A Nippy Morning On The Lake

7:00

7:05

It's almost 8:00 and both Evie and I are up, sipping our second cup of coffee, listening to Morning Joe, and both are wrapped in sweaters or fleeces, as it's 53º outside prompting me to even close the windows.  What a contrast to the weekend of heat and humidity.

Yesterday was what we both would call the perfect day on the lake, as well as what may be the  first day of autumn.  The temperatures never  got into the 70's, the sky was filled with puffy, cotton ball clouds, and the wind was slight enough to not cause a chill.  For some reason, neither of us wanted to kayak or boat, just sit outside on the dock and breathe in the cool air, embrace the warm sun for much of the day.  In other words, it was a day of 'large leisure' for both of us.  I did go to yoga, my favorite yin class but the poses were such that I had trouble doing them, especially my knees, so I did not enjoy it much, alas.  And, yet, I loved last week's class.

When I got home, we both got busy working on our brick walkway, which always is filled with weeds and moss, so we edged and weeded in the warm sun until lunch.  Evie, then, made me a avocado and tomato sandwich on toast and I heated up some ramen (wish I could find a healthy packaged one) and watched another episode of Ray Donovan.  It's been a month or so since I last watched an episode so I am not sure what's going on but it seems to have lost is way, like quite a few series in their later years.  They live on their past reputation, not knowing when enough is enough.

After lunch, I read, took a brief nap then went out and finished the brick walkway.  Evie, however, was glued to the dock, hardly moving, loving the afternoon, and she finished her Graham Greene novel, THE HEART OF THE MATTER.  We both intended on going for a boat ride but after I joined her on the dock, we decided that having cocktail hour on the dock sounded better.  So we got out the pretzels, hummus, crackers, two beers and welcomed the shade from the setting sun, a sure sign of the changing seasons when the shade from our trees hits the dock in late afternoon.

We went in to heat up the leftovers, lamb and moussaka, around 6:30, then watched Chris Matthews for a bit, to catch up on the latest Donald news (what else is there to talk about other than Hillary's emails). Once we had our fill of politics, with a brief nod to Fox News, we watched the final episode of Netflix's Marcella, unsatisfying as we expected because we are not sure of her involvement in the crime.  And we then watched the penultimate episode of THE NIGHT OF on HBO which did not seem to move the narrative ahead much, so we wonder how all of this can be wrapped up in a final episode.  After these two series, I was happy to get back to THE MARCO EFFECT, by Denmark's Best Selling Crime novelist.

I thought I would include today's inspiring poem from The Writer's Almanac by William Ernest Henley.  We may need its message during the next 76 days.

Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.