A Windswept Lake

8:30

"February can't be taken seriously...She is young as a kitten, changeable as the wind, and into everything.  She can sulk, she can beam, she changes from one minute to the next. February is a phase, a short phase at that, and she has to be lived with.

It is sleet and snow and ice and cold, and now and then it is waxing sunshine and tantalizing thaw and promise.  February is soup and mittens and it is a shirt-sleeve day that demands an overcoat before dawn.  It is forsythia buds opening in the house And skid chains clanking on the highway.  February is sunrise at 6:30 for the first time since November." from SUNDIAL OF THE SEASONS: HAL BORLAND

It's 7:30 and I am sitting here listening to the wind, watching it blow gusts of snow down the lake, like a Great Plains dust storm.  I pity fishermen sitting on buckets in the middle of the lake.  It's another frigid day, 11º when I woke up, quite a contrast to yesterday's 36º at this time.  And it looks like winter will be sticking around for at least the next week, low temperatures and snow.

Three Stooges

I began yesterday with coffee at home, then breakfast over at the Bemus Point Inn with the guys.  It's a good way to start the day, catch up on the local gossip.  I returned home just after 9:00, finished up the blog, then got dressed for yoga and drove off to Eight Limbs for Yin Yoga.  Again, a full class and because I got there later than usual, I had to put my mat down in the front row.  I prefer the back corner, as do many of us amateurs.  I have been going on and off for seven years but still consider myself a yoga dilettante.  The class was not my favorite as we worked on hips and the various positions were not to my liking, at times uncomfortable and held too long.  C'est la vie.  I survived.

When I got home, Evie was ready to hit the gym and do some shopping.  So she packed up her gear and drove off as I heated up my lunch, some of the chili from last week that she froze.  I also heated up some of the leftover baguettes, to go along with my chili.  I watched Bloodline and the bad seed in the family, Danny Rayburn, keeps getting more and more evil, the kind of person we love to hate. Afterwards, I fell asleep on the couch while reading my third Jack Taylor novel, woke in time to listen to Julie Mason on POTUS until Evie got home, around 4:00.  Not only did she work out, but she also shopped at Wegman's and TJ Maxx's, coming home with a cool pair of shoe boots, Clarks, a real find.  I decided I needed some exercise and despite the dreary afternoon weather, I took a hike through our woods, getting some fresh air, even walking on the lake, its surface slushy from the warm 40º temperature.

The Woods

We both showered because we were going out to dinner.  We walked over to our neighbors', Barb and Jim's, for a beer and some appetizers.  Despite living five houses away, we have not seen them since October. And they surprised us with great news, Barb will retire in June and they will be able to live up here full time, joining us as the fourth family that lives along Woodlawn during the winter.  They are excited.  We were not sure where to go for dinner, finally decided on Steener Pub over Pine Junction because it was closer and it was beginning to snow.  We got to Steener's and were able to wrestle four seats around the corner of the bar, our favorite spot.  Everyone was happy with their meals, especially Jim because they offer grilled wings for an extra buck.  We stayed, enjoying homemade wings and onion rings along with our dinners until 8:00 when we drove home in a wet snow.  It was a fun evening at the Pub.

Four Months Till Retirement!

We had enough time to watch some Vice News, as well as the 'breaking news every 15 minutes' on CNN.  I was happy to get back to Jack Taylor, even if he fell off the wagon, again.  I see a pattern in Bruen's novels.