A Heron Fishing, A Raft Of Hooded Megansers

I woke at 6:30, to another gray and wet morning here on the lake, with mist hanging over the shoreline, 42º, with another boring, stay in the house day to look forward to until a heron appeared in front of our house, looking for a breakfast of fish.  I must have taken 15 photos of him catching and attempting to swallow a fish.  It cheered me up on this blah morning.  It's now 8:30 and a raft of hooded mergansers just floated by, diving for weeds, then thrusting up out of the water, to shake off the water.

Hooded Mergansers

A Drop Of Water

Yesterday was wet and gray, so not much chance to do anything outside.  Evie had an 8:30 physical therapy appointment in Jamestown so she was out of the house before me.  I left around 9:10 for yoga class, then shopped at Wegman's for a few things.  And I have been looking for a pair of Van's slip on shoes so I stopped at the Mall and hit all four of the discount shoe stores but had no luck.  I will have to order them through Amazon or hit the skate board shop in Jamestown.  I didn't get home until 12:30 and Evie was already home from Jamestown.

Morning at 8:53

I had another 1/8th of a Cuban left, enough for lunch if I made myself a bowl of ramen with an egg dropped on top for a couple of minutes.  I watched some of the NBA game, then another episode of Spiral before getting back to the couch, a book, and a nap.  I wanted to get something done outside after my nap but the rain never let up.  I did scratch up the surface of the areas we seeded about a week ago and put down more grass seed, no doubt to no avail.  It's been abundantly clear that I cannot grow grass in those areas.

We were not sure what to do about dinner, the temptation to stay home and just veg out was strong but we resisted it, took showers and drove over to Bemus Point where all the restaurants were celebrating Cinco de Mayo.  We hoped to find a seat at the just opened Ellicottvile Brewing Company but it was already packed by 6:00, with nary a seat at the bar or table.  So we walked down to the Hare n Hound and found a couple of seats at the empty bar.  They have a great 'Small Bites' menu, so we ordered stuffed mushrooms, vegetarian egg rolls, cajun shrimp tacos and a bowl of French onion soup, as the bar began to fill up.  We ended up talking with a couple who live on Bemus's Main Street, across from the catholic church.   Sharon worked as a nurse at WCA hospital for forty five years and her husband, Bob, who grew up in Bemus, taught special ed kids at BOCES for 30 years and coached various sports at Maple Grove High School.  They were fun to talk with and we had much in common.  It was interesting to hear their  stories about the good old days in Bemus when Bob was growing up.  We got home around 8:00 and started a much awarded series from ESPN called OJ...Made In America, seven and a half hours long.  We watched the first hour and a half, the early years of OJ's life and he comes across as immensely charismatic, a born star, with no hints of the later OJ.  One can see why he became so famous, as everyone seemed to like him and wanted to be around him.  He seemed to prefer white people, the powerful, to his black friends but it is hard to blame him for it.  They, white America, made him who he was.  We had enough by 10:15, so I went up to read and Evie stayed up and watched some TV for another half hour.