Thursday Gray

6:53

 I was awake too early, finally getting up at 5:40 and now, at 6:23 it's still pitch black outside and cold.  Snow was forecast but has yet to fall, as the temperature is 37º.  I have been listening to the news about the horrific shooting at a college bar in Twin Oaks, CA.

Yesterday began with a chilly but enervating paddle, my usual route, down to Sandy Bottom and home.  We were having John, from Lakewood Furniture, over at 1:00 to give us some ideas about our living room.  So, Evie wanted the house straightened and cleaned, so before heading to yoga, I  cleaned the back porch, a good start as Evie did some dusting and rearranging and putting things away.

I left for yoga at 9:40 and was surprised to be one of two people in class.  Winter is setting in, discouraging students I suppose although yesterday the sun was out in the morning.  Jen brought her Shruti box to class, an India instrument, which makes organ-like sounds with its bellows.  We chant Om while she plays the instrument which is different and enjoyable.  We ended class with a Savasana of legs up the wall, my favorite.

When I returned home, I quickly vacuumed the downstairs and TV room and then had my lunch, more beef and barley soup with one of the previous night's enchiladas.  John arrived at 1:00 and stayed for a half hour, admiring our house, remembering the furniture we bought from him some 22 years ago.  Unfortunately, he likes the way we had our living room set up and had few ideas for changing it around.  He did like our arrangement in front of our fireplace and felt he had some chairs we might like.  So we will stop in and start looking for new furniture next week, even a new carpet.  I am not looking forward to it because we have a difficult time making decisions, biting the bullet.  We also shopped for new carpeting three years ago but gave up because we were going crazy with all the choices.

Just after John left, the Spectrum TV guy stopped by because our TV box was not allowing us to fast forward though saved programs.  We definitely have no patience to sit through commercials anymore.  So he gave us a new 'old box', as the latest new boxes from Spectrum have been a problem for some customers.  He stayed for about 20 minutes, the last 10 talking about Spectrum and his work, a nice guy.

The rest of the afternoon was a waste, as we sat around watching TV, reading, or playing games on our devices.  Evie is, however, following the doctor's orders and not doing much, paying attention to their nifty acronym BLT, don't bend, lift or twist.  I did take a walk down our street to get the mail and check out another house on our street that has been raised off the ground so they can get a new foundation.  It's extremely muddy work what with all the rain we have had.  And when I came home, I put away many of the painted rocks in our yard, saving them from winter damage.

We took our wine in front of the fireplace again; it's become a habit and for an appetizer, we each had a small bowl of Cape Cod chips, our new favorite.  Dinner was leftover spaghetti with mushrooms and sausage, so Evie made a salad and heated up some garlic bread.  We watched Colbert, his show from election night which was somewhat disappointing.  Then turned to House Of Cards and watched an episode and we have to admit that it's still confusing as the characters keep referring to things that make little sense to us.  And why suddenly introduce, then murder the former secretary of state? And where did the potential war with Russia come from?  I miss Beau Willimon, the creator and, of course, Francis.