Fourteen More Hours And Super Bowl Mania Ends! (Dobbins Woods, Brazils on Main)

7:30

It's 6:00 and I have been half awake since 5:00, waiting to get up at a decent hour.  It's now 6:45 and I am listening to a podcast interview of Vietnamese Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Master and poet, on a program called On Being. He was invited to a retreat for police officers, a seeming contradiction, the theme being mindfulness and suffering.  A little heavy for this early, a discussion of mindfulness and suffering but I have read his book, The Miracle of Mindfulness a couple of times and liked what he had to say.

We will, no doubt, spend most of the day like most Americans, waiting for the Super Bowl to start at 6:20. Before it begins, however, we hope to put together a ton of cabbage rolls and do some cross country skiing before the blizzard arrives, 6-12 inches in the next twenty four hours.  And I just read where Ohio has issued a travel ban on the turnpike for the next twenty four hours, an unprecedented decision.

I went to yoga at 9:00 though it sounded good to just stay home and enjoy a long morning.  But I was up early enough so I had a good two hours before I had to leave, time to write my blog, have breakfast, and a leisurely coffee hour.  Class was full, a Mixed Level, so it was more rigorous than most so I found myself struggling at times to keep up.  It was a  good class, however, and I felt energized ready for a cup of coffee at Ryders Cup, than shopping at Wegmans, stocking up for Super Bowl Sunday and the coming snow storm.  I thought for once I had actually remembered to get everything on Evie's list, however, as Evie pointed out, I bought buttermilk, not butter and milk.

Evie Joy

When I got home from yoga and Wegmans, Evie was clearing our parking area again, a never ending task because of the snow.  Afterwards, we decided it was too nice to stay in Woodlawn and drove off to one of our favorite places to cross country ski or snowshoe---Dobbins Woods, a ten minute drive.  We were not disappointed because Saturday's walk was even more spectacular than Fridays, because of the plethora of hemlocks, branches weighed down by the heavy snow, sending snow down our necks as we brushed the limbs skiing by.  What a great day to be out in the woods, warm enough so we were not cold, a heavy snow, blue skies peaking through the trees.  We were out for a good forty five minutes, on a hardly used trail, so it was rough going at times in foot deep snow, a good work out is the way we look at it.

Hanging Evergreens

Dobbins Woods Rocks

We had what's becoming our lunch, homemade vegetable soup and cheese sandwiches on homemade bread.  Yum.  We watched some Stewart and The Nightly Show, then just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, both of us tired from our morning in the woods.  And I was sore from both yoga and cross country skiing, as I am not used to this much exercise.

Brazil's On Main, Westfield, NY at The End of the Evening

We were excited about the evening because we were going out to dinner with Linda Hepp and Ron McClure at one of our favorite restaurants, Brazil's On Main, in Westfield, about 15 miles north of our house.  We have been there a couple of times before, so we knew we would enjoy it.  We picked up Ron and Linda at 6:20 and our table was ready when we arrived at 6:45.  The restaurant was packed with happy people, enjoying their food and drink, the ambiance of being in a busy place. The tables are a bit close, as it's not a large space, but we were comfortable enough.  We had a hard time deciding on what to order and when we finally decided, all four of us on the special, a strip steak with bourbon sauce and mushrooms, we were told it was sold out.  Rats.  So we had to go back to the menu, and find something else we liked.  Evie had salmon, which she has had before and likes and I had scallops with a risotto, also quite good.  The McClures had tenderloin and a flat iron steak, both also good.  It was a fun evening despite our disappointment with the special.  There's something exhilarating about being inside, on a cold, winter evening, surrounded by people enjoying their evening around a table of food and wine with friends.  Conviviality fits the evening.

We were home around 9:45, an easy drive, no snow, roads cleared, and watched some TV or read for a bit before going to bed.  A full day, of snow shoeing, good food and friends.