A Morning Of Heavy Winds, White Caps, Sea Gulls, and Gun Shots (Duck Hunters)

7:13

6:14 PM

I woke to rain or sleet hitting our roof, came downstairs, to a howling wind at 6:40.  A choppy lake, swaying trees, and of all things, gun shots in the distance.  I wonder if the duck hunters are on the lake?  We usually see a few camoflaged boats this time of year but none so far.

Yesterday morning was cold and wet, not the kind of weather that made you want to get up early and go to breakfast at 8:00 at the Bemus Point Inn with your buddies but I did.  Four of us gathered after taking short vacations, me to Maine, Charley to South Carolina, Jack to Colorado, and Joe to Big Sky.  We are the traveling retirement boys.  O, yea, our fifth, Dick, is in Florida till Thanksgiving.
We caught up on our travels, reminisced about the good old days and talked about the changes coming up in our Medicare programs.  We have become our parents.  I drove home in a light rain, changed, and raced off to Lakewood, to yoga.  Lots of veterans back from their travels, one, Nicky, vowed she was giving up traveling (Tuscany)  because of the hassles involved with airports and flights.  What happened to the joys of flying somewhere. Class was easy though we all groaned when Danielle had us do pigeon, not fun.  But savasana (corpse pose) followed, making it worth it.

I was home by noon, put up the new flag and tried to secure it with small boulders and stones, though I am sure it will not last.  For now, it looks good.  I then drove off to Chautauqua Brick, to pick up some hinges for our stereo cupboard. The old wooden doors, replaced with glass when we got out stereo, are being replaced by the old wooden doors since we now have Sonos and don't need our stereo equipment any longer.  Of course, when I got home and tried the hinges, they were the wrong kind, offset, so I drove back to pick up the proper kind.  I put the hinges on the doors and my task today is to hang the doors, a seemingly easy task but I assume I will make an all day project out of it.

The Beauty Of Water

Solitude

After a lunch of a great bean/chorizo/cheese/salsa burrito, and Stewart and Colbert, we both relaxed until about 3:00 when we noticed the lake was tantalizingly smooth, like a seal's back, not a whisper of wind though the sky was filled with threatening, fall clouds.  We quickly put on our life jackets, jumped in our kayaks and had an amazing hour paddle on the lake, its surface untouched except for our paddle waves.  The reflections of the trees, the clouds, the houses, whatever, on the black surface of the lake, like paintings from the masters, demanded lots of photos.  We paddled to Long Point, back to the Power Boat Club, then home along the shore line.  We did not want to come in.

Reflections On Long Point

On The Rocks

We had our glass of wine at 5:30, listening to the news, then had dinner.  Earlier in the day, Evie had put together a chicken/mushroom curry, so all that needed to be done was make rice  and a salad and dinner was ready.  We watched the first two hours of HBO's new mini series, OLIVE KITTERIDGE, based on the series of connected short stories by Elizabeth Stroudt, one of my favorite books.  Olive is not a very likable character, played by Francis McDormand.  She suffers from depression and is afraid, or so it seems to show her tender, vulnerable side.  Thus, she suffers no fools, whether husband, son, or daughter in law.  But she is aware of others suffering, offers succor to a depressed, suicidal Mom, and saves her son as well.  She a peculiar mix of empathy and meanness.  After the first two episodes, we decided to finish the series tonight, so we turned to the Browns game and watched the first half of the game, which I found out this morning Cleveland eventually won.  Go Browns.  We both went up to bed around 11:00, falling to sleep around 11:30.

As I finish this, the wind continues to howl, and it's snowing.

Black Capped Chickadee's Are Back