A Cold Monday, Perhaps A Couple Inches of Snow

7:45

Marisa At A Irish Feis

It's 7:30 and I have been up since 6:45.  The sky is beginning to lighten, though it's either foggy or snowing lightly, nothing seems clear.  Only one tent is out the ice, braving the cold; perhaps the rest know something about the weather to come.  It's 15º and will not get much warmer.  It may be too cold to ski.

Group Dance

I have included a couple pictures of our lovely sixth grader Marisa, from her latest Irish Dancing Feis, which took place in her hometown of Darien, CT.  Obviously, we are very proud of her.

Stepping  Out

Stepping Up

Yesterday our house felt empty because our ebullient niece, Leah, was back in Reno after spending five day with us.  No surprise, we both had little energy, as we may have expended most of it trying to keep up with a twenty two year old (or she tried to keep up with us).  We had a long morning coffee, waiting to find some mojo to get up and do something.  Finally, we decided it was a must to ski around 10:30 when the sun came out, the sky turned blue, and the lake was filled with fishing huts off Long Point.  We knew it was going to be windy and cold, so we skied into the wind at first but both of us were surprised at how cold it was going into the wind.  We only made it as far as the campground before turning around and putting the wind at our backs.  If only we could always go this way, it would have been fine.  But by the time we got to the reeds, we turned around because we knew we would have to fight our way back through the wind and cold.  So, we ended up staying out for less than a half hour, but we were happy to get some skiing in.

Freezing On The Lake

Before our skiing, however, I drove off to Mayville, to pick up some ground chuck at the Lighthouse Grocery for a dinner, then on to Tops to pick up a few other things.  I wanted meatloaf for dinner, so I did not mind getting out on the road by 9:00, little traffic, few customers in the stores.

Both of us were excited about our breakfast after skiing, the house amazingly warm when we walked in to take off our shoes.  Evie quickly started the bacon, then eggs and toast, and I made us a cup of good coffee.  We watched CBS Sunday Morning, which had a section on the popular cook, Ina Garten, giving some background to her life, her road to becoming America's favorite cook.

We then spent the afternoon as we usually do, reading, watching some TV, taking a nap, cleaning up the kitchen, for Evie, getting lots of wash done. I watched some of the Ohio State game, but none of the games interested me much.  We relaxed with some wine and cheese around 5:30, as the sky began to darken, the lights of the fishing huts disappeared, as the fishermen trudged off the lake, pulling their sleds behind them, the end of day.

Dusk, 5:51PM

Dinner was just what I wanted, meatloaf with ketchup, potatoes and salad and we have enough left for sandwiches or another dinner.  Yum.  We struggled to find something interesting on TV, watched Bill Maher, some what off his game the last two weeks, then Downton Abbey which we find increasingly boring, silly, having lost its narrative line.  Too many side stories of little interest to us, put in because they seem to echo modern concerns (PTSD, Transgenders?, pre marital sex, etc).  We realize things are changing in pre WWII Great Britain but it just seems too obvious, intentional rather than a natural part of the narrative.

Just as I was finishing this, a fox ran out on the lake, hurried to the left of our house, turned around and ran back to the right and up the front yard into the woods.  I wonder if something was chasing him because it did not look as if he were in pursuit.  Always something to see here on the lake.