Drab Is The New Gray

8:00

Raft Of Ducks, Early Morning

Up at 6:40, total darkness as I carefully walk outside on the snow covered walk to look for the paper, which has not yet arrived.  It's now 7:45, gun metal gray out, and I just noticed a fishing boat off the tip of Long Point.  It looks like the next three days might bring us some sun, as Helios returns in late, late autumn.

Thursday we were both out of sorts, mostly because I did not have yoga so, after breakfast with the boys, I was home all day, throwing off Evie's schedule, her mojo, her delight in having the house to herself for a couple of hours.  And I was flummoxed as well, not having a morning destination, something to do, getting out of the house for a couple of hours.  Interesting how we create our routines and when they are broken, neither one of us likes it.  Breakfast with the guys, our last where everyone will attend until next spring, was fun, as all five were present.  We left a nice card and large holiday tip for Julia, our patient waitress each Thursday.  Two guys head to Florida at the end of the month, the other four will be hanging around for winter, with brief respites in Florida.

So, what did we do all day.  Not much as Evie made no cookies, cleaned no cupboards, mostly wrote and sent Christmas cards on FELT, the website I mentioned the other day that sends your written note along with a photo.  Unfortunately, it's not a foolproof operation yet because they sent her an email, admitting that the addresses on a couple of her cards may not have printed clear enough and may not arrive.  Needless to say, Evie was not happy and she carried on a 'spirited exchange' with the administrators at FELT who seem to have nothing else to do other than respond immediately to Evie's emails.

Woodlawn/Victoria, Late Morning

Mid morning, I had to do something, so I bundled up, grabbed my walking poles, and went off along the lake front, past Fosters, then hiked up through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, a light snow covering of the floor of fallen leaves and dead fall.  No tracks to follow, I blazed the trail over less than an inch of white, a pioneer in the dark woods.

Almost Winter at Kinney's Run

In the afternoon, we were back in our routine, a lunch of Evie's pizza, frozen from a couple of weeks ago, a tasty lunch and we watched Colbert and Stewart, and realized there was a Colbert marathon on Comedy Central, so we DVR-ed it for later viewing.  I then jumped back into my John Wooden book, a coach I admire but don't much like, and I took a delicious afternoon nap.  When I woke up, I decided to brave the heavy seas of Chautauqua Lake, so I got out my paddle, put on my life jacket and fleece, and went off to kayak on the dull lake.  I paddled past the campground, to Whitney Bay but it became windy and bitter, with a misty rain, so I turned around and headed home.  Not a great paddle but it's always fun to get out on the lake, whatever the weather.

Kayak Afternoon

While I kayaked, Evie sliced, pounded, and breaded some wiener schnitzel for dinner.  When I returned, we both relaxed with a glass of white wine and listened to POTUS radio on Sirius, a station we go to whenever NPR begins to repeat itself, which is more and more common, especially in the mornings.  Around 6:30, Evie fried the schnitzel, steamed the broccoli and made a salad, another one of our favorite dinners, reminding me of our days in Istanbul, my first meal in Vienna back in June, 1970.  We watched a fairly new movie, BEGIN AGAIN, the story of a young woman trying to make it in the music business in New York City. Derivative, reminiscent of both of School of Rock and Once and predictable, surprise, she makes it big, yet it was a amiable way to spend a Thursday night at the lake.  We ended the evening watching some of the old Colbert episodes before going up to read and sleep.