Spring (55º) In January

7:14

8:02

It's a windy, warm morning, the sky a combination of creamy sky, punctuated by vast clouds of gray.  The lake is open; I can see ripples on it and unlike yesterday when I walked out to paddle only to find the lake still frozen.   I kayaked this morning, however, braving the wind and waves for 25 minutes, paddling south until I hit a thin layer of ice, then back to the north end of Woodlawn and home.  Needless to say, I was the only one out on the lake

Kayaking Morning North

Kayak Morning South

Friday was wet and warm, as the snow turned to slush, the roads were wet but fine and all you needed was a raincoat, not a winter jacket, gloves, and a stocking cap. I decided to go to yoga even though it sounded good to just hang out on the couch.  I am glad I went because I felt righteous after class, having gone to yoga every day this week.  So I deserve today, Saturday, a day off. I stopped for coffee, thinking I would sit down and shoot the breeze with Dave but Ryders was crowded with coffee drinkers, taking up the tables so I bought my coffee, using my own coffee mug, my feeble attempt to save the environment, and went home.  When I returned home, Evie was getting ready to drive to the the Y and like me, she wants to keep it up this month.  We both want to get in some kind of shape and be consistent with our efforts.  I looked out at the lake, calm and gray, got my paddle, walked out but the lake was still frozen, alas.  I came in and Evie had a meatball sub ready for me to put in the oven for lunch so I was a happy boy after she left, enjoying my sub and watching my show.

Still Frozen, No Kayaking

The afternoon went slowly for me, a short nap, some more of Peaky Blinders and my book.  Evie was home by 3:00 and both of us spent the rest of the afternoon waiting to go out to dinner at 6:00.  Unfortunately, around 5:30 a heavy fog rolled in, messing with our plans to drive 17 miles for a fish fry at the Stockton Inn. When we picked up Linda and Ron, all four of us decided to bag the Stockton Inn so we went to the Lakeview in Mayville, a couple of miles away, a good choice.  We used to go there more often back in the day, by that I mean when we first retired in 2010 but had not been there recently.

It was not very crowded so we quickly had our beers and ordered, the waitress, a veteran, was a hoot.  We ordered the fish fry, de riguer around here on Friday nights, and they were decent, not great.  It was fun to be out on a Friday night, however, and we ended up back at Linda and Ron's, hoping to watch the Jeopardy Championship, only to realize it was not on until next week.  So Ron cracked out a beer, Linda the cheese and crackers, and we sat around talking about what people our age always end up talking about, aches and pains, politics, and trying to remember what we did yesterday until  9:00 when it was time to head home.   The fog was still heavy at 9:00, so I drove slowly and the road was busier than usual.

When we got home, we watched Colbert, his guest, Bernie Sanders, before going to bed.  If Bernie weren't so far to the left, I could vote for him because much of what he says rings true,  And he is authentic, articulate, with an enormous amount of empathy for the underclass.  He has a conscience, in other words.