electronics in Belgium.  In the interview, Rodger finds himself on the defensive immediately, and Clas appears to be the man who knows all the tricks. Nevertheless, Rodger decides against his better instinct to work with Clas, discovers he has a priceless Rubens hidden in his apartment, ends up sneaking in, taking the picture, but also discovers his wife's cell phone in Greve's bedroom.  He's been cuckolded.   From there things fall apart, as Rodger flees, with Clas in pursuit, angry about the painting, about the job.  Though Clas is a professional special forces sort, he, of course, meets his match with Rodger.  Just in time, Rodger finds out that his previous lover, Lotte, also has been in on the conspiracy with Clas, so Rodger regains his wife's trust and affections.  She turns on Clas, sets him up with Rodger's help, engineering both Clas's death and their returns to normalcy.  Rodger returns to his job, hires his initial interviewee from whom he had earlier taken an Edward Munch print and, we assume, lives happily ever after.  Not the best of Nesbo's but like all, readable and interesting.

(Overland Trail Hike, too) Gray, Overcast, Threatening Clouds and Warm

Chautauqua Gorge

Lunching at the Gorge

Chautauqua Creek

Chautauqua Creek

Up at 6:45 to a few quacks of the neighborhood duck.  Fortunately by the time I got downstairs, they, the ducks, moved on.  This morning is quite a contrast to yesterday, which was sunny, clear and cold, in the low twenties.  This morning it's cloudy and warm, about 46 degrees, with rain forecast for much of the day.  Too bad because I would like to get a walk or hike in but it looks like I am already too late, as I hear thunder off to the north.  And the rains have just started, peppering the lake, like gunshots, desperately needed if one is to believe the paper which had a fire watch out yesterday because of the lack of humidity and dryness.

Downed Trees on Overland Trail

Frozen Earth during Hike

Downed Tree Roots

We did take a great hike yesterday, on one of the best hiking days of the year, cool and clear skies, with the sun warming us just enough to make it a comfortable hike, neither too hot nor cold.  We drove twenty minutes to the entrance to Chautauqua Gorge, on  Hannah Road.  The Overland  Trail begins here, so we headed south towards Panama where it ends.  We walked a total of 90 minutes, a little less than a mile and a half out, to Summerdale Road, the same back.  The walk was fairly easy,  just a few dips or valleys, though we did follow parts of the gorge initially. It still looks like a late fall or early spring woods, trees leafless but lots of green leaves are beginning to fill the floor of the woods.  Two things shock us, always, as we walk.  The silence of the woods and absence of birds and any animals.  The only sounds are an occasional chain saw, a shotgun, the wind moving the trees, and our footsteps as we hike.  On this particular hike, we also were struck by the number of  downed trees, with roots like cookie monsters, climbing out of the ground.  I must have counted 40 or 50 littering the walk, some in clumps, some isolated.  My theory is that a tornado hit the area some time in the past couple of years, felling these giants, creating these 15-20 foot clods.  Amazing.

Hiking Overland Trail

After we returned to the park lot, we hiked down the Chautauqua Gorge and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a snack.  We were surprised at the forcefulness of the creek, much more energetic then in the summer, despite the lack of rain.  We were the only ones in the Gorge, on the trail, at the parking lot.  We decided not to walk more because of the high water and hiked back up the trail, much easier then going down.  We then explored a bit and drove off on Summerdale, to Lyons Rd, to a dead end where we could once again walk down to the Gorge though it's a much easier access, about twenty to thirty feet to the creek.  We are not sure of the parking, whether we are on private lands or not.  We did ask a neighbor who seemed to know very little, other than the fact that when he was much younger, he would go there to smoke grass, drink, and skinny dip.  We walked along the shore until it became too steep, then headed back to the car and home, stopping at the Lighthouse for some ground chuck and two bags of Utz chips, Evie's new favorite brand (as seen on Mad Men), one sweet potato, the other salt and vinegar.  Yum.

For dinner, I cooked burgers outside, with grilled onions, and we baked some sweet potato fries, to top it off.  Both were really good, one of my favorite meals, burgers and fries.  I cooked the burgers for about three and a half minutes on each side, which seemed just right.  We then watched the newest version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and neither of us were taken with it, perhaps because we had seen the Swedish version before and I had already read the book.  It seemed long and convoluted, and I wonder how anyone who had not read the book could follow it.  It was faithful to the text, slavishly so I would suggest, and could have been cut dramatically.

As I finish this, the rain has disappeared, the sky has lightened to the north, the southerly wind has picked up, the lake seems active and its surface crinkled, like a wavy potato chip (it must be the Utz's).

Clear Skies, Sunny, and Cold, Twenty two degrees

Yesterday at 9:45, Windy and Wild Seas

7:15

 Up at 7:15 to a well lit room,  the sun rising earlier and earlier as it moves towards the summer solstice, on June 21st.  It's quite cold out, 22 degrees.  When I went outside, however, it felt warmer than yesterday because of the lack of wind.  It's supposed to be a sunny but cool day, high in the low 40's, so we are going off to walk the first section of the Western Overland Trail, from the entrance to the Chautauqua Gorge to Summerlin road and back.  It should be a great day to hike this area, and fun to be on a trail that is new.

Yesterday, I went off to yoga, Evie to the gym, as we both felt like we needed some exercise and it was so cloudy, windy and broody out, that it did not look inviting for a hike.  Yoga was good, as I felt energized when I was finished, came home and hiked the Woodlawn/Victoria trail for about a half an hour.  A bit of green is beginning to appear, mostly on the ground, very little in the trees except for an occasional willow.

Kinney's Run Starting to Green

Skunk Cabbage, The first green of Spring

I read much of the afternoon, finishing Joe Nesbo's Headhunters, and Evie worked around the house, putting away much of our winter clothes and beginning to get out our warm weather clothes, for our trip to Scottsdale in April.

For dinner, we had scallops in garlic, white wine, shallots and parsley, from Ina Garten.  It was delicious  but not filling, so we both we hungry after our rice and salad.  We watched the two hour return of the Mad Men series and were disappointed, as the scenes were uninteresting, we never got to see Betty, Don's ex wife, and nothing seemed to happen, like a review of the characters and their lives up to this point: Don is selfish and solitary, Pete resentful, Peggy apologizing, and Rodger increasingly marginalized.  Let's hope it gets better.

We decided to begin an independent film called the Conventioneers and ended up liking it.  It's set during the 2004 Republican convention in NYC, mostly in the meetings of the left wing protesters, of Bush, his war, and the Republicans.  A young Texas delegate, David Massey comes to the convention and meets up with an old friend, Leah, a girl, from his Dartmouth days.  The movie centers on this relationship, on her liberal beliefs, how they contend with his solid, unquestioning Republican ideas.  Despite their political differences, they end up having a passionate four day tryst.  During this time, they see New York together, and he begins to question his beliefs, visiting a soup kitchen, even participating for a time in the anti war rally.  His life, his marriage, seem to be in confusion, so he's ripe for change and thinks this is it.  He pledges his love to Leah, but she understands this is just a brief affair, a tumultuous time in his life,  and turns him down, and heads back to her fiancee, a writer.  Disappointed and angry, he rebukes his buddies when they think he has gone soft on his Republican beliefs and he calls Leah, leaves an obscene message on her fiance's phone, talking about their tryst and how much he enjoyed sleeping with her.  And it ends.  The most interesting part of the movie was the setting, as most of the film was shot during the protests, during the rallies, so it was like a documentary.  In fact, all of the camera men, about six of them, were arrested and put in jail during this week of filming in NYC according to the credits.  Not a great film but an interesting one.

THE LEFTOVERS: TOM PERROTTA

Tom Perrotta is one of the more interesting satirists of contemporary American society.  A number of his novels have been turned in to films, too, the most successful was ELECTION,  with Reese Witherspoon as a aggressive high school leader, who ends up sleeping with her English teacher, Matthew Broderick.

In THE LEFTOVERS, Perrotta skewers contemporary religious belief, as the Rapture has taken place (so some say), and millions of people, good and bad, even the Pope disappear overnight.  Those who remain wonder what  they did wrong to not be included in the elect.  Anyways, that's the setting for the novel which takes place in Mapleton, a typical small American town, where the Mayor, Kevin Garvey, tries to make sense of things and live his life.  Although his family is not directly touched by the Rapture, his son goes off to college after the Rapture and ends up joining a cult called the Holy Wayne's, following a Prophet, a fraud of course,  who ends up sleeping with his teen age followers.  Kevin's daughter, Jill, feels lost and friendless, ends up friends with the fast and loose Aimee.   They spend their days skipping school, taking drugs, and playing a version of spin the bottle, except that instead of a kiss,  they pair off in bedrooms. Finally,  Kevin's wife, ends up leaving both her children and husband to joins the Guilty Remnant, a group of crazies devoted to being 'the next group to be saved.' They dress in all white, smoke cigarettes, and go around harassing the rest of the population of Mapleton.  By staring at them in silence, they remind the leftovers that they are sinners, and to be saved, they must, like the Guilty Remnant, give up their evil ways and devote their lives to the group.  It is only through penance and suffering that one can be saved.  Sound familiar.

Needless to say, Kevin's life has fallen apart, an unintended consequence of the Rapture,  and he tries to make the best of it, hoping against hope that his wife will eventually return.  She doesn't as she develops a very close relationship with Meg, a fellow HR, who left her fiancee on the altar to join the group.  Their relationship ends when the group decides that Meg must become a martyr to the cause and must willing be killed by her best friend Laurie, Kevin's wife.  Meanwhile, Kevin's son Tom discovers that Holy Wayne is a fraud, that the young woman Wayne has impregnated with his heir, has a daughter rather than a son.  She ends up abandoning the baby, leaving Tom with the child. He returns home, leaves the child on his father's doorstep, and takes off to find the mother of Wayne's baby, who has run off with a group of hippies called the Barefoot Kids.  Following this?

Kevin, longing for his family, the way it was, tries his best to survive and falls for Nora, a woman who lost her entire family in the Rapture.  She struggles to live with this loss, and though she tries various scenarios, she fails and decides to end her relationship with Tom.  She does this by letter, which she hand delivers to his home.  When she arrives to drop off the letter, the finds the baby left by Tom's son.  Tom returns home, after discovering his daughter's friend, Aime, who has been living with them(and who he lusts after), has moved out.  When he arrives home, Nora is standing at his door, smiling with the baby in her arms.  The novel ends.

I did not love the book but laughed quite a bit, especially at the antics of various crazies, both Christian and pagan, in the novel who believe almost anything.  No one is immune from Perrotta's satire.  How we might react to a catastrophe of this strangeness is the theme of the novel and few come off well.  Kevin is perhaps the most admirable, wanting what he has lost, a wife and family, striving to make the best of a terrible situation, seeking love, by caring, by trying to understand, following a moral compass that gives him some stability.  He's the only one in the novel who has not been changed by the Rapture; every one else seems have gone through a metamorphosis for the worst.  The only answer to tragedy is to remain human and empathetic.

Brrrrr... Windy, Cloudy and Much Cooler

Windy Monday Morning

Pieris Japonica in Bloom

Droopy Daffodils

Budding Flower

Woke around 7:15 to a howling wind, the sound of waves, but no quaking ducks.  The lake and sky are both gray, though white caps can be seen on the lake, especially towards Leonard's where the lake gets much shallower.  I did walk outside to get the paper and was surprised at the cold, such a contrast to the last few weeks.  It's 32 degrees outside but the wind makes it seem much colder. A few sea gulls are struggling to fly, flapping their wings wildly, making little progress.  I can also see my purple martin house sway in the wind and hope I have pounded the pipe deep enough to hold firm.  From my window, I can six houses as everyone has put their houses up early.  No fishing boats this morning, most likely because of the choppy lake, the cooler temperatures though it's supposed to be sunny later today.

We spent most of yesterday inside, watching the NCAA games, reading, and just taking it easy, a typical Sunday for us, I guess.  We did walk the CI in the morning, our habit, and it was a nice morning to walk. I was interested to see if anything was in bloom as when we went into Cleveland, many of the dogwoods, fruit trees, and bushes were in bloom.  Well, we are a couple of weeks behind because very little color was apparent anywhere, as the photos show.  It would seem only the yellow of forsythia is blooming, with a few drooping daffodils and a couple other assorted spring flowers.  They are predicting a heavy frost for tonight, so I am worried about about the bushes and trees that have begun to bud as a result of the warm weather.  We also stopped at the library, picked up a book I have on hold, and went home to my favorite breakfast.  We watched Charles Osgood and the Sunday morning show, our favorite Sunday morning news show, as it combines news, with interesting stories on all kinds of issues, from arts, to politics, to the natural world, to what's hip and hot.  I was glad to see Kansas beat North Carolina, a really well played game, in great contrast to Friday's night's OU/North Carolina game, which was not very well played.  Evie also called Marlena to wish her a happy birthday; she was excited, of course, about all her presents, especially a new bike.  What a kid, always happy.

Today is yoga and a workout for Evie, perhaps a walk later in the day if we feel energetic,  then scallops for dinner, and a two hour Mad Men show, which we taped last night and saved to watch this evening.

Happy Birthday to Marlena Davis, Nine Years Old, On a Gray Day with Drizzle

Happy Birthday Marlena

8:15

Awakened at 6:00 by the gosh darn duck, quacking out our bedroom window.  I went downstairs to scare him away so he wouldn't wake Evie, but he had moved on.  It's about 64 degrees out now but there's a freeze expected tonight, so a big weather change is coming our way.  Listened to Mike Mc Grath's You Bet Your Garden, and he talked about the brown bats, how they will have disappeared by 2012 because of a white fungus.  He had an expert on from Akron University, who is doing research on this problem.  She mentioned that bats eat mosquitoes like we eat popcorn, just a snack.  Actually, their main food are moths, eating up to 2700 hundred on a good day.  The reason fungus spreads is that brown bats tend to hibernate in large colonies, as many as 5000 at a time, so it's easy for one bat with a fungus to pass it on to the rest.  It was suggested that putting up bat houses, so they might hibernate in smaller groups, might have some effect on slowing down the plague.  Interesting morning listening for once.

Purple Martin House UP

After our foray into the Cleveland area yesterday, we just relaxed here at the lake, as I watched the NCAA tournament games and Evie played Words With Friends, complaining periodically about her letters.  We had a great pasta sauce with mushrooms for dinner, using Rao's Pasta sauce, expensive but quite tasty.  It was fun to see Ohio State beat Syracuse, especially after OU lost yesterday.  Today's games  have Kansas playing, Tommy's favorite team, so I will watch them beat North Carolina, I hope.

Today is Marlena's birthday, Tommy's daughter, and she's nine years old.  We have not seen them since Thanksgiving, so it's exciting to think about our visit to KC in mid April.  It's time to hit the road for a few weeks.

Today, I assume we will walk the CI, our usual Sunday morning walk, come home to my favorite meal of the week, eggs, toast, and bacon, then watch more b-ball.  Tonight, at last, Mad Men returns, so we anxious to see that show begin after a year and a half hiatus.

Stopover at Presque Isle/Friday in Painesville, Ohio with Virpi and

Oliver Hazzard Perry Memorial, Presque Isle

Erie, PA, from Presque Isle

Beach at Presque Isle

We spent Friday evening watching Ohio University lose a close one to North Carolina, in overtime, a game we could have won with a little luck.  We drove in to Painesville, Ohio, to watch it with our good friend Vi, a fanatical Bobcat fan.  She really went out of her way to make us feel at home, had a great dinner ready for us when we arrived, a lasagna, baked broccoli casserole, salad, and a fruit crisp for dessert with ice cream.  Since her husband died in November, she does not cook a lot for herself, so, as she said, she slaved away the previous day, to get everything ready for us.  Her hospitality was unmatched and made us feel so welcome.

Vi with her new bar of Cougar Soap, compliments of Evie

We watched the game together and though it looked like a easy win for NC at first, OU caught fire, went ahead with two minutes to go, had a chance to win it with a foul shot, then lost in overtime.  For a while there, Evie and Vi were up out of their seats screaming with excitement as OU almost pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament.  Of course, we caught up on all the gossip, about Vi's life now, her wonderful daughter and two grandchildren, and news about other Bobcats who graduated with us and played basketball.  She sure loves the school, follows them much more avidly than us, has for years with Lloyd, her husband, and keeps in touch with the other players.  We also talked at halftime with one of my teammates, Paul Storey, who lives in Dallas.  He also lost a spouse about two years ago, so he and Vi have developed quite a nice friendship over the phone, as they both really have the need to have someone to talk with.  Both are good talkers and listeners.  Paul was here this summer for a few days, before going off to visit Lloyd and Vi just before he went into the hospital.

Vi and TD

I was up at 6:00, as usual in Painesville,  made coffee in Vi's old fashioned standing Farberware coffee pot, the kind that needs no filter, and she pulled a breakfast casserole of eggs, flour and sugar out, baked it  and we had it for breakfast with maple syrup, quite filling and good.  We sat and talked  till about 10:00 I would say, then we headed into Chagrin, to stop at Trader Joe's and pick up some goodies for the lake, all the things that we have a hard time getting at Wegman's.  We got home about 2:00, to gray skies, drizzle and 65 degrees outside.

I forgot to mention that on our way in yesterday, we drove to Presque Isle State Park, just west of Erie, PA.  We had never been there, though it's only an hour away.  It's about a 10-15 mile long peninsula which curves out over the city of Erie, with a driving loop as well as a bike path that goes around the entire peninsula.  There are lots of parking lots to pull off, to enjoy a picnic, and the western shore of the lake looks much like pictures I have seen of the Outer Banks, with huge bluffs and extensive sandy beaches, about as nice as I have seen on Lake Eire.  It's definitely worth returning, for a hike, to kayak, to ride or rent bikes, or just to swim and picnic in the summer.  Also, there's a huge water and amusement park called Waldemeer just before you enter the park proper, so there's that to enjoy as well.  There were lots of people walking, riding bikes, skating or just picnicking though the temperature had to be twenty degrees cooler than at Chautauqua, with a brisk wind, making us wish we had dressed warmer.  We decided to just drive around rather than walk because of it.
''

Another Brilliant Sunny Morning

6:44

6:54

7:19

Up at 6:45 to a quacking duck, annoying and loud because of our open bedroom window.  Male or female?  I won't comment.  Dawn was amazing again, just a hint of pink, then a bright orange, then as the sun rises, the sky turns white, with hints of blue; the lake is calm and shimmery.  It's 47 degrees and looks to be another great day, to work outside or take a walk or hike.

Yesterday was restorative yoga, thank goodness, as my back and sciatic was acting up.  My teacher was able to gear the exercises to the areas effected, so that by the end of class, I was feeling much better with no pain.  I am beginning to sense which exercises will help with the pain, how to stretch and hold various poses so that I feel better.  I know the cobra really helps and I try to do it a couple of times a day.

When I returned home, I worked out in the yard, getting my purple martin house up in the water, at least three weeks earlier than usual.  I usually put it up on April 15, the date given for the return of martins.  I would assume they will be back earlier though I have yet to see one. As I write, a couple of birds seem to be exploring the house but I don't think they are martins. Let's hope they are not starlings, as I will have to take the house down to get rid of them, so the martins can return.   I also finished some of my work on the dock horses, having brushed off the rust at the various joints and put a rust inhibitor on each joint.  Next week, we may work on the entire piece but for now, this will have to do.  Evie took it easy most of the day, for once, and just enjoyed sitting in the yard, playing Words with Friends, and relaxing.  It felt like an early June afternoon except for the lack of green on the trees and bushes.

For dinner, Evie made a dish I found in The Guardian, I think.  The chef talked about how he thinks meatballs are much more delicious than a steak or chop.  I tend to agree.  The dish included spiced meatballs (bread crumbs, parsley, all spice, and egg), in a sauce of thin sticks of celeriac root with lemon juice, turmeric, fennel seeds, paprika and chicken stock.  We served it over Turkish bulgar with Greek yogurt.  It was really delicious, just what I wanted.  We watched a movie, Mao's Last Dancer, recommended to us by our neighbors, the Jones, who are good friends with the immigration lawyer in the film.  It's about a Chinese ballet dancer who comes to the Houston ballet to train and ends up refusing to return to China.  He ends up starring in the Houston ballet, creating a huge political problem, but because China is beginning to ease it relations with the West, he's able to return home, visit to his family and repair the relationship with the authorities.  A true story, it's well worth watching.

Stone Tower Trail/Allegeny Forest/Rosy Colored Dawn: Homer Got It So Right

6:45  Rosy Colored Dawn

7:20

Stone Observation Tower in Allegheny Forest

Allegheny Forest 

Observation Tower

Up too early, at 5:30, the only virtue being I get to watch the darkness slowly change to a rosy colored glow, which eventually washes out to light pink, then white, as the sun rises to the east.  The lake is like glass, the only sound the quacking of a lone duck, which woke up Evie a few minutes ago, at 7:00.  Slight horizontal waves (lines)  move towards shore though there's no wind.  The lake is amazing mix of color, shades, shadows and textures.

Yesterday, we had an adventure, driving 44 miles to Roscoe Cross Country Ski cabin, in the middle of the Allegheny Forest, just south of Salamanca.  I had been there two years ago, went cross country skiing with a group when Evie was in Arizona.  It was such a beautiful day, clear skies, and in the 70's that we wanted to hike somewhere different.  At this center, four or five different trails begin, so we took the one to the Stone Tower, with a spectacular view of the valley.  It was not the most interesting walk, unfortunately, as most of it was on a dirt road, then on the asphalt highway that cuts through the forest.  It was about two and a half miles, took us about an hour and a half.  The last half mile was up hill in the sun, so we both worked up quite a sweat.  Next time, we will walk another one of the trails, hopefully walking about five of them in the next few months.  It's an amazing forest, still brown, leafless, with little color but we can just imagine it in the late spring, especially in the fall with all the colors.

Allegheny Public Library

We decided to drive to Olean, another 20 miles to the east, and drive around the campus of St. Bonaventure since we had never seen it before.  The older buildings with their slate brick roofs look like something in a hill town of Italy though the more modern dorms, built in the 1950's, take away from the initial charm of the old part of the campus.  The school is just on the western edge of Olean, so we did not really get to see the town proper.  We ending up eating at a Mexican restaurant in Allegheny, a town contiguous with the campus, with some charm, a number of restaurants, cafes, and bars, no doubt the closest hangout for the students.  We got home around 3:00 and Evie went off to the CI's bookstore to get Marlena and birthday present and I ended up painting the dock pieces, finishing up my job from yesterday.

Because of the heavy lunch, we had fried eggs, toast, and home fries for dinner, watched the movie The Way, before going to bed around 11:00.  A good day.