Six Inches Of Snow On A Cold, Cold Morning

My Lovely Granddaughter,  Marisa Albarran, Irish Dancing

7:26

Victoria Woods

Looking Towards Woodlawn

Beginning Blizzard Like Walk

Our Neighbors, At Least For Now

Up early, of course, to a snow covered yard, gray lake, and bitter cold.  I am sitting, watching the faux fire crackle, listening to NPR talk all about today's Inauguration.  Standing for hours among millions of other people is the last thing I would want to do, especially in the winter.  Who are these people? How can they afford to take a couple days off?  It's 16º outside,  two to three inches of snow are expected, with a low of 5º tonight.

Yesterday was much colder than Saturday's 40's, with snow flurries on and off during the day, though it picked up after dark, when we got maybe five inches during the night.  My only exercise of the day was to take a long morning walk when it was snowing, one of my favorite times to walk.  So I went up along Kinney's Run, crossed over to the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, as it snowed, blinding my view at times. I loved it, watching the ground turn white, the trees limbs white as well.  When I got to Victoria Road, I met a neighbor out in his yard, Roman Kneisky (something like that) who lives in the renovated gray house two up from Johnsons.  He and his wife are from Chardon, Ohio, love it here like us and hope to retire here in a couple of years.  He is a flyer, belongs to the Dart Airport Soaring Club.  Seems like a nice guy.  I walked up Victoria to #394, back to the lake, along the front lawns of Telkins and Fosters, as well as Woodlawn and home.  The lake is still open, and as the photograph shows, we still have our family of swans.  They have been here, in front of Woodlawn or the Campground for probably two weeks.  They spend a good part of their time, bottoms up, as they peck for weeds.

For breakfast,  I fried some bacon, cut it up in small pieces, and put it in scrabbled eggs, the way my Mom used to do.  This, along with a bagel with a smear of salmon/cream cheese made for a tasty breakfast.  As I write this, the lake is starting to appear, the sky lighten, so I am switching back to the couch, turning off the fireplace.  What luxury to have an instant fire. The lake is a dull gray, contrasting with the fluorescent whiteness of the snow on the lawn, on the tree trunks, while off in the distance, towards Bemus, it looks foggy and white from snow and ice.

The rest of the afternoon was a typical wasted January Sunday afternoon in the United States; I sat on my couch watching six hours of NFL football, at times exciting but mostly boring.  But what else was there to do, and nothing worth watching on TV.  I did finish, finally LA Requiem, by Robert Crais so I did accomplish something over the weekend.  I have not rode my bike yet; I remain part of the 98% who never use their exercise machine.  My goal for today....ride it!

Because I was lazy at dinner time,  I opened a can of Wegman's Kansas City barbecue beans, grilled a couple of dogs in butter,  smothered them with Kim Chee (Korean Spiced Cabbage), and I was a happy camper, sitting in my TV room, watching NFL football, with a Shock Top White Belgian Ale in hand.  The second game lasted till around 9:30, when I went upstairs to read, starting at new novel AT LAST by a highly regarded English novelist, Edward St. Aubyn.  It's the first part of a trilogy.  It's extremely well written, witty, insightful and I find myself going back and rereading certain passages, for their beauty as well as meaning.  It's not fluff like Jack Reacher in other words, more difficult to follow and read.