That Morning Sky

6:52

7:32

7:21

I was up way too early for some unknown reason.  I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't so I was up drinking coffee in the dark at 5:30.  Not the way I would have like to start my day.  Still, since I am up, I was able to catch some great photos of the colorful dawn off to the south.  Slashes of pink, orange gray and blue, hover above the shoreline.  That's the advantage, the plus, of waking up early. It was chilly out, 23º when I went out to get the paper and the wind occasionally howls through the front door.

Yesterday was a busy day, especially for Evie since we were having he McClures over for an easy dinner, which never turns out to be an easy dinner but one that takes up a good part of the day, despite our good intentions.  I did get a good yoga class in at 10:00, in fact, a difficult one as I still feel some of the stretches this morning.  And Evie went to the gym around 1:00, leaving me to my lunch and another episode of Treme.

Late Afternoon Fishing

But once she got home, around 3:00, we both seemed to be in the kitchen until the Ron and Linda arrived at 6:00.  And I did little of the cooking, just cleaning up.  So what took the time.  First, we were having perch, left by our fishermen friend,  Jerry, last Friday, frozen in water, then thawed.  Evie decided to bake one batch, fry another and both needed a different kind of coating.  Lots of dishes, large and small ensued.  Then she made our dessert, my Mom's ice box pudding, with angel food cake, chocolate mousse and whipped cream.  More dishes.  I put in my two cents and made my brother-in-law Rich's tartar sauce, with mayo, dill pickles, capers, and hot sauce.  A few more dishes.  Earlier in the day, Evie also made cornbread muffins and  put together the coleslaw, slicing the cabbage with a mandolin, adding radishes and dressing.  Around 4:30, she realized that she had not yet made the macaroni and cheese.  So out came the cheese grater, the macaroni, the makings for the white sauce and I helped by boiling the noodles.  Mostly pots and pans. By 6:00, I was pooped from doing dishes but Evie was still going strong,

Dining In With Linda and Ron

The McClure's arrived just after 6:00 and we quickly poured the beers, got out the appetizers and relaxed, at last, in the living room before Evie and Linda returned to the kitchen to fry up a batch of perch filets to go along with the baked perch.  Needless to say, dinner was great, the perch crispy and sweet, the tartar sauce 'out of this world' because I made it.  Everyone had a couple helpings of mac and cheese, the coleslaw was gone and only a few cornbread muffins remained.  It was the equal of our five course Tuscan dinner albeit with fish and beer.  After dinner, we watched an amazing video we just came across, of four guys kayaking the Chautauqua Gorge three weeks ago, navigating snow and ice covered banks, the rapids and ice, tipping at times, even having to be dragged out of a hole by a rope. It was really an amazing video.  We ended the night in front of the fireplace, enjoying the icebox pudding before Linda and Ron headed home, just after 10:00.  A fun night, the dinner worth the prep.