Amazing Monday Morning Sunrise

7:05

Bell Tower at Chautauqua Institute

Very cold, about 18 degrees, and I am up at 7:00, to the sun already risen above the horizon, framed by the clouds above and below, a very different looking sunrise.  There's still a dusting of snow on the ground and lake, though both ends are open waters.  I doubt if fishermen will be out today despite the cold; they will need a couple more days for the lake to freeze so it's safe enough.  It's nice to have some sun, a splotch of blue sky amongst the clouds.  Lots of birds at the feeders, mostly hungry finches, a few wood peckers, and one brilliant red cardinal.

We walked the CI yesterday morning, snow covered streets and surprisingly, quite a few people were around, perhaps hoping to enjoy the last weekend of weather. At least they were treated to a brief snowfall during the night.  It was cloudy, windy, as we walked, the lake open and harsh, with fog or mist making it impossible to see the eastern shoreline.  We stopped at the library, picked up a book, and went home to a phone call from the Cassells, from Hudson, who wanted to stop by on their way home.

Pat, Barb, and Mike Cassell

We had not seen them since fall so it was fun to catch up on the gossip in Hudson and at WRA, as there son Pat is a freshmen at Reserve, Ian, their oldest, a junior at NYU, is in Madrid for the semester.  They have a condo at Holiday Valley, so they are up this way most weekends.  Like us, they have bemoaned the winter, however, the man made snow was enough to ski most weekends, though the surrounding hills were bare and brown.  A strange winter for all.

Gene and Trouty Heil

The afternoon, for Evie, was spent getting dinner ready for Gene and Trouty Heil, acquaintances we have known for years but not been good friends.  We went out to dinner with them in December, after a 15 year hiatus.  They are about our age; Gene is a builder, Heil Homes, as well as a distributor for years of Barden Homes, pre fab types.  We had cabbage strudel, salad, and a rack of pork for dinner, followed by pumpkin pie.  Everything was delicious and they couldn't get enough, especially of the cabbage strudel.  They stayed till about 9:30 and we had a good time with them, talking about the good old days at Bud's, vacations, grand kids, and the usual, though no politics!  They certainly are more conservative then us and when they mentioned something about the potential president, they quickly picked up on our feelings about the Republicans and Obama, so we went in another direction.  They are really fun, so I hope we can see them more often.  They live up in Ellery, right next to Country Cow, a small diner open eight months a year.  Gene is still building houses but he is tempted to retire though he's not the sort to sit around like me and do nothing.  He's more like Grandpa Ed, always fixing and building something.  A funny thing happened while eating dinner.  We found out that they didn't know our last name; we had been Tom and Evie for years but either they never knew or forgot our last names and were too embarrassed to ask.