Spring Is In The Air

8:14

Up just after 7:00, to the whiteness of the lake and yard, the gray of the sky.  It's 41º already as the thaw begin for a couple of days alas.  Lots of fearless guys are out fishing, their church I guess.

Early Morning Augering

Yesterday was a really good day for us, beginning with a sunny day to take away the winter blues.  My day began with a rigorous yoga class and, surprise, three of our Woodlawn neighbors, Barb Fox and Joe and Betsy Bergen attended class, led by Woodlawn veteran, Julie Lescynski.  They were up for the weekend, to get in some cross country skiing and a few beers at Pine Junction.  After class, I hurried home, gathered the trash and hit the Transfer Station so we could get out on the lake.

We were not sure what to expect when we put on our skis and slid out on to the lake, whether it would be good for skiing or too wet.  It was great, no problem with freezing water on the bottom of our skis, so we skied down as far as Whitney Bay and back, working up a major sweat because the temperatures were in the 40's and we had on too many layers.  When we got back, I had enough, was sore from both yoga and skiing so I went in.  Evie, however, did not want come in so she stayed out another 15 minutes, sucking in the sunlight and warm air.

Ah, The Sun, A Blue Sky, And A Snowy Lake

Before skiing, while I was at yoga, Evie made another pot of vegetable soup as well as using the pressure cooker to cook up a pound of cannelloni beans.  Since she used less than a half of them for her soup, after lunch I put together a simple Turkish peasant dish called Kuru fasulye, basically beans with a dollop of tomato paste, sauteed onions and red pepper.  There's not much to it but it's tasty and filling, especially when you serve it over rice.  The rest of the afternoon Evie spent exploring music on Amazon and, in my case, reading and taking a nap.

Our Favorite Window Table At Forte

We were excited all day about our evening, dinner at Forte and a movie at the Reg Lenna.  Ron and Linda picked us up at 6:00 as we had reservations at 6:30 at Forte, in Jamestown, at our favorite table, next to the window in the bar.  This has become 'our table' if we call early enough for reservations.  Since we have been to Forte numerous times, we all knew what to order: the steak special, with Caesar salad, garlic mashed potatoes or fries, grilled bread with olive oil, and a beer, all for 12 bucks.  And our steaks were great, as were the fries and salad and bread.  We also had a couple of beers and were out just in time to get in line for theater tickets.  Usually, the Reg Lenna's audience is around 50 to 100 people on a good night.  Well last night, there was a long line for tickets and the downstairs was filled, probably over 500 people, all to watch the movie SPOTLIGHT, which I assume never made it to the local theater because it was too good...they usually bring only the most ridiculous and infantile films to Lakewood Cinemas.  And if it's a decent movie, it lasts only a week. Anyways, before the film started, they had a brief talk about the problem of child abuse and passed out brochures for anyone who might be interested in becoming a counselor.  The movie, SPOTLIGHT, was gripping, one of the better films I have seen in the past couple of years.  The story, of the cover up by the Catholic Diocese over the past 30 years of priests' abuse of children was tragic, infuriating, and brought most of us close to tears.  When the film ended, there was just silence, hardly movement, comparable I think to what the audience felt when watching SCHINDLER'S LIST for the first time.  The film was compelling; I was never bored, always on the edge of my seat.  Making something as boring as fact gathering takes a great script and some bending of the facts for dramatic effects but from everything I have read, the film was faithful to the story.  Everyone should see this film, to see how the Catholic church, like most institutions, businesses, governments, etc, seek to hide their scandals and lie, thinking only of themselves,  of their institutions reputation, not the victims. And so it goes.

Because the film was so emotional, none of us felt like going home, so we walked to Brazil's Craft Beer and Wine Lounge around 10:30.  It was good to see it was packed with patrons enjoying the libations and we had to stand because there were no available seats. We don't necessarily like their craft beers because they are too hoppy or bitter for us but we found a beer to our liking, a Pikeland Pils from Sly Fox Brewing in Phoenixville, Pa, and spent our time talking about the complexities of the film.  We were home by 11:30, tired but happy from such a great night out in Jamestown.