Stillness Reigns At Lake Chautauqua

6:24

6:54

It's 6:45 and I have been up for a half an hour, enjoying the changing morning sky, the sun hidden behind a partly cloudy sky but about ready to break out.  It 46º but like yesterday, it should get up to the high 60's.  The sun has just peaked through the clouds, highlighting a raft of mergansers floating off the shoreline. It looks like another good spring day.

I was up early yesterday, as Evie slept in, and I was out on the lake kayaking by 7:30, as I could not resist the temptation to get up off my comfortable couch, put on my life jacket, boots, and paddle down to Whitney Bay and back, the only fool on the lake at this hour.  Lots of ducks, especially buffleheads, and sea gulls littered my way.  I don't remember sea gulls being this prevalent so early, perhaps their presence results from last week's fish kill of white perch.  It was chilly coming back, as the wind picked up.  And I am pretty sure I saw an osprey in the trees along Woodlawn.

Kayak Morning Along Woodlawn

When I returned, Evie was up, enjoying the morning and we decided to walk the CI late morning, once she had fully awakened.  We had not walked it in awhile, and I remember the last time I walked it, before we went to Florida, and it was still icy, lots of snow, so it was a quite different walk this time, though still bland and colorless, only the browns of trees and fallen leaves.  Spring has yet to arrive here at Chautauqua to any great degree.  We almost always walk the same way, staying off the lake front until we get to the north end, coming back most of the way on Pratt, passing Hurlburt Church.  We saw few people out, either walking or in their yards.  It amazes me the concentration of empty homes for all but ten weeks of the year, which could be said, I suppose, for all the lakeside homes that ring the lake...except for us.

Daffodil at Chautauqua Institute -- one of the few

We had our big Easter breakfast, of maple bacon from Trader Joe's, fried eggs, and homemade English muffin bread.  We watched CBS Sunday morning, did up the dishes, then relaxed and read the paper. About 2:00, we found our mojo and we both went outside and worked for a couple of hours in Evie's garden, in the backyard, cleaning out leaves, trimming bushes, getting the garden cleaned up, a type of outdoor spring cleaning.  We still have little color other than the six inch high green shoots from the daffodils.  It was warm enough for me to just wear a tee shirt, and we both worked up a sweat, filled three large garbage cans with organic refuse.  It was a good feeling when we finished, to look out over the yard and see the chaos of winter had disappeared, as the rebirth of spring and an attempt to order a neglected garden has begun.

Picky, House Hunting Purple Martin Checking It Out 

We relaxed before dinner, with one of our favorite cheeses, St. Andre, and a beer before getting dinner ready.  As I grilled the two inch thick steak outside (it took 18 minutes), Evie broiled asparagus in the oven, then  sauteed mushrooms, till caramelized, then added soy and butter, for our steaks.  What a meal.  We started to watch a Woody Allen movie called SCOOP, supposedly hilarious but within 15 minutes, we were bored with Woody Allen's nonstop chatter, his tired jokes, and turned it off and watched 60 Minutes instead.  At 9:00, we watched Nurse Jackie and again, I am getting tired of her drug habit, which consumes her life.  I get it after five seasons and would like to see her change but it's not going to happen soon.  We ended the night with The Good Wife, and I finished RED STATION before starting my next book, SEATING ARRANGEMENTS, a novel I mentioned yesterday that was recommended on NPR.  I like it so far, a father is getting ready for his daughter's three day wedding extravaganza, at their tony home on an island off of Massachusetts.