A Gray And Calm Morning On The Lake

7:06

It's 7:45 as I start this, wondering if I should go for a paddle.  I have a dermatologist appointment at 9:30 and am wondering if I can get everything done before leaving for the doctor. Because of the gray, I am less inclined to kayak and it's cold, 31º but my guess I will get out there nevertheless. It's 8:45 and I did get in a short paddle.  As I was paddling south, towards the reeds, I saw what I thought was a mirage, hundreds of birds standing on the top of the water, wondering how that could be.  As I got closer, I realized they were seagulls, standing on the frozen lake and I had to turn around because of it.  A bizarre morning paddle.  

Kayak Morning

Frozen Lake

Northern Sky

Seagulls On Ice

Yesterday was a busy day although neither of us is sure why.  It started as usual with our coffee, kayaking, and writing the blog,  We were having Linda and Ron over for dinner, so Evie was going to be busy in the kitchen which was fine.  For some reason, however, getting the house ready and prepping the meal took a good part of the day to our dismay. I won't go into the logistics but we were having shrimp and grits for dinner along with an apple pie for dessert.  Along with the prepping, we spent a good amount of time giving a holiday feel to the house, with setting up a Christmas tree on the porch, decorating it with lights, and putting up lights on our back porch, all of which took an inordinate amount of time, especially figuring out how to get the lights to work because they are at least 30 years old.

We took time out for lunch, the leftover Adobo chicken and rice and I watched something different, another episode of Cormoran Strike mystery on Apple TV+. Once everything was prepped we were able to relax much of the afternoon and enjoy the sunshine and blue skies.  Surprisingly, neither of us made it outside for a walk or to get some yard work done.

Amigos

Linda and Ron arrived at 6:00 and I had the makings of Old Fashioneds ready on the island, mulling sugar cubes with bitters and soda water.  When they arrived, I had two ounces of bourbon and we were happy, not realizing how strong the drinks were.  We had a good brie with blue cheese to go along with our drinks and we were loathed to leave the couch to get dinner ready.  Finally, we joined Evie in the kitchen as she fried up the shrimp and plated them on the grits, then poured a sauce over the shrimp and grits, giving it a great flavor.  And that's all we needed for our dinner along with a salad and focaccia rolls.  It's always fun having them over and a good bottle of red wine helps with the conviviality of our dinners.  

We ended the night with Evie's apple galette topped with ice cream and the evening ended by 9:45 when we were all getting tired.  After they left, we quickly cleaned up the kitchen, using the dishwasher and for some reason, we were tired enough to forego any TV and went to bed.