Another Morning Of Blue Skies And Sunshine

6:11

6:59

7:01

I was up at 6:05, a pink glow along the eastern shoreline, an azure sky, an awakening dawn.  It's a typically crispy morning, frost on the windshields, the grass frozen, and 30º outside.  Not for long, however, as it should get up to 50º later today.

Yesterday looked warmer than it was when we stepped outside, as the sunny day still demanded a fleece, even glove or a hat.  We really had nothing we had to do, no doctor's appointments, the bane of retirement, no shopping, no yoga or hiking.  So what did we do?  First, I put together the recipe for no knead bread, leaving it to rise until later this morning.  Then, we drove to the Chautauqua Institution after a leisurely morning, dropped off a library book and went for a walk around the grounds.  Bestor Plaza was crowded with parked cars but we saw hardly a person.

When we got home, I decided to do some clean up outside, as winter and the winds wreak havoc on the lawn.  So I got out a couple of barrels and picked up twigs and branches, then raked up the detritus in the backyard, partially filling two garbage pails with twigs and leaves.  Also, the snowplow usually spreads piles of gravel on our lawn, so I spent some time shovelling and raking it back on to our parking area.  By 12:30, when lunch was ready, I had made some headway so I  came in for lunch, a western with the leftover meatloaf.

Afternoon At Chautauqua Lake

Both Evie and I felt energized by just being outside in the sun and crisp February morning.  Nothing like the sun and fresh air to pick up one's mood.  Our afternoon seemed to go quickly, the usual reading, napping, and watching some TV.  Around 4:00, I went out again to finish the clean up of our yard, finally filling both pails and taking them up the hill.  It always feels good to empty the pails, to have a tidy backyard and parking area, the Marie Kondo in me.

Around 6:00, I poured us some wine and Evie quickly put together another one of our go to dinners, salmon glazed with a citrus glaze, garlic spinach and rice.  We were looking forward to dinner, and cherry pie a la mode and the last three episodes of Netflix's SEVEN SECONDS.  And we were not disappointed in the grim, depressing but tension-filled ending of the series. Verna Sud, the creator and writer, misses hardly a flash point or social issue like police brutality and corruption, white privilege, black stereotypes, homophobia, broken families, urban poverty and drug culture, opioid addiction, drug dealing, and religious doubts.  Sud also breaks the usual TV cop/lawyer stereotypes, like the film Black Panther does, by having African Americans as the major protagonists, the lawyer and family that lost a son.  Sud tries to include too much in this ten part series but its still riveting TV.