5:20 Is Way To Early

Evie's Birthday Dinner At The Chop House

6:20

6:51

9:03

Not sure why, but I was up at 5:00, finally walking downstairs at 5:20 for my coffee in a darkened house. It's now 6:30, and finally, the sky has some color, some clouds. It's 57º and I am waiting for it to lighten up enough to kayak. It's 6:45 and I am bored, having skimmed both the NYTimes and Washington Post as well as my emails and Facebook and I have written most of my blog. It's not quite bright enough to get out on the lake but soon. The sun rises in 15 minutes, at 7:05. I finally got out on the lake at 7:15, paddled for an hour, and photographed a lone heron on our neighbor's dock. 

Kayak Morning

Woodlawn/Victoria

Great Blue Heron

Yesterday was a strange day, especially since it was Evie's birthday. We didn't make much of a big deal about it early because, after my morning kayaking, we drove to Jamestown at 10:00 for Evie's appointment with a doctor, a PA this time that we actually liked better than the doctor. She spent lots of time with us and answered all our questions. Things seem fine so we went home happy.  We were surprised by the heavy rains when we drove home and to our surprise, our rain gauge showed we had gotten over two inches of rain while we were gone. I think we needed it and because of it, our lawn is green, with no signs of brown. 

For lunch, I had an egg salad sandwich, always tasty, and got back to my lunchtime series, Game Of Thrones although it's confusing since I haven't watched it in a week. Evie was happy to relax the rest of the afternoon and not worry about dinner or getting things done, After all, it was her birthday. I had my usual afternoon as well, reading and napping and around 4:00, I went for a mile plus walk in Victoria, up to #394 and home. 

Linda and Ron picked us up at 6:00 and we drove to Jamestown for dinner, at the Chop House on Main, mostly because they have jazz night on Mondays. We were happy to find seats at the bar and our bartender recognized us from the last time we were there. The Jazz Trio played up on the balcony led by Razz and friends.

Evie And Razz

Razz is 87, recently married,  and we have seen him a couple of other times at either restaurants or bars. The bar was full when we arrived but emptied by the time we left despite the Bills game was one TV. All four of us ordered the steak special for twenty-two bucks, a sirloin with truffle fries, and a beer, a good deal these days. They knew it was Evie's birthday so Razz and his trio played happy birthday and our bartender brought a cake to surprise Evie. It was a fun night and we vowed to come back at least once a month this winter.

Chop House Chocolate Lava Birthday Cake

We were home by 8:30 and watched the third quarter of the Bills demolishing of the Titans before having enough football. I went up to bed to read but Evie stayed down and watched some TV before joining me.  Evie enjoyed her birthday.