An Overcast and Wet Tuesday Morning

Kayak Man

6:20

Well, it's almost 7:00 and I have been up for an hour, watching the sun peak, occasionally, through the heavy clouds.  It rained a half an inch last night, the second rain like this in a week,  great for Evie's garden, in fact, all our plants and shrubs.  They have never looker greener, healthier.  It's tempting to go kayaking right now, with a streak of light over the Bemus shore, clouds above, and a gray and pink lake, silent and not a boat in sight.

We did go out early, for a kayak ride, yesterday morning, to Long Point, the Marina, and back to Wells Bay and home.  The lake, at least for this time of the year, seems quiet, without the kind of traffic we are used to during the summer months.  I am not complaining mind you, but it is strange...are all the visitors waiting for August?  At 9:15, I left for yoga with Danielle, leaving Evie in the kitchen, roasting a brisket.  Yoga was not overly crowded, one guy, the usual ladies, and we worked on chest openings quite a bit.  I do know that there is a constant though not unpleasant soreness in my body, a result I suppose from yoga stretches.  When I returned home, Evie had put together the lasagne's, baked and wrapped them, and put them in the freezer.  And just as a lark, she also made a banana bread from a recipe she had recently come across.

Two Lasagna's Ready to Freeze

Banana Bread

During the afternoon, because rain was predicted, Evie cut the lawn, making it just in time, on a very humid and warm afternoon.  I tried to nap but couldn't,  so I decided to scrape the boards on our front steps, which were peeling, and paint them.  Of course, we could not find the paint we needed; it was not in the back closet where we both know we had seen it.  So I want off to Sherwin Williams, to buy a gallon (this particular paint only comes in a gallon), and with 40% off, it still cost me over forty bucks, a deal I guess.  When I got home, Evie had found the paint, in the garage, where she had put it earlier in the summer. That's what comes of cleaning out cupboards, closets, and reorganizing!  But the new paint was perfect, thick, covered well, with a primer, well worth the money.

Regatta?

For dinner, I had read about a grilled Sicilian chicken, so earlier in the day, we had made up a marinade of lemon, herbs, olive oil and parsley, put the whole chicken in a plastic bag and let it sit in the refrigerator till 5:00.  I put it on the grill, in an aluminum pan, with potatoes, but the breast skin stuck to the bottom when I turned it and it did not brown the way I would have liked.  My quest to make a good chicken continues.  The chicken was juicy though somewhat bland, despite the herbs, salt and pepper. The upside of the meal, we had the best corn of the year, perhaps because we used Evie's herbed butter on it.  It was like eating candy on a stick

We watched Sunday night's episode of The Killing and it was riveting.  Linden and Holder are so good, the show so well done that we laugh when we watch The Newsroom, which seems infantile and derivative in contrast.  Their relationship, understated and intense, rarely goes beyond professionalism though Holder, in a moment of despair, tries to kiss Holder, which she rebuffs.  We know there's chemistry but both are wary of relationships, especially one which might endanger their friendship.  It makes the series so compelling as well as the fact that we still are not sure who the killer is, with two episodes to go.  Who do you think did it Pat? The Mom's boy friend? The young kid?  We think it's a cop, Holder's former partner.