13º

7:53

It's 7:15 and it looks and feels like winter for the first time in weeks. Both the lake and yard are snow-covered, the sky gray of course. It may stay in the teens all day, and if there is not much wind, it is a good day for a walk or hike.

Yesterday was not a fun but a busy one, at least until early afternoon. We had flurries early, during coffee, breakfast, and the blog but little accumulation. Evie is determined to find furniture for our TV room so we were off by 10;30, to shop. We spent a half hour at Lakewood Furniture with John, our favorite salesman. We have bought most of our furniture over the years from him, and he has lots of options, all expensive of course. We drove to Jamestown to another store, Layfayettee Corner, which sells mostly Flex Stree furniture. Unfortunately, we would have to order it and it would take at least 20 weeks. We ended up back at Raymor and Flanagan, where we picked out a sectional on Sunday and gave it a second, more serious look because we now think it will just fit in our room. We then went next door to Wegmans and did our weekly grocery shopping.

First Choice? 

We did not get home until after 1:00 and we were both tired and hungry. I had an easy lunch, the last of Evie's soup and the last of a hoagie sandwich from Wegman's. I watched Fauda and happily still have two more episodes before it ends. I am tempted to watch all four seasons again. It would be the third time but the virtue of getting older is you don't remember much. I started a couple of books and seem to be in a mood where nothing grabs me. One was a historical romance set in 1941 France, and the other, The Gray Man, was about a rogue CIA agent. Guess which one I am sticking with?  I fell asleep at 2:30 and had a delicious nap, not waking up until 3:45, with much of the afternoon gone.

We relaxed with a spritzer at 5:00 and when we got hungry, Evie made us steak, avocados, and tomatoes quesadillas. They were delicious better than those at the now-defunct Taco Hut. We watched another episode of Wentworth and decided we had enough of prison sex and violence. We decided on trying a new movie on Prime Video called Vengeance, written and starring B. J. Novak, from The Office. It was decent, funny, and quirky, set in Texas. Our only complaint was it was a bit talky but that may just be us. We ended the night with our favorite HGTV show, Hometown, a good way to end the night. 

A Few Flurries And Colder

9:02

Well, it's 8:50 and I have been up since 7:30 and there have been flurries most of the morning, with maybe an inch or two on the ground. Once again, the lake is white, everywhere I look but still not safe enough for ice fishing. It's a chilly 25º.

Yesterday was football Sunday and by 9:45 when the Chiefs game ended with their victory, I was glad to realize that football season was over except for the Super Bowl in two weeks. In other words, watching two games yesterday did me in. Enough football,  I am ready for March Madness. 

The day was definitely a different Sunday although it began as usual, with up early, breakfast, and the blog. By 11:30 we were on our way to Lakewood, to look for TV room furniture at the local Raymor and Flanagan Furniture Store. We spent probably an hour with the saleswomen, trying to figure out what configuration of couches and chairs made sense for our small 12' by 12' TV room. By 1:00 our saleswoman wrote up a sectional and chair, which holds the price for a month. We can either buy or back out with no problem.  

We were home by 1:00 and Evie got busy making our usual big breakfast. of eggs, home fries, and Mt Athos bread toast. We watched CBS Sunday Morning and it finished just about the time the first NFL playoff game started, between San Francisco/Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the 49ers lost their quarterback in the first quarter and the game ended up being a bore. Neither of us cared much anyways so we skipped the second half, knowing Philadelphia would win easily. I even had time to nap and read before the real game between Cincinnati and Kansas City began. By 5:00, Evie had dinner prepped, a spatchcock chicken roasting in our air fryer, salad,  mashed potatoes, and gravy already made, so we relaxed in the living room with a glass of wine until 6:30, when the game began and the chicken dinner was ready.

We feasted on the chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy, a perfect Sunday night dinner, and watched all of the game, flawed though it may have been, a result of poor refereeing, injured players, and dumb plays or luck. At least the Chiefs won ugly, making, my son Tom and son-in-law, Drew, happy, as both are avid Chief fans. The game wasn't over until 9:45 and I sympathized with the 70,000 or so crazy Chief fans who sat through the game in 10º weather. I was happy it was finally over so I could go up to bed to read and finish my Bruno, Chief Of Police, novel. 

Drizzle And Gray

9:21

It's 8:55 and I have been up since 7:30, on a miserable morning, 35º, drizzle, with gray sky and lake. We planned on a walk this morning but because of the weather, we may have to postpone it. Who wants to walk in the winter rain. 

Yesterday was a typical Saturday and I find myself saying 'typical' quite often lately as things don't seem to change much in the winter. I was up early, surprised by some sunshine which, eventually, gave way to an overcast sky. After breakfast and the blog, we gathered the trash, cleaned out the refrigerator, and was off to get rid of trash at the Transfer Station. 

Webb's Trail

When I got home, I wanted to get in a hike. Unfortunately, Evie has been getting dizzy the last couple of mornings so I had to hike alone. I drove to Chautauqua, then worried it would be icy so I ended up hiking a snowy Webb's Trail again. I walked for forty-five minutes, passing a couple of gals on fat tire bikes and two other hikers, out to enjoy the morning in the woods. I stopped in Mayville to pick up a prescription and Topps for spinach but ended up picking up two good-looking porterhouse steaks for our dinner. 

Fat Tire Biker Gals

Lunch was the leftover half of the sub from Wegman's and Evie's vegetable soup. While I was gone, Evie cut the back from a roasting chicken, spatchcocked it, and made a good stock for our dinner tonight, roasted chicken and vegetables. Once I finished my lunch and show, I watched a few minutes of basketball but preferred reading my book, then napping. I woke from a deliciously sound sleep to a phone call, a problem if you have an Apple watch as it vibrates when I get a call. Once I was awake, I read some, then got bored and asked Evie if she wanted to watch another ER before wine time. By 5:30, Evie had the porterhouse steaks prepped, mushrooms sauteed, potatoes baking and salad made so we could relax with a glass of wine. 

We were enjoying our steaks, mushrooms, and salads by 6:30. We started a series, I Hate Suzy but soon realized we had watched the first 15 minutes and did not like it. So we watched a film on Hulu called Happening, suggested by Evie. It's based on Nobel Prize-winning French writer, Annie Ernaux's autobiographical novel about her experience. If you want to be depressed for an hour and a half, watch this realistic and moving film. It's about a young woman in France in the 1950s who gets pregnant and wants an abortion. In France, at that time it was illegal, and getting one or helping someone get one could lead to jail. What she has to go through, the angst she feels, the fear, and the lack of sympathy, makes for a tough film to watch. Once it was over, we were happy to get back to something less serious.

Early Morning Sun

7:22

7:54

7:59

I woke to some blue and light to the south and by 8:00, the sun briefly burst above a few clouds, filling our living room with light for the first time in days. What a mood changer, to see the gray disappear and partly cloudy skies appear. It's now 9:40 and we finish the blog and the color has disappeared and once again, the sky is Chautauqua gray.

TGIF has little meaning to us since every day is a day of choice, not responsibility. We can do something or nothing each day, depending on our mood. So yesterday was a day of doing something for me, nothing for Evie. I wanted to do things in the morning, and Evie was happy to kick back and relax. So after breakfast and the blog, I put on my hiking boots and walked our woods for forty-five minutes. It was more rigorous than I expected because I had to tromp through six or seven inches of snow. As always, it felt good to be in the woods, especially in the morning, a kind of meditation for me if I don't have a yoga class. 

Woodlawn Creek

North In Black And White

Our Maple

Once I returned, it was already 11:00 but I decided to head to Lakewood to pick up a prescription at Wegmans that I needed. Friday was pill day, where I fill three weeks of pills into my pill boxes, a chore I really dislike but find necessary. I picked up a few other items that Evie needed then went to Home Depot, next door to Wegmans to pick up a new mailbox since ours was destroyed by the tree guys last week. I didn't get home until 1:00, hungry for lunch. Fortunately, I picked up a sub at Wegmans which will last me for two or three lunches. I also had a bowl of Evie's soup as I watched another nerve-wracking episode of Fauda. Things are tense as Hezbollah is hoping to strike Isreal with homemade missiles.

After lunch, I was happy to get back to my French town, where Bruno is trying to find out who is responsible for a couple of murders. His quest is always broken by a great dinner with friends, a glass of wine at a cafe, and talks with his good friends. I also made myself some Turkish tea and enjoyed a few Turkish Ulker biscuits to go along with the tea.  By 4:00,  I was tired of reading my novel, we decided to watch a couple more episodes of ER. We are becoming a couple of Joey Bimbo's.

Turkish Tea And Biscuits 

We did relax in the living room with a glass of wine and listened to Wolf Blitzer talk about the 'breaking news' which had been breaking every day for at least a week. Dinner was the leftover chicken with orzo and artichoke hearts, so there was little fuss. And we watched a couple more episodes of Wentworth, the women's prison series set in Australia, then Jeopardy and Colbert before bed. 

Some Blue, Mostly Gray And White

 

8:16

It's later than usual as I start this, 8:40 although I have been up for over an hour. Evie has just joined me and the sky shows some light off to the south, as the sun tries to break through the clouds. We received another couple of inches overnight, nothing spectacular, and it looks like we won't get any snow today on a chilly 23º morning. 

The highlight of yesterday was a yoga class, not an eye doctor's appointment. It started out like most Thursdays, with breakfast in Bemus in the light snow, then home to finish up the blog and head off to yoga class. Thursdays are always the most crowded so it's nice to get there early so I don't have to be in the front. After class, I resisted the temptation to get another coffee and came straight home, parked my car, and shoveled a couple more inches of snow off our parking space. Unfortunately, much of it is now ice, making it more difficult to get to the house. 

When I walked it, Evie had torn apart the spice cupboard so the kitchen counters were overflowing with bottles and bags of all kinds. I had to laugh because it looked like a tornado had hit the kitchen. I did up a few dishes before lunch, the leftover salmon salad. What a difference the coho salmon makes! I watched my show Fauda which seems to end but doesn't as another conflict appears. The afternoon was boring because I didn't get outside for a walk. I just read, napped, then joined Evie in the den to watch another ER, this one had us both on the edge of our seats it was so intense. 

Dinner was an Evie original, seared boneless chicken thighs, orzo, artichoke hearts, tomato sauce, and chicken stock over cooked garlic spinach. Once it was plated, we watched a new series to us but an old one, recommended by our daughter Beth quite a few years ago called Wentworth (2013-2021), an Australian series. Like Orange Is The New Black, it's set in a women's prison and is maybe even better than Orange. It's intense, dark, and tragic, the acting is superb, and we cannot help but empathize with many of the inmates. We watched two episodes, then our usuals, Jeopardy and Colbert. 

A photo of a Dahlia Trivet, a gift from our mail lady, Gena, for Evie.   What a nice surprise!

Mostly Windy With A Few Flurries

 

7:23

It's 7:30 and I have been up for forty-five minutes, waiting for the gray sky to arrive. It looks like the Arctic tundra outside although there is not much snow, maybe three or four inches yesterday, an inch or two overnight. It's 9:15 and I just returned from breakfast on a snowy morning, the roads decent, the wind having died down a bit.

Yesterday was a windy and snowy day, making driving difficult. After my morning coffee and the blog, I had to drive to Jamestown for an eye appointment. The roads were snow-covered but I took my time and despite the flurries, was able to feel confident on the road. I did read, however, there was a two-car accident in Lakewood yesterday. My appointment went quickly, just checked to see if my prescription had changed and I was out of there, in what seemed like a blizzard. I stopped at Aldis, picked up some coho salmon for dinner, and drove home slowly and carefully. 

Blizzard At Noon

Evie had been busy in the kitchen, throwing out lots of things we no longer need, a winter cleaning of the kitchen cupboards. For lunch, I had her soup and she made me cheese sandwiches, with tomato and bacon, yum, yum. I watched another episode of Fauda, of course, then read my Bruno the Police Chief book and napped. My days don't change much, depending usually on the weather. 

It was too miserable out to hike so I decided around 4:00 to at least shovel the parking area. Unlike the last snowfall, this snow was wet and heavy, making it difficult to shovel. I managed to clear it, however, by taking up a top layer first, then the bottom, so it was not so heavy to push and clear. The plow guy had come by and made a mess of our road, plowing the stones as well as the snow. 

By 5:30, we were happily enjoying a drink and Double Gouda cheese with crackers from Trader Joes'. It was a nasty night, perfect for enjoying a libation and appetizers. Earlier, Evie had marinated and baked the salmon and made a salad. So all she had to do was add the salmon to the salad and we had a gourmet meal. We watched the usual, Colbert and Jeopardy, and a few minutes of basketball before bed. 

Flurries For Most Of Today

7:59 AM

Tuesday Afternoon at 1:50 PM

It's snowing and has been since I climbed out of bed at 6:46. We may get 3-5 inches today, and more tomorrow as winter has returned. All is white as I look out at the lake, as the open water seems to have frozen and is snow-covered. It's a chilly 27 and won't get much warmer during the day.

Yesterday was 5% Tuesday at Wegman's, our grocery store, so that was part of my to-do list for the day. I was up early and wished I could be out kayaking but instead, I sat in my living room, enjoying coffee and breakfast and finishing the blog by 9:10.  By 9:30, I was on my yoga mat, ready for a class with four guys as we almost outnumbered the gals. The class lasted until 11:00 and I then stopped for coffee and talked with the guys, Paul and Dave until 11:30 when I drove to Wegmans and did my shopping. For once, I thought I got everything and bought the right stuff until Evie mentioned that I bought fine Himalayan salt and she wanted the coarse. Rats. 

I was looking forward to lunch because I knew I had a plate of tas kebab and mashed potatoes ready to be microwaved for my lunch. Evie had also made a big pot of veggie soup but I decided to save that for Wednesday's lunch. I watched the second episode of Fauda and love it as Doron is back on the team and is in Belgium where Gabi, Bureau Chief, has been kidnapped, sorry for the spoiler. I then finished my book and read up on it, that it took eight years to write and was based on Tartt's experiences at Bennington College where she was friends with Bret Easton Ellis and Jonathan Lethen, both well-known novelists. 

Kinney's Run

Victoria Creek

Woodlawn

Once I was done, I started The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker, a Bruno, Chief Of Police novel, set in Southern France. This is my second book by Walker. And of course, I did not get very far into it before a delicious afternoon nap, waking refreshed and ready for bear or at least a walk. So around 4:00, the sun miraculously appeared and I put on my hiking boots and went for a forty-five-minute walk in our woods. It's becoming my favorite time of day to walk, as the sun begins to set. So while Evie talked with her sisters on a Zoom call, I was out enjoying the outdoors,

Blue Skies

The Sun

Victoria Creek Outlet

By 6:30, however, Evie was putting together BLTs for dinner and I was cleaning up the kitchen. We were looking forward to our sandwiches and finishing the last three episodes of Seaside Hotel because we did not want to wait till Wednesday to see how the series ended. It was mostly a happy ending with the sad exception of Amanda, not the end of her world but still not a happy one. Once it was finished, we ended the night with a new Jeopardy champion. 

26º, Windy And Overcast

In The Woods

Plaid And White

7:57

This morning has not changed much from Monday, same sky, the same snowy front yard, same temperatures.  We might get a few flurries this morning but I doubt it. Maybe some snow tomorrow or Thursday but nothing exceptional. The lake in front of our house is still white and frozen but open across from us and to the north.

Lake's Open

Woodlawn North

Why You Should Bring Your Dock In

Yesterday was a good start to the week, with us both back in our routines. Getting up early, I was able to enjoy a couple of cups of coffee as the sky lightened and I waited for Evie to get up at 9:30. Obviously, she needed her sleep after a wild weekend in Cleveland, maybe a bit too much for old people like us. We did notice that every bar we went to was packed with patrons much younger than us. Get used to it. Anyways, after the blog and breakfast, Evie was ready by 11:30 to drive over to Bemus Point and walk Long Point State Park, a good choice. It was beautiful in the woods, as always after a snowfall, especially when the trees are frosted with snow. We were out for fifty minutes, walking a circle through the wood and back to our car at the end of Lakeside Drive. 

It was almost 1:00 when we returned and time for lunch, Evie made me a tuna sandwich on vollkornbrot bread, yum, and some Lipton's noodle soup. I was excited to have lunch because the fourth season of one of my all-time favorites, Fauda, was on Netflix. It's set in Israel as their Defense Services thwart various terrorist attacks. After lunch, I got back to my book which I have to admit, I cannot wait to finish so I can get on to something else. It's over 600 pages, a bit too long in my estimation. It did, however, help me fall asleep. Around 4:00, I went for a short walk in the neighborhood, as the tree trimmers were back, making sure all the powerlines were safe from tree branches. When I came back, Evie was making our dinner, a Turkish favorite, Tas Kebab, basically a simple stew with tomato paste and spices. Once it was in the oven, we relaxed with a glass of wine, thinking how nice it was to be back in our living room, watching the day wane.

Dinner was the best, Tas Kebab over mashed potatoes with a salad and brussel sprouts. And even better, another one of our favorite series added a 9th season, Seaside Hotel on PBS. Watching it was like a reunion with old friends, as most of the cast was back for a final season. It is set just as WW II ended in Denmark. We watched a couple of episodes, saving the rest for another night. 

Morning In White

7:30

It's 7:30 as I start this and I have been up for an hour, enjoying being back in the routine, up early, having coffee, and writing the blog. It's overcast, Chautauqua gray, but beautiful, with the trees and their limbs frosted with snow. As I look out our window, the lake in front of our house looks like a frozen tundra although, beyond Long Point, it looks open as well as to the north of our house. And I just noticed off to the south, where the lake is open, hundreds of what I think are both mallards and seagulls, huddling on the edge of the ice.

Hundreds Of Seagulls And Mallards

Yesterday was a white-out drive from hell although hell probably doesn't have snow. We knew snow was a possibility when we left Cleveland and instead of driving to Hudson, we decided to skip it, stop at Trader Joe's on Chagrin Blvd and then drive home. As luck would have it, just as we walked into Trader Joe's it started to snow and when we come out, 15 minutes later, we had to brush snow off the car. We then headed home on snowy roads, often in near whiteouts, until we got beyond the Ohio border to Erie when it seemed to be better. We took our time, rarely passed, and stopped at Love's to gas up and get a Pepsi before the last hour and a half drive home to the lake. We felt fortunate to have made it safely and dropped Linda and Ron off at their home and drove home, to a yard with just an inch or two of snow.

Lake View At  4:46 In The Afternoon

To say we were happy to be home, warm and cozy in our house would be an understatement. We quickly put everything away and got ready to watch the Bills game, a depressing way to spend the rest of the afternoon, as they were clearly outclassed by the Bengals. We watched it, however, to the bitter end. Once that was finally over, Evie made dinner, home fries, eggs, and a couple of slices of our Athos bread from the West Side Market. By the time we ate, we had had enough football so we watched, what else, two episodes of ER. We then watched the second game, Cowboys/49ers although Evie went up to bed until halftime.  I stuck it out to the end, happy to see Dallas and Jerry Jones, their owner, lose once again. Looking back, we could hardly have had a better weekend in Cleveland except for the drive home. We are already making plans to go back, after weekends in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, of course. 

I forgot to add a photo of our delicious Napoleon's from Farkas Hungarian Bakery, just around the corner from the West Side Market in Cleveland.

Yum

West Side Market, Art Museum, And Night Of Bar Hopping

48 Hours In Cleveland

I am sitting in the breakfast room of the Hampton Inn at 7:00. It's not busy like Saturday because all the basketball fans have gone. We would like to head home today by 10:00, hoping to beat the snow of a couple of inches, forecast for around 1:00.

West Side Market

Saturday was a really fun day, with lots of different excursions. My day started early with a couple of hours of drinking coffee and writing the blog. By 10:00, we were heading a couple of miles west to the West Side Market. It was busy as usual, filled with shoppers and people like us, out to enjoy the spectacle of an outdoor and indoor market. We were amazed at the abundance of produce available, with vendors busy selling their vegetables. When we went inside, I had to get a bratwurst, a tradition ever since we started going there in the 1980s, same stand, same family. We then browsed the market ending up buying a loaf of Athos bread because I spent five days visiting Mt, Athos and the monasteries in Greece back in 1972, one of the great experiences of my life.

The Grigoriou Monastery I Visited On Mt. Athos, Greece

Mt. Athos Bread

We then walked the area, checking out various restaurants and bars because we were coming back to spend the evening. Before lunch, we had to stop at another favorite, Farkas Bakery where bought three Napoleons for our dessert later in the day. 

Can't Wait For The Napoleons

We, then,  ended up stopping at our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, Nates, a hole in the wall, not much has changed in thirty years.  We were waited on by the same waitress from years past and ordered the fattoush salad, pita bread, and hummus, all favorites. Once we finished lunch, we drove to the Cleveland Museum Of Art via Martin Luther King Drive with all the ethnic gardens, our favorite drive into University Circle.

Lot's Daughter

We spent a couple of hours walking around the various rooms, especially the impressionists and moderns although we ended up in the Egyptian room as well. I looked for my favorite painting, Lots Wife, by a post-WWII German painter Anselm Kiefer and was lucky to find a docent who knew where it was and told us its relevance. It's huge, probably 12 feet by 12 feet, and represents the destruction of WWII and the madness of the Holocaust. The painting itself is slowly disintegrating, purposefully, and once it is gone it will represent the end of the German guilt. We also enjoyed just sitting in the vast new atrium, where they were setting up for a wedding reception of 400 people after the museum closed at 5:00. Wow. Below are four very different works we particularly liked. 

Cleveland 

On our way back to the hotel, we drove through Little Italy and returned to our hotel. We sat in the lounge enjoying our Napoleons before going up to our rooms and watching the first half of the Chiefs game until 6:15. We then took a Lyft over to the W. 25, hoping to start our bar hopping at the Great Lakes Brewery but there was a long line waiting to get a table. 

Beer and Potato Pancakes

Ron suggested going to Hansa, a German bar around the corner and it was the only venue in the area that did not seem to be busy. We found seats at the bar, ordered our German beers and I ordered potato pancakes, the hit of the night, crispy and delicious, with sour cream and applesauce. Unfortunately, I had to share! Next door they had a German grocery and we were able to buy a loaf of Volkonbrod, another one of our favorites. 

Nano Brew

We then walked down W.25th to a bar we liked from our morning walk called Nano Brew. It was packed with mostly young people and the beat of throbbing, almost deafening music and we were lucky to find four seats at the bar, despite the crowd waiting to get a table. The beer gods were with us. We ordered beers, of course, a quesadilla and stoner fries, with chili, cheese, scallions, and sour cream, health food obviously. It was a good choice all around, great atmosphere, beer, and food, 

Great Lakes Brewery

We, then, went back to the Great Lakes Brewery and again were fortunate to find a table in the bar area. We had beers, a burger, and the most ridiculous cheese/meat plate. It was laughable and hardly edible. At least we enjoyed our beers and the ambiance of the bar. We ended the night at a wine bar for an aperitif, not getting back until 10:45, happy but tired and ready to head home on Sunday. We vowed to come back in the Spring.