Warming And Melting

7:04

7:29

7:30

It's a gray morning, the lake no longer a white vastness, rather more like a slick, gray skating rink as the warm temperatures begin to melt the snow on the roofs, yards, lake, parking lots, etc.  It's already 45º at 7:00.  No fishing huts in view at the moment but I heard, then saw a snowmobile cruise down the middle of the lake around 6:30.  On his way to work or home from a rendezvous?

Valentine's Day was not much different for us.  I began the day with another small yoga class, just four of us but it was good.  Afterwards, I went to Aldi's because Evie had read the ads and there were a number of items that looked worth the trip, like scallops, pineapples, and staples like bananas and onions.  First,  I stopped at Wegmans's with a bag filled with coins, dropped them in the machine that counts them for you and I went home with eighty bucks.  I felt rich so I ordered a Danny sub at the deli for lunch, then headed across the street to Aldi's, newly renovated but it looks pretty much the same, just a bit larger.  Since its renovation, the parking lot seems much more busy as people are catching on to its lower prices and with the closing of Sam's Club, it will only get more crowded and busy.

Dogs Follow 4x4

Lunch, then was easy, a half of a sub, the other half for today.  We had our typical afternoon of hanging inside for the most part and were glued to the TV from 2:30 on because of another school shooting in Florida (the deadliest since Sandy Hook), the 8th school shooting since January 1st, the 30th mass shooting in 2018.  Just another day in the US, with lots of prayers but no action from our cowardly legislatures.  I wonder about the hype, the wall to wall news coverage, as to whether that contributes to these crazies out there seeking fame.  I know, guns don't kill people, people do with semi-automatic rifles!

A Melting Lake At 4:30

Around 4:30, I needed to get outside, so I walked out to the slushy lake, decided it would be better in the woods, so I tromped around the Woodlawn Victoria woods for forty-five minutes.  I should have skied because there was enough snow to ski.  Still, it was nice to get outside in the 40º weather, the sun lighting the woods.

February In The Woods

Late Afternoon Of Long Shadows

For Valentines Day,  I took Evie to her favorite Wednesday evening spot, the Viking Club.  It was crowded and busy, so much so we couldn't get a seat at the bar but Evie noticed a couple who live in Maple Springs and they asked us to join them at a table.  We have talked with them a couple of previous visits and Henry aka Rocky, we found out later, is an avid fisherman and gave Evie advice on how to catch fish this past summer.  In fact, he had been out fishing Wednesday morning, off of Long Point and with a friend, went home with over ninety perch and bluegill.  They gave them to an Amish friend who was working next door to their house.  They are in the process of selling their Pittsburgh house and moving to Maple Springs full time.  We encouraged it.  Wednesday at 7:00 they have a drawing for the Queen Of Hearts. The jackpot was up to five grand so everyone was excited and went crazy when a regular, John, the dock maker from Mayville, won the drawing.  We talked to him later and he's going to use the money to take his daughter and her family to Austria, to see where his ancestors came from.

We were home by 8:30, in time to see the Olympics but it was frustrating as a number of events were cancelled so much of the coverage was listening to the anchors talk as we waited for one ice skating team after another, a boring night of TV.  I went up to bed early, as I am into my next book, RED SPARROW.  And I read this morning that somehow we missed Mikaela Shiffrin's Gold in the Giant Slalom, the only event we wanted to see.  Rats.