9º On A Sunny Saturday Morning

7:33

8:15

I was up early, at 6:30 and was taken aback when I walked outside in the bitter cold to get the paper. I don't envy the ten to fifteen ice fishermen out there this morning at 7:30.  We have been under a winter storm watch for the last 48 hours but have received maybe three inches of snow if that.  I guess it must have hit the Lake Erie shore, especially the Buffalo area.  I am not complaining.  Finally, when I woke up the sky was overcast but by 7:45, we were blessed with some light, then the sunshine by 8:00, a beautiful morning finally.

Saturday Morning Ice Fishing

Friday was typical, waiting for the snowstorm that never materialized and debating whether to go to yoga.  I finally made up my mind to go at 9:00 and was glad because it was a small class, three of us with lots of personal attention.  Julie is good at that.  I stopped for coffee and ended up talking with Dave for a while.  Steve came in and we then talked about new hips, knees and shoulders, all operations Steve has had.  It made me see how fortunate I  am to still be mobile and mostly pain-free.  We ended up talking about comedians and podcasts by comedians, something I have never paid much attention to.  Both guys attend comedy clubs and listen to podcasts by comedians.  I did download one on my iPhone, a recommendation of the bookstore owner called The Local News.  It's nice getting to know some local residents at the coffee shop.

When I returned home, Evie had been out shoveling a couple of inches of snow so I did not have to do it and making a pot of chili for the weekend, a multi-talented gal.  She was in the TV room, waiting to hear Trump explain why he was ending the shutdown but ultimately getting his wall, winning of course.  What a comedian.  For lunch, I had one of my favorites recently, a leftover salmon salad; it's the best, the reason why we always buy more salmon then we need for a meal.

'The Best'

And I watched another episode of Friday Night Lights.  Season Four has taken an interesting turn.  In the first three seasons, we followed football in the upper class, predominately white Dillon High.  Season Four, however, moves to East Dillon, a predominately black high school in a poor district.  They literally have had no football so Coach Taylor has to build the program.  I can predict the rest of Season Four and Season Five, as the East Dillon Lions will eventually win a couple of games and upset Dillon, depriving them of a chance for State in Season Four.  And in Season Five, they will end up winning State.  We'll see if I am correct.

The Woods

I took my nap, as usual, woke up feeling refreshed and around 4:00, went out to cross country ski on the beautiful frozen white lake, with blue skies, puffy clouds.  It was terrible, however, as it was all slush beneath a layer of snow and my skis immediately froze, literally putting the brakes on my skis.  So I trudged off the lake and skied to the campground and back.  I was out a good forty-five minutes so it was worth the effort to get out there.

Afternoon Cross Country Skiing

We decided to have a Manhattan to celebrate the end of the week, with pita chips and hummus, a good choice, as we watched the late afternoon sky darken, the fishing guys eventually trudge into shore in the dark.  Late afternoon, Evie put together a scalloped potato casserole, with ham and cauliflower, so it was baking in the oven during our cocktail hour.

Heading Out At 4:45 PM

The casserole was amazingly good, so I had three helpings, just a hungry boy.  We watched two Colberts, having missed one on Wednesday when we had company over and ended the night with another episode of The Great English Baking show.  We are addicted.  And I finished my Gabriel Allon, a bit disappointing and predictable and started the latest Jack Reacher novel, PAST TENSE.  So far, I am not taken with it.