It's Raining, It's Pouring (the old man ain't snoring)

Long Point Friday Afternoon

8:05

It's 8:23 and I have been up for a couple of hours, listening to the rain, the dark sky turn gray.  There's a light breeze, a wrinkled lake, and 45º, with rain on and off all day.  Not the kind of day that makes us want to get outside and do something.  I have listened to CSPAN, then Pop Culture Happy Hour and have finished with The New Yorker Radio Hour. It's 8:47 and I have just checked the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center and at the moment, the US leads the world in Covid 19 cases, 104,837, 450 deaths in New York City alone. Scary.

Yesterday began with a typical Chautauqua gray day but ended up with bright blue skies and lots of sunshine.  I did get in a paddle despite the gray, a wind that picked up as I paddled.  We then finished up the blog because Evie was having a phone call with her back surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic.  They discussed her back problems, and he suggested some palliatives, then mentioned the fact that he would be spending time in the ER the next couple of weeks even though he is a spinal surgeon.  The whole of Cleveland Clinic is preparing because they fear they will be inundated with Covid-19 cases. He seemed in no hurry to get off the phone and Evie had a good talk with him.  He will get back in touch in three months to see how she is doing.

That was around 9:30. We then did our own thing, Evie some PT and I had a good yoga hour, enjoying my music from Apple Music.  Because it was still overcast, neither of us felt like getting in a walk. At noon, I had a bowl of cauliflower soup and we then headed to Erie, to Evie's appointment with a pain specialist.  She met briefly with him, prescribed a muscle relaxer because they, like most clinics, are not doing any tests or invasive procedures.  Before the appointment, we called Orton's Market and ordered another cherry pie, something that makes us happy for four or five nights.  When we arrived, they had inadvertently sold our pie to someone else and ours would not be ready for a half-hour.  So we compromised on a fresh blueberry pie, two potbellies of Pot O Gold chocolate milk, and a small bag of cheesy pepperoni rolls.  We enjoyed a milk and pepperoni rolls on the way home, making our drive go quickly.

Enjoy The Blue

We were home by 2:00, in time for me to get in some reading and take a brief nap.  Mid-afternoon the sun came out, the lake calmed down and turned a deep blue so I could not resist the temptation to get back out on the lake and I paddled down to Whitney Bay and back, basking in the sun for a half-hour. A few fishing boats were also out but I mostly had the lake to myself. While I was out kayaking, Evie went for a walk in our neighborhood, ended up talking with neighbors, keeping a good six feet between them.

Kayaking Friday Afternoon

We were having a stir fry for dinner, one we have made in the past, eggplant with ground pork and hot bean sauce.  I prepped the three tablespoons of garlic, two of ginger, and made the sauce.  Earlier, Evie had roasted the eggplant so it was already cooked.  I put it together around 6:30, enjoying a glass of wine as I cooked.  It went together quickly, just brown the pork, add the garlic, ginger, sauce and hot beans sauce, boil for a minute or two and add the eggplant.  Then, finish the dinner off with sesame oil.  As usual, despite adding corn starch, I could not get the sauce to thicken.  We served it over rice and it was terrible, salty and unedible.  Not sure why but we had to throw it out and enjoy a salad, a pepperoni roll and a big piece of blueberry pie with ice cream for dessert.  I don't think I will be making stir-fries for a while.  We watched a bit of the Trump Hour, then The Americans until we were too tired to follow the episode and went up to bed.