O What A Beautiful Morning (sung by Gordon MacRae of course)

7:01

8:43

It's sunny with a light breeze and partly cloudy skies at 9:00. It's 70º, and I just returned from an hour-and-a-half paddle across the lake to Tom's Point, about a half-hour out, then back along Wells Bay and home. Along the south side of Tom's Point, I spotted two or three herons and got a good photo of a eagle before it flew off. I also ran into my paddling friends Tina and Jim on my way home.

Kayak Morning

Tom's Point's South Side

A Juvenile Bald Eagle

A Great Blue Heron

Yesterday was a busy morning for both of us, with an easy afternoon. Evie was up early and on her way to Westfield Hospital for a test at 8:00. I was up before her and got in a good paddle, returning at 7:30 just as she was getting up.

I wrote the blog and decided it would be a good day for a bike ride despite the forecast of possible rain. So I strapped my bike to the Outback and drove over to Bemus, parking near the bridge. I biked through Bemus, along Lakeside Drive, and around the wooded Long Point State Park. I was out for close to an hour and only hit drizzle on my way back to the car. It felt good to be in the woods again and, as usual, I had the place to myself.

Bemus Point Golf Course

Long Point State Park Trail

Long Point: 1/6/2026

I got home around noon, and Evie was back from Westfield. I relaxed for a while, then made lunch — a tasteless curry noodle soup and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I watched my show, then finished my Michael Connelly novel before starting a new one, The Water Keeper by Charles Martin. I took a brief nap, then basically wasted the rest of the afternoon until 3:00, when I drove off to Lakewood. I stopped at the bank to deposit a check from the Internal Revenue Service — thank you very much — then did a quick run through Wegmans and stopped at the new Popeyes, hoping to pick up their chicken for dinner. It was closed despite their alerts saying otherwise, so I swung by Kentucky Fried Chicken and grabbed their ten-dollar special: four thighs, two coleslaws, and two biscuits.

We had our happy hour until 6:30, then chowed down on the KFC. We couldn't figure out what to watch, so we went back to my guilty pleasure, The Good Doctor. After Evie went to bed, I caught the US soccer game for about ten minutes before getting bored — I don't recognize any of the players anymore. For some reason, I then started watching the first season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which premiered in 1999. I know it's been enormously popular over the years, but I'd never seen it until last night. It's pretty good — I watched two episodes.