More Gray, Fog, And Thaw

6:55

7:39

I am sitting here listening to a Doctor Radio podcast on back pain, how yoga and pilates 'may' help alleviate the pain.  Interesting but no seeming panacea.  It's already 50º out at 8:00 and the lake seem to have various sized small ponds of water sitting on the surface.

Hanging Out On A Budding Lilac Bush

Yesterday was like today weather wise just a bit cooler, the high around 40º.  We had an easy morning of coffee and reading the newspapers, either in hand or online.  It's one of the joys of retirement, having a leisurely morning, not having to rush off to school or work.  Around 10:30, we got busy as Evie decided to make some lentil soup.  I helped by cleaning almost a bag full of carrots, pulsing them to almost nothing in the food processor.  Using this and onions as a base, Evie finds, makes a really healthy and tasty lentil soup, mercimek chorba in Turkish.  Once that was begun, we made a list for Wegman's and I was going as well to the local Dunn Tire, to see if I could get two new tires for my good old Honda Accord, as I am tired of putting air in the tires every two or three days.

So around 11:00, I dropped off the trash at the Transfer Station, then stopped at Ryders for coffee and organic eggs, the bank, to pick up some cash at the ATM.  It's nice to be able to put checks in my account as well as get cash without getting out of the car.  I then drove to Dunn tires, talked with the specialist and decided on the cheapest yet decent tire, two for 180 bucks.  A deal?  It took about 30 minutes to get them mounted, as I ignored the Fox News on the tube,  as I read my book.  Afterwards, I drove away with a new feeling in my car, one of renewed stability and safety, all in my head I am sure.  I feel the same way after I go through a car wash.  I then drove to Wegman's, picked up enough veggies for the rest of the week if not more.  Earlier, I decided I wanted to roast some vegetable for Sunday's dinner, so I came home with turnips, squash, beets, parsnips, and sweet potatoes, enough for at least two if not three dinners.  Evie was not impressed (how about those two eggplants? ed. note).

Anyways, while I was shopping, Evie had put together another Turkish dinner favorite, tas kebab, basically a beef stew with allspice, cinnamon, red pepper and tomato paste, easy but tasty.  And by the time I got home, the lentil soup was done, so I had it for lunch along with a leftover meatloaf sandwich with ketchup for sure.  I watched half of the first episode of Season Three of Bloodline before getting bored and returned to reading my book and falling asleep, a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Around 4:30, despite the gray skies, I decided to walk the Chautauqua Institution, a walk we have not done in weeks.  Despite the weather, the absence of any action, the lack of color, it was a nice late afternoon to walk, cool enough for a rain jacket over a light fleece.  I was home by 5:30 and Evie was putting together our dinner, leftover chicken, with broccoli and an Indian marsala sauce from Trader Joe's.  We had our wine as we put together the dinner, or rather Evie did as I washed up the dishes.

We had dinner, the Indian chicken marsala, on rice, with a salad and were excited to return to the new Netflix series, SEVEN SECONDS.  Like all series, it has its and downs and just about the time we were getting bored with it, it turned interesting and pulled back our attention to the next episode. So we ended up watching three episodes, have six to go.  We ended the evening with Friday night's Vice News and some Winter Olympics.