Still Cold, Clearing Skies, Sunny Monday (Dobbins Woods)

7:40 

Our Son, Tom and wife, Mary, Cruising the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico

I woke to the sound of a laboring snow mobile on the lake, at least that's what it sounded like.  When I looked outside, I could not see a light, the sound was in the distance, a harbinger of summer, waking to the sounds of the bass boats pulling out of Long Point Marina at 6:00, starting a bass tournament.  It's 9º at the moment, a line of clouds over the far shore, clear skies above.

Yesterday was cold but mostly sunny, a good day to enjoy the basketball on TV as well as get some exercise.  So, about 10:00, I went for perhaps my last country skiing of the winter in Dobbins Woods. Unfortunately, it was difficult to ski, the trail icy, filled with ruts, and lots of dead fall from the heavy winds the past couple of days.  It took lots of energy and care to circle the woods without falling or slipping and I even had to take my skis off once, to cross a couple of ice bridges over creeks, not wanting to risk falling on them.  Still, it was good to be outside, despite the 17º temperature, with the sun glistening on the fallen snow.  The trail looked as if no one had been on it for quite awhile in fact the last skier might have been me a couple of weeks ago.

Cross Country Skiing at Dobbins Woods

About noon, we had our Sunday breakfast, watched CBS Sunday Morning, before Evie decided to go for a workout at the YMCA, getting one last workout in before we head to Florida.  I watched basketball on and off the rest of the afternoon, not that interested in any of the games but it gave me something to do.  If you remember the squirrel picture from yesterday, either he or a sibling have been relocated to Ellery, happy in their new environment. Relocating squirrels is perhaps a 'task of the absurd,' like Sisyphus pushing the stone up the mountain, knowing it will fall.  There will always be another squirrel!

7:26 PM

We enjoyed the late afternoon, with some wine and hummus with crackers, and looked at the great pictures our daughter in law Mary sent about their cruise this past week on the Oasis Of the Seas (6125 passenger capacity), the largest cruise ship in the world, a floating hotel, restaurant, and recreation park... an amazing ship.  The family all seemed to have had a fabulous time, were ready to go on another one, as there was lots to do, great food and service, a real vacation.  What a contrast to the Stefan Batory (775 passengers), the ship we took in 1977, when we returned to the US from Turkey.

Oasis of the Seas

Recreational Areas

Stefan Batory

For dinner, Evie made portabello mushrooms stuffed with garlic spinach and cheese, and I cooked a salmon fillet out on the grill...it fired up this time. We watched the gritty movie THE DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, a true story about an HIV patient who bucks the system, by selling illegal drugs, exposing the often silly, slow bureaucracy of the FDA, saving hundreds if not thousands of lives.  Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for his role, and Jared Leto, as a transvestite won Best Supporting Actor.  The movie was hard to watch at times, with its realistic scenes of HIV patients and their sufferings.  Not a fun, light film, but worth watching for the performances, the story of one man's fight for life.