A Graying Sky

A Female Cardinal Perches This Morning On Our Rhododendron

6:53

7:17

It's 8:40 and I paddled for forty-five minutes, a calm lake, an increasing gray, cloudy sky after a brief shot of sunshine.  I have to laugh at the detail of my morning routine that rarely changes and thought it might be fun to catalog it.

So here it goes, I am usually up around 6:00, come downstairs, turn on the coffee, grab a cup, put two sugar cubes in the cup, some milk, and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. I then froth the milk with a handy beater and then pour in the coffee, adding a sprinkle of cinnamon.  

I then relax on the couch, listen to Morning Joe on Alexa, read the NYTimes and Washington Post and skim Facebook and check my email until around 7:30 when I have had enough news,  I then grab my camera, binoculars, earphones, and phone and take them into the kitchen.  I put my coffee in the microwave for 30 seconds, then transfer it to an insulated mug.  Next, I take off my light fleece, put on a heavy one, then a wind/rain jacket and life preserver.  

I also grab gloves and a hat, move back to the kitchen, and put the binoculars in a waterproof bag. Next, I put on my earphones, pick out a mix from Spotify from my phone and turn it on. I check my apple watch and set it for kayaking.  Finally, I put on my hat and gloves, walk out to the porch with my camera and phone in my pocket, the binoculars and mug and grab my paddle and seat cushion.  I walk out to the lake, set my paddle down, turn over the kayak,  and put in the mug and seat cushion.  I then set two foam mats on the lake's edge, over the cement and rocks, and slide my kayak into the lake.  I grab my paddle, carefully sit down in the kayak and I am off,  This happens every morning and the reverse takes place when I return.  Enough, I am tired already,

Kayak Morning

Bell Tower At Chautauqua Institution

Yesterday was cold and wet at times, raining on and off during the day, sometimes just a drizzle, at other times it poured.  So after kayaking and blogging and breakfast, we had to decide what to do with our Sunday.  We decided on not breaking up our Sunday routine, so we walked the circumferences of the Chautauqua Institution, at times in a drizzle but for the most part, it was pleasant enough.  It took us over an hour and we basically had the grounds to ourselves.  We were home by 12:30  and ready for Evie's big breakfast,  So she fried up the bacon and eggs, toasted bagels, and we were settled down in our TV room enjoying breakfast and a really fun CBS Sunday morning, with its emphasis on food.  Such a relief to watch a show like this that hardly ever mentions politics.

A Dusting Of Snow On Thunder Bridge

I then settled down on the couch and fell asleep watching the Browns play the Eagles, a fairly boring game as neither team had much of an offense.  Evie prepped our meatloaf dinner and partially prepped Monday's dinner until 3:00 when we drove off to Wegmans to do our shopping for Thanksgiving, thinking it would not be crowded on a Sunday afternoon.  Wrong.  We were able to get everything we needed for our Thanksgiving dinner, passed through the checkout quickly, and were home unpacking by 4:30.  Our fridge is groaning with the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner but we were happy to have all the shopping done.

At 5:30, we had scheduled a Facetime talk with our friends Linda and Ron, a first.  We were not going to see each on Thanksgiving because Linda's sister was coming from Bethesda, thus the call.  Well, Linda's sister decided it was too risky to drive to the lake so we are now going to their house for Thanksgiving dinner (yippee) even though we have a fridge full of Thanksgiving dinner.  We agreed to have Christmas dinner together so we will freeze everything we bought until then.  It was nice to think we won't be eating either Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner alone.

While we were talking, Evie had a meatloaf and potatoes baking in the oven. Both of us were looking forward to the meatloaf and were not disappointed.  Nothing like good old comfort food.  We watched a troubling 60 Minutes, which talked about the side effects of the Covid virus on some people.  And we watched Chris Wallace on Fox because he's fair and balanced, not afraid to question Trumpers and Republicans despite the harangue of Trump.  We are still struggling to find a series to watch, tried Mystery Road set in Australia but thought it was dull.