Brilliant Morning Sky, Cool, Great Day to Follow

5:33

6:04

Out for Dinner at Forte with Mary Ann Miller, our Neighbor

Forte Bar in Downtown Jamestown

Woke at 5:00, stayed in bed till 5:30 when I reluctantly got up.  It always amazes me how early our bedroom and living room get lit in the later spring and summer months, especially comparing it to the late fall and winter mornings when get up to a pitch black house, lake, outdoors.  I like both, especially if I am up in time to watch the sky lighten slowly, clouds appear, the sun peaking over the coastline, a flooding of our living room with its rays.  I have had to move from my rocker to the couch because of the sun.  Mornings here at the lake are tough.  It's 38 degrees, though were frost warnings in some of the valleys.

Yesterday morning was rainy and overcast, not conducive to walking, so I went to Yin Yoga, packed with 17 of us, me the only male!  Evie went to the Y, had a good workout and stopped at Mike's and picked up some sea wave petunias for our flower boxes and a Moscow lilac bush, as ours died for some reason, either because of last spring's wetness or the winter.  We got home, quickly dug a hole and put in the lilac, hoping we might be able to enjoy it some this spring though I doubt it.  It's supposedly the most hardy (from Russia, what else), and it's blooms are white rather than light purple.  We both worked some in the yard during the afternoon, as it had cleared up and ended up being a nice day.

Then, last evening, our neighbor, Mary Ann Miller, took us out to dinner to a restaurant of our choice.  She always feels obligated to take us out if we have her over for dinner and we finally acquiesced though somewhat guiltily, with the promise that this is the last time she takes us out.  We went to Forte, a very popular restaurant in downtown Jamestown, on 3rd Street, next to the Reg Lenna theater.  To my relief, it was crowded, even on a Thursday night, and it had an interesting, almost bordello like atmosphere, somewhat dimly lit with red walls and heavy curtains.  The menu was interesting and eclectic, with sushi as one main choice, then other more typical steaks, seafood pastas, and fish, and then the eclectic, like what I had, a Vietnamese Pho, a noodles soup with vegetables and meat and Evie's garbanzo burger.  We also split a calamari for an appetizer.  We enjoyed our meal as did Mary Ann.   By the time we left, it had slowed down a bit, but people were still coming in.  As we walked out the door, we met Becky Nystrom, a biologist at JCC, who we have gotten to know because she leads walks for the Watershed  Conservancy.  She said Forte was her favorite restaurant.  We will go back.

Before we went to Forte, we stopped at a skateboard shop, Suburban Blend, just around the corner from Forte, to look for a birthday present for my grandson, Mitchell.  We have been there before and it has some neat snow board and skate board stuff, as well as cool tee shirts and clothes.  We picked a couple of things up for Mitch and mentioned to the owner we were going to Forte.  He laughed and said it was a good choice because his sister was the Chef and they have a new menu.  Synchronosity.