Pink Sky In The Morning

5:52

5:53

5:53

6:05

6:26

6:32

6:51

Even though I was up at 5:50, I was excited to see a 'rosy fingered sky,' over Long Point State Park. The sun was not to rise for another ten minutes and when it did, it was obscured by the clouds and the sky turned back to a cloudy gray.  And despite freeze warnings last night, it was a cozy 43º this morning when I got up.  Finally, when I went outside, I was greeted by the happy sounds of  purple martins, home building and finally back at the lake.  It's been awhile.

Baltimore Orioles Are Back

Loving Grape Jam

I began yesterday with a kayak paddle, for the first time, I crossed the lake to Long Point State Park and back home.  It was great to be on the lake early morning, just me and a single bass boat.  When I approached our house, I was welcomed, sort of, by martins, barn swallows, and sparrows, all building their nests.  Yoga was at 9:30, so I left late, at 9:15 but made it to class just in time.  Once again, there were just three of us, upsetting to our teacher, because the class size has been dwindling for some reason.  After class, I stopped at the hardware store, to pick more potting soil because we are planting lots of dahlias this year and we want to get them started now but cannot put them in the ground until June to avoid a freeze.  So Evie has been planting each bulb in a yogurt cup and if it gets too cold, we can easily bring them inside or put them in the garage.  When I got home, Evie was off to another appointment with a physical therapist and she then stopped at Wegman's for some staples.  Meanwhile, I quickly spread another wheel barrel of top soil, then drove off to Tri James for six more buckets.  It costs me $2.50 a trip, so I gave Clyde, the tractor guy, another ten bucks because I will need more top soil and probably pea stones.

A Yellowing Finch

Lunch was an incongruous combination of toast, matzo ball soup and harissa sardines from Trader Joe's.  By the time I was finished with lunch, I was ready for a brief nap and was awakened when Evie returned from the store.  I helped put away the groceries, then spread the buckets of top soil I had gotten before lunch, then drove off to Tri James for another six buckets of dirt.  I think I must enjoy it because it's becoming an obsession, just one more trip becomes one more trip and I cannot stop.

Green Is The Grass

We had been wanting to try a restaurant in Northeast, PA, called The Cork 1794.  On Tuesdays, they have a special, a burger, fries, and a beer for ten bucks, so we headed off to Northeast, about a 28 mile drive.  Northeast has a neat square, with lots of trees and grass, surrounded by interesting buildings, stores, a a church, and library.  When we walked in, there were only two seats left at the bar, so we squeezed in, just as happy hour was about to end.  We know their dinner menu is expensive and interesting but we stuck with the bar menu and ordered deep fried pretzel ends with two kinds of dip. They were decent but not as good as the German pretzel and cheese beer at the Ellicottville Brewing Company in Bemus Point.  We talked a bit with a couple who come every Tuesday because their kids go to a karate class for an hour just down the street.  We ordered the special, burgers, fries and beer and it seemed like forever before we got our order.  And, unfortunately, neither the fries nor burger were hot, just warm, as they probably were sitting in the kitchen for five or ten minutes.  We did not complain until the cook came out and asked how was our meal.  Evie told him and he wanted to cop our meal but we refused, saying you just wanted to let them know the truth.  Our experience was imperfect, an inattentive bartender and just warm burger and fries but we really liked the ambiance and will come back to try their dinner menu.

The Bar At The Cork 1794

We got home about 8:30 and I quickly got out the bleach because we were going to shock our well. So I made a five gallon mixture of water and bleach and poured it down our well.  We then turned on the faucets one at a time until we smelled the bleach.  Once that was done, we returned to the TV and the shock of Trump's firing of Comey.  The news channels were, of course, going crazy.  After awhile, we had enough and watched the next episode of BETTER CALL SAUL and it was one of better episodes, as Jimmy reluctantly sets up Chuck by inviting his former wife to the trial. Chuck loses his cool, falls apart on the stand and, we assume, loses the case.