Sunday Morning "Blues"

7:14  Crack Of Dawn

It's just hit 8:00 and I have been up since the crack of dawn, a slice of pink sky as it were before it clouded up.  Now the sky is a gray curtain, contrasting with the whiteness of the lake.  And it looks like fishing season has begun because I can count more than a dozen guys out on the lake, black stick figures on the lake's whiteness.  It's a frigid 10º and we have not had snow in a couple of days.

Yesterday turned out to be a great winter day, lots of snow on the ground and blue skies, puffy clouds, the kind of weather that draws even the most house bound outdoors.  I began my day at 9:00 with another yoga class, lots of others had the same idea.  I stopped for a coffee, said aloha  to the regulars and came home, just in time to gather the trash and hit the Transfer Station, probably my only 'must do' chore of the week.  Evie had skipped working out the day before so she felt guilty and even though she did not feel much like traveling to the Y, her conscience got the best of her and she drove off to Lakewood around 12:30.

I had a lunch of a leftover breaded pork chop,with apple sauce and a bowl of vegetable soup.  And I watched, what else, college basketball games on the tube.  The various channels are littered with college basketball these days, so that you often have a choice of five or six  games every two hours.  I tend to watch Kansas, my son Tom's favorite team.  Since I finished Elizabeth Strout's MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON in two days (its a short novel), I started another Bruno, Chief of Police novel, BLACK DIAMOND set in the wine country of France.  The black diamond refers to truffles by the way.

Let's Go!

Snow Shoeing Long Point State Park

When Evie returned around 2:30, the day, the blue sky, the clouds, were at their peak, beckoning us to snowshoe or cross country ski.  So, we drove over to Long Point State Park, strapped on our shoes and skis, and spent a good hour, on the worn, busy paths of the park.  Obviously, lots of others had the same idea, as their were lots of tracks from skis, snowshoes, and snowmobiles.  Interestingly, we hardly saw a anyone except for a couple of dog walkers, probably because they were out earlier in the day.  It felt good to be out on the trails again, breathing in the cold air, working up a sweat despite the cold temperatures.

5:14

Long Point

We were home around 4:30, the late afternoon sky amazing, in time to relax for a couple of hours before showering and getting ready to go out to dinner to Steener's Irish Pub, a place we have not been to in a couple of months.  It was a busy place, with lots of snowmobilers drinking beer but we found  couple seats at at the bar and were welcomed by Jeremy, the bartender.  We unfortunately did not strike up a conversation with any of the patrons as we usually do but we still had a good time, ordering their homemade french fries for an appetizer, then splitting the 16 oz. Delmonico steak dinner, a special, with a draft, salad, and fries included.  It was just what the doctor ordered, to use a cliche, and we left happy with our meal, especially the fries. Yum.

Dusk On The Lake: 6:05 p.m.

We  got home at 8:30 and watched the weather channel and CNN, as they chronicled the snowstorm, minute by minute, as it tucked in both New York City and Washington.  My sister Ellen, who lives in Herndon, just out side of Washington, sent us photos of the 30+ inches of snow they got by nightfall.  Amazing.  We then watched Real Time with Bill Maher, just what we needed as he is so adept at satirizing our politicians and his guests like author Jon Meacham, are always insightful as well as fun.