Listening To 'The Boss'

Snow Shoeing Dobbins Woods

7:08

Out Fishing By 7:10

It's 7:45 and I have been up for an hour, another cold morning of 13º, about six inches of snow fell overnight and the lake is a vast blanket of white with a light gray sky.  I have been listening to another podcast, Marc Maron interviewing Bruce Springsteen.  I am reading Bruce's autobiography BORN TO RUN, so it's interesting listening to him talk about his life. The book begins with his childhood and is chronological.  I am just at the point where he has picked up a guitar and is beginning to be part of a band.  Right now Bruce is talking about 'the amazing feeling of control, when he's playing in front of 70,000 or 80,000 people.  Hunger and fear have to be greater than the fear of humiliation.'  Interesting.  He ends with his battle with the darkness of depression, a disease we never associate with such a successful and famous icon, how he learned forgiveness and tolerance to become a full person.

Yesterday was a good day, mostly because we both got outside for one of the first times in 2017.  It's hard to believe that I am writing 2017.  We had our typical Saturday morning, Evie busy in the kitchen, this time making five pound of ground chuck into meatballs.  Meanwhile, I got all the trash ready and drove off to the Transfer Station, said aloha to the guys, put my recyclables in the proper containers, and my garage is trash free for a day or two, a good feeling.  I had an early lunch, vegetable soup and a leftover pork chop and baked potato from the Viking Club.  And I took a brief nap, falling asleep while watching a basketball game.

Getting Ready To Cross Country Ski 

Blue Skies

At 2:00 the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy was having one of their almost weekly gatherings, this time cross country skiing or snow shoeing Dobbins Woods.  So we left just before 2:00, parked our car, recognized some of the group, probably about 25 of us, and we took off for a fairly rough 45 minute hike.

Off In The Winter Woods

Dobbins Woods Snow Shoeing

The path was surprisingly rough, lots of wet spots and bumps, most likely ice mounds from the constant thawing and freezing this past month.  Still, it was fun, felt good to be out in the cold 17º and once we got going, neither of us was uncomfortable.  We ended the gathering at The Empty Pint, the Southern Tier Brewery pub.  Many of the group were there, so we struck up conversations with a couple who have a cottage in Stow but still live in Pittsburgh.  We then talked to a friendly woman who lives in Bemus on Lakeside Drive, Katie.

Bev and Bob, Friends From Mayville At The Empty Pint

And we finished our beer talking with a couple we have met before on these hikes and really like, Bob and Bev.  On the way home, we could not resist the temptation to stop at the Reverie cheese shop.  We sampled four or five of their cheeses, picked out one, Tom's, their award winning cheese, as well as a soft brie like cheese they recommended which we did not much like, too much like cream cheese not brie.

Fishing As Dusk Begins

We had a long and fun cocktail hour, with the cheeses, a baguette and a Manhattan or two, listening to Alt Nation on SiriusXM before dinner.  And dinner was easy, packed the heavenly ash browns in a container with ham, put it in the oven and we have an easy version of scalloped potatoes and ham casserole.  We watched another episode of Netflix's THE BREAK and some football but soon turned to junk TV before going upstairs to read more bout Bruce.  Another good day.

Good Night, Snow