A Brief Spring Rain

8:10

8:40

Well, this is the first morning where it really felt like spring, with rain, soggy yards, the detritus of snow, a rapidly thawing lake, and 40º.  The cloud cover is so heavy that it was difficult to tell when the sun rose.  In fact, at the moment, there's no sign of it, just gray clouds.

9:08

9:10

Yesterday, like Wednesday, was winter cold, with the temperatures in the teens early, twenties later in the day.  I wanted to get a walk in so I drove off to Dobbins Woods, about 15 minutes away.  It has a nice loop and we often hike it, ski or snow shoe it depending on the weather.  I might have been able to ski most of it but there were too many bare spots, icy and wet spots, so hiking was the better idea. It was a good idea, as the skies were clear, the woods a combination of snow drifts or areas of fallen leaves.  It was a good thing I went in the morning because much of the path was wet but still frozen so I avoided the mud and water for the most part.  I was out about an hour, enjoying the solitude, the quiet of the woods.  I decided to then to drive to Lakewood, to get a coffee and eggs at Ryder's Cup, then money from Key Bank.  I ended my morning with a stop at Save A Lot to pick up a corned beef since we did not get our fill last Friday on St. Patrick's Day.

Neither Winter, Nor Spring

Evie spent part of the morning with the doctor for her Wellness appointment .  It's now required in New York state and basically is a waste of time because it's more like an interview, answering questions about the quality of your life, not much to do with any health problems.  Sometimes, however, the doctor will actually go beyond the simple questions and give you a modified check up which he did.

We both returned home at the same time, around 12:30 and I was ready for lunch, left over eggplant pasta, again, and some toast with peanut butter, an unusual combination I agree.  The rest of the afternoon was typical, watching some of the news, bristling at the posturing and lies of the politicians, then reading, napping, or cleaning up the kitchen or house.  Not the most exciting way to spend an afternoon but we did not feel like doing anything else.  The constant chatter of news  and the politics of the day does nothing if not depress anyone who tends to listen.  For our mental health, we ought to avoid it at all times but it's so entertaining, like watching a train wreck day after day. Get out the Zanax.

For dinner, Evie marinated some chicken breasts in a teriyaki sauce she put together, then grilled them on the stove.  She heated up some of the brown rice I had made earlier in the week which she had frozen, then made a salad, cooked some broccoli and boiled down the marinade adding cornstarch and water for a sauce.  That was our dinner.  We watched a silly Designated Survivor and America Crime, which we are starting to like.  And then it was basketball for the rest of the night although I finally went to bed in the second half of the Kansas/Purdue game, thinking that Kansas had the game in the bag.  I was right.

Just Saying: “It tires me to talk to rich men. You expect a man of millions to be worth hearing, but as a rule, they don’t know anything outside their own business.” Theodore Roosevelt