Fire In The Sky

7:19

7:19

7:20

7:24 

Woke at 5:55 but fell back to sleep for a few minutes or so it seemed and got up at 7:00.  It's really, really cold out, 10º yet I noticed fishermen walking out at 7:00,  ready to fish.  Hardy guys.  It was a brilliant red sky for about 10 minutes before the clouds took over and for now, at 8:00, all is gray.

7:38

Neither Evie nor I felt like working out yesterday, so no yoga, no gym.  Instead, we had a kitchen full of dirty dishes from Monday night's dinner.  After our coffee and listening to the news, we got at it, Evie washing, me drying and within forty-five minutes, the kitchen was back to normal spic n span.
And because we got six to eight inches of light fluffy snow overnight, we both went out in the cold, 15º temperatures and spent a good half hour clearing not only our parking area but also the road in front of our house because Shane had not been by with his plow.

We both felt good after both chores, especially being outside and breathing in the cold but fresh air of winter.  How invigorating it can be. By the time we were done, it was lunchtime so Evie made me a couple of egg tortillas, with tomatoes, despite the fact that people are surprised that Evie makes me lunch most days.  As my sister, Ellen said, 'Tell him to make his own damn eggs!"
Leave her alone and let her do what she wants, I say!

We felt relief in that we did not have anything we had to do the rest of the day, a seeming luxury.  So I read and Evie started to organize old photos so she can scan them for our digital library.  Neither of us even thought of cross-country skiing, mostly because it was so windy and cold out that we would not have lasted long.  We did decide to have a nice, long cocktail hour with leftovers from Monday night and enjoyed watching the sky lose its color as it got dark. We did glimpse the moon briefly,  but every time I went out to photograph it, it disappeared behind the clouds.  And three or four times, the lights of snowmobiles raced across the lake.

A Bit Of Moon

Dinner, alas, was easy, make a salad and heat up the baked ziti.  It was just as good as the night before and we settled in to watch whatever we could so as to avoid the State Of The Uniom at 9:00.  So we followed real news on Vice News, then more of Colbert's nightly diatribe on Trump, much more entertaining than an hour and a half speech.  We were in bed, happy with our day, by 11:00

Lots Of White Stuff Overnight

Happy Together

7:09

8:35

A delightful morning as winter, snow, the cold has returned once again to Chautauqua Lake.  And it seems to have scared away the fishermen as I have yet to see a hut or bucket on the lake.  It's 16º and may stay in the teens the rest of the day.  It's a good thing we did not put away the snow shovels because both Evie and I will be out clearing our parking area this morning.  Yippee as my buddy Mac used to say...we love the snow.  It's 8:45 and I just noticed two fishermen walking out, towing a sled.  And ten minutes later,  they headed back in for some reason?

9:20

Yesterday was a good day for ice skating as the snow had mostly disappeared and the lake was a vast sheet of ice.  The fishing guys were out, enjoying the day.  Unfortunately, neither one of us is a skater so I drove to Lakewood at 9:30 for a Yin Yoga class.  The class was fine and I needed it as I had a bad night, waking, then falling asleep, then waking.  When I got home, I helped Evie put the finishing touches on our dinner preparation.  We were having six for dinner, the winter remnants of our breakfast club with their wives.  Since Evie had done most of the prepping on Sunday, it was fun getting things ready.

Evie had my lunch planned as well,  homemade vegetable soup, of course, and toasted cheese sandwiches.  We then had our usual afternoon, relaxing and napping for me, putting the finishing touches on dinner prep for Evie.  Around 5:00, we got out the drinks and Evie made the white sauce for the ziti before putting it in the oven at 6:00.  Because so many things needed to be baked, the timing was essential, so as she put in the ziti, she took out the appetizer, breaded pickles stuffed with mozzarella cheese.  And at 7:00, when she took out the ziti, she put in the baguettes.  Timing is all.

Everyone arrived at 6:15 and I went out and helped them park so that it would be easy to drive home even if we had snow.  And, typically, it started to snow just as they arrived.  It was fun to have a house alive with conversation, as we stood around the kitchen island, laden with drinks, deciding what to have.  We finally got everyone to the living room, and Evie brought out the pickles.  None were sure what they were and a bit hesitant to try them, but once they tasted them, the plate was empty. As someone said, we are getting our vegetables.

A Ziti Dinner For Eight

We sat around, listening to music, eating pickles and talking until 7:30 when dinner was ready.  The dinner was perfect for a group and with a salad and baguettes, we were happy.  After dinner, we had Revani for dessert, a Turkish semolina cake topped with creme fraiche, and Turkish tea to finish off the meal.  We ended up sitting around the table, enjoying just sitting, reminiscing about the good old days (for example, we discovered both Charlie and Wendy lived on the same street as writers David McCullough and Annie Dilliard!), and discussing favorite films, books, and TV series.  We never made it back to the living room.

By 10:15,  everyone was ready to drive home in the snow.  Cars were covered with snow, so  I went out with my broom and helped clean off the cars and everyone drove slowly down Woodlawn Road.  Evie and I were still energized from the evening so we ended up cleaning up somewhat, putting things away, clearing off the table and rinsing the dishes, leaving most of them for this morning.  It was a really fun night with good friends.

THE GUARDS: KEN BRUEN

This is Bruen's first Jack Taylor novel.  Jack seems to be a cliche, the tough, boozer cop, let go from The Guard (police) for his drinking.  He loves books, however, perhaps because Bruen taught English all over the world.  Despite his need for a drink, he manages to get by as a 'finder', usually by word of mouth.  In this case, a gorgeous woman stops in his pub, plops an envelope full of money on the table, and asks him to prove that her daughter did not commit suicide but was murdered. Bruen not only loves books but also music, constantly adding lyrics or quotations from his reading to the beginning of a chapter.  Jack not only falls for this woman, ends up trashing the relationship but finds a serial killer responsible for the deaths of many girls.  It's gritty, in the Irish fashion, and takes place in Galway.

Monday Begins The Week

7:34

7:37

7:37

7:38

7:39

Wow, just as I was about to start my blog, the sun popped up over Bootey Bay, so I carefully walked down the steps and out to the lake's edge for some photographs.  The lake looks like a vast skating rink, all ice with no snow.  There are fishing huts out and I wonder how they got out as the ice has to be slick and hard to walk on.  It's 26º, may get into the 30's later but snow is expected tonight around dinner time.

7:48

Yesterday was much like most Sundays, as we enjoyed the idea that it's a day of rest or rather I did.  Evie wanted to get some things done for tonight's dinner, so she basically finished making two trays of baked ziti.  All she will need to do then is make the white sauce and bake it.  And she made our dessert, a Turkish semolina cake with pistachios.  We have had it before and it's is glorious.  Of course, I was the pot and bottle washer for much of the morning.  Around 11:00, however, I drove off to Lakewood for a coffee and picked up some deicer from the hardware store because our drive is still icy.  And when I got back, I was welcomed by the smell of bacon frying.  We then had our big breakfast with eggs, bacon, and toasted focaccia, a good way to begin our afternoon.

Fishing On A Bucket On A Sunny Afternoon

The rest of the afternoon we relaxed for the most part.  I read some, having started the most recent Harry Bosch novel from Michael Connelly.  And Evie had fun making up song lists on Apple Music, exploring all kinds of genres and new tunes.  She sure loves her Apple Music...thanks Tommy.  Around 4:00, I needed to get some exercise so I went for a half hour walk through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, crunching snow as I walked.  The sun was beginning to set which made it even more striking, as the sun lit up the verticals of the tree trunks.  It was good to get out there again and enjoy the woods.

Woodlawn

Woodlawn/Victoria Woods

Evie had little to do for dinner, making a salad and heating up the chilli and leftover pasta, plating it and we had a meal, finished off by the last of the banana cream pie.  We watched a good hour of E's Red Carpet, always fun, with Ryan Seachrist until 8:30.  Then, we cruised through much of the Grammy's, fast forwarding through the commercials.  We were impressed by the opening, the hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, especially the dancers, Bruno Mars, and U2 but that's about it.  Everyone else was average or a bore, or so we thought -- not our favorite Grammy Night.

It Looks Like A Sunny Sunday

7:46

8:18

8:48

I was up later than usual, went out to take a photograph, walked down the steps and slipped on the ice, on to my back, dropped the camera.  Fortunately, the camera seems fine, my back a little sore but I think I was very lucky.  What a way to start the morning.

Yesterday was a miserable day, with rain on and off all day.  Not exactly the kind of weather that makes you want to get outside and hike or ski.  So we stayed in much of the morning until it was time for my weekly trip to the Transfer Station, then back home.  Since we were having friends over on Monday evening, we need one more big shopping day.  Evie was happy to stay home when I volunteered to do it, so off I went around 11:30.  I stopped for coffee and eggs and wouldn't you know it, there were five people in front of me, none behind, and all of them ordered expensive and hard to pronounce coffees.  I waited at least 15 minutes to get a medium coffee with cream and sugar, taking about 30 seconds to make. Grrrrr.  I deposited a check for two hundred bucks from St. Vincent Hospital where I had some tests done in October.  I guess I must have overpaid but I just got another bill from them for ten bucks.  Go figure.  I then stopped to wash my car at one of those 'do it yourself' car washing places as it was covered with mud from my two trips to Amish country yesterday.  I finally got to Wegman's and it was crowded, Saturday of course, with what looked liked lots of men doing the weeks shopping, most seemingly lost, not able to find what they needed.  I did find a quick check out line, ran into Victoria neighbor, Maryanne.

I didn't get home until 1:00 but was welcomed by the smell of bacon frying, as Evie was making me BLT's on the focaccia from Friday night's dinner.  What a great sandwich, with veggie soup as well.  And I finished my BERLIN STATION series, so I am open to something new.  Evie meanwhile put away the groceries and taking her time, made the sauce for tomorrow night's dinner.  And that was mostly it for the afternoon.  I watched Virginia beat Duke, loved it, then finished up my Ken Bruen Jack Reacher novel, THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS.  Tinker, by the way, is the Irish name for Ireland's indigenous gypsies.  And I took a good hour nap, waking refreshed, ready to start a new book or get back to Johnny Cash.

We had an easy afternoon, getting a few things done, cleaning up the kitchen (my job), then had a glass of wine while the previous night's chicken cacciastore warmed up in the oven.  Around 6:00, Evie made another wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and bacon, plated the chicken, heated up the focaccia and had a dinner even better than the night before.  Everything seems better the next day.

Evie wanted to watch an 'Evie movie', one without violence, a good human interest story, so I searched both Netflix, the Movie channels, then finally found something that sounded right up her alley on Amazon Prime called.  EAST SIDE SUSHI, about a young Latino woman who wants to become a sushi chef.  It was fun, the kind of movie a family could watch together.  Evie even wrote to tell our daughter Beth to watch it with her daughter Marisa.  We ended the night with politics, again, watching Real Time with Bill Maher. 

CITY OF THIEVES: DAVID BENIOFF

A very different Russian story,  told in retrospect by a grandfather to his grandson.  It has magical realism qualities but essentially is an adventure story, a silly quest, to bring back a couple of dozen eggs for the wedding cake of a wealthy general. In this novel, Lev, an intelligent but awkward Jew living in Russia befriends Kolya, a Slavic roustabout in prison where they both have been thrown for wartime infractions. Just as they are about to be executed, they are summoned by a Secret Police Colonel.  If they can find a dozen eggs so that the General's daughter can have a wedding cake, their lives will be saved.   And so begins the story and the adventure of the book. The story swings back in forth between humor and devastation, with a love story and coming of age challenge.

A Resplendent Dawn Sky

6:45

7:34

7:38

7:41

The sun is up at in full force at 7:53, just as it's about to hide behind a cloud.  The early morning sky was colorful, not Arizona spiffy but still worth photographing.  Today looks to be wet, rain much of the day, melting what snow is left, with temperatures in the 40's.

Yesterday neither of us worked out, not yoga, no gym, mostly because we were driving to pick up the new seat covers for our boat.  Before we left, Evie had a few things to prep for our dinner last night.  So she put together the dough for a focaccia, another one of our favorite breads.  This one combines flour, water, yeast sugar, and salt with mashed potatoes.  Once that was done, we left it to rise for a good three or four hours then drove to our Amish upholstery shop.  It's in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road but we were able to get there easily.  We spent a good half hour trying to pick out the material for slipcovers on our porch furniture which he is also going to make.  We finally decided on a color and material (sort of as Evie is having second thoughts), filled our car up with all the seats that we could fit in our car and drove home.  We decided to store it in our already full attic, not wanting to take the chance of animals getting at it in the garage.

5:00 PM

Part of the afternoon Evie kept busy, making a banana cream pie, yum, and an appetizer she found recently, dill pickles, stuffed with mozzarella cheese, rolled in breadcrumbs and baked for 20 minutes.  After lunch and a nap, I helped clean up the kitchen, vacuumed and tidied our TV room, then decided to get the other boat seats from our Amish friend.  I did take him a chair we did not want which he liked.  I was gone about an hour and returned to a house and kitchen ready for Linda and Ron.

5:00 PM

They arrived around 6:15, just as Evie had pulled the pickle appetizer out of the oven.  We got beers, sat down, and Evie let the pickles cool, then cut them into bite-size pieces, served them with ranch dressing on the side.  They were great, all four of us devoured them, and there were none left for today.  Around 7:00, we sat down and had a wedge salad with home made blue cheese dressing and bacon.  Once we finished our salad, Evie served chicken cacciatore along with slices of the focaccia to dip in the sauce and french style green beans.  The chicken, tender and tasty, the sauce great for dipping our focaccia.

After dinner, we had our banana cream pie along with a movie Linda and Ron have wanted to view called KEDI.  It's a Turkish documentary about the love of mostly homeless cats in the city of Istanbul.  It's a great film, following various cats, the people who either feed them or take care of them.  The city of Istanbul is the background.  It's a lovely movie, especially if you are cat lovers like Linda and Ron.  This was the second time Evie and I have seen it and we both recommend it highly.

Clear Skies And Cold

7:00

7:39

7:43

7:43

It's just after 7:00, the eastern sky an orange/pink along the horizon, blue above on a 19º morning. It is supposed to warm up later in the day to the 40's but I am doubtful.  We have been putting off picking up the new seat covers for our boat for a month but will be driving off this morning to pick them up from our Amish friend, the problem, where to put the seats until Spring.  We are not looking forward to it.

Cardinal On A Perch

Thursday was a busy day especially for Evie, lots of thinking about menus because we were having friends over both Friday and Monday, thus lots to do.  I, of course, had the luck to be able to go off to Yin Yoga, another crowded class, and I left feeling groovy.  On the way home, I stopped at Reverie Creamery and picked up a couple of their baguettes.  When I walked in, Evie was busy in the kitchen, prepping sauces and other goodies for the next three or four days.  Neither of us, alas, went cross-country skiing, mostly because we just lacked the mojo to get out there.

Up Close

Evie had also put together a summer favorite for lunch, a tuna/macaroni salad, so I had lunch ready whenever I was hungry.  It tasted great, a nice change from the winter soups and bagels.  I then relaxed, helped Evie clean up the kitchen, read and napped.  It was an easy afternoon and by 5:00, everything that could be done was done.  So we had a glass of wine, listened to the radio until it was time for dinner.  Fortunately, Evie had made dinner on Wednesday, a pot of chili, so all she needed to do was heat it up and make a salad.  I cooked some pasta because I like my chili on pasta with lots of cheese.  It hit the spot to use a cliche, something we had been thinking about for a couple of weeks but never made.  We watched a four-episode series our daughter Beth recommended called Apple Tree Yard on Starz, almost stopped after the first episode but then binged on the last three, unable to stop watching until it was finished.

I am adding three pictures our son Tom sent us last night.  He is visiting Evie's sister Claire at their new home in Gilbert, Arizona, about 20 miles south of Phoenix.  He also got to see Dorothy, Evie's step Mom who also lives in the area.  It looked like a perfect Arizona kind of day.

Evie's Sister Claire And Dot

Tom And Grandma Dot

A Spectacular Arizona Sunset

GUILTY MINDS: JOESEPH FINDER

Another thriller from Finder, this time Nick Heller, a private intelligence expert, is hired to help out in an explosive situation.  A maverick and high powered investigator, he must prove that the Chief Justice Of The Supreme Court did not have an affair with an escort.  Supposedly, she is willing to appear on a video but just a Nick starts the case, the escort is found murdered. And so the fun begins.

Temps In The Teens Again

6:33

7:00

9:05

It's 6:40, still mostly dark outside with an inkling of light off to the east and cold 14º.  Today will stay cold but it will warm up to the 40's tomorrow if the weather guys are to be believed.  Listening to this morning's most recent Republican inspired fake news (that there's a cabal of FBI agents, intent on overthrowing the govt), one would think we were in Turkey, where Erdogan continuously talks about the 'deep state.' 

Because we received an inch or two overnight, the roads were still slippery when I drove off to yoga at 10:00.  And the potholes along my route, mostly around the bridge, are terrible, so bad that both Evie and I slow down to the 30's, so we can play dodgem with them.  They are the worst they have ever been.  Yoga went quickly and ended with something called Yoga Nidra, where Jen mentions the body parts, one at a time, so that we can make sure they are relaxed.  By the end, we can hardly get up we are so relaxed.  A good way to begin the day.  I stopped for coffee and eggs, said aloha to Joyce and Dave, and headed home.  Evie was talking to our daughter Beth when I arrived home.  We also noticed a squirrel, sitting on the railing of our porch, where we had put Sparky, a gift of a bronze squirrel from our friends, Linda and Ron.  Hilarious, perhaps the beginning of a romance.

Scrappy Finds A Girl Friend:

After their phone call, Evie made me a couple of egg, cheese, and tomato filled tortillas before driving off to Lakewood to work out and do some heavy shopping at Wegman's.  I had soup with my tortillas, watched some TV, read my Jack Taylor, and tried to take a nap but I wasn't tired.  So I read more, browsed the news on my computer and around 3:30, decided to test the lake and see if it was good for skiing.  Evie noticed earlier in the day that our neighbor, John, was out in the middle cruising along so it was probably good.  I had to find a dry spot to ski down to the lake, as the edges in some areas were wet.  I went as far as Sandy Bottom and then fought my way home through a heavy wind, not fun.  Evie was just returning from the store so I put my skis away and helped unload the car, groaning with groceries. We put the goodies away and Evie got busy, making a chilli for our dinner and lunches the next couple of days.  Nothing like the smell of onions and garlic sauteeing.  

Fishing, Late Afternoon

Earlier in the day, Evie went freezer diving, to see what kinds of leftovers she could find in the freezer.  She came up with two leftovers, moussaka and pork and sauerkraut and that was our dinner.  After the chili was done and simmering, we relaxed with a couple of glasses of wine, some cheese and crackers as the leftovers warmed up.  We then had a surprisingly tasty leftover dinner and watched another Bloodline, some Vice News and home improvement shows, what else.  I was happy to get back to Jack Taylor by 10:30.  

Dinner And A Movie (The Post)

7:49

Yesterday at 9:30 AM

It's 7:30 and I have been up for an hour.  We received a dusting of snow last night, an inch at the most, so it's a dirty white morning here on the lake.  The temperature has dropped, to 24º, will stay cold for a day or two then warm up.  I noticed a couple of guys out fishing already, more to come no doubt.  I wish we had a few more inches of snow because we could be back out there skiing.

An Afternoon Cardinal

We had a good Tuesday, both of us got done what we wanted.  I went to another excellent yoga class with Julie, crowded in fact, with mostly regulars which was nice to see.  I did not linger nor stop anywhere but came straight home because Evie had an appointment with the Y with an instructor to teach her how to use the various nautilus-type machines.  Lunch was picnic style, crackers, cheese, soppressata sausage and cauliflower soup.  Not exactly a complimentary lunch but tasty.  While Evie was working out, I watched BERLIN STATION and because I am tired of my Johnny Cash bio, I decided to take a timeout and started Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor novels, the first one, THE GUARDS, is quite good.  Lots of literary references, as well as to pop culture which I like.  Jack, like most PI's or disgraced police, is an alcoholic, or a recovering one.  At this point, I am not sure.  Evie returned around 2:30, happy with her workout and she was able to get out of her commitment with The Fitness Bunker.

The Catch

We were going out to the early movie at 3:40 and were ready by 3:20 when Linda and Ron stopped over.  I volunteered to drive so off we went, with a wet snow.  Fortunately, the roads were fine.  We were excited to see Stephen Speilberg's THE POST, an interesting and relevant film about the freedom of the press.  In this case, whether the courts would allow the publication of the Pentagon Papers.  Nixon's White House argued the publication would threaten the lives of American soldiers.  The case went to the Supreme Court and the Washington Post won the case, 6-3, basically upholding the idea of Freedom of The Press.  One wonders what would be the result from today's Supreme Court.  Meryl Streep was amazing as Katherine Graham, Tom Hanks, his usual solid self as Ben Bradlee.  It was not as good as ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, but certainly worth seeing, a history lesson as well as a film that challenges all the current accusations of 'fake news' emanating from the Trump Whtie House.

Steak And Fries Night

After the movie, we drove across the bridge to Greenhurst, to enjoy the special at Steener's Irish Pub special,  two steaks (either Delmonico or filet) for 20 bucks.  How could we pass it up and the steaks were served with their hand cut fries, Evie's favorite.  We found seats at the bar, ordered beers and our steaks and we were happy campers.  We were home by 8:00, in time to watch an episode of BLOODLINE and VICE NEWS before bed.  No more the late nights of a 7:30 movie and then dinner and a long ride home.  We are into the Early Bird Film special, then dinner.  Plus on Tuesdays, popcorn and soda are half price!