Partly Cloudy, Still, and Cooler

6:15 AM

Cibo Cafe, Downtown Jamestown

James Prendergast Library

Thunder Bridge at CI

Packard Manor at CI

Up before 6:00, to the sound of birds and a mostly gray sky, though it's beginning to lighten off to the east, where else I guess.  Not a soul on the lake, though the martins are busy building their nests.  A few woodpeckers have been at the bird feeder but the frenzy of a few weeks ago seems to have waned as we no longer get flocks of sparrows or chickadees.  High today in the low 60's, cooler than yesterday, a good day for a walk.  Rains to come later in the day so we will have to walk in the morning, perhaps Sea Lion Drive.

Yesterday, because I had a doctor's appointment at 2:30, I headed into Jamestown for part of the day, to explore and shop.  Of course, the store I wanted, Suburban Blend, a ski and skate board shop (looking for a present for my grandson Mitchell's birthday) is closed on Tuesday's, so I walked some, though it was overcast, stopping in various coffee shops and small restaurants, looking at their menus.  I eventually ate lunch at a coffee shop/sandwich shop called Cibo, on 3rd Street.  I have been there before but it's under new management, as many of these places seem to be.  They do not last long.  A cup of chili and half of chicken salad sandwich for 5.99, perhaps the cheapest lunch around the area.  At least they had wireless so I was able to get online while I ate.  There were about six other people enjoying lunch, enough to keep it open for another day.  I then went to the James Prendergast Library, to pick up a book I wanted and it's always fun to go to this library.  I love the building, the fact that it's busy because it's the only free wireless and computer terminals in the city, so many of its residents take advantage of this.  While I was downtown, Evie worked out at the YMCA and did the shopping for the week, at Sam's and Wegman's before coming home and getting started making tomorrow's Indian dinner.  We are having the Mc Clure's over for some Indian specialties.

I got home around 4:00 and since I had not done much but sit around, I went for walk at the CI.  The weather had cleared up a bit, so it was a pretty afternoon to walk around the Institute, as lilacs were in bloom as well as azaleas, and even a rhododendron or two.  Spring has sprung in the CI.

For dinner, we had rotisserie chicken from Sam's (so much better and bigger than Wegman's), Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes with gravy, again one of my favorites.  Nothing like mashed potatoes and gravy and Brussels sprouts!  We watched Water for Elephants and it was a bore.  I was not interested in the story, in the characters and had to force myself to sit through the entire showing.  It was predictable, the love triangle, and we tired of the two character's looking at each other with longing. We wanted to scream at them.   What is it that makes a story interesting, a character memorable?  A question that every book and movie attempts to answer, some with success, more with failure.  This movie is a failure. And there's no easy answer to the question.   The book, as Evie suggests, was most interesting when told from the point of view of the retiree in a rest home, something completely absent from the movie.