Chillin On Chautauqua Lake

5:42

6:02

I was up at 5:30 to a chilly 40º morning, forty-five degrees cooler than this past Sunday afternoon.  The sun is up, however, filling the living room with light, its reflection blanketing the lake.  It looks like a good morning to kayak, just got out my gloves and stocking cap. 

Kayak Morning

Wood Duck On A Log

Yesterday began with my usual paddle across the lake and back, then breakfast, help Evie with the dishes from Sunday night's dinner, then drive to Lakewood for yoga.  Our teacher, Danielle, is back from a four-week retreat in India and we are already doing things a bit differently which is fun.  She loved it, of course, and it's her second visit.  After class,  I stopped for coffee, then at the CLA to find some definitive answers about the herbicide use this past week.  According to Doug Conroe, they are spraying the neighborhood north of the Stow Ferry but stopped at the southern edge of Tom's Point so the residual effects should not concern those of us north of Tom's Point.  I then did a quick run through at Walmart, picking up potting soil and some items I needed for my boat, like marine oil since I have a two-stroke engine.  I then checked out flagpoles at the hardware store since Evie wants one put up in our yard but I think I will get one through Amazon which seems heavier and stronger though twice the price.  I finished up Sav A Lot picking up a few things for dinner.  

It was a fine morning to be outside so Evie was busy most of the morning in her garden although by 1:00, the wind drove her inside.  Besides gardening, she made up a quick veggie soup for our lunches and with the leftover meatloaf and onion rye bread, I had a good lunch.  I finished up a Bosch and started another before reading my new book which I really like, THE OTHER AMERICANS by Lalami Laila.  It has just been recently published and is featured in The Week magazine as the book of the week.  Through multiple points of view, we follow the story of a family who immigrated from Morocco thirty years ago yet they still face discrimination. Around 3:00, I decided to gas up my boat since its easier to gas when it's on the trailer so I drove up to where it's being stored, fought the wind and put in ten gallons so it's ready to launch this week I hope. 

We had wine time with a throwback appetizer, red pepper jelly on crackers with cream cheese.  We were introduced to this appetizer in 1977, our first year back to the States and loved it.  Evie even started making her own red pepper jelly.  Dinner was scalloped potatoes with ham, what else after Sunday night's ham dinner.  We watched a couple of Colbert's, some of the pundits, the NBA before going up to bed.