Morning Fog

6:26

6:30

7:30

It's just after 7:00 and the fog has lifted enough so I can see Long Point.  It was as if a curtain of gray had descended at 6:20 when I got up.  It's 41º and the only action on the lake are ducks taking off and landing and a single heron, sitting on our dock, fishing until I walked outside and scared him off. He came back later, I photographed him, and he then took off.  And despite the fog and mist, I kayaked for a half hour on a cold morning with little to see other than the gray clouds, lake, and fog.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday started off nicely, with some sunshine, clouds, an interesting morning sky, and a paddle.  But by the time I was driving off to yoga, it started to cloud up, drizzle some and seemed cold, not exactly Spring weather except if you live here in Chautauqua County where we have come to expect just about anything.  The yoga class was fine, lots of women, and one other guy besides me.  I stopped at Ryder's for coffee and ended up talking with Dave and Joyce about teachers and teaching because one of the barista's, Jessica, teaches part-time at JCC.

A Huddle Of Mallards On Our Dock

I was home by noon and Evie had been busy as usual, doing some spring cleaning upstairs.  Lunch was easy and good, tuna fish, mayo, mustard, and hot sauce mixed and spread on toast.  Along with another bowl of lentil soup, I was ready to watch another episode of BOSCH.  I also watched some of the NBA playoffs, wanting to see the end of the Golden State/Rockets game which was filled with controversy concerning the referees either not making a call, or making the wrong call.  It's a job I would never want.  Neither of us did much the rest of the afternoon, just some reading, a nap and watching some TV because it was not inviting to step outside.

We were happy to go out for dinner last night, no worry about prepping, making and cleaning up.  Linda and Ron picked us at 6:15 and we drove 25 minutes to Pine Junction, near Findley Lake.  It was a quiet night at the Junction and we were the only ones sitting at the bar.  We try to make it there at least three or four times a year and it's just as much fun in the winter as summer, a mecca for either snowmobilers or bikers or locals like us.  They have good burgers, as well as steaks, wings, a variety of sandwiches, and flatbread pizzas but we usually get burgers.  We had a good time catching up and enjoyed our burgers and beers.  We drove home in a gray mist, getting home just as it turned dark.  We quickly put on more comfortable clothes, watched Jeopardy and another episode of RAKE before going upstairs to read.

A Chilly Morning On The Lake

6:22

6:25

6:26

It's 6:50 as the morning sun has just hidden behind some clouds.  I came downstairs at 6:20 to a living room filled with light, a placid lake, and the quiet of a Monday morning.  It's 31º but did not feel that cold when I walked out to get the paper.  It's 8:45 as I finish this blog.  I paddled for forty-five minutes on a chilly morning, over to Long Point, across to Sandy Bottom and home.  No herons or wood ducks, just a pair of buffleheads.  It was a good morning.

Kayak Morning

A Pair Of Buffleheads

Male Bufflehead

Yesterday was another day like Saturday in that we hung out most of the day, as we had no plans other than enjoying the day at home.  I did get out for a paddle despite the inclement weather and the wind.  In fact, I paddled home through some sleet.  After the blog, we listened to the news, spent time on our devices as the morning seemed to pass too quickly.  It was overcast outside, with some drizzle so we were not tempted to go for a walk.  I finally decided to watch some basketball on the TV until lunch time.

Because Evie wanted to go to the Y, we skipped our big breakfast and instead, I had a bowl of lentil soup and toast with peanut butter and finished watching the Denver/San Antonio game.  And since Evie was at the gym, I watched the Celtics game which started at 1:00, so I spent too much time in front of the TV.  By the time Evie returned, I was sick of the TV so I did some reading, finishing SAVAGE NEWS and starting the new Bernie Gunther novel set in Berlin in 1928.  Around 4:00, like the day before, the sun came out and I decided I had enough of being a sloth, so I went for a forty-five-minute walk through the woods, across the Field of Kinney, to the campground and home.  As always, it felt good to be outside.  When I got home, I was reading on Facebook about the fact that now was tick season.  As a lark, I checked my legs and found one embedded in my leg. I could actually see its legs moving.  Evie got out the tweezers and she pulled it out although she had trouble getting all of it out.  We cleaned the area with hydrogen peroxide and I wrote my doctor to see if there is anything I should do next.  Next time, I will make sure to stay on the trails.

After wine time, Evie sauteed some spinach, added it to our chicken tikka marsala and we had another good dinner, the tikka masala always topped with dollops of yogurt. We watched a fun Real Time with Bill Maher and loved his verbal takedown of Robert Muller and his refusal to make a choice. It was funny and convincing.  We ended the night with another couple of episodes of RAKE but are getting a bit tired of it.  Second seasons don't usually match up to the first.

A Cold, Overcast, And Windy Morning

Great Blue Heron In The Afternoon

6:41

It's 7:15  and I have been up since 6:30, watching the sky turn from dark gray to light gray, an unspectacular morning on the lake.  It's 38º and we received maybe a quarter of an inch of rain overnight although there were puddles on our drive when I went out to get the paper.  I was able to get in a paddle, not the best of mornings as it started to sleet and rain on my way back.  It is amazing to think that only a month and a half ago, instead of kayaking on the lake we would have been cross country skiing.

Kayak Morning

Cross Country Skiing In March

Yesterday was a boring Saturday for us, as we had no plans for the day so we ended up doing little.  Evie was busy in the morning until 11:00, putting together of dinner of chicken tikka masala with broccoli.  Once that was done, the kitchen was cleaned up, and I took the trash to the Transfer Station, then over to the Bemus Point Library to pick up a book I had on reserve, Phillip Kerr's last Bernie Gunter novel, METROPOLIS, his fourteenth in the series.  It's nice to be able to order a book from any one of various Chautauqua County libraries and pick it up at a nearby library.

One Of The Many Finches At Our Feeder

Heron On The Dock

When I returned home, I heated up the mercimek corba (lentil soup) and the leftover quesadilla from our Thursday night dinner at Guppy's.  And I finished Season Two of BOSCH, with a less than satisfying ending, setting the viewer up for Season Three, no doubt.  While I was eating my lunch, Evie decided to go to the Lakewood YMCA, wanting to keep up her routine like a good girl.  I, however, sat around reading, watching some basketball and taking a cat nap until she returned home around 3:30.  By 4:00, the sun had come out and despite the cold, I decided to go for a walk in the Victoria//Woodlawn woods although I had little mojo.  It was a good choice, however, as the sunshine and woods picked me up and made the forty-five-minute walk enjoyable rather than a pain.

Victoria And Woodlawn

Early Greening Of The Woods

We had wine time around 6:00 along with tasty guacamole that Evie put together and enjoyed the view until we got hungry.  We even listened for the first time in quite a while to Prarie Home Companion with Chris Thile and found it was much better than we thought even though Garrison was no longer part of it.  Dinner was great as chicken tikka masala is always one of our favorites.  And we watched some of the Correspondent's Dinner, san Trump for the third year in a row, with an occasional dip in the coverage of his rally on Fox New in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with an arena filled with red Maga hats.  And I watched some basketball as well, as Toronto beat up Philadelphia in game one.

Windy And Wild (Perhaps Some Snow)

7:06

I woke at 6:00 to the wind shaking the house so I got up because I was worried about my kayaks, sitting out on the edge of the lake but they are fine.  It's 35º with 20-30 mph gusts of wind, shaking the trees as well as the house, creating rolling waves on the lake.

Well, yesterday we finally got the predicted rain, an inch and a half over the past 24 hours.  I smartly skipped kayaking but went to a good yoga class, as usual.  After class, I relaxed with a coffee talking with Off The Beaten Path's bookstore owner, Bob, and Dave, the local fixture.  It's my way of catching up on the gossip and news for the village of Lakewood.  When I returned home, a pot of lentil soup was warming on the stove for my lunch but Evie was gone, shopping and getting her hair trimmed by Jaret in Lakewood.  I knew she would be gone for a couple of hours so I cleaned up the kitchen, then had the soup and a half of chicken sandwich while watching Bosch.  And I watched a good part of the Clippers/Golden State game which the Clippers surprisingly won in San Francisco.  I also took a nap, read, and wished I could get outside and do something but the weather was crappy, cold and rainy.

Evie was home around 3:30 and was whooped, having stopped at Wegman's, Walmart and TJ.  We quickly put away the groceries then relaxed until it was wine time.  We were going to have salmon for dinner but I knew Evie did not feel much like fussing so I suggested we just have breakfast, eggs, bacon, potatoes and a bagel which sounded really good to me by the way. So that's what we had and it tasted really good. I could easily have it a couple of times a week, even for dinner.  We then ended up watching a depressing Russian made movie called THE THIEF.  I thought it might be good because it won numerous awards but it was a long slog through the snowy steppes of the Russian homeland. It was good to get back to another crazy RAKE which makes us laugh at its outrageousness.  I am enjoying my book about the media and politics, Jessica Yellen's SAVAGE NEWS.

Spring Wildflower Hunting On Jack And Diane's Back Fifty

Spring Star Flower

Diane And Jack's Hemlock Grove

7:10

A windy, wet and overcast morning, with more rain, perhaps even snow forecast for over the weekend.  In other words, it's Spring in Chautauqua.  It's a surprisingly warm 55º but will drop into the 30's tomorrow and Sunday.

Yesterday began with a quick, half-hour paddle before driving over to have breakfast with Jack, as the others were still out of town.  We talked about going wildflower hunting in Jack's woods later in the afternoon which sounded like a good idea. After breakfast, I drove to yoga class, felt much better afterward and drove home, no coffee because I had enough at breakfast in Bemus.  Evie had been busy when I drove in, having cleaned out her entire garden of leaves and dead fall, getting it ready for summer.  She also wanted to clean out the leaves from our privets in the front yard, then fertilize them, so I helped her, taking four barrels of leaves up the hill to the wood/leaf/weed pile.

We were done around 12:45 and while I drove up the hill, Evie made me a couple of chicken sandwiches, with tomatoes and avocados.  I had the last of the soup with the sandwiches and watched another BOSCH.  I think he's about to catch the bad guys as Season Two is almost over.  I then read, took a cat nap and went outside to wash my car which, because it's often parked under the willow, is splattered with bird droppings.  I quickly washed it but before I could pulled it out, a bird hit it once again.  I am wondering if because of our feeders, we have a plethora of birds sitting in the willow.

We were going for a hike through Jack and Diane's farm and wooded acreage at 4:00 so we left at 3:30 for their home on the Chautauqua ridge, Amish country, with a view of Lake Erie.  They bought a 65-acre farm back in 1974 with no jobs but it turned out to be a great choice.

Hops Farm

Jack raises hops along with a garden of flowers and vegetables on one side of the road and has 50 acres of woods on the other side.  We took Jack's four-wheeler halfway into their back 50, then walked the rest of the way to their creek, hemlock forest, and maple syrup tapping area.

Leaf Covered Woods In Spring

A Couple Of Crazies

We took our time as Diane would point out wildflowers and give us their name.  It's amazing what we would have missed without her sharp eye and knowledge of wildflowers.  We meandered for a good hour and a half, crossing the creek numerous times, walking through vast patches of vinca or myrtle, taking photographs of various tiny wildflowers.

Trillium

Trillium Ready To Bloom

Adder's Tongue

c

Corn Lilly Or False Hellebore

Dutchmen's Britches

We ended up at their cabin, set up over the creek.  They often celebrate Christmas in it with their family, a tradition that has continued with their grandchildren.  We vowed to have dinner out their next winter when the woods are covered with snow.

Cabin In The Woods

Chautauqua Ridge At Dusk

Around 6:30, we drove to Guppy's for dinner, about 15 minutes from their house.  They like to go there and know the owner as well as the wait staff.  We had not been there in a while and were surprised that it was quesadilla night, with six choices of quesadillas.  Both Evie and I ordered one with mushrooms, spinach, chicken and cheese and it was extraordinary, the best we have ever had.  We talked for a good hour about their upcoming five-week trip to Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand next fall.  They are a couple of intrepid traverlers.  We were home around 8:30, in time to watch Jeopardy of course and another episode of RAKE.  I was happy to get back to my book.  It was a full day, made special by our walk in the woods with Jack and Diane. 

Trifecta: Kayaking, Yoga, and Hiking

6:40

6:50

6:50

7:09

7:10

It's 6:50 and the sun is trying to break through a vast curtain of gray clouds just above Bemus Bay.  Occasionally, a disk will show through, then disappear.  I was up at 6:30 to a surprisingly chilly 35º morning.  As I opened the front door, I could hear purple martins songs for the first time this Spring.  They are back but not, alas, at our house yet.  I did get a half hour paddle in before driving over to Bemus for breakfast with the guys.  I noticed my least favorite birds for the first time, turkey vultures, seven or eight of them, perched in the trees above the reeds.

Kayak Morning

Blue Skies North

A Trio Of Uglies (Turkey Vultures)

Yesterday was obviously a good day as I was able to get in lots of activity, starting with a tough morning paddle on a choppy lake.  Afterward, I went to a yoga class which, at times, seemed like a boot camp as we switched back and forth between a plank and downward facing dog for what seemed like an eternity. I then drove to Lakewood, to do a quick run through Aldi's, however, many of their sale items had not yet arrived.  I should put my shopping off until Thursday, a day after the ads come out.

A Morning Muskrat Ramble

When I walked in the house, Evie and our neighbor, Maryanne, were immersed in playing Bananagrams.  I could hear them moaning about getting bad letters but they were having fun.  I heated up both soup and the leftover quesadilla for my lunch, then watched some basketball and BOSCH, before taking a good nap because I was up way too early at 5:00.  Maryanne left around 1:00 and we both then relaxed until 3:30 when we decided to go for a hike around Long Point State Park, fifteen minutes away.

Walking Back From Long Point

It was a perfect temperature for a hike, 50º, and for the first time, we saw signs of spring, as green was beginning to appear in the woods, not just the brown.  Small wildflowers were popping up among the eight-inch high shoots of skunk cabbage.  On our drive to the park, bright yellow forsythia was in full bloom as were a few cherry trees.  Ah Spring!  We sat out on the benches at the end of Long Point, gathering our mojo for the walk back, a pleasant respite.  We walked just under three miles and were out for an hour and fifteen minutes.  We saw one mom and her kids during our walk but talked with a young girl, a dog walker, for ten minutes.  She lives at the V of Lakeside Drive and #430 and we remember her playing on swings years ago.  She was cute.

We were home in time to enjoy a glass of wine, only after Evie had prepped our dinner, cutting up a rotisserie chicken, making a salad, and a pasta dish called burro russo.  Once we had enough wine and lake views, we put together our dinner plates and watched TV, a couple episodes of RAKE, then Jeopardy, and finally some NBA.  It was a very good day.

A Mac N Cheese Burger With Bacon And Onion Rings Night

A Guy, Burger, And A Beer

6:34

8:35

I was up just before 6:00, alas, waiting for the magic hour of 6:00 to arrive so I could get up with a clear conscience, having gotten enough sleep.  It was gray and overcast at that time but now, at 6:47 I can see blue mixed in with the gray and white although there's no sun at the moment.  The lake's wrinkled, gray, not very inviting but I am sure I will be out there in a bit.  I was just looking at last year's blog and realized the lake didn't open until April 14, my first paddle of Spring, 2018.  It's 8:00 and I am back from a short paddle.  It was cold, windy and easy going out, riding the waves, but tough because of the wind and waves heading home.  Because of the 40º weather, I wore gloves, stocking cap, and three layers to stay warm and it was too choppy to take many photographs.

Kayaking On A Choppy Morning

Yesterday began with another good paddle although I did not see any herons, just wood ducks. I went to a beginning yoga class which is fine because I consider myself still a neophyte.  There were six of us, many regulars like me.  After class, I stopped for coffee then hit four different hardware stores, looking for plastic netting to wrap around our dock and deter barn swallows from nesting under the dock.  If we don't, they will dive bomb us every time we walk out on the dock.  It's more of a problem for us because we are among the first to put our docks out so they start nesting on our dock first.  I finally found it at Tractor Supply and it's advertised as deer netting and used to keep deer away from plants. I also picked up some fertilizer and grass seed so I must be assuming Spring is coming.

What's Up?

When I returned home, Evie had been busy, cleaning our front porch and doing other chores, all part of spring cleaning.  I was hungry so she made me a quesadilla with avocado, salsa, and cheese, perfect.  I also had a bowl of her wheatberry veggie soup and watched BOSCH.  Evie took off to the Y and do some shopping around 1:00 so I watched another episode of BOSCH and some basketball before taking a cat nap.  I also am enjoying my book, SAVAGE NEWS, an eye-opener about the news business.  At the moment, the young female reporter is being harassed by her editor, bugging her to go out for a drink with him late evening.  I wonder how common this was/is...probably a lot.

Evie was home around 3:30 and noticed our chaise lounge was missing from our dock. It was folded up, lying on the dock so I couldn't believe that the wind had taken it and thrown it in the lake.  It was, however, not on the dock when I went out and I assumed it had to be in the lake.  Unfortunately, the shadows were such that I could not make out anything in the water until an hour later when the sun came out. I thought I glimpsed an object ten feet off the dock but was not sure it was the chair.  I then went into the garage, tied a large hook on a rope and kayaked out to where I thought the chair might be although I had my doubts.  It was windy as well so every time I kayaked over where I thought the chair might be, the wind blew me away.  Finally, I allowed for the drift, dropped the rope with the hook, pulled on it and to my disbelief, I pulled up the chaise lounge.  A miracle on the lake.  Evie was ecstatic, proud of her handyman husband, who had rescued a chaise lounge from the frigid waters of Chautauqua Lake.

We were interested in going to Steeners for the steak special but after calling and texting, they finally replied that they were still renovating and were not open until Wednesday.  So we decided to drive to the Stockton Hotel for burgers, about a twenty-five-minute drive.  We always like going there and they have a nice bar.  When we walked in, we were surprised to see the tables in the bar were filled but the bar was practically empty.  We found our favorite seats on the corner and quickly ordered a beer.  We noticed the guy sitting two chairs away had this enormous burger in front of him so Evie asked him what it was.  Well, it was a Mac N Cheeseburger with onion rings, cheese, and bacon.  Evie literally challenged me to try it, calling me a wimp if I didn't.  So I ordered it and it looked better than it was and I hardly made it through half of the burger and fries,  Because the bar was empty, we talked quite a bit with the waitress, a gal we met the last time we were there.  And we realized why people were sitting at the tables in the bar.  The restaurant/dining area was closed.

We left just before 8:00 and were able to drive home in light.  We quickly put on our sweats and settled down in front of the TV to watch the most recent Jeopardy. The winner, a professional sports' gambler and frighteningly talented polymath, has demolished every competitor, 'shattering the idea of a typical Jeopardy strategy,' and winning over a million dollars so far. He plays, according to Slate, "like a cyborg constructed for the express purpose of winning this ever popular game."  We also watched another episode of RAKE and we ended the night with Vice News, an in-depth look at the tragic bombings in Sri Lanka.  Marx was right: " Religion is the opium of the people."

Spring Delicious

Muskrat Morning

6:18

6:32

6:46

It's just about 7:00 and I have been up for forty-five minutes, watching the sunrise then disappear behind a partly cloudy sky.  Off to the east, we have some color but above us, a heavy gray cloud cover looms.  It's 8:25 and I have been out on the water for forty-five minutes, to a cloudy sky as I began, but a warming sun on my back as I returned from the Sportsmen's Club.

Kayak Morning

Wood Ducks

Yesterday was delicious, blue skies most of the day, moderate temperatures, perfect to be outside doing something.  I started my day with a long paddle, catching a photo of a blue heron which 'made my day,' sorry Clint/Dirty Harry.  Since I was up early, I was back from paddle by 8:30, in time for breakfast and finishing the blog.  I left for yoga at 9:15, my China gel and Rosewater class.   I emerged my class at 10:45, in time to stop for coffee and then drive to my car guy to get my 2000 Accord's oil changed, tires rotated, brakes checked. I waited for it, forty five minutes and the Accord received a clean bill of health for fifty bucks.

Wood Duck

I came to an empty house because Evie and her friend Barb were out, walking the Chautauqua Institution, a perfect day for a walk.  Evie had made a Turkish soup for lunch with wheat berries, red lentils among other ingredients.  I had the soup along with a couple of pieces of leftover pizza which I warmed in a frying pan.  I have decided to watch BOSCH during lunch, based on the Michael
Connelly Harry Bosch novels.  It's on Amazon Prime and in its fifth season so I have quite a few seasons to go.  Evie was back by 1:30, just as I was finishing lunch.  I took my nap and she relaxed out on the dock for the first time in 2019 to catch some sunshine.  I napped, read, and finished my Charles Cummings novel, A DIVIDED SPY, and began a new recent novel called SAVAGE NEWS, about a young reporter who covers the White House and glimpses the dirty business of both politics and the news business.

Red Eye

Mid-afternoon, I went out and did some gardening, getting out my hedge trimmer, taking down some grasses, cleaning up anything that needed to be trimmed, filling up a garbage bucket.  Evie came in from the dock to help and we both loved being outside, as the sky and lake were both a brilliant dark blue, a lapis lazuli blue to be artsy.  We decided to have a cocktail night, with a Manhattan and some good cheese and watch the late afternoon change colors as the sun began to hide behind the trees.

Dinner was easy, ribs from Trader Joe's that are ready to eat, just heat them in the oven for a half hour.  Evie made a great salad with blue cheese dressing and lots of cabbage and I heated up some Bob Evans Mac N Cheese and we had a great dinner.  We watched a couple of episodes of RAKE, then some of the news and interviews of Democratic candidates before going up to bed.