Chautauqua Gray Morning

7:46

It's 7:00 and I have been up since 6:00.  Because of the cloud cover, I was surprised how dark it seemed, like a late fall morning and yet it's not even September.  It warmed up some, 54º, and we may have rain on and off all day.  It's 8:30 and despite the clouds and drizzle, I went out for a half-hour paddle, coming home soaked but happy.  I was the only crazy on the lake. 

Kayaking In The Rain

Yesterday was another windy and cool fall-like day.  It was a good day to be outside, doing something, yet neither Evie nor I did anything much.  I paddled, then went to yoga, stopped to look at an E-bike, then Brigitta's grocery for some local peaches, tomatoes, and eggplants.  When I returned home, Evie had been working some in the garden.

I sat down, looked at my email, at Facebook, and my blog, then had lunch, the leftover chicken and pasta salad from our Sunday night dinner.  And that was it for the rest of the day.  We stayed in, either reading, napping (me), on our devices or watching some TV.  Neither of us was sure why we had no mojo but we just didn't.  Just one of those days.

Fortunately, we were meeting our friends Linda and Ron for dinner at the Viking so we had to get up and do something, like shower and get ready to go out to dinner.  We arrive just after 6:00, as the sky was beginning to cloud up. 

Viking Club Sky At 6:17 PM

We were able to get a table inside because it was too windy out.  It was also a strangely quiet and empty Viking Club, despite the fact that it was Rueben and Cuban sandwich night, the most popular night of the week.  Linda and Ron arrived around 6:30 and quickly ordered beers, filled a couple of baskets with popcorn, and ordered Ruebens, with coleslaw and macaroni or potato salad.  The Ruebens were great and even though Evie and I split one, I was happily full.  We stayed until we were literally the last ones in the club and drove home in the dark, surprised, again, at how quickly it's getting dark these days. It really is the end of summer. 

We channel surfed, looking for something to watch, not wanting to start a series.  I cannot even remember what we ended up watching before going up to bed to read. 

An apt poem for this age:

A World of Want by Tina Schuman You think your life will go on like this forever—weekly trips to the garbage bin, untangling the green snake of hose between the ferns and the delphiniums, the coral bells leaning their long necks against the back fence. Today, as I watched the carousel of cars turn one by one through the intersection and onto the freeway I tried to imagine each life. Not so much where they were going, but what they were made of: wounds, illusions, desires, deceits... Through all of this a preoccupation with the next perceived need floats-up like thought bubbles inside my head: Coffee, Cheetos, sex, a new blouse, a larger house, a desk fan, appreciation from that one specific person, the phones chirp, the trip to France. If I could quiet this conga-line of cravings what lingering longings would I lament? What radiant unattached insights would I muster? Who would I be without my constant yearnings? It's a world of want. You get the idea.