Slightly Gray And Cold

First Sighting Of A Great Blue Heron

7:01

9:21

It's 33º and I am not anxious to get out and paddle, wishing it were warmer. The sunrise is hidden behind a vast bank of a mixture of gray clouds. At the moment, the wind has died so I better get out on the lake quickly before it picks up as usual. It's 9:45 and I was out paddling for forty-five minutes, in a light sleet or snow flakes, a typical spring morning here on Chautauqua Lake. 

Kayak Morning

Paddling To Long Point

 Male Wood Duck

Female Wood Duck

Buffleheads

Yesterday was a surprisingly productive day for both of us. For Evie, especially, despite getting only six hours of sleep. So we were both up early and took our time getting started, enjoying the leisure of a Saturday morning. Once we got started, however, after my paddle, we worked on and off during the day. Evie decided to give the downstairs bathroom a deep cleaning, so that took a good part of the morning. She also wanted the living room done, so I volunteered and vacuumed while she did some dusting. I also cleaned up the kitchen although it's a mess because we have a leaky pipe underneath the sink so everything is out on the counter. I also swept and cleaned the back porch, and put away all the bird feeders because chipmunks were getting into them. Now we have birds returning, then flying away in confusion, wondering what happened to the feeders. By 11:30, we had gathered all the trash, cleaned out the refrigerator and I was on my way to the Transfer Station.

We had lots of mushrooms in the refrigerator so Evie suggested a mushroom omelet for lunch, a great idea along with some toast. I enjoyed my lunch and began watching the marathon of NBA games, the first, the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Orlando. I watched it for maybe 20 minutes, then returned to my book, and took a nap. Once I woke, I admit to wasting the rest of the afternoon, letting Evie finish up with her chores while I read and watched basketball on and off. My book really grabbed me as I could not put it down, wondering how it would end, happily or with sadness. Mid-afternoon, Evie looked out the window and saw a heron on our lake wall and grabbed the camera, and took a couple of great shots of the heron.

A Prancing Heron

By 5:30, thank goodness, we were relaxing on the couch with guacamole and Aldis rip off of Fritos, much cheaper and darn tasty. It was Saturday night, so we enjoyed a Manhattan or two, listening to music from Evie's Manhattan list. We had no worries about dinner because we had more than enough leftovers from Friday night's Italian dinners. We devoured them and watched the usual shows.