One Small Step

7:47

I was up just before 6:00, as the new year begins in earnest for most people, not us, the lucky ones who live the good life of retirement.  No change in our day, no work to get up for, just more of the same, with occasional trips.  Right now, we are both sitting here, waiting for the sky to lighten, enjoying coffee, quiet, but thinking about what the day will bring.  Unfortunately, the world invades our space because we are listening to Morning Joe.  Our vow to set aside politics has already been broken.  It looks like a wet day, as the temperatures rise, the rains, not snow, arrives over the next couple of days until the frigid weather returns on Wednesday.  As I look out at the lake at 7:50, I count at least 27 guys out fishing, some with tents, spread out on the lake from Warner Bay to Tom's Point.

Still Fishing at 4:30

Yesterday was a spectacular New Year's Day on the lake, blue skies, lots of sunshine, the lake filled with what looked like families fishing at various sweet spots on the lake.  Our small step was to take our first walk in a couple of weeks, around the Chautauqua Institution, more than an hour and we both felt great afterward.

Winter In The Chautauqua Institution

The CI was, as always, like walking through a setting for a Christmas movie, quaint houses, front porches, roofs covered with snow and a partly frozen lake.  We met a few people struggling to cross country ski on the icy roads.  It was much easier to walk, with our shoe stabilizers on.  We also checked on the progress of new Ampitheater which is beginning to rise skyward.

Amphitheater Riseth 

Progress At The Big Dig

Afterward, we stopped at the old Snug Harbor Restaurant.  It's now a wood shop and we talked with the artisan carpenter, who makes furniture to order.  It's nice to see this building, which has been abandoned for years, being used.  We are tempted to see if he can make us some Adirondack chairs, depending on the price.  His work looks professional.

Five Egg And Bacon Pizza

When we got home, Evie had read earlier about a five egg pizza on the Internet and since she had three batches of homemade pizza dough fermenting in the refrigerator, she pulled one out, worked it into a 12 inch round, covered it with shreds of fresh mozzarella, put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes, pulled it out, poured five eggs over the top, sprinkled Parmesan cheese and pieces of cooked bacon on it,  then put it bake into the convection oven for 10 minutes, until the eggs were set.

Yum

So we had a different kind of breakfast, mostly in style, as we still had eggs, bacon, and bread, in this case pizza dough.  We enjoyed it enough to want to do it again, perhaps for dinner sometime with spinach and tomatoes added.  All kinds of possibilities.  We watched CBS Sunday, really well done, especially the tribute to all those who died this past year.

A White And Blue New Year's Day

We stayed inside the rest of the day, as I watched some football, Evie read and we both took a brief hiatus from our leisure, to move more furniture around in the living room, changing our end tables, making our living room more perfect.  We are 'almost' there or out of options.

We had cocktails to celebrate the New Years around 5:30, with cheese and crackers and listened to the best of Alternative Music from the 1990's and early 2000's, songs both of us recognized and liked. It was fun.  Dinner was pork chops and Evie had them prepped before we sat down, so she needed to do was bake them and we had dinner, with a great salad, topped with hard boiled eggs and homemade blue cheese dressing.  We watched two more episodes of The Night Manager, one to go, and it has veered dramatically from le Carre's book, bringing the series more relevant to modern times.

Today will most likely be a shopping day with a walk or hike thrown in.  We are getting back into our routine!