Windy And Warm

7:35

It's just starting to turn light at 6:30, the flag flying, the lake choppy.  It's a surprisingly warm 55º at the moment but the temperatures will drop to the 30s by the end of the day.  We may get some rain and skies are mostly gray.

Yesterday was another bizarre weather day here at the lake.  The morning started out with freezing rain, sleet, temperatures in the high 20s. My car was iced up from the freezing rain and fortunately, I was not going anywhere.  Neither of us had great plans so we enjoyed a leisurely morning.  Around 10:30, a serviceman came to fix our dishwasher which seemed to be leaking water.  He was here close to an hour and the only fix seemed to be tightening a bolt.  It seems to have worked. 

Lunch was carrot and squash soup with coconut milk which Evie quickly put together and another ham and cheese on onion rye.  I am finishing Season Four of The Sopranos and Carmela finally has thrown Tony out of the house, mostly for his numerous infidelities. Tony is not happy. We wasted the rest of the day and were surprised how it warmed up, into the 50s by midafternoon. I could easily have gone for a hike but didn't, reading and couching it instead, like a lazy boy. 

Snows Melted: 5:12 PM

Our major accomplishment was getting dressed to go out to dinner at the Viking  Club at 6;00, where we were meeting Linda and Ron. We arrived just after them and fortunately found a table in the bar. While Ron and I bought beers, Linda and Evie filled bowls with popcorn.  Evie ordered the Viking burger but the rest of us were in the mood for wings.  My wings were great and I devoured them, with blue cheese of course. It was a quiet night at the club but a good one as a group was celebrating their granddaughter's birthday with a cake and offered us some since they had lots left.  It was yummy, probably from Wegmans, and reminded me of a wedding cake thick with frosting. We were home by 8:45, in time to watch Jeopardy and Colbert and some news.

 

Overcast With Rain And Sleet

6:15

7:14

7:22

8:15

It's 8:20 as the rain pelts our windows on a 27º morning and roads could be icy in some areas.  Evie and I are cozy in our living room, however, watching the wind buffet the flag and surprisingly, a brief few minutes of sunrise before the clouds dropped the curtain.

Tuesday was a bipolar day, with a partially cloudy morning turning into a brilliant blue sky afternoon. We enjoyed the morning sky, a combination of clouds with hints of blue. I was up early to see a partial sunrise, then write the blog and have breakfast before driving off to Yoga at 9:30. It's nice to have something to do most mornings as long as it doesn't become something you begin to dread.  After eleven years of yoga, I still look forward to it. It's the blog, however, which I often dread but once I start writing, I am fine. The class was composed of three guys for once and maybe six gals/women whichever is correct. It was nice to walk out to sunny late morning and drive to Wegmans to do a quick shopping.  It was crowded as usual because it was 5% Tuesday.  They had lots of cashiers, fortunately, so I was out fairly quickly and home before noon, 

Early Afternoon Blue Skies, Blue Lake

I was looking forward to lunch because of Evie's onion rye bread. So I bought ham and cheese from Wegmans for sandwiches. I had two, on toast, and was a happy boy.  I watched my show, then read, and am finally into my book, Harlem Shuffle, and napped of course. Midafternoon, we watched four dock pieces float by, stuck momentarily on our neighbor's shoreline. Where they end up nobody knows. 

Woodlawn at 5:30PM

Evie had her Zoom call with her sisters at 5:00 and I went for a walk in the Victoria/Woodlawn woods on a glorious late afternoon, the sun filling the woods with light, the sky a bright blue.  I walked just over a mile and it took me a half-hour, trudging through a couple inches of snow.  A few days ago the walk would have been through brown, leaf-strewn woods.  

Late Afternoon Shadows

Melting Snow

For dinner, we had leftovers again, yum, the pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes.  Colbert is back so we watched an episode as well as Jeopardy.  And we watched a touching movie called Tramps on Netflix, about two very different young people, both caught in a web of deceit, eventually find each other. It was a feel-good movie, finally, no killing, no sex, just a burgeoning relationship.  It was a good way to end the night. 

Partly Cloudy Skies, With Light Winds

7:23

7:45

8:08

The weather has finally settled down some, as the heavy winds and blowing snow are yesterday's forecast. This morning the sun has just peaked out above the clouds and I see patches of blue skies, quite a difference from yesterday's threatening skies. It's still cold, 16º but may get up to the high 20s later in the day. 

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Yesterday was a windy, cold, snowy day so we had little interest in getting outside for a walk or hike in the woods.  Instead, we hunkered down most of the day, thinking about Spring and Summer.  We were both up early so the blog was done by 8:30.  I was anxious to do something, to get out of the house after being inside Sunday so I drove into Lakewood and went to Home Depot, to get information on refrigerators since we need one.  None are on the floor and the one we might want isn't available until April 6th which is not too bad.  I then did a quick run-through of Aldis before stopping at Ryders Cup for coffee. I sat down and enjoyed talking with a couple of the guys I haven't seen in months.  It was almost noon by the time I headed home. Just walking out to the car was brutal, the wind blowing snow in my face, practically knocking me over. 

Evie had gotten a few things done while I was gone and had my lunch ready, two turkey burgers leftover from Monday night's dinner and soup. I finally decided that Tony's visits to the psychiatrist is basically a filler whenever nothing is happening in The Sopranos. He's getting tired of it and so am I as I finish Season Four. I am struggling to find a book I like so I have started a couple and may stick with both, the Harlem Shuffle and Anton Myrer's Once An Eagle.  So that's how we spent our afternoon, reading, watching TV, and listening to the wind, as it kicked up snow, blurring our view.

For dinner, Evie pulled shells stuffed with chicken and cheese out of the freezer, heated them up, and roasted some asparagus with parmesan cheese.  We started another series, quit it after one episode because it was too ridiculous, and watched a decent movie called Paddletonn with Ray Romano. We also watched the end of the women's Final Eight game as UConn won in a double-overtime, a thriller.  

White Caps, Heavy Winds, And Close To A Foot Of Snow

7:18

7:33

8:02

8:23

It's 8:05 and the sky is beginning to show some blue, even some sun,  after an overcast early morning. We are both up, enjoying the changing morning sky, the ducks skimming along the lake's surface as they land, the rolling waves. It's a bitterly cold 16º Spring morning, too cold and windy to paddle.

7:03

Porch Life

Sunday was a day of rest, as neither of us stepped out of the house.  I put off shoveling for a day even though we probably received another four or five wind-blown inches of snow. Instead, we hunkered down much of the day and spent a good part of the afternoon watching March Madness.  By 9:30, we were buzzed on a couple of cups of coffee and finished the blog so Evie decided to make one of our favorite bread recipes, onion rye, a recipe a friend gave us in Istanbul.  While she put together the dough and left it to rise, I did some housekeeping, vacuuming the downstairs, straightening up the living room and TV room.

Power Of Ice

Muskrat Feeding

The onion rye dough was left to rise by noon, so Evie made us avocado toasts for breakfast and we watched our Sunday Morning show, CBS Sunday morning, always worth viewing. After breakfast, I read and napped, not worrying about the Kansas/Miami game because I had it saved.  Around 3:00, we both relaxed in the TV room and watched Kansas come back from a halftime deficit and literally knock Miami out of the gym, winning by close to 20 points. I don't think they could have played any better. 

Drifting Away

After that game, the romp by North Carolina over underdog St Peters was anticlimatic and sad although I expected it,  We only watched the first ten minutes, then watched something else, read some, and listened to the news as the wind howled, the snow swirling in our yard. 

Evie had dinner made Saturday morning, pork ribs, and sauerkraut so all she had to do was heat it up and make a salad. I have to have mashed potatoes with this dinner and fortunately, I bought Bob Evans mashed potatoes so all they needed was to be microwaved. Dinner was great, especially smooshing the potatoes, sauerkraut, and pork together. Yum. We watched a B movie on Hulu called Deep Water, about a husband who knocks off a couple of his wife's lovers and they live happily ever after. Once again, we saved the Oscars so we could race through the boring parts and like everyone, were shocked by Will Smith's slapping Chris Rock. For a moment, we thought it was staged,  Obviously not.  After that, we had enough and went to bed.

  

Snowing On A Spring Morning.

7:10

Well, it's almost 8:00 and I have been up for an hour, waking to six to eight inches of snow, as forecast.  It's overcast and Long Point is just visible through the falling snow. It's 22º, should drop to the teens overnight and tomorrow, with a possible accumulation of four to six inches.  It's a good thing I got out the snow shovel out of the garage attic yesterday morning.

Woodlawn Under Gray Sky

View From Chestnut Hill

Long Point From Chestnut Hill

Saturday was a busy day, especially in the morning.  I went out for a long paddle, in light snow, scaring off numerous rafts of buffleheads.  After breakfast and the blog, then, I gathered up the trash and took it to the Transfer Station.  Meanwhile, Evie was busy in the kitchen, putting together two dinners, both of which will probably be good for leftovers as well.  After helping clean up, I went for a walk through Victoria, ending up at Chestnut Hill, with its amazing views of the lake.  I finished my walk in the Woodlawn woods.  During my walk, the sun came out twice, and it snow or sleeted twice.

Victoria/Woodlawn

Before The Snowfall

Fallen Leaves

For lunch, I had a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches, with jelly and watched my show, The Sopranos.  Tony has just beat up and killed Ralphie and Christopher is confronted with his heroin problem.  I am still watching Season Four. Since we had a busy morning, especially Evie, we enjoyed an afternoon of leisure, reading, napping, watching some TV, waiting for the snowstorm to begin.

Around 4:30, we watched the end of the St Peter's game which I had taped from Friday night. We then sat in the living room,  listening to the news, and watching it snow until it was time for dinner.  Evie had already made a fattoush salad with pita bread before frying up spicy Turkey burgers. The salad was great, the turkey burgers decent.  We decided to watch most of the Villanova/Houston game before turning to Bill Maher's Real-Time.  We ended the night with two more episodes of Pachinko which we both really like.

Get Out The Snow Shovel

7:40

8:38

8:57

It's a quiet, gray morning on the lake, a few buffleheads are floating by and we may get 8-15 inches of snow tonight and Sunday morning. Today looks overcast, with temperatures in the '30s but Sunday, it will drop to the teens,  Where went Spring?  It's 8: 45, Evie's still sleeping and I just returned from a forty-five-minute paddle in a lake sky filled with snow flurries. I loved it. 

Paddling In The Snow

Eastern Sky

Threatening Northern Sky

Heavy Clouds

Friday was an uneventful day as neither of us got in much exercise.  No hiking or yoga, however, I did get in a good hour paddle in the morning.  After the paddle and blog, we did some furniture moving and cleaning upstairs, as well as organizing the attic, a mess after the winter.  While Evie talked with our daughter Beth, I watched some of March Madness from Thursday night's games since I saved all of them.

New House On Wells Bay

Woodlawn This Morning

Lunch was a bowl of ramen soup and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I watched just part of The Sopranos because I had to be at the Subaru dealer at 1:00.  The struts for my tailgate had just come in so they put them in but I still have the motor on backorder. Both, fortunately,  are covered by a warranty.  I usually walk when I have work done but it was gray and raining so I sat around, reading and watching TV. And like many dealers, their lot seemed empty, hardly a new car in sight.

Mallard Perched On Our Neighbor's House

I shopped at Tops after getting my car fixed, picking up a few things for our dinner, and did not get home until after 3:00.  The rest of the afternoon went quickly.  I read, made a pot of tea, watched a few minutes of TV then helped Evie in the kitchen while she made our dinner, chicken enchiladas with a cabbage salad and salsa.  We finished our series, Suspicion, and I wouldn't recommend it, often far-fetched and confusing with a modern theme, the lies the business world tells to make money.  No surprise.  We ended the night with a series on AppleTV+ called Pachinko.  I loved the novel and couldn't wait for the series to start. It's a multigenerational story of Koreans suffering under the control and racism of the Japanese during the 20th century.

Gray Skies, A Light Wind, Placid Lake

6:53

7:56

It's 7:37 and I have been up for an hour, enjoying a quiet spring morning on the lake.  Since the lake has thawed, lots of wildlife, especially ducks, flit around the lake's surface, landing and coasting.  It does not look like we will get much sun today, perhaps some precipitation later in the afternoon. It's 9:15 and I just returned from a long, hour paddle, down to Bootey Bay and back on a calm lake, a 36º lake morning.  

Kayak Morning

Wood Ducks Are Back

Duck, Duck, Goose

Yesterday, a Thursday if I remember correctly, was a busy morning, starting with breakfast in Bemus Point.  I was home by 9:15, finished up the blog, then drove off to Lakewood for a Yin yoga class, always popular.  On the way home, I stopped at Sav A Lot and picked up some yogurt and pork ribs, for a sauerkraut dinner sometime this weekend. Evie has been busy as usual while I was gone and was relaxing in the TV room when I returned home.

Lunch was the last of the squash, potato, and garbanzo bean stew, topped with yogurt.  I watched my show, then read and napped, finishing my book.  Around 3:00, I could not resist the urge to paddle the calm lake and went out for my first extended paddle of 2022, down to Wells Bay and back along Woodlawn, chasing ducks as I went.  It was amazing to be back out on the lake, a lake that was frozen up until a few days ago.

Kayak Afternoon

Northern Sky At 3:00 PM

A Handsome Guy

Neither of us wanted to fuss with dinner so we decided to drive to Stockton and have dinner at the Stockton Hotel.   We left earlier than usual, at 5:30, and found a seat at the bar.  It was packed with guys, Evie the only gal at the bar. We ordered sandwiches and fries and instead of a burger, I had a delicious beef on a kimmelwick bun.  It was a good choice and it was strange to drive home while it was still light out.

We spent the evening watching various shows, flipping to March Madness during commercials. We watched another episode of Suspicion, a series that reminded both of us of Money Heist as it's getting hard to believe. Evie went to bed early so I stayed up and watched some of the Arizona game before having enough basketball and starting a new book, Anton Myrer's Once An Eagle.

A Happy Twentieth Birthday To Our Granddaughter, Marlena