The Lights Come Back On

7:00

7:01

7:05

7:06

The last few days it has seemed as if the lights had dimmed, gray skies, no sunshine, rain, a kind of day to stay inside.  Today, however,  there are slashes of light in the sky, even some blue up behind us and we should have sunny days through week despite this morning's daunting cloud banks over Chautauqua Lake.  It's 45º, highs in the 60's today, so we will get outside for sure, for sure!

Yesterday was wet, windy, a miserable day, a good day for hunkering down on a couch, to read, or to watch TV which both of us did to a large degree.  We actually, at least as far as I kind of remember, did little inside, never went outside except to take the trash to the Transfer Station, it was that miserable out.  Mid morning we felt guilty and did something we have meant to do for the past few days, take the air conditioners out of the windows.  It's not difficult, takes a few minutes but for some reason we talked about doing it but never did.  Well, yesterday, with the wind howling, rain pelting the roof, we did it.  They are now in the attic, stacked, waiting for next summer.  Mission accomplished.  And while we were in the attic, we got out the suitcase with all our winter hats and gloves, an ominous sign that we are thinking cold weather is on the way.  On our walk on Friday, Evie had both a hat and gloves and I wished I had brought my gloves as well.  Well, now we are prepared even though the forecast for the week is promising.

For lunch, I had black bean soup, frozen a couple of weeks ago toasted cheese sandwiches on the freshly baked bread, unfortunately, mediocre.  I will not make that recipe again.  Then, I settled down on the couch, watched some football, then did some reading, and Evie sat herself down in front of the fire place and read a good part of the afternoon.  I am loving my book, A COLDER WAR by Charles Cummins, set in Turkey and Great Britain.  

Around 4:30, Evie must have been hungry because she put her book aside, and made a recipe she had found earlier in the day for a custard like cake.  I assisted, getting out the necessary utensils and ingredients and within an hour we had a cake, warm and moist, not ready for eating till later in the evening.

Evie, With Our Neighbors,  Joyce Leonard and Pat Jones

At 5:30, we drove, with our neighbors, the Leonard's, to our neighbor Pat Jones house because it was raining out and muddy.  Both the Leonard's and Jones's will be heading home for the winter in a week so this may be the last time we get together until next spring.  We enjoyed cocktails and appetizers, for at least an hour, as the lake disappeared into darkness.  We then sat down to a Pat Jones specialty, a family recipe for ham balls, in a sweet sauce.  They are quite good and she's able to get the ground ham and pork at a local butcher in Jamestown.  We had sides of squash and parsnips, both pureed and tasty along with mashed potatoes.  And for dessert, she got out her famous nut horn cookies, to die for.  It was a fun evening, as we all lamented the end of summer, their trips back to Philadelphia and Houston respectively.  Only Evie and I kept quiet; we get to stay for the winter.

We got home around 9:30, and watched some TV for only an hour before both went up to bed to read, tired from our busy day of leisure.

It's now 8:41, Evie's been up for a half hour, enjoying the fire in our fireplace, the changing morning sky and NPR, wondering what the day will bring.