A Cold and Gray Dawn

7:30

With Dale Conly and Jim Mc Clelland

8:14

Up later than usual, perhaps because of the late night, to gray lake and clouds, no hint of a sun and a cold 40 degrees.  I do like the puffs of gray clouds, as it's not just a uniform gray, lots of variation in gray, a bit of lightness off to the north.   At the moment. however, the sun has peaked out from behind the clouds, and blue skies have arrived.  Perhaps it will be a great day.

Yesterday we said we were going to kayak, to go for a hike but didn't, instead doing some of the fall chores that must be done.  I took my row boat out and gathering all the buoys that we had in the lake, getting things ready for the final act of fall for us, the bringing in of the dock, though not till next week. Our neighbors, the Leonards are leaving today, so we helped them with some of their packing, carrying things that were difficult for them.  And Evie took her vacuum over and did their first floor.  They seem set and ready to go so they will be off sometime this morning.

The major occasion was the visit from two good friends and teachers from Western Reserve Academy, both now retired like me, Mac living in Woodstock, VT, and Dale in New London, New Hampshire.  They either head west for a weekend soccer game at Reserve (they both coached soccer there for years), or Evie I head east to visit them and other friends, as we have done the past two years, but not this year because we are going to Jill's in Virginia instead.  They are both really good friends from my teaching days, so we had a great evening with them.  They arrived at 5:00, stiff feom the ride, so we all went for a walk/hike through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, just the right length and it was a beautiful afternoon of fallen and colored leaves for a walk.  For dinner, Evie made her famous Iskender kebab, spiced lamb koftes, over pida bread, with tomato sauce and yogurt on top.  She also made zucchini croquettes, with feta cheese, and a salad, so we had a feast of flavors.  Brownies, with ice cream and chocolate sauce topped off the night.   Both look great and seem to be doing well.  We mined all the old stories from our life at Reserve which was fun, bringing up names of faculty and students that I have not thought of in years.  And, like all good retirees, we talked about our health, our pills, and what health programs we had.  Fortunately, we have similar political views, are basically iconoclasts in our respective republican neighborhoods, so it was fun to have sympathetic listeners when we talked about Obama and Romney.  We got so involved in reminiscing that we didn't even watch the Vice Presidential debate, staying up till 11:30 and enjoying the fire in our fireplace.  A good way to end the day.