A Brillant Sunday Morning

6:27

6:34

6:35

I woke just before the sun rose although when I came downstairs, it was already so bright in the living room that I thought I was too late for its rise.  It popped up, however, just as I was making coffee, so I rushed out on the porch to get a photograph.  It was surprisingly cold at 6:30, 29º although it's now 40º at 7:30.  It's 9:00 and I just returned from a paddle, sighting a couple of herons, lots of ducks, and a white cat, scavenging along the shoreline.

Kayak, Yesterday Morning

A Feral Cat

Saturday morning was the best, mostly because we had a good start to the morning with coffee, the paper and then a great kayak paddle down to Sandy Bottom and back.  The lake cooperated, stayed smooth and silky, the sun bright in the blue sky, a rarity lately.  I was anxious to get some good photographs of wildlife but I mostly scared them out of their shelters along the lake's edge.  They seemed more nervous, edgy than usual so I could not get very close to them.

Proud And Stately

My blue heron, however, and I call him mine because he seems to be in the same place each morning, was standing proud and stately the entire time I floated by, so I was able to take numerous photographs of him.

Hunkered Down

On my way back, a single duck seemed braver than others, was not bothered by me, so I was able to get a good photograph of him.  He has been around lately and we have had trouble identifying him but we finally agreed he was a grebe, perhaps the eared grebe.

Grebe

When I got back, Evie was busy in the kitchen, and had things organized for my trip to the Transfer Station.  I picked up our neighbors' trash as well because she is recovering from a foot operation and drove off to get rid of the trash.  I then worked some in the yard, picking up branches, raking twigs, and I moved some furniture out of the garage and put it out on our dock so we could enjoy a glass of wine or beer when it warms up.  Evie meanwhile worked some on the privets as the weather had warmed up to the 50's by 11:30.

Bufflehead

Male and Female Buffleheads

We came in for lunch, a leftover hoagie from the Lighthouse and more Senate Navy Bean Soup.  Still yum.  I watched some basketball, read, took a nap and by 2:30, we were both ready for a shopping trip and we were excited.  We were going to Walmart with what like seemed the rest of Jamestown to pick up some items we needed.  We spent close to an hour, looking around as we rarely shop at Walmart but picked up some things we needed, bathroom rugs, toiletries, some we didn't, like another bird feeder for cardinals.  We also picked up some produce, avoiding the romaine because of ecoli warnings.

Common Merganser

Earlier, we were unsure about dinner, not wanting to fuss much so we came up with a novel but unhealthy idea, pick up a small bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Since we were going to Walmart, we thought we might as well make it a day so we stopped at Kentucky Fried, perused their menu, and ordered six original chicken thighs to go.  We almost ordered coleslaw, a small cup of it for four bucks, but that was too much for us, so Evie decided to make it at home.  We were home by 5:00 and it was already time for a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers.

We enjoyed the late afternoon despite the fact that it was bright and sunny.  It somehow seems wrong to have a glass of wine when the sun is still high in the sky.  We better get used to it.  We were entertained, however, by what we think were mating loons, the male chasing the female across the water's surface, like a small, motorized boat.  Amazing.

We were anxious to dig into that bucket of chicken, so Evie made up a bowl of coleslaw, heated the chicken and we had a Kentucky Fried Feast.  I must admit it tasted great, just like it used to when we were kids before we knew it was unhealthy.  But once in awhile, it's worth breaking the rules and eating junk food.  We watched Real Time with Bill Maher and basketball before going up to bed.