Still Gray, Still Cold

Morning Geese

It's 7:30 and I have been up for an hour, watching the Canadian geese feed near the shoreline, their tail feathers in the air, as they dunk for food.  They are the only waterfowl I have seen in the past few days.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday was a busy morning, a lazy afternoon.  I was up early for some reason, waiting to begin my day.  I had breakfast in Bemus with a couple of the guys, always interesting and fun.  Afterward, I drove to a little hamlet, near the PA line called Niobe, to Finn's Auto, a guy who specializes in Subarus.  It's like a throwback to the 1950s, with a waiting room filled with stuffed animals, deers, fish and turkeys.

Finn's Waiting Room

Bathroom Instructions

All kinds of signs cover the walls, like the one that reads: Ten Top Reasons Why Men Prefer Guns Over Women.  It also seems to be the local gathering spot for locals as a number of guys walked in as I waited, grabbed a cup of coffee, and walked into where the guys were working on my car to shoot the breeze.  While my car was being worked on, I took a walk along the main road, then down Church Street, past the Baptist Church where two young guys were shoveling the parking lot, to the end of the road where the bridge was out.

Post Office

It was actually a beautiful walk, as the road was edged with pines, the wind blowing the snow off their boughs, covering me with snow.  I was out for close to forty minutes and after an hour and a half, I was one my way home, having paid a third of what the dealer might have charged me.  It's worth the 24-minute drive.

Little Brokenstraw Creek

Brokenstraw Creek

When I returned home, Evie had tackled the back pantry, the area where we put things when we don't know where to put them.  It's another one of those never-ending chores that need to be tackled every few months.  She had enough by 12:30 and made my lunch, warming up some veggie soup and making quesadillas with tomatoes, cheese, and avocados.  I decided to begin the second season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime but it's difficult to think about Jim, from The OFFICE,  Jack Ryan.  After lunch, Evie reluctantly drove to the gym, not a good idea.  I returned to my book, Olive Kitteridge, but I had forgotten how depressing were the lives of most of the characters, making me wonder why I liked the book so much ten years ago.  Evie returned around 3:00, unhappy with her workout because it was a chore rather than enervating.  I had napped and wanted to do something so I went for another walk in the snow-covered woods of Woodlawn/Victoria, following, once again, the tracks of many deer.

Woods In Late Afternoon

Lake At 4:30 PM

We relaxed in the living room with some wine, watching the sky darken until it was time for Evie to make dinner, heating the leftover chicken and adding broccoli, mushrooms and an Indian sauce from Trader Joe's.  It's a tasty and easy chicken and veggie dinner, especially if we add a dollop of yogurt to it and heat up some naan as a side to go along with a salad.  We watched Jeopardy, as James destroyed his opponents, then the last episode of Succession which we actually liked, finally, as the season ended.  We also watched a Colbert then the first half of the Browns/Steelers game before going up to bed with the Browns ahead 14-0.  And I woke up this morning to find out they actually won. Yippee.