A daily journal of our lives (begun in October 2010), in photos (many taken by my wife, Evie) and words, mostly from our home on Chautauqua Lake, in Western New York, where my wife Evie and I live, after my having retired from teaching English for forty-five years in Hawaii, Turkey, and Ohio. We have three children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandson, as you will notice if you follow my blog since we often travel to visit them. Photo from our porch taken on 11/03/2024 at 7:07 AM
Saturday, April 30, 2016
THE RESISTANCE MAN: MARTIN WALKER
Bruno Courreges is back to his old tricks, with the same cast of characters, different conflicts. This time it involves some of the famous French resistance fighters during WW II, their exploits and a sensational story about a robbery of a Nazi train with millions of gold dollars. This story, true or not, allows Walker to explore that period of mostly forgotten French history. Walker fills his novel with lots of trappings around the crimes, this time the death of a French Resistance fighter, the burglary of a British spy master and the death of an antiques dealer. I know they don't seem to have much to do with each other but Walker weaves a tangled web, and we discover how they seem to fit, if not perfectly. Much of the novel is taking up with a search for the resistance fighter's grandson, also the lover of the antiques dealer and a key element in a case Bruno investigated ten years ago without a satisfactory outcome. Confusing? In between his investigations, Bruno, an oenophile, loves to cook sumptuous meals for his friends and colleagues, drops scraps of food for his puppy Balzac, rides horses across the fields of his good friend Pamela's farm and beds her when it fits their moods.
Half the fun of his novels, no, more than half the fun is the life of Bruno outside his life as a police chief. It makes anyone want to visit the Dordogne. Only at the end does sadness enter the novel as his former girl friend, Isabelle, confesses she rejected the idea of marriage to Bruno, aborted a child because she did not to damage her career. Bruno, in all his novels, longs for a life of domesticity, with a wife and child and her confession wounds him to the heart.
We read Walker's books as much for Bruno's joie de vivre, the good life in St. Denis , as for the investigations which seem, at times, vehicles for Walker to talk about life in St. Denis. I don't mind.
A Gray And Gloomy Saturday
7:25 |
7:27 |
Blue Heron |
6:37 PM |
7:04 PM - A View of our View |
Bemus Point's Lakeside Drive at 7:30 PM |
Tom's Point at 7:34 PM |
Long Point at 7:50 PM |
We had the leftover enchiladas from the previous evening, a great salad with avocados, hard boiled eggs and a blue cheese dressing and watched our favorite series, The Americans. We then watched some Stephen Colbert before going to read and sleep.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Blue Herons Are Back
7:22 |
Yesterday was not much of a day for either of us. We did little other than sit around, bemoaning the fact that we had no energy, that it was cloudy outside most of the day, that it had an occasional drizzle but never a real rain. I did make it to breakfast, however, and we had four of us, the snow birds have returned. It's interesting that we rarely talk politics although all of us, both liberal and conservative, are appalled by Trump's rise (actually, one of us may be a supporter but keeps quiet about it). Interestingly, I have heard that Trump stickers are just now starting to appear on cars, as if the embarrassment of supporting him is beginning to wane. Scary stuff especially when Bobby Knight introduces Trump by talking about Harry Truman's courage for having dropped the A bomb.
While I was at yoga, Evie drove to Westfield for her annual mammogram and a stop at Tops for groceries, the Lighthouse Grocery for a sub sandwich for my lunch. A thoughtful wife. By the time she got home, she had a phone call from the hospital telling her that her mammogram was fine. Modern medicine can be good. I had half of a sub for lunch, watched another episode of Game of Thrones, confusing once again, as seemingly new characters, new tribes have appeared unless I forgot about them from the previous season. I will marshall on.
Neither one of us did anything of note the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. I read some, am getting bored with O'Hara's APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA. I don't much like any of the characters which highlighted, for me, why I like crime novels. We always seem to like the main character, usually a flawed cop or detective, but they are interesting and likable and that's why we keep reading. Not so in O'Hara's satire of yuppies in the 1930's.
For dinner, Evie put together chicken and black bean enchiladas, got out the fixings and we had a tasty Mexican dinner, equal to Taco Hut, a local restaurant in Jamestown. We watched a fairly new movie out on DVD, TRUMBO, the story of the blacklisted screen writer, Dalton Trumbo. It started slowly but a third of the way through, we were hooked and ended up really liking it. It's another look at the troubling 1950's, the Red Scare, which ruined thousands of peoples' lives for having been a Communist (it was not against the law), or turning in their friends. Trumbo spent time in jail for his beliefs and ended up writing screen plays under other people's names. I taught his antiwar novel JOHNY GET YOUR GUN a couple of times, a novel that was banned during the 1940's, most recently in the 1960's when we were in Vietnam because it was virulently anti war. It took us awhile to buy into Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad) as Trumbo but once we did, it was smooth sailing. I still remember loving and having been moved by SPARTACUS, with Kirk Douglas, a film based on a novel by a Communist, the screen play written by Trumbo. I had also forgotten he film was directed by Stanley Kubrick, a giant of American film.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Red Sky In The Morning
6:03 |
6:04 |
We began yesterday with great kayak paddle across to Long Point on a lake like glass, no wind, no other boats, just our two kayak and a lake that seemed like it was ours. This morning, it's windy, the lake rough, the sky gray and I have breakfast with the guys at 8:00, so it's no loss. Yoga on Wednesdays is always good and I even received some positive feedback from Jen, our teacher. It's always nice to be complimented even if it may be gratuitous. I will take it. I stopped at Ryder's Cup for a coffee and it was empty, perhaps because there was another barista at the counter.
When I got home, all was right in the world. I heated up the previous days Indian chicken dinner, with rice and watched another episode of Game of Thrones, waiting for someone else to die. I read somewhere that over the past six seasons, six to seven hundred people have been killed. No wonder it's a popular series along with its obligatory 'skin.' Sex and violence most certainly sells. I then read some more of John O'Hara, set in the States during three days in 1930 and it's so strange to be back in this world of country clubs, booze, parties, infidelity, and the mob. Things are soon going to fall apart I assume.
Evie spent most of the afternoon puttering around the yard, weeding and trimming, and made good progress. As for me, I finally rose from my couch and did my good deed of the day. I stood around in the front yard for at least a half an hour or more, watering our new grass areas. I am getting pretty good at it, a result of lots practice
Hiking Above French Creek |
Pine Junction's Atrium |
So they were amusing us as another guy sat down next to Evie. He was also fun to talk with. He lives in Edinboro, works for PNC bank, managing accounts for businesses, and also has a house on Findley Lake. We are sure we have walked by his house on our around the lake walks. I wish we had had more time to talk with him because he was easy to talk with and interesting. Unfortunately, we did not get his name. We both got burgers, Evie the Down Under, with mushrooms and cheese, me the Bourbon Burger, with cheese, bacon and a bourbon sauce. We left about the same time as the guys from Buffalo. A couple of them could hardly walk they were so sore from walking the hilly, some might say mountainous Peak and Peek Golf Course.
We had an easy ride home as it was starting to get dark. We watched two more episodes of DICTE, the Danish series, then listened to some of Bobby Knight introduce Donald Trump, one dictator introducing another. And we got a brief dose of Carly Fiorina, a perfect match for Ted Cruz. Both are hard to look at, and difficult to listen to, with their nasal, know it all voices. They make Donald Trump look Trumpion.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Steam Rising On Chautauqua Lake On A Chilly Morning
6:03 |
6:27 |
7:15 |
Over Booked Martin Hotel |
Chestnut Hill Stairway, In Progress |
I was home just after 4:00 and Evie was back to working on the photo book, having first put together our Indian dinner. She worked on it through wine time and took time off while we ate, a tasty and easy dinner, with rice and naan. We then watched a series we started a couple of months ago but forgot about called DICTE, set in Denmark, as we follow a woman crime reporter. We like it and like the fact that there are subtitles; we won't have to worry about understanding an English accent. After finishing two episodes, Evie decided to order the book, had some trouble with finalizing it and ending up talking to a very helpful but foreign Shutterfly person and finally was able to order the book. Hallelujah...it's done for another year. We then watched some of Hillary and Trump's responses to their overwhelming victories and that was enough politics for the night. It's beginning to feel like every Tuesday evening is like Groundhog's Day. I could not wait to get up to bed and read. I finished Philip Kerr's PRAGUE FATALE, loved it and started John O'Hara's, APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA, something quite different from the Bernie Gunther novels.
It's after 9:00 and Evie and I just returned from kayaking over to Long Point, skimming it's shoreline to the Marina and back to Chestnut Hill and home, a great way to start the morning.
Another Photo Of Long Point, The Lake, From Yesterday Morning |
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
It Rained Some (Really)
7:33 |
7:54 |
8:25 |
I should head out to kayak right now but I am too lazy. That is, however, how I started yesterday and it alway feels good to be out on the lake, a solitary figure, cutting lines into a smooth lake's surface, the loneliness of an early morning paddler. Afterwards, I went to Yin yoga in Lakewood, always a good class, led by our leader, Danielle. She always has a nice touch, knows the right things to say or do. Then on to Ryder's Cup, to say hi to the regulars, Dave, Joyce the barrista, Janice, her sister who was working at the bookstore, and their parents, always there for a cup of coffee and a bagel. Nice people. I then drove to Sam's to pick up our dinner, a rotisserie chicken, some salad, and I found a pair of rubberized garden shoes for 20 bucks. They look and feel great and the are 'a deal.' Then I stopped at the local Auto Zone to pick up a spray on detailer, so I don't have to wash the entire car to get off some bird doo. Got to keep that Subaru shiny.
When I got home, Evie was organizing the upstairs and starting to think about what she needs for our trip West in a couple of weeks. So I made my lunch, ramen and a leftover steak sandwich with horseradish and finished (I know I said it finished it before) Game of Thrones, Season 1, and I am now ready for Season 2. The rest of the afternoon, for Evie, was taken over by Shutterfly, the app where you can create your own photo album. Each spring, she puts together an album from the previous summer and it's a vast undertaking. For the first half of the book, she's putting together close to 100 pictures from our week in Topsail, North Carolina. The second half, which she will work on later in the week, will be photographs of our family at the lake. She did not stop working until 5:30, as she can get pretty obsessive with it by the end of the day.
Meanwhile, I did some reading, took a too brief nap, then decided to get some things done outside. So I washed our front windows, those looking at the lake, which should be done every couple of weeks to keep our view crystal clear. It was surprisingly quick as I used a new spray rather than my preferred method, a squeegee, and it only took about 15 minutes. I then got out a ladder and worked on cleaning off the roof of our garage, littered with branches leaves and moss. I used both and rake and a broom and it looks much better but I will have to use something to kill the remaining moss.
As I mentioned, Evie finished up with Shutterfly around 5:30, so we adjourned to the couch for wine time, to relax and enjoy the view. Dinner was rotisserie chicken, a salad, and burro russo, a pasta with a sauce of tomato paste, milk, butter, and sage. The chicken, unfortunately, was not up snuff, a bit tough but we had lots of salad and pasta. We decided to watched an award winning documentary called AMY, on the tragic life of the singer Amy Winehouse. What a tragic and sad life, an unhappy childhood of divorced parents, a rebellious teen, into alcohol, guys, then drugs. A singing contract at 18, fame in her early 20's, a life on display because of papparazzi, more drugs and alcohol and at 25, a death from alcohol poisoning.
Well, I could not pass up a quick paddle over to Long Point and back. The clouds were incredible, the sun peaking through the trees of Long Point a la Ansell Adams.
Long Point From My Kayak |
Kayak Morning |
Monday, April 25, 2016
A Calm, Quiet Monday Morning
6:00 |
6:49 |
6:50 |
Kayak Morning |
Mallards |
Lake Dead Fall |
We were home by 12:30 and had our big breakfast of eggs, bacon and bagels and instead of watching CBS Sunday, it was pleasant enough to eat breakfast our on our dock, as the wind cooperated. It was great to finally have a meal al fresco. We also cast a few lures, hoping to catch a perch or two but no luck. After breakfast, Evie began the process of putting together a photo album for the Summer of 2015 on Shutterfly. I downloaded over 100 photos from our week in Topsail, so she's ready to start putting them in order.
Most of the afternoon, however, Evie spent outside working in the yard while I lounged inside, reading, napping and watching some basketball, a lazy sloth. Evie cut both lawns, enjoying the exercise. I finally got up off my couch to do some watering, as I was getting bored watching basketball. And I washed our Outback, which had been bombarded by the birds over the past few days. It's difficult to find a spot where it's safe from them.
Around 5:30, we had had enough and sat down to enjoy some wine and cheese, as the day slowly ended, the clouds began to arrive. We were having steak for dinner, so I fired up the grill and cooked them outside around 7:00 and Evie put together a salad, sauteed some mushrooms, and made some potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes. Dinner was delicious, what's not to like when you have a steak and salad. We watched CBS Sunday Morning, then some Bill Maher because there is not much else on TV on Sunday nights. We both miss not having a series to watch so we are going to have to start a new one.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Frost On A Sunny Morning
6:30 |
6:31 |
Yesterday was overcast early, thwarting any idea of doing something in the morning, like kayaking and there was a heavy wind as well, so we stayed inside till late morning. Evie put together our dinner, a baked cauliflower and pasta dish. And we straightened up the house, made sure all the trash was taken out before I drove to the Transfer Station, meeting my neighbor on the way. It's quite a Saturday morning gathering spot because everyone has trash, local or weekender.
Vineyards Of Lake Erie |
Chautauqua Creek Leading To Lake Erie |
Driftwood And Evie |
A New Discovery...Cupcakes In Westfield |
We did not get home until 2:00 and had passed on eating at Jack's because we both had in mind a leftover salmon salad, with avocadoes and hard boiled eggs for lunch. Evie quickly put it together and we devoured it. This salad is a good reason to have salmon for dinner, enough so that you have leftovers by the way. We wanted to then relax and enjoy the sunny day but the wind was too strong to sit on the dock or kayak so we watched some TV or read much of the afternoon away.
Seaplane Landing Off Of Long Point |
And we watched Sarah Silverman's outstanding performance in I SMILE BACK, a tough movie to enjoy, about a Mom suffering from depression which lead to drug abuse and alcholism. Silverman, usually a zany comedian, was amazingly convincing in a very serious role. It's no wonder she was nominated by the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Best Actress. The movie is an eye opening window into the world of depression and it's not easy to watch.
We went to bed around 11:00, to a full moon over Chautauqua Lake
11:00 |
Saturday, April 23, 2016
THE PATRIARCH: MARTIN WALKER
Another enjoyable Bruno the Detective novel and in this one, you better read it on a full stomach because if you don't, you will want to rush into the kitchen and make what Bruno and his buddies are having. And, like me, you will want to get a basset hound like Bruno's Balzac. The novel begins with a party to honor the Patriarch, Marco Desaiz, a famous fighter pilot during WWII, one of a few Frenchmen who flew for the Russians against Germany. He is much admired by Bruno, who read about him when he was a boy. Bruno is invited to the party by the Red Countess, who he saved in a previous novel. She was one of the patriarch's many lovers. We also meet Madeleine, Marco's ambitious daughter in law, his son by his Russian mistress, Yevgeny, his grandchildren, and his best friend from the flying days, Gilbert.
Towards the end of the gathering, Bruno is called away because of a tragic car crash, a result of an overpopulation of deer on the property of one of the Green party members, Imogene, a neighbor and friend of Bruno's. This necessitates Bruno making it clear to Imogene that the deer must be culled or she may have to move. This is a minor theme of the story. The next morning, however, Bruno gets called back to the Patriarch's estate because his good friend, Gilbert, has been found dead, from what everyone assumes is alcohol poisoning. By the time Bruno gets there, his death has been pronounced an accident, his body taken away before Bruno can get organized, the body is cremated.
The quickness of all of this peaks Bruno's interest, and the rest of the novel follows his instincts, as he's right to assume there has been foul play, that someone has wanted Gilbert dead. At first, it seems like it might have been his daughter because she inherits over two million euros. But that is soon proven false, and the guilt soon falls on the patriarch himself because of his ties to Russia, the fact that some think he may have been their double agent. This too ends up being a dead end.
Bruno finally settles on the beautiful, ambitious daughter in law of the Patriarch, up for a seat in the government. He only comes to this conclusion after she has seduced him, then sent a rogue to his house to dispatch him with an axe. Bruno fights him off, sends him to jail, and slowly comes to an understanding of why Madeleine wanted Gilbert dead. Gilbert was her daughter's father and if this were made public, she would surely lose the election. Thus, she felt she had to do away with Gilbert.
As in all the stories, Bruno has some love interest. But in this novel, his relationship with Pamela, his neighbor, an expatriate from Scotland, comes to an end as she takes up with Jack Crimson, a retired spy from Great Britain. Both she and Bruno realize it would not work out between them because Bruno wants a family and Pamela definitely does not. So though they part, it hurts Bruno even though he knows it's for the best.
An Overcast Saturday Morning
Evie's First Perch Of Spring |
6:41 |
Yesterday began with coffee, writing my blog, then a quick paddle on a calm lake but gray morning. We were hoping for rain and it was predicted but we got just a whisper although when I went to yoga, it looked like there had been a cloud burst in Lakewood. Yoga was interesting, as our teacher is a novice, very unsure of herself, so I felt like I had to be supportive of her rather than the other way around. She is a little younger than me, very nice, wants to do well, but lacks confidence, always asking is this ok. On my way home, it looked like it had rained again but when I got to Woodlawn, the roads were dry, so we had missed most of the rain. Evie, however, had been busy in the yard and had done some watering from the lake, on the newly seeded areas of our lawn. She also made sure to water the two new trees we planted last fall. They seem to be doing well.
I had a couple of schnitzel sandwiches for lunch, with the leftover pork, and watched the final episode of Games of Throne, Season 1. Unfortunately, the one character I liked, the only seemingly good guy in the entire realm, was beheaded in the last scene, quite a surprise as I thought he would be a major player in the ensuing seasons. Evie took off for the gym around 1:30, did some shopping and I did some reading, tried to sit out on the dock but it was too chilly. So I came inside, read and took a nap, watched a few minutes of the NBA playoffs before getting bored.
Evie was home at 4:00 and though she stopped at T. J. Maxx, she did not buy another pot. Just another quilt for our beds, which makes it perhaps quilt #9, as we have an attic full of quilts from my Mom, sister, nieces, and our kids. Since it was a Friday, TGIF even though we are retired, neither of us felt like fussing in the kitchen so we drove off to Steeners Irish Pub since we haven't been there in a couple of months. We knew it would be busy, tried to time it so the after work drinkers would be about ready to leave the bar. It was a little early, however, as the bar was still packed, though we were able to garner a seat for Evie, then I pulled over a stool from another area. So we were happy to be sitting at the bar once again, hoping to strike up a conversation. Everyone, however, seemed to be drinking with friends, so we were stuck with talking with each other. Horrors. We ordered beers, then looked through the specials. Evie ordered a portabella sandwich with bruchetta which ended up mediocre. I risked a heart attack and ordered, for the first time I can remember, their homemade french fry basket with five bean chicken chili and cheese. It turned out to be big enough for two or three people although I did a pretty good job of it.
Fries Smothered In Chili And Cheese |
At Steeners With Barb and Dana Johnson |
Sonia And Her Husband |
Friday, April 22, 2016
A Prince Of A Morning
Northern Sky at 6:26 |
Northern Sky at 6:30 |
6:45 |
7:17 |
Northern Flicker Ground Feeding This Morning |
A Raspberry Pie From Portage Pie, Westfield, NY |
How Bout This Pot! |
I am not sure what today will bring other than yoga at 9:30...the rest of the day is open.
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