Morning Gray And A Calm Lake

A Pair Of Loons

Bald Eagle

7:29

8:62

It’s 7:06, and I’ve been up since 6:15. Outdoors, it’s absolutely quiet, not a whisper of wind, the lake like a mirror. The cold, however, has arrived with a 41º morning.

It’s now 9:00, and I just returned from a two-mile paddle on the lake. I spent much of the hour taking photos of loons, then buffleheads, then an eagle, and finally a heron. What a great morning for birding. It's 9:30, Evie's picking out photos, and I am enjoying breakfast, homemade pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream.

Kayak Morning

Northern Clouds

Chestnut Hill

Paddling Into The Sun

Looms

Loons

Loon

Buffleheads Return

Bald Eagle

A Great Blue Heron

Yesterday turned out to be a decent day, starting with a paddle in drizzle, then rain, and I loved it. After drying out, I finished up the blog and had breakfast. We were in no hurry, so we relaxed with another cup of coffee. Then I went for a walk around the neighborhood since the drizzle had stopped. Recently, I mentioned that our grandson Tyler had married Renee, who grew up in China. She is applying for a green card and asked us to write an Affidavit of Residency. Our daughter Beth was asked to write one as well. I wrote mine Wednesday, got it notarized Friday, and sent it to them, but a couple of things needed to be added or changed. After breakfast, I sat down, made the changes, and sent it back for them to read before we get it notarized again on Monday. While I was editing, Evie was busy making both a pumpkin pie and a big pot of vegetable soup for lunches. Yum. After I finished writing, we gathered the trash and drove to the Transfer Station in the rain. It’s always a busy place, but I was in and out quickly.

Around 1:00, Evie made me a couple of cheese sandwiches, along with a bowl of vegetable soup. I watched my show and a bit of college football, although I had little interest in any of the games. I’m now into my book, The Kind Worth Killing, so I was happy to go upstairs to read and briefly nap.

For some reason, I wanted to do more raking, so I grabbed a garbage pail and rake and did the rest of the side yard, filling another pail with wet leaves. When I returned, I took the pails up the hill to the woodpile, emptied them, and was happy to have three empty pails, ready, I suppose, for more leaves. The rest of the afternoon was spent on the couch, either reading or watching TV. It’s strange how I have a hard time relaxing and doing nothing, always wanting to go out and do something. By 5:00, we were doing something, enjoying a glass of wine and listening to the news.

Dinner was another ready-to-heat meal, Kevin's Thai Style Coconut Chicken. Basically, you heat the chicken for a minute, add the sauce and heat it for another two or three minutes, and it’s ready to serve over rice. It was actually pretty good, along with maple syrup-topped Brussels sprouts. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream. I had forgotten how good pumpkin pie is. We watched TV, and around 8:30, I put on some football for a few minutes but quickly went back to my series, The Mayor of Kingstown, before heading up to bed.