A Wet, Windy Halloween Thursday Morning

7:32

Up at 6:45 to the sound of rain on the roof, as predicted by the weatherman.  He's correct once in a while.  It's supposed to be that kind of day, rain on and off all day, heavy winds starting tonight, unseasonably warm during the day, a high of 68º. It's a good thing we got all our yard work done yesterday.  Just heard some gun shots so it must be duck hunting season on the lake.

Enjoying A Fall Walk

The Modern Hiker, On His Phone With His Broker!

The weather yesterday was fine, clear and sunny and cool, just the kind of fall day we love.  And to take advantage of it, we drove off to the Audubon Nature Preserve,  just outside of Frewsburg,  about a half hour drive.  We like to support it, are members, and walk their grounds four or five times a year.  It was a great day to hike the woods, cool and crisp in mid morning, especially in the first half of our walk through our favorite kind of trail, a forest full of pines, always dark and cool, no matter what time of the year.   If I did not live on a lake, I would want to live in a pine forest or with a mountain view.  It's an easy two plus mile circular walk, flat so it would be easy to cross country ski, which I have done a couple of years ago.  There's a huge pond, too, with a few water fowl.  The Sanctuary is well taken care of, with lots of blue bird houses, a perch for the resident eagle, and lots of plantings protected from deer by plastic tubes.  We ended up buying 50 pounds of sunflower seeds, which ought to get us through a few months of winter's hungry birds.  Right now, our feeder in the front window is besieged by sparrows, devouring the sunflower seeds in two or three days.  After our walk, we went to Wegman's, spending a wad, walking off with seemingly little, typical these days for a shopping trip. We also stopped at Raymour and Flanigan, a furniture store, to look at  their club chairs.  We are thinking of buying a couple of chairs to put around our fireplace but are finding most chairs seem too large for the area.

A Great Destination

The Audubon Sanctuary

We did not get back till after 1:00, so we had lunch, relaxed a bit, then went outside to work in the yard.  We were going to cut both yards but Evie got to them first, and cut both Leonard's and our yard, as I worked in the back yard, on the compost pile, and clearing the garage so I could put my Pilot in it tomorrow when we take off to visit Jill and family in Bristow, VA.  The entire time we worked outside, the lake was like glass, not a ripple, sun filled, a deep blue.  So, when we finished our work, we decided we had to go kayaking and as luck would have it, the wind picked up just as we started out, rippling the calm waters.  It was still great to be out on the lake on a late October day despite the fact that the lake was still algae filled and paddling in some parts was like being in pea soup.  We paddled across to Long Point, then to the far end of Wells Bay, where a new house had just been built.  We paddled close to shore and owner came out to talk.  His name is Glenn Johnson, and they will live there full time.  They tore down their old cottage because it was just not large enough for them.  A nice guy, we talked for about ten minutes, exchanged names, and then paddled home to our lake front.

Fall Kayaking

Starting Out

Heading Home, Late Afternoon

Around 5:30, we had a glass of wine and Evie made up a pasta sauce with mushrooms, white wine and cream.  When done, she tossed it with some of the leftover fresh pasta noodles from last night's dinner and we had a meal with salad and broccoli.  Earlier, we bought some maple syrup vinegar at the Busti Cider Mill, tried it on the salad, and it got average reviews, not my favorite.  We couldn't find much to watch on TV other than Stewart and Colbert, so we went to bed early, me to finish my book Silesian Station.

Today we get ready for our visit to Bristow, a good day to stay inside because of the weather, not so good if you are a trick or treater.  This kind of day reminds of the fall Chautauqua weekends in years past, when we would drive up for the weekend and it would be wet and cold and dark, though comforting because we were at the lake, in our home.  We would usually go out to dinner at Bud's Carriage House, return home through the drizzle, houses decked out in Halloween decorations.  Ah nostalgia.