Darkness In The Morning

7:04

8:22

I woke just before 6:00, came downstairs, and was surprised at how dark it was. Welcome to fall and the coming of pitch-black early mornings.  Now, at 7:00, the sky is overcast, a dark gray and threatening but at least I can see Long Point and our yard. It's 8:30 and I just returned from a short, nasty paddle.  The sky was overcast, the northern wind picked up as I got out there and I struggled to get home because of the wind and chop.  Not fun.

Kayak Morning

Into The Gray

Monday turned out to be a good day, with great weather, some exercise, a swim, and dinner with friends.  It was a good morning for a paddle and I was in no hurry. After breakfast and the blog, I drove to Jamestown for a 10:15 doctor's appointment and was on my way to Bemus Point to ride my bike within 15 minutes.  I wanted to get in a bike ride but my body didn't seem to agree so for the first 15 minutes, it was tough going.  By the time I got to Long Point State Park, I was fine and enjoyed the rest of the ride, out to Long Point, and back to Bemus where I parked my car.  

Long Point With A Friend

As I drove home, I had this premonition that Evie would be out mowing the yard and there she was when I drove in. She paused her mowing to make my lunch, a quesadilla, then got back to mowing, taking her time with an occasional break for water and to read.  I helped by moving our table and chairs to the garage and store for the winter. It's nice to mow without having to move tables and chairs.

I enjoyed my lunch, watched another episode of Prime Suspect and began my Parker book, The Hunter by Richard Stark, a new series for me. I read and napped, nothing new, and around 3:30, Evie finally finished up the yard after a hiatus to read and relax.  She wanted to cool off by going for a swim, so I went out on the dock with her, to fire up my boat motor, making sure the battery was still working.  The water was cold but so inviting that I joined her by stripping down to my boxers and joining her. Once we got used to the cold, it was delicious and we could see why the crazies enjoyed jumping into frozen lakes.  I sunbathed on the dock until I was dry, then joined Evie as we started to get ready for our dinner with Marjorie and Ken.  

For once, it was an easy prep because we were having the leftover lamb as the meat for our lamb curry. It's a  curry recipe we have used since our days in Istanbul.  It combines the lamb with apples, bananas, tomatoes, celery and cream and is easily our favorite French-inspired curry. Our neighbors arrived just after 6:00 in time for a glass of wine and appetizers on our porch, still pleasant because the temperatures were still in the low 70's. We got caught up on their weekend on the East Coast with family as we enjoyed our dinner.  The curry was just as good as we expected and with a salad, the four of us were happy.  For dessert, we had lemon squares and by the time we finished, it was after 9:00 and we said our goodbyes. We rinsed the dishes, put them in the dishwasher, and had enough curry to save for tonight's dinner.  Yippee.  We watched Jeopardy before bed.