Overcast, A Light Wind, and 38º

7:29

7:49

It's 9:15, Evie has just come downstairs, and I already paddled for forty minutes on a gray lake and sky,  A few mallards were floating by and I was able to photograph a solitary merganser.

Kayak Morning

Long Point

A Lonely Merganser

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a good day because Evie woke to feel much better after a few days of tiredness, sore throat, and cough.  Now we have to decide how long she should quarantine.  Yesterday morning it was impossible to kayak because the lake along the shoreline was frozen. This morning, it was melted and I was able to kayak as usual, down to Sandy Bottom and back. After breakfast and the blog, I decided to go for a hike around Long Point State Park.  Evie wisely decided to stay home despite the fact she was feeling better.  Because it was cold out, I dressed in a number of layers, not wanting to be cold.  I drove to the end of Lakeside Drive and hiked the park's southeastern side, hanging right after the park homes, following a path that took me close to RT 430.  I was, however, dressed too warm so I ended up sweating and undoing my two jackets to cool off.  I walked over two miles and never saw another hiker as usual.

A Cold Morning Hike

A Steep Winter Trail

When I got home, Evie had made a pot of cauliflower soup and I had cooked up a pound of Great Northern beans in the pressure cooker to make white bean stew later in the week. For lunch, I decided to finish the last of the ham balls with mashed potatoes, saving the soup for another day. I watched the end of the first Dalgliesh murder mystery and am ready to start the next one this afternoon. After lunch, I read and napped and then joined Evie who was also reading much of the afternoon.  It's so nice to have a good book to while away the afternoon.

4:54

At 5:00, Evie put a previously frozen chicken tetrazzini in the oven, compliments of our good friend Linda then had a Zoom call with her sisters.  I called my good friend Ron from Maine and caught up his life and family. We loved the tetrazzini along with a salad and I doctored it up some with Frank's Hot Sauce. Yum. We watched a film called Crazy Heart from 2009 starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges as an aging country singer. We really liked it, the music, the acting, the right ending.  We ended the night with food writer Alton Brown on Hot Ones, our chicken wing series on Hulu. We can't wait for tonight's dinner, as we are going to order wings from Steener's and eat them while watching Hot Ones.  Cool beans.