The Lake Begins To Freeze

A Raft Of Redheads

7:38

It's 7:40 and I have been up for over an hour, listening to Only A Game on NPR.  It was really interesting this morning as they interviewed Bob Cousy about his strained relationship with his teammate Bill Russell and how he had recently tried to make amends.  Cousy is now ninety and still with it mentally and he regrets not having done more to help Russell deal with racism in the 1960s.

Melting Lake Ice

I was surprised to see the lake partially frozen in front of our house although in Bemus Point and the bridge, it's been frozen for a few days.  Right now it looks like its turning to soup, the snow and ice beginning to melt.

Yesterday I did not get in a paddle but I did get to yoga and take a hike.  Our morning went quickly, just coffee and finish the blog,  and I was on my way to a yoga class by 9:30, having cleaned the three or four inches of snow off my car before breakfast and done some shoveling. Fortunately, it was easy to shovel and Shane, our plow guy, left our parking area alone, only roughing up our road as usual.  He just cannot seem to avoid scraping the road rather than leaving a couple inches of snow, saving the road. There were six of us in yoga class, five women and me.  I have a hard time keeping their names straight and they all get my name correct because I am usually the only guy.  Yesterday I called Mary Linda, what an idiot.  After class, I was tempted to get a coffee but figured I had enough so I went straight home, the roads fine, clear and dry.

Evie had lunch ready, the carrot/cauliflower/miso soup and a couple of salami and tomato sandwiches, then drove off to Bemus Point to get her hair trimmed.  I finally finished Jack Ryan and I was right.  He not only saved the President from a terrorist attack but also foiled an AlQueda attempt to spread the Ebola virus.  And I have to admit that Jack never seemed believable for me as he was played by John Krasinski, Jim from The Office. I kept looking for Michael or Dwight.

A Team of Ducks

Evie was home by 2:00 and we spent a good part of the afternoon taking photos of the waterfowl on the lake. For the first time, we identified a vast raft of Redhead ducks, known as the 'diving duck.'.  They are obviously migrating south and there must have been 150 to 200 of them in front of our house.

Saturday Morning 

In fact, I just looked up and noticed the lake has opened up and at least three or four hundred ducks are feeding in front of Woodlawn.  Buffleheads and a few mallards mix in with the redheads, the lake a constantly changing vista.

More Redheads

Around 4:00, it was snowing lightly, just the way I like it so I went for a half hour hike through our Victoria/Woodlawn woods.  Lots of deer tracks as I walked and I ran into a neighbor walking her dog.  As usual, it was good to be out, enjoying the woods.

Victoria

Woodlawn

Evie had an easy afternoon, no prepping dinner because we were going out for dinner.  So we showered, got spiffed up and drove to Wendy and Charlie's house.  Dick and Karen, friends since I taught their son Ricky in the '80s, were also there and the six of us settled into the living room with wine and appetizers by 6:15.  Charlie and Dick are part of the Thursday morning breakfast club, so we have been good friends since my retirement in 2010.  Wendy and Charlie are wonderful hosts and we sat around enjoying our delicious gumbo dinner talking about our families, mostly grandchildren but the conversation always seemed to return to, what else, our health, doctors, and the drugs we were taking.   We have become our parents.

Friday Night Dinner

We left around 9:30, drove home on empty roads and were settled in our TV room by 9:45, in time to catch up on all of the 'breaking news,' a depressing way to end a good evening. I was happy to get back to my Kate Atkinson book.