A Cold, And Bright Shiny Morning

7:46

9:06

It's 7:45, the sun is flooding both the lake and our living room with light, and I'll need to move to another chair in a few minutes. It's 20° out with little to no wind, so I think I'll go for a paddle. Now it's 8:00 — I've finished the first draft of the blog, so out I go. It's 9:30 as I finish this after a 50-minute paddle down to Wells Bay and back. Of course, the wind picked up on my paddle back. Fortunately, I had on four layers and wore mittens, keeping me warm. It's not as much fun this time of the year because there's a lack of birds, no ospreys, herons, or eagles yet.

Kayak Morning

South To Wells Bay

Heading Back To Woodlawn

Northern Sky

Buffleheads  Cruise

Buffleheads Take Off

Woodlawn

Friday was not the best of days. I was up at my usual time, wrote the blog, had breakfast, and by 9:15 was on my way to pickleball. I should have stayed home — my play was abysmal. I should have left after the first game, but I stayed for more punishment. Oh well, at least I got some exercise, which is a fine way to rationalize the whole thing. I stopped for gas on the way home: $3.85 a gallon, and I imagine it'll keep climbing.

I was home by 11:45. Evie was upstairs culling her closet, and I wasn't ready for lunch yet, so I read until 12:30, then enjoyed the last of the chicken, mushrooms, and artichokes. I've started a new series called Detective Hole, based on the Joe Nesbo books, many of which I've read. So far, so good. Afterward, I went upstairs to read and promptly fell asleep — despite one assassination after another in The Terminal List (all deserved, I might add). The rest of the afternoon was leisurely: reading and lounging, until around 3:30 when the sun came out and I went for a walk through the neighborhood's front yards, photographing some buffleheads with my camera as they clustered along the lake wall. It was good to be outside in the fresh air.

Late Afternoon Sky

Woodlawn Creek

Around 4:30, I called the Asheville Country Store, ordered a large pepperoni pizza, and drove the six miles to pick it up by 5:00. When I got back, we were both hungry, and by 5:30, we were settled in front of the TV with pizza and a salad, watching a couple more episodes of Landman and then The Pitt. Evie headed up to bed after that. I caught the second half of the Duke/St. John's game, decided I'd had enough basketball, and watched another episode of Detective Hole before finally calling it a night.

 “I built this great military,”  I said, you’ll never have to use it. But sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba is next, by the way. But pretend I didn’t say that. Pretend I didn’t. Please, please, please, media, please disregard that statement. Thank you very much. Cuba’s next.”