Perhaps A Kayak Morning But Getting Colder

8:00

Bell Tower at CI

A  Forlorn and Morose  Garden and Yard

Walking the CI

Up at 6:30, much colder than yesterday's high in the 60's. a steady 31º.  It's supposed to stay in the 30's most of the day, 20's tonight, and be cloudy as well as windy.   The lake looks open, at least at 7:00 in the morning so I might try to kayak sometime today or tomorrow, if the wind dies down.  I assume it will be open for a few days until it gets colder later in the week.  Evie flies to Las Vegas tomorrow, early, her plane leaving at 7:00 AM  to stay with her sister Laura, so today will be a day of getting ready, going to bed early.

Our only activity yesterday, other than reading, watching TV, and making meals was to take a walk at the CI around 10:30, though it was drizzling and overcast.  There's not much interesting nor arresting to photograph at this time of the year in the CI, especially when the snow has melted.  Everything looks either gray or green, no bright colors, except for a few obnoxious painted homes.  The Purell guy's house continues to inflate, more outbuildings, more intricacy, more angles, and one wonders when it will ever be done.  Some windows are in, no siding yet, lots of Tyvek, and mostly mud around the house.  It's nice to know, though, that this 13,000 square foot is green and sustainable!  Sounds like a relative of Al Gore though not as wealthy after Al's selling of his cable channel to Al Jeezerra.

On Ice's Edge

Fog rising

For much of the afternoon, we watched the lake slowly melt, fog roll in, and sea gulls return, and I think I saw a bald eagle in the trees, off towards Victoria.  It was a huge bird, with a white head, otherwise mostly black and I know our neighbors, the Fox's, saw one a week or two ago.  I don't think it was a turkey buzzard because of the white head and neck, the way it flew.  The birds at our feeders have slowed down, as the feeder is till half full, perhaps because the birds have hid enough of the seeds to get them through the next few weeks.  An article in the Post Journal mentioned how birds take seeds from the feeder, then hide them in cracks and crevasses of many trees, for later meals.  I have also wondered if this slowing down might be a result of a predator in the neighborhood because there have been few if any  birds around in the last twenty four hours.

Before our walk, we got out the slow cooker/pressure cooker/rice cooker combination and put together a chicken cacciatore, turned the cooker on slow cook and forgot it for the day.  Easy.  Evie made my usual Sunday breakfast, two eggs, over easy, an everything bagel, and a couple of slices of bacon.  I not sure why this meal tastes so good, perhaps because it's so different from my usual breakfast of plain yogurt, raw oats, and blueberries.  Late afternoon, we decided to hold off on the chicken dish till Monday, since I had bought two New York strips at the Lighthouse.  So I threw four potatoes in the oven, grilled the steaks outside, and Evie made a salad.  A  great dinner, the steaks just right for once, tender but not raw, and a white Belgium ale made the meal perfect,  We watched most of the Golden Globes, laughed hard at Amy Pohler and Tina Fey jokes as hosts but I get tired of seeing the same actors and shows win year after year, like Homeland, with Damian Lewis and Claire Danes.  And who is the Foreign Press who votes for these awards?