An Early Morning Crisis

8:00

 Up at 6:15, already a light on the lake, perhaps because there's an ice fishing tournament today, the first that I can remember.  Registration is at the Ashville Fire Station, in Stow.  Not sure about where the weigh in will be, most likely at Long Point.  We hope to stop by. At the moment, I counted at least 35 different fishing guys out on the ice, as far north as Wells Bay, south as far as Tom's Point. Anyways, to the crisis! Evie had the coffee ready to brew, I flipped the switch on our at least ten year old coffee pot and nothing happened.  I tried another plug, still nothing.  Fussed with the dial, nothing. Panicked, no coffee!  Then remembered, Evie had liked this coffee pot so much that she had bought a second one a couple of years ago because it was on sale for half price.  Unfortunately, it was upstairs, somewhere in our packed attic.  Still panicked at the thought of no early morning coffee, I got out my trusty Surefire flashlight, the kind the Special Forces carry, went up to the the attic, quietly so as to not wake Evie, turned on my flashlight, searched the area and viola, found it stacked in a corner.  I took it downstairs, opened the carton, pulled out the maker, the pot, filled it with water, put the coffee in the pot, turned it on and by 6:30, I had a cup of cup. Whew!  Disaster averted.  Evie's motto: be prepared (for lack of coffee) paid dividends.

Friday was a yoga-less day so we decided to walk the trails at Long Point.  We assumed there would be a light layer of snow but did not anticipate the thick coating of ice under the snow.  After a lot of slipping and sliding, we stayed at the edge of the trail where our footing was more secure and luckily we had our walking poles.  We were out for two hours and Evie especially loved the fresh air and sun since it has been weeks since she's been outside for any length of time.

Trails at Tip of Long Point

New Signage

We came home to more minestrone soup, love the fennel in it; we had hummus with pita chips and veggies, a tasty accompaniment to soup.  We did not do much the rest of the afternoon, our usual, reading or watching some TV.  I did take time out to have a cup of hot chocolate and put together the dough for my no knead bread.  It's already risen at least twice this morning, ready for some shaping and baking this morning after yoga.

We had a great salmon filet for dinner, with garlic spinach and rice.  Evie covered the salmon with a mixture of mayo, mustard, orange marmalade, hot sauce and Turkish lemon salt.  She then wrapped it in tin foil and I baked it outside on a hot grill for 16 minutes, brought it in and let it sit for five minutes before serving.  We both felt the salmon was as good as we have ever had.  And I love it with garlic spinach, for contrast, and the blandness of the rice.

After dinner, we watched one of the top ten movies of 2013, Before Midnight, the third part of a trilogy about a relationship, begun in 1994, between Ethan Hawke and Julia Delpy as the major characters.  In this one, they have been living together for ten years, in Paris, raising twin daughters, where Hawke is a writer.  They have been spending six weeks at a famous writers home in Kalamata, Greece, in the Mani, the southern part of the Peloponnese's.  The movie begins with Ethan dropping his 14 year old son off at the airport, a son from his previous marriage.  Thus begins the conversation between Hawke and Delpy, which basically is the movie, a real dialogue between a husband and wife.  They talk on their way back to the Mani in the car, then in the house, at dinner with friends, then walk to a hotel, where friends have given them a night alone in a sea side hotel, a break from the kids.  They talk on the way, in the hotel room, then out on the pier in darkness.  Anyone who has been married will identify with some of the discussions, the conflicts, the misunderstandings, the hurt feelings, the uncertainties, doubts and insecurities, in any individual or marriage.  It  raises the questions as to how well we know ourselves, our partners, and it was a a relief to watch a movie that was more than sex and violence, a coupling and a gunshot.  I would recommend seeing the first two films first, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset but you don't have to.  We also finished Top of the Lake but  I will discuss it tomorrow.