A Lot Of Gray on Easter Sunday

8:15

Barb and Jim on Fox's Point

A Sunny Saturday

Up at 7:00, gray skies, no sunrise this morning and warm, 40º, though the lake is still frozen.  A couple more days like yesterday and we will have an open lake, though snow flurries are predicted for the next three days.  I forgot to mention that Friday night, when we went to the Rod and Gun Club, there were lots of Amish out on the lake, fishing, like a small village on ice.  Occasionally, the past day or two,  I might see a single fisherman off of Long Point but close to shore.

A typical Saturday for us,  classical yoga with Chris, at 9:00, a work out for Evie.  How can I write about the same thing each day but in a different, interesting way?  There were only four of us in yoga, as many were away for the Easter weekend.  Yoga was fun as we worked on one side of the torso, then the other, stretching the back and spine, then arms and legs.  I need to write these poses down because they are forgotten within a day or two unless they hurt or were difficult...then I remember them.  We stopped at Ryder's Cup, talked with Joyce and her daughter.  Liz, one of the yoga people, asked if we wanted to cross country ski but we had put away our skis the day before, thinking winter is on its way out.

We relaxed most of the afternoon though Evie spent hours on the computer, attempting to organize our pictures by year, family, and place on Aperture, my Apple photo application, .  She has the patience of Job, going through the years, ordering them, occasionally screaming for me to come and see this great, forgotten picture of our grandchildren.  We do have some amazing pictures from the past fifteen years here at Chautauqua, and pictures I had made from our slides from Hawaii, Turkey and our first years back in the States.  The digital revolution in photography is a huge advance but it also encourages you take ten pictures for every one you might have taken with print photography, thus the hours on the computer yesterday.

After lunch, I went into the garage to start my Honda Accord, after a winter in the garage and the battery was dead. So I called AAA, and they came out within the hour, put the jumper package on my battery, and the car started right up.  I took it out for a spin, to the Lighthouse, to pick up some buns and ground chuck for dinner and stopped at the CI library which, unfortunately, was closed.  Then, I went home and watched some basketball before taking a walk through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods...it was too nice to stay inside.  It was a sunny afternoon, with signs of springs dotting the floor of the woods.  It's striking how a day of sun brings up the green shoots.

Signs of Spring...a skunk cabbage rising through snow

Woodlawn Creek, Late Afternoon

I walked for about forty minutes then came home and grilled the burgers outside, which we had for dinner with sweet potato fries.  I watched all of the dismaying Ohio State/Wichita game.   The Buckeyes chose yesterday to play their worst game of the year, awakening only in the last six minutes but it was too late.  Two more good games today and March Madness will be down to the final four.  We will be in Kansas City next weekend, so my son Tom, his son Nick and I will spend a good part of next Saturday afternoon, in their basement theater, watching the two semifinal games.  I have to admit to getting surfeited with basketball.

The Sun, The Sun, The Sun

Today's Sunrise at 7:10

Last Sunrise, February 10th

Up at 6:45, a clear sky, a streak of orange just above the eastern horizon, waiting for the sun to rise over Lakeside Drive.  It's colder this morning then yesterday, a chilly 22º but like yesterday, the high will be in the mid forties later today.  Spring is edging in during the day, tends to disappear at night.  It will come.  This mornings sunrise was amazing, perhaps because it's the first one we have seen since February 10th, when our kids were here for the week.  Since then, until today, we have had cloudy mornings, obscuring the rise.

Fourth Street, Jamestown

Jamestown's YMCA

Yesterday was one of those lost days, getting stuff done but not the stuff you necessarily want to do, like getting your car worked on.  I needed new brakes and wheel alignment, so I dropped the car off at 10:00 and walked into Jamestown, to the Prendergast Library, about 15 minutes, to get help downloading books on my Kindle.  For some reason, a number of the new books won't let me download directly through Amazon to my Kindle but makes me download it to my computer, then via USB port to my Kindle.  Well, it was not working.  So, I talked to the library's computer guru, a nice kid, and he had never seen this before, had trouble figuring out how to do it, but after about ten minutes, we managed the download.  Strange.  He was appreciative that I had come in because now he knows how to trouble shoot for others. I then went to the Labyrinth Coffee Shop, closed for the week, typical, then to another one, Cibo's, had a coffee, got a call from the dealer that I needed a new tie rod.  He offered me a loaner, which I decided to take.  I walked back to the dealer, drove home to another pie, this time Hockaday School's chess pie, clearly a Southern favorite.  It looked amazing, especially since Evie added a meringue to to it.

Hockaday School Chess Pie

We ate lunch, a butternut squash soup, also made yesterday morning, relaxed till about 2:00 when I dropped Evie off at the Mall, to print some photos for Paul Storey, a buddy from Ohio University,  do some shopping and I went back to pick up my car.  I started to drive it away and heard a strange sound, called out the technician, and they took it back in.  A clip of some sort had broken off and they had to get it from a parts store, put it on my car, so I sat another hour waiting to get it done.  Sound familiar?  I finally drove the car back to the mall, picked up Evie and got home around 4:15, a wasted day.

Our Good Neighbors, Barb and JIm Fox

For dinner, we had made plans with the Jim and Barb Fox, our neighbors, to go out for dinner.  They came over at 6:00 to our house, we had a beer before going to the Rod and Gun for dinner.  It was a nice evening, still light, clear skies and the parking lot was packed with Jamestownitess.  We had a beer at the bar, then went into the packed dining room for Fish Fry's, what else on a good Friday.  We had a great time with them, as we had not seen them since January, as they seemed to come up on weekends when we were gone, like three weeks ago to Athens, Ohio.  Our meal cost us twenty bucks...checks at the Rod and Gun are always a shocker.  And the fish fry was quite good, a huge fillet, every bit as good as the Seezurh House.  We got home around 9:30, a fun evening, and I had saved the Kansas/Michigan game, so I watched most  of it, racing through commercials.  The ending was amazing, as Kansas had an eight point lead with a minute and a half to go, and lost in overtime.  My son Tommy must be in mourning. We also had the chess pie for dessert, a bit disappointing as it was almost too sweet for us, but a great crust.  The next basketball game, which started at 10:30 I  also saved so I will watch it this morning, if  I feel like it.

Yoga this morning, a work out for Evie, nothing else on the agenda, perhaps a walk, or putting away our winter toys.  We will have to see.

A Good Friday

7:20

8:00

Kinney's Run

Up a little later than usual, about 7:20 and Evie's already up, has my coffee ready.  The good life.  It's 31º outside, mostly gray but with some open sky above the trees.  It's look like the heavy snow may be over, though flurries are forecast on and off for the next few days.  The snow in our front yard, however, has begun to melt and even I am thinking about spring.  So different from last year when spring was in full bloom by now.

Chautauqua Creek, March 29, 2012

Allegheny State Park, March 27th, 2012

Yesterday was a typical Thursday for us, starting with Yin Yoga for me, working out at the Y for Evie.  Class was good, lots of familiar faces, some interesting new twists, with lots of work on the lower back,  even some back massages with a tennis ball.  Evie also had a good work out though there's an Indian doctor who always seems to want her machine, the only one of its kind at the Y.  When he asks how much longer, she always tells him she just got on, so thirty minutes!  You go girl.  We stopped at Walmat to pick up some large plastic storage boxes, to put our winter things in, organize the attic more carefully, and picked up a few other things we did not want.  Walmart is so disgusting that I cannot pass up the stuff on its shelves.  

Nothing too exciting in the afternoon, despite my hints.  Evie's Diner was closed, no pies though I have a good feeling about today; I found a recipe called the Hockaday School Chess pie, so she may try it later today.  I hope. Late afternoon, I got another walk in, power walked through and around the empty camp ground and back.  Still a number of snow mobile trailers sitting in their parking lots, waiting I suppose for one last snow fall.  

For dinner, we had chicken and broccoli, with a curry sauce from Trader Joe's, good and easy, and finished our meal off with the last, alas, of the lemon meringue pie.  We showed stellar discipline by letting it last for three nights.  We watched Ohio State edge Arizona in the last minute of March Madness.  These are  the best games of the year, especially this weekend, when they get down to the Final Four.  

A few words on the virtues of Evie's vegetable soup before I close.  She makes it at least once a week, the recipe never the same, just whatever veggies are on hand, some beans, always lots of tomatoes, and cabbage, the key, and perhaps some leftovers if they fit in.  It's  always enough to last us the week.  Each day it sits, it gets better; we never tire of it.  It's healthy and filling.  I love this soup for lunch, something to look forward to each day.  

ARCADIA: LAUREN GROFF

An interesting, very different book from what I expected.  It's gotten great reviews, rightly so.  Set mostly on an upstate New York commune, of 700 acres, in the late 1970's, we follow the lives of the a group of hippies or idealists, depending on your definition, who set up a commune of equality and freedom, a haven from the world of wars, capitalism and avarice.  Abe and Hannah, two of the founding members, led by the charismatic but dogmatic leader, Handy, have a child named Bit, who becomes the novel's protagonist.  We see Bit grow up at the agrarian utopia until it falls apart, when he becomes a teenager.  But in his formative years, it becomes a utopia for him, during his childhood and innocence, isolated from the friction around him, both familial and communal.  He becomes fast friends with other children, especially Helle, the daughter of Handy, the leader.  Unlike Bit, Helle sees through much of the pretense, breaks the rules, indulges in drugs and sex, the lifestyle in a sense of the adults around her.  Nevertheless, Bit adores her, overlooks her faults and falls in love with her as an adolescent.

He, more than any of his mates, buys into the whole happy hippy thing, the communal sharing, the emphasis on people, the lack of commercialism, the shared tasks, the dining hall, with its tempeh, tofu, and yogurt.  He loves the outdoors, the freedom to wander and play with the other kids, the beauty of the area, all the things that  make it an ideal place to grow up if you are Bit.  Unfortunately, most of the others want more, wish they lived elsewhere, and when things fall apart, most are happy to take up another kind of life.  Arcadia, after all, is not a very easy life; the community was always short of money, often of food, and chores were often shared unequally, creating tension and anger.  The idea was good; the practicality of it was bad.  The reason:  "Freedom or community, community or freedom.  One must decide the way one wants to live...why can't you have both? You want both, you are destined to fail.  Too much freedom it rots things in communities, quick.  That was the problem with Arcadia (268)"

After the fall, we jump ahead to Bit's later years; he lives in the city, works at a university, as a teacher of photography and for a few years, he seems happy.  Helle, the girl from his childhood reappears in his life, they have a daughter, and all seems fine.  Until Bit wakes up one day and Helle has left, never to return.  Bit longs for Arcadia, for the life he led back in Arcadia, and of course, for Helle, his idealism unsullied.

We jump ten more years into the future.  His mother Hannah, his father Abe have returned to Arcadia, built a house and live on the grounds though it has changed.  Helle has never returned.  Hannah is diagnosed with ALS and both she and her husband Abe attempt suicide.  Abe dies but Hannah, ironically, survives.  Bit and his daughter, Grete, leave the city and come to live with Hannah during her last months, helping her as she slowly disintegrates.  This section of the novel seemed a bit long for me.  The last forty or fifty pages are taken up with Hannah's dying, Bit's attempts to reconnect with her, and Grete's anger at having to leave her high school and her grandmother's terribly slow death.  Bit does, however, discover himself, reconciles with his mother, her ways and her love for him, and ends up falling in love, towards the end, with Ellis, the doctor who comes to help take care of his mother.  For some reason, during these last few months, a plague has appeared around the world, called SARI, threatening the planet, its inhabitants.  Fortunately, when Hannah finally dies, the plague also disappears, with fewer deaths than expected, and Bit, Grete, and Ellis, we assume, live together with some happiness.  And Bit finds what he is looking for. a lesson for all of us:

"Peace, he knows, can be shattered in a million variations: great visions of the end, a rain of ash, a disease on the wind, a blast in the distance, the sun dying like a kerosene lamp clicked off.  And in smaller ways: an overheard remark, his daughter's sour mood his own body faltering.  There's no use in anticipating the mode.  He will wait for the hushed spaces in life, for Ellis's snore in the dark, for Grete's stealth kiss, for the warm light inside the gallery, his images on the wall broken beyond beauty into blisters and fragments, returning in the eye to beauty again.  The voices of women at night on the street, laughing;  he has always loved the voice of women.  Pay attention, he thinks.  Not to grand gestures, but to the passing breath (289)."  Lovely.  

Snowy Morning, Warming Up This Afternoon

Morning at 7:05

Last  Night's Snow fall

Frosted Tree Limbs

Evening Blue Glow: 8:00 PM

Up around 7:15, to a layer of snow on trees, ground and car, a great viewt to wake up to.  It's not very cold, 30º outside, high around 45º later in the day alas, as much of last nights two inches will melt.  It looks like this kind of weather will be with us for the next few days, wet snow or rain, then warming.

I did have yoga yesterday; I really missed it the past four or five days, so it was good to get back to class.  Before class, I asked our teacher, Elise, if she would teach us a few wake up poses for each morning.  She created a thirty minute work out and had the class follow it as well, which was great.  Her classes are always good because she does different poses each class, along with some I always recognize.  And some are strengthening, others just for stretching.  And this class has enough regulars so that we seem to get along well.  It's nice to know the names of others in the class.  Afterwards, we went to Wegman's, where else, as we had not been shopping since Friday.  We also stopped at the the Tractor and Farm store.  We bought about sixty pounds of sunflower seeds and a new pair of groovy, knee high rubber garden/work boots for Evie.  O, yea, Evie found another bird feeder she liked, so we now have four hanging around the house, filled now with sunflower seeds, mobbed by spring birds, waiting for warm weather.

Around 4:30, I went for a walk in the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, a routine I hope to keep up.  Evie gets her work out in each morning but I need some aerobic exercise, so late afternoon is perfect.  It was colder than I thought, but it was a good walk, always, through six inches of crunchy snow, as I followed lots of deer tracks through the woods.

Walking Woodlawn/Victoria

For dinner, we had salmon, with my sister Ellen's orange marmalade/balsamic/mustard glaze, with garlic spinach, always tasty.  And of course, we have been waiting all day, patiently, for another piece of lemon meringue pie.  We are rationing ourselves, so we have a piece for three straight nights.  Alas, tonight is the last night.  Perhaps Evie's Diner will open and another pie will appear.  Let's hope so.  We watched a couple of more episodes of The Killing and though we often have a hard time understanding some of it, we are enjoying it more and more.  We also watched the last four minutes of the Heat's lost to the Chicago Bulls and speed watched American Idol.

A Light Snow Welcomes Tuesday Morning

Cross Country Skiing in Dobbins Woods

Ellery Farm, Above Lakeside Drive

Snow at 8:00

Up at 7:00 and surprise, it's snowing, just enough to cover my car.  It was warm enough yesterday so some of the snow had begun to melt.  Right now it's 30º out, so I assume this snow will melt by afternoon.  One lonely fisherman is out in the middle of the lake.  These guys don't give up.

Tuesday's yoga was cancelled again; it's becoming a habit for this guy.  I really wanted a class, too.  C'est la vie.  We decided to drive to Dobbins Woods, to see what the snow base was like and if I could cross country ski.  Fortunately, it was good, so I skied and Evie snow shooed for an hour, through the lovely woods.  Little snow on the trees, but it was  fun to be in the woods, in the crisp air, see all the tracks of various animals, and the sun even came out for a time to make it even beautiful.  After skiing, we usually walk up to Butts Road and back, just to stretch our legs and to get in another fifteen minutes of exercise.  No traffic, just us on the road, a good place for a summer walk.

At noon, I drove in to Erie, taking my Honda Pilot to Bianchi Honda,  getting it ready for our trip west to KC next week.  When I arrived, it was like traffic jam at the dealer.  So many cars, so many people getting their cars worked on.  I had hoped they would go over the car, making sure everything was ship shape.  They did come up with the need for new rear break pads and rotors, for $465 plus taxes.  I came home, called the defunct Honda dealer in Jamestown, who still works on Hondas.  They will do it for $280.00.  Go figure that one.

What's Left of Evie's Lemon Meringue Pie

When I got home, Evie's Diner was back in action.  She was almost finished with the pie crust for a lemon meringue pie.  Wow...I was excited, my favorite pie.  And both the crust (using Crisco) and the pie, even the meringue turned out perfect.  Evie's going to give Portage Pie competition.  A lemon meringue pie from Portage Pie is seventeen bucks.

We had an easy dinner, hot dogs, beans and a salad, with Stadium Mustard, from Cleveland.  We watched another episode of The Killing and are beginning to like it more and more, and some of The Voice, much better than American Idol, we think.  And I am into Rohinton Mintry's novel Family Matters, set in India in the 1990's, told from the point of view of a failing seventy seven year old grandfather with Parkinson's disease.  I really am into it; in fact, I dreamed about it last night, about how his children ignore and are often appalled by his failing physical and mental skills.  Sad but understandable.

Evie's Diner...Closed Till Summer

Breakfast with the Guys

Long Point, Early Morning

Common Redpoll

Up early, to an empty house (Evie's still sleeping but no guests), a streak of creamsicle over Wells Bay. A few guys are out already fishing and two snow mobiles have just roared by, exiting at Wells Bay and it's only 7:20.  Are they going to work?  Returning from a wild night?  I have seen them before.  It's 24º, warming up to the thirties later.  When I go out side for the newspaper, I hear the songs of various birds, a sure sign that spring is coming, just not this week.

7:20

Photo From Long Point

The guys left for Cleveland yesterday about 12:30.  Evie was up early, as was I, and we relaxed, as usual, till about 8:00 when Dick and John got up.  Then, Evie went to work, preparing our amazing breakfast, of original Belgium waffles, with pearl sugar, an omelette, with tomatoes and bacon, and onion rye toast.  We shot the breeze for an hour until breakfast, around 10:00, as no one was in a hurry.  Stan came over at 9:00, so there were four of us for breakfast and it was just like  going off to a diner, only better.  We sat around eating and talking, mostly about the good old days, what else, growing up in East Cleveland, for Johnny and Stan, Euclid for Dick and me.  Evie put oldies on the Sirius, mostly Frank Sinatra, Frankie Vallie, Nat King Cole, the kind of tunes that Johnny loves.  We also talked about how lucky we have been with our lives; who would have thought fifty years ago we would be sitting here, having great families, retired, enjoying our children and grandchildren and we are all in our seventies, except me! All of us  have done quite a bit of traveling, something we never would have believed when we were  growing up in an insular communities, where everyone seemed to stay in their hometown.  I was the first to break the code, flying off to Hawaii when I was twenty four, then Turkey, when I was twenty seven.  Both Johnny and Stan stayed in either the Ohio or Western New York areas.  Dick followed me to Hawaii and lived in a Los Angeles for fifteen years, trying to make it as an actor.  But the guys have traveled quite a bit, Johnny to Italy, where he has lots of relatives and Stan to Ireland and England, to play golf, of course.

After my buddies left, we relaxed, tried to get back to normal, which is always difficult, as we are always hyper after company.  We did get in a walk around the CI, slippery and slushy for the most part, but it felt good to be out in the cold, after being in the house all day.

Our New No Parking Sign

We had an easy dinner as the diner was closed for the evening, leftover Chicken Marbella and shrimp with noodles, both still tasty.  We watched some TV, The Good Wife, a couple episodes of The Killing, read, and went to bed, tired from our busy weekend.

Snowy and Overcast, A Typical Spring Morning Here at the Lake

Beauty and the Old Beasts

Hiking Long Point

Up at 7:00 and so far, the only one up.  I was surprised to see some snow on the cars, some wet snow descending outside, almost blizzardy looking out  towards the lake.  Not a very inviting day so far.  It's 25º at the moment, will stay in the high twenties most of the day.

On The Lake At Tip of Long Point

We have had lots of company the last few days and yesterday was no exception.  My friend from Hawaii, of course, is here till today, Monday, when he goes to Cleveland to see family.  Yesterday, then, we took him for a drive around the north end of the lake, showing him some of the sights, like the Lighthouse Grocery, will he had a nice talk with Norm, the butcher, and we picked up some ground chuck for burgers later in the day.  He liked the old, run down feel of the Lighthouse, like us.  We continued around the north end, driving around Pt. Chautauqua, then on to Long Point State Park, where we went for a walk, eventually out to the tip of Long Point, even walking some on the ice, where many snow mobile tracks marked the lake snow.  It was an easy walk, not too rigorous as Dick is still recovering from a fall from painting a ceiling and also has a bum knee.  Ain't growing older wonderful.

Pancake Breakfast at Red's

We had our usual Sunday breakfast and Dick had four farm fresh eggs, along with bacon and onion rye  toast. Like us, he has healthy breakfasts usually, for him a smoothie, but when on vacation or traveling, why not indulge, thus the eggs and bacon.  Around 2:00, another one of our good friends from my basketball and teaching days, John DiAngelo, from Concord, Ohio, drove out to see us.  He's a great guy, loves basketball, has lots in common with us, so we had a great time catching up during the afternoon.  He's staying the night as well, so he can take Dick back to Cleveland today.  Around 4:00, Stan Marshaus also came over, also friends with John, so we watched some basketball and had a great dinner, of burgers, french fries, cheesy cauliflower. and brownies.  Evie, obviously, has been very busy in the kitchen the last couple of days. feeding all of us.  She even made up the waffle batter last night for this morning's breakfast, one Stan is also  coming over for.  Our house has been like Evie's Diner since Friday night.

The Guys

Interestingly, as we watched the games last night, we got into talking about religion, usually a taboo, as well as the changes we have seen in the past fifty years, in our lives, especially in teaching (the students), but also in the attitudes toward belief and God.  Both John and Dick are religious, where as I am a pagan, Stan's a believer some what.  No arguments or bad feelings, which was nice.  We did not solve any problems, just sounded like the old guys we have become, typical no doubt of diners across America each morning, as retirees gather for breakfast, bemoaning the changes in the world.  It was a good day, great to get together with old buddies, renew ties, reminisce, and learn more about their lives, hidden by distance and time.  We change but don't; underneath the white heads are the same young guys I remember from fifty years ago.

Cold, Clearing, A Fine and Sunny Sunday Morning

A Dinner With Fresh Pasta and Two Sauces

7:40

Buddies

It's 8:40, the sun has just appeared, though the fog hangs on the far shore remains, the lake white with patches of reflected ice.  It was 16º when I got up, about 7:20 but it's already 22º, with highs in the upper thirties, and sunny.  A good day for a walk, some March Madness, and burgers and fries, perhaps teriyaki pork chops, depending on our mood.  At the moment, the lake has disappeared because of the fog, from the warming weather, the cold ground.  I can hardly see our  flag!

Ready for Pancakes 

At Red's on Clymer/Sherman Road

A full day yesterday, as we wanted to show my buddy from Maui our typical Chautauqua hospitality.  We started late morning with a drive to Sherman, with Dick loving the rural country side, snow covered fields, occasional Amish buggy so different from Hawaii.  We went to Red's Pancake House, our second visit and it was great.  Dick loved it, the people, the friendliness, the lack of pretension of life here in Chautauqua.  We talked with the owner/pancake turner, a neat guy, who keeps track of the number of pitchers of pancakes he has poured over the years.  At the moment, it's ninety eight thousand.   He even showed us the crease between his thumb and finger from pouring.  Our waitress was really cute as well, hovering over our table, bringing Dick ten pancakes, two at a time.  When we arrived, it was mostly older folks, looked like farmers and their wives from the area, but lots of families came in later, so it was a mixed crowed.  We ate a leisurely breakfast, enjoying the atmosphere and food, and checked out the maple syrup making room, just next to the dining room.  We then drove to Sherman, stopped at a store to pick up some eggs, then did some browsing at an antique store we have been at before.  I found an amazing no parking street sign, bought it for five bucks, and it already hangs on our garage door. NO PARKING BETWEEN 4:00 PM SUNDAY AND 4:00 PM WEDNESDAY. So friends and neighbors, be forewarned.  A picture will be forth coming, tomorrow or the next day.  It's great.

We got home around 12:30 and Dick collapsed on the couch, as the traveling caught up with him, and he slept from 12:30 to 4:00.  I didn't mind as I napped and watched March Madness. And typically, Evie spent all this time getting things ready for dinner.  She made brownies, a shrimp vodka sauce, put together the dough for pasta, set the table, cleaned up the kitchen, all while the boys were either sleeping or watching the games.  What a women!

Mary and Elizabeth with Dad

At 4:00, Stan stopped over with his two daughters.  The youngest, Mary was in tears because she did not want to come.  After about five minutes with Evie, she was fine and by the time they left, they did not want to leave.  They left, of course, with two presents apiece from the treasury chest.  They are darling, such beautiful little girls.  We wish we could see them more often.

Making Pasta

Clam linguini

Stan took them home just as the Mc Clures arrived as they were coming to dinner, again!  Stan came back as well and we relaxed with  drinks and appetizers , hot pepper jelly and cream cheese before we all adjourned to the kitchen.  While the gang made the fresh linguini noodles on the pasta machine, I put  together the second sauce, my mom's clam linguini sauce, with cream cheese instead of milk.  Everyone pitched in and helped with the noodles, putting the dough through the machine four times to get the right thickness, then through the linguini cutter.  It was great fun,  and we all had a good time contributing to the dinner.

We did not eat till almost 8:00; everyone tried and loved both sauces and noodles and we sat around enjoying the food and conversation until 10:00.  We of course reminisced about the good old days, especially our first teaching experiences in Painesville, Ohio but also quite a bit about  our years in Hawaii.  I am sure we bored the Mc Clures some but they are good sports.  Stan and the Mc Clures left about 10:30.  Dick and Evie and I stayed up talking till about 11:30 when we went to bed.  Dick stayed up for awhile as he has not yet adjusted to EST.

Today, we hope to walk early, then another good friend of Dick, Stan and me, John Di Angelo is coming in mid afternoon.  He will stay for dinner and the night, and tomorrow, he will take Dick into Cleveland, where he will stay with his sister and see his family.

Lots of Snow, Some Sun, Cold

The Oldies But Goodies

Loving Winter

8:00

Cross Country Skiing at Long Point

Up at 7:00, to a quiet house, what else, as I sip my coffee and listen to NPR.  It's now 8:00, as the sun tries to peak over a bank of clouds above Long Point.  A touch of snow last night, just enough to cover the windshield, and it's 24º out.

We started yesterday with a late morning snow shoeing and skiing at Long Point. Lots of snow, much like the day before.  I always seem to mention that we never meet anyone on the trails but yesterday was different.  As we drove down Lakeside drive, who should we see walking the road but the Mc Clures!  We said aloha, then went into the park, and actually saw a couple of people walking, another cross country skiing, and the trails looked like they had been used.  Still, it was lovely to be in the pine forests, though the wind around Long Point was so strong that we decided to forgo a trip out to the point.  It was like this the last time we skied as well.  We were out for close to an hour and a half, enough to work up quite a sweat.

Tree Weighted Down by Snow

Fishing Off Of Long Point

We or I should say Evie, spent a good part of the afternoon on dinner, as Stan Marshaus and our good friend, Dick Allen, were coming for dinner.  Evie put together the Silver Palate's Chicken Marbella, a great dish with capers, prunes, olives,  lots of garlic and white wine.  She also was inspired to make banana cream pie, with a home made crust.  Both worked out well.  Around 6:30, Stan and Dick arrived, as Stan had driven to Buffalo to pick Dick up.  We had a great time, talking about the good old days, teaching and living in Hawaii, since we have know each other since the 1960's.  Dinner was great, of course, and though no one said they wanted banana cream pie, too full, we all had a piece, no surprise.  Stan stayed till about 10:00 and Evie, Dick and I stayed up till about 11:15 talking, mostly about Dick's son, Jon Dom, a freshmen in high school.  Dick started his family a bit later then us, at fifty five, so his son is three years younger than our oldest grandson, Tyler, about to be a freshmen next year at Dartmouth.  Dick and I actually go way back, to junior high, to high school, college, teaching, the Hawaii.  We played basketball together in high school, and then again, in the Armed Services League in Hawaii for the Kenny Kaneshiro's Jolly Rodger Pirates, a fast food restaurant in Hawaii, with their signature sandwiches, the Porky Boy and Cheesy Gal along with the plate lunches and saimin, a noodle soup.

Chicken Marbella

We are thinking of heading to Red's Pancake House for breakfast this morning, a nice way to start the day, about a twenty minute ride to Sherman.