Clear Skies, Placid Lake, A Sunny Morning On The Lake (Purple Martin Families Arrive)

6:19

Our Chautauqua Estate

Up again at 6:00, a streak of light over Long Point until the sun rises, breaking through the streak, its reflection blinding on the lake's surface.  I can hear geese honking in the distant, a song bird trilling in a bush until I scare him away.
 Ducks are drawing lines on the lake, as they paddle around, occasionally diving for vegetation.  And the best news, the purple martins are back, looking for homes, many on our house during the day.  I was worried they might find it difficult to nest in our houses because I put a predator guard on this spring but it does not seem to matter.

Mom

Dad (the purple one) and Mom

The Neighbors

Yesterday morning was, like today, spectacular, with sun, clear skies, an inviting lake.  I decided, however, to go to yoga, figuring it would be nice the rest of the day.  Yoga was packed, as everyone seems to have returned from vacations, from winter in climes warm.  After yoga, it was still exhilarating out, but I had a few stops to make, at Home Depot for grass seed, then Wegman's, the Sears to return a pair of slacks I ordered from Land's End, then the post office.  By the time I got home, however, around 1:00, it had become cloudy, dulling the sun, the sky no longer blue. It's interesting how one's mood is often reflected by the weather.

Because of the dullness of the afternoon sky, I did little, other than play around in the yard, read, and while away the afternoon, a wasted day for me.  I did have a great taco lunch, put together by Evie before she left to work out at the YMCA.  And I watched the final episode of True Detective, really enjoyed the series though I missed much of the conversation because Matthew McConaughey
 mumbles most of the time.  I should put closed captioning on when I have trouble understanding what's being said.

For dinner, we had a dish our son Tom made for us in KC a few years ago, pasta with shrimp, asparagus and sundried tomatoes in oil.  It's a great dish, lots of flavors, including lots of red pepper chili flakes and 4 minced garlic cloves, giving it a bite. We watched Mad Men, too much time spent on Roger and his hippy daughter, as if Matt Weiner is running out of plots, as Don struggles with his demotion, with the fact that he's no longer the 'top dog' at the agency.  And I am into the book I mentioned yesterday, DIFFICULT MEN, about what the writer calls the Golden Age of Television, from around the late 1990's to the present, when all the great TV shows were made, mostly on cable, like The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Dexter, Deadwood, and Mad Men.  He credits Hill Street Blues with being the ground breaking series, with its open ended plots, anti heroes, and realism.  I know we loved the series back in the early 1980's, would get together with other couples to watch it on Thursday evenings.  We tried to watch it again a few months ago but it's dated, slow moving, almost silly compared to today's series.

1981-1987