A Frenetic Purple Martin Morning

6:33

6:52

I got up late, 6:30 I think, made coffee, took a couple of photographs of the changing sky, got the paper, and turned on NPR.  As I settled down on my couch and surfed the Internet, I could hear the merry martins songs as they zipped back and forth, between yards and shoreline, picking up grass and twigs, then flying back to their houses, building nests.  It's 57º and it looks like rain and thunderstorms this afternoon, perhaps early evening.

The Breakfast Club

I skipped yoga yesterday because we had things to do which, in retrospect, sounds silly because we always have things to do but nothing we have to do.  So, I filled the car with three chairs that we were interested in getting slipcovered or upholstered and drove about a half hour into Amish country, to the Millers, where we have had some work done.  It's a lovely ride, through farms with wash hanging from lines between houses and barns, barefoot children sitting on stoops, older kids working in gardens, and cutting lawns with a hand mower.  Outside of barns sit horse carriages, not cars, and the road to these farms are unpaved, with pot holes which force us to drive slowly.  We talked with Raymond Miller, and he gave us a quote which we thought was just too high, $350.00 for each chair, especially when we can probably pick up a new chair at the same price.  So, alas, we packed the chairs back in the car, said we would think about it and drove home.  It was disappointing but the drive, with every field and forest, rich in shades of green, made the trip worthwhile.

Before we left for the Amish farms, I put together my artisan no knead bread, an easy 15 minute task and at the moment, its rising in a bowl.  And I made a Turkish lentil and bulgur soup, again nothing fancy, just lentils, bulgar, onions, chicken stock, tomato paste and spices, mainly mint and Turkish red pepper.  So, when we got home, Evie made toast sandwiches, the kind we used to get in Turkey and we had them along with the soup, both really good.  They took us both back to Turkey.

At 1:30, I drove to the dentist, to get a crown finalized but the dentist was unhappy with the fit, took another impression and I will be back in the chair in a week, a nice way to ruin a couple of days.  Since I was in Jamestown, I visited their much ballyhooed  Thursday afternoon Farmer's Market.  It was depressing, four or five booths, with hardly any produce, hardly any one around.  I stopped at the Little French Baker's booth, talked with her and bought a baguette.  She promised to make some mille feuille or Napoleons, my favorite dessert in the future.

When I got home, Evie was, of course, cutting both yards, working up quite a sweat.  We decided to relax on the dock, so we buttered a couple slices of the baquette, poured a couple of glassses of wine and went out on the dock to enjoy the late afternoon.  We talked briefly we a gal who had been out on her paddle board for a couple of hours.  She was from Rocky River, Ohio, and takes her board with her whereever she goes.  I am tempted to try one of our neighbor's boards.

Paddle Boarding

We had our go to dinner, of salmon with marmalade, mustard, balsamic vinegar sauce, garlic spinach, rice and salad.  The Cavs were going to be on at 9:00, so we had time to watch a movie.  I had ordered a movie from Netflix called LOCKE, which got good reviews but I had never heard of it.  I can see why because it was not exactly the kind of thriller that would appeal to an audience, though both of us were riveted to the film, nervous and uncomfortable, wondering how it would turn out.  SPOILER ALERT:  The entire hour and a half movie took place in a car, as the Ivan Locke, talks via his phone, as his life falls apart.  When the film begins, he's happily married, a successful builder but by the end, he's lost his job, his wife and family because he's admitted to an infidelity.  The only action is the hour and a half car ride, through darkened streets and flashing headlights, as Ivan seeks to right a wrong.  His one night stand is giving birth to his child and he feels he must be there.  We see how one mistake can destroy a life.  We were a  bit bored at first but really were pulled in as he tries to stop things from falling apart.  We knew it would end with few if any answers, only the fact that he now had a new life.