Sunny And Cold

7:44

8:48

It's 8:30 and I have been up for just over an hour. I woke to the sun peaking in the bedroom and filling the living room with its light. What a difference from waking to Chautauqua gray. The lake is open in front of our house, frozen one house down to the north, and four or five houses to the south so I did not get in any paddling. Plus, it's 23º with an easterly wind. 

Seagulls In The Morning

Yesterday was a long coffee morning like today because I did not kayak. By 10:00, however, I was one of three at yoga, another tough class with Tara. For example, we held planks for a minute...not me, alas. Anyway, it felt good to finish up and by 11:20, I was on my way to Wegmans to shop. The store was loaded with flowers and men like me, looking for a Valentine's gift for their wife or girlfriend. I did a quick run-through and got Evie sushi and red velvet cake instead of flowers. And we were making a special dinner, Korean short ribs. How romantic, right. I was home by 1:00 and Evie made me a couple of chicken salad sandwiches to go along with her soup and I continued to watch Vietnam, depressed by the lies by both the government and military. 

I started a new novel by Alice Mc Dermott, Absolution, set in Vietnam in the early 1960s. It's narrated by the young wife of a CIA agent and her attempts to fit in with the expatriate's wives as well as the Vietnamese. It reminds me a bit of our first year in Istanbul when everything was new.  McDermott wrote one of my favorite novels, Charming Billy, which I taught a couple of times. 

Woodlawn

Northern Sky At 4:30 PM

Leaves And A Smattering Of Snow

Long Point

I napped, of course, read some more and by 4:00, forced myself to go for a walk in the woods.  I am glad I did because I felt much better having been out in the cold, crunching leaves. By 5:30, we were enjoying our sushi and a glass of wine while the Korean short ribs, done since 2:00, were warming up in the oven. By 6:45, we were having our short ribs with mashed potatoes and a salad. We watched Jon Stewart and he was absolutely as good as ever, funny, keen, and insightful. We then watched Real Time With Bill Maher and he was also good, like Stewart, able to criticize both sides of the political aisles. They do have one thing in common: they both think Trump is a despicable human being, unfit to be a dog catcher. After Maher, Evie went up to bed and I watched some basketball, college and NBA for a half hour before joining her.