Morning Chill and Lots of Sunshine -- Brazil's and Forte, Jamestown, NY

6:56

I was up at 6:30, came downstairs to a living room filled with sun, so bright I couldn't really look outside without blinking.  It's 59º, a high of 70º, a fall like day in the middle of July but I have no complaints.  Masses of clouds are gathered on the edges of the tree line, occasionally muddling the brightness.

A typical morning, of coffee, NPR, yogurt with blueberries, write my blog, have Evie proofread it and refine the photographs, publish it then get ready to go to yoga.  That's why I get up early, to have time to relax, read the newspapers on my computer, then write and publish my blog, which takes at least a half hour each morning.  I have not missed a morning since October, 2010, over 1700 posts including book reviews.  I never thought I would have the discipline to stick with it, but sometimes we surprise ourselves.

So, I went to yoga at 9:30, with Courtney, only two of us, then I went off and gassed up the car, got it washed and ready for our trip to Virginia tomorrow morning.  When I got home, I was energized, so I decided to wash the Pilot, dirty from sitting under our pine trees.  It looks squeaky clean now but by parking it back under the trees, the shine will not last long.   During lunch, I watched the first episode of Ray Donovan, Showtime's combination of violence, family, crime, and sex... set in Hollywood.  How could it not be successful with that combination.  We, then, spent the afternoon as we have been wont to do recently, reading either on the dock or in the yard.  Mid afternoon, the winds picked up, almost knocking Evie's Kroc's into the lake, gusting up to 30 mph or more.  So, we moved inside, then showered (me), and Evie took a bath in the lake.

At Brazil's Craft Beer and Wine Lounge

We were meeting the McClures for dinner, and we wanted to get some shopping done before, getting some tasks out of the way.  So, we left at 5:25,  stopped at a hardware store, then TJ Maxx then Wegman's before meeting Ron and Linda, and Linda's sister Janet, from NYC, at Brazils Craft Beer and Wine Lounge, on 4th Street in downtown Jamestown.  They had saved us some seats, so we enjoyed a craft brew, looking out the bay window on to 4th.  Evie loved her beer, a Dogfish, with a hint of peach in it. I had a pale ale, and we all enjoyed our beers.  Coincidentally, our bartender at Brazil's was Courtney, my yoga teacher, and it's typical for today's generation of young people to have more than one job.

At Forte's, 3rd Street, Jamestown, NY

Linda, With Her Sister,  Janet

We then walked to Forte, our favorite restaurant in the area, had a table reserved in the bar, by the window, and we all had the bar special, a steak, garlic mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, and a beer for $12.99.  How could we pass it up?  Instead of mashed potatoes,  I paid and extra two bucks for fries with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese.  They were so good, we ordered another plate of them.  It was a fun night, great food, good friends, and Janet, who recently bought a small studio apartment in NYC, told us about her life living in the city.  Sounds good, of course.  And, instead of flying, she took the train from Penn Station to Buffalo, then rented a car.  Sometime, I would like to do the same thing, take the train, when we head East to visit our kids.  The ride through the New York State's countryside is supposed to be breathtaking.  She gave some advice, to sit on the left side of the train coming out of the city, to get a great view of the Hudson River.  We were home just before 10:00, in time to finish my book, MIDNIGHT IN EUROPE, and start another.