April In February: Rains, Winds, Gray Skies

7:45

Another 7:00 morning, the lake like a pond, the wind howling, heavy gray clouds fill the 43º air.  Not exactly the kind of day that makes me want to get up and go.  But I will, eventually, to yoga, then to dinner and a movie tonight in downtown Jamestown, something to look forward to on this ugly February morning, of mud and melting snow.

Yesterday was partly cloudy, with blue skies in the afternoon yet cooler than I expected and not the kind of day to hike or cross country ski although a few fishermen did traipse out on the lake, both in the morning and late afternoon.  I had a good yoga class at 9:30, a small class, with two guys and two gals.  A couple were new to yoga so class was basic which never bothers me.  That's where I belong.  I went feeling blah and returned with some energy.  Getting off the couch, doing something outdoors or physical like yoga or working out at the gym always makes us feel better.

1:45

Evie was raring to go to the gym when I got home, so off she went, as I was making my lunch, a quesadilla and soup and I finished the first season of TREME which surprisingly ends with the suicide of a writer/professor, played by John Goodman, depressed by his inability to write and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  It made me curious enough about the next season to watch it again.

I then got back to my book, FOREVER, by Pete Hamill, a fictional history of New York City, took a brief nap before I drove off for the required oil change for my Outback at Schultz in Fluvanna.  They talked me into their special, two oil changes, tire rotation and safety check for $120. 00.  What happened to the cheap oil change?  Now I have to use synthetic oil, get a change every 6000 miles, tire rotation every 7000 miles.  They get you coming and going.  Afterwards, I decided to go to one of those self car washes, so for $2.50, I got to spray the dirt off my car for four minutes, enough time I thought.  When I got home, Evie had also just returned from her workout and shopping at Wegman's, filling the kitchen counter were her groceries.

We relaxed at the end of day with a wine spritzer, listening to what else, the pundits dissect the previous night's Iowa primaries.  I have to say that I am not very enthusiastic about any of the candidates.  I think our system is strong enough to survive any of them and it usually makes little difference if it's a Republican or Democrat who gets the Presidency since neither can do much without the acquiesce of Congress.  As I think back, however, to the past 16 years, I am confident that if Gore had beaten Bush, we would never have gotten into the quagmire of Iraq so maybe who gets elected does make a difference.  And the Republicans do sound much more war mongering than the Democrats, stereotyped as anti military and wimpy, particularly Obama.  Our system is not perfect but at least the change of power, so far, has been peaceful.  And the concentration of power seems to change every four or eight years, bringing in the other party.

Dinner was one of our many favorites, broiled salmon with rice and garlic spinach, just what I wanted.  We were not sure what to watch, started two movies and ended up watching a 2014 film, KILL THE MESSENGER, a true story, about a former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter, who moved his family to California to work for the San Jose Mercury,  discovers the CIA's support of the drug cartels, using the drug money from selling drugs to the ghettoes, to fund the anti Contra mercenaries in Nicaragua.  Like many anti institutional films, it shows his fight to get his editors to publish the story and when the government and CIA push back, smear the authenticity of his story, the paper retracts the story, unwilling to stand up to the power of the CIA.  Eventually, he loses his job, commits suicide even though eventually, his reporting is proved flawed but basically correct, forcing the resignation of the Director of the CIA.  It's not a great movie but a good one,  And another which reiterates the importance of the press and its willingness to hold our government up to transparency, outing its corrupt elements, lies, and push back at truth tellers.