Fog, Rain, A Partially Frozen Lake

7:55

7:56

Well. it's just after 7:00, the sun has risen but it's not obvious around here this morning, as heavy clouds and fog cover the outdoors.  The lake is still frozen but the south end, beneath the bridge is open.  It's 55º out and that will be the high for a day of intermittent rain.

Yesterday, especially yesterday morning, was exciting as the tree next door, rotten at the top, was taken down by an artist, a tree climber, our Amish tree guy Mahlon Troyer.   His skill at climbing a tree, with a rope and spurs, hanging out from a limb and cutting down a portion of the tree, felling it so it does not  damage a house or anything on the ground is amazing.  We watched in awe as he dismantled a large tree in little over an hour.  It did take his crew, however, a couple of hours and a couple of trips of their truck filled with branches and the trunk, before they were finished.  It leaves a vast gap between our two yards but we planted two small trees last fall which in the years to come will give our children and their children lots of shade.

After the excitement of felling a tree, yoga was a let down, but still it felt good to combine relaxation with various postures.  One always feels great when leaving a yoga class, ready for the world.  I stopped in at Ryder's, empty for once, and got my coffee before heading home.  The tree guys were gone when I got home, but were coming back in the afternoon to finish the clean up.  I had maple flavored, leftover pizza for lunch and watched something on TV.  I cannot remember what.

Evie left around 12:30,  I read some, took a nap, then threw my bike in the car and drove off to the Chautauqua Institution, for an easy but fun bike ride.  The grounds are virtually empty except for construction trucks and workers, so I could ride without fear of dodging people.  To prolong my ride, I rode down to Chautauqua Shores, around the neighborhood, to see the new McMansion that's going up along the lake.  It' a nice area of homes but this one dwarfs them all, like the Purell House in the CI.

Late Afternoon On The Lake

When I got home, Evie was showering, getting ready because we were hitting the Viking Club on a Wednesday for a Cuban or Reuben, the first time in 2016.  We miss going there and went quite often last winter on Wednesday but this year, we seem to always have something else to do.  We sat at the bar, bored for awhile since we knew only a couple of the patrons.  But a guy sat down next to me, and we struck up a conversation, so we spent the rest of the night talking with him, Henry Rocco, from Pittsburgh.  He's an avid fisherman, fly and otherwise, and knows the lakes both here in New York and Pennsylvania.  He is now retired and also has a house in the Pittsburgh area, but may relocate to Maple Springs full time.  He was a fun guy to get to know and he also introduced us to another friend, Joe, who we have seen before at the Viking.  So we ended up meeting someone new,  always our goal when sitting at a bar.  By the way, the Cuban was great, so large that I brought half home for lunch and Evie loved her mushroom burger.  All in all it was a good night.

We got home in time to watch the increasingly sappy OJ mini series; this time it focused on the personal life of Marcia Clark, her divorce, argument over custody of her kids, her hairdo and wardrobe, all a big deal in the press, details I had forgotten.  The press ripped her apart as if she were the plaintiff.