Spring Ahead, Blinding Morning Sun at 8:00 With Clear Skies

7:50

Sea Gulls and Fishing Boat off of Long Point

Morning at Woodlawn

Morning on Lake

Up later because of date light savings, about 7:40, to a lovely morning, a crisp 28 degrees outside, a lightly clouded blue sky and a blinding morning sun.  Out on the lake, a group of sea gulls sit about 100 yards off shore, behind them, at the tip of Long Point sits a fishing boat.  The season has begun.  Around 8:00, a kayaker just paddled by, a great morning to be on the lake.  I am not sure who it is but I think he's from Wells Bay.  Though the lake's open, it look like there are a few ice floes on the lake.  On our walk yesterday, over at Bemus, a good part of the bay was still frozen, as most of our ice seems to have floated over there.

Ice at Bemus Point

I went to Yoga yesterday morning, my fourth session since Monday, so I have been getting my money's worth.  There were five of us, a usual Saturday, and I had some difficulty with a couple of poses, especially one where I lean one leg forward, fold one back, then lean back on to a cushion, stretching your quads.  Not much stretch there.  It's interesting how I have no trouble with some poses, others are just impossible.

After I got home, we decided to walk Bemus, so we had a nice easy walk before lunch.  We also stopped at the Bemus Point Mall, now open.  Evie loved all the clothes, as they really do have nice things, though expensive.  No deals at this time except some of last year's obnoxious golf slacks, which no one could ever want to wear except during Halloween, or give, except as a gag gift.

We relaxed most of the afternoon, reading or watching some TV.  Evie was excited because she was able to get HBO for forty nine cents a day so we could watch the political movie Game Change tonight at 9:00, the story of Sarah Palin's rise to prominence, which has gotten rave reviews, mostly from MSNBC.  I am not sure what Fox News thinks.

Then, around 5:00, we went to Weggies to pick up a few things before heading over to the Rod and Gun Club for dinner.  We sat at the bar for about ten minutes before Sam and Donna Nelson invited us to sit down and have dinner with them, which we did.  They are both good and Donna regaled us with her new life working at the local bookstore on Wednesdays.  She worked at Walden's for the past five years, since she retired, and since Walden's has closed, she works at the only bookstore in town, next to the Ryder's Cup coffee shop.  Sam is the same old Sam,  talking about being just a poor farm boy, enjoying the day because you never know what may happen tomorrow, his mantra.  Because of the weather, he's been out working, delivering hay and getting his various tractors in working order.

We got home around 8:00, watched the first half of the OU/Akron U basketball game, for the MAC championship and a trip to the NCAA.  Then, at 9:00, we watched the two hour Sarah Palin biography.

Game Change was a pretty good movie, how accurate I am not sure and will leave it up to the pundits.  Julianna Moore played Sarah Palin and stole the film, as she was so good that I was never sure if it was actually Sarah Palin or Julianna Moore playing the role.  The film raises many questions about our system, about how we are prisoners to the media, to the Internet, to You Tube, all of which have changed the nature of politics in the US.  For the first half of the film, when Palin is plucked out of Alaska and ushered on the national stage, we feel sorry for her.  She seems like a victim of the politicos, who will do anything to win, in this case choosing an neophyte, in no way ready for prime time, and throwing her to the wolves of modern politics. In there attempts to remake her, we feel sorry for her as she let's others make her choices, tell her what to say and do.  This is when we feel most sympathetic, as she seems lost, angry, unhappy and alone.  And she fails utterly, the Katie Couric interview being the nadir.  When the politicos finally realize she knows almost nothing about the world, that she cannot possibly absord the knowledge necessary to be believable, they decide to give her twenty some talking points, all about two minutes long, and get her to memorize them.  This and her beginning to go rogue, to be herself, to ignore her handlers, to say what she wants and be her self, changes the dynamics for her and the campaign.  As a result, she begins to catch fire, as people respond to her charm, charisma, outspokenness and memorized lines, all meant to ignite and provoke the audiences, which they do.  She ends up overshadowing Mc Cain, gathering huge crowds wherever she goes and becoming the story of the campaign

We actually feel sorry for her when she watches Tina Fey and other comedians make fun of her, of her gaffes, her ignorance of foreign affairs, her misstatements.  However, when she begins to go rogue, to feel her oats, to be herself, she loses our sympathy and we begin to fear what she represents, especially how she seems to feed on the audience, on their fears, on their hatreds, of those different from them.  The movie ends with her standing up to Mc Cain and the handlers, as she wants to go against tradition and speak, along with Mc Cain, at the concession speech.  She is finally denied, only after she  goes over the heads of everyone, to Mc Cain, who finally has to say no.  Mc Cain comes off pretty well, as someone with some integrity, who does not want to go after Obama's early religious and politic connections, like Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers.  Instead, he uses Palin as his attack dog albeit reluctantly.

This film is an eye opener into the world of politics and as usual, it makes this world seem more sordid than admiring.  I remember the naive innocent days of the 1950's and 60's when we admired our politicians, probably because we were kept in the dark about much of their lives.  This seems to have ended with Nixon and from that point on, our respect for our leaders has declined to the point that today, Congress is thought incompetent and self serving by most Americans.  Sad.