Boy's Night Out

7:10

It's 7:55, and both Evie and I have been up for an hour. It's 30,  raining, and overcast — we wouldn't have been able to see the eclipse even if we'd wanted to. Temperatures will stay in the 30s all day, with a mix of rain and sleet on and off.

Lakeview Cemetery

Yesterday was a good day, capped off by a semi-final high school basketball game and then beers and Reubens at an Irish bar, 2 Gingers Inn. The morning followed our usual routine: me up early, reading, writing the blog, and having breakfast before Evie gets up. We published around 9:00, and by 9:45, I was out the door for a walk at Jamestown's Lake View Cemetery. We've walked it before and liked it, and I was in the mood for something easy and familiar. I parked just inside the entrance and walked for close to forty minutes, circling the grounds and stopping occasionally for a photo. 

Soldier Memorial

One Of The Larger Memorials

On the way home, I stopped at Wegmans to pick up a few things, then filled up the Kia before the expected gas price hikes. I stopped in Celeron briefly, where the lake was open because of the source of the Chadakoin River, and seagulls were frolicking in the open waters.

Celeron

When I got back, Evie had been busy cleaning our Ninja coffee pot — long overdue, as our coffee had started tasting like water. Once that was done, she offered to make me lunch: fried potatoes topped with fried eggs. Delicious. I finished an episode of a Swedish thriller and found myself at a loss for what to watch next.

The afternoon was quiet — reading Nineteen Minutes, which turned out, somewhat to my surprise, to be about a school shooting. It's an engaging read with an interesting cast of characters. Otherwise, I napped, read more, and caught the depressing updates on the war with Iran.  At 5:30, Ron picked me up and we drove to Jamestown Community College's gym for two semi-final high school tournament games — something we try to make each year. 

Jump Ball

Four local teams played, none particularly polished, but they more than made up for it with hustle. It was fun to be in the stands among the noisy mix of students, parents, and grandparents, all there to cheer their kids on. We left at halftime of the second game and headed to 2 Gingers Inn for beers and Reubens — the same bar we'd stopped into last year after the tournament.

A Fun Time With Danny And Erica

When we walked in, only three people were at the bar. We settled in and ended up having a great hour-long conversation with the bartender and his friend, who was there to celebrate his birthday with a carrot cake. As it turned out, he had taught her how to tend bar 14 years ago at Shawbucks, a local spot, and they'd stayed close friends ever since. She now works as an X-ray technician at the local hospital and is a serious foodie, so we had a lively time comparing notes on the local restaurant scene. Ron and I each had a couple of Harp lagers, a Reuben, and potatoes — so filling that I brought half my sandwich home. We left around 9:15. I was back by 9:40, watched a bit of basketball, and turned in early.

Hillary Clinton: You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, despite espousing the need for transparency. You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican member showed up for Les Wexner's deposition. This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors.