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.