An Early Morning Pink Sky

6:44

6:47

7:16

7:17

I was up unfortunately at 5:30 but was able to watch the darkness slowly turn to orange, then pink, then gray clouds contrasted with the pink sky.  It's 6:50 as I start this and the sunrise is still 25 minutes away.  It's a warm 64º and should get into the '80s later in the day.  I am listening to The Rewatchablesk podcast discuss the classic film, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (the first buddy movie, the first film to use pop music) with Bill Simmons and Aaron Sorkin.  Interesting.  I was out for a paddle on a partly cloudy morning, over to Long Point and back, about forty-five minutes on a smooth lake but no heron in sight, just lots of boring mallards.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday was another Indian summer day, highs in the '80s, an occasional light wind, and lots of sunshine.  It began as a usual Saturday, with kayaking, the blog, breakfast, and gathering of the trash, cleaning out the refrigerator and a trip to the Transfer Station.  When I returned home, however, Evie was ready to go for a hike so we drove off to Panama, New York that is, to walk the Westside Trail.

Our Church

The trailhead is just west of Panama Village and we have walked it before.  We were surprised at how warm it was when we started out even in the shade of trees.  Our other surprise was the trail, filled with tree roots, perhaps the result of the heavy rains.  Walking the trail was like an obstacle course and we rarely could look up as we had to keep our eyes on the tree roots.  We walked only a couple of miles because of the heat.  Still, it felt good to get out and walk in the woods.

Looking Skyward

We were home by 1:00 and time for lunch.  Evie microwaved three ears of corn and made a tomato and feta cheese salad, perfect for a warm afternoon.  I watched my show and Evie enjoyed her lunch on the porch before heading out on the dock.  I finished my show and read some, took a brief nap and then joined Evie on the dock for an hour.  It felt strange to be so warm, with the lake so calm, on a late September day.

Friends

We showered and got ready to drive to Linda and Ron's at 5:00 because we were going for a cruise before dinner.  It was fun to see a different part of the lake on our cruise, from Lighthouse Point to the Chautauqua Institution and back. When we returned, Ron fired up the grill, roasted some corn and grilled four Delmonico steaks while Linda made the salad.  Dinner was great, the corn still sweet, and all four of us love Delmonico steaks.  For dessert, we had a couple of cheeses and fruit along with a glass of ice wine, amazingly refreshing and sweet, a perfect after-dinner drink.  Linda also had a few birthday presents for Evie to her surprise, a fun way to end our evening.  We didn't get home until 10:00, late for us, and we watched a bit of TV before bed.  What a good day, hikes, sunshine, boat ride and a steak dinner with good friends.

Gray, Wet, And Cool...Spring (A Muddy Westside Trail Hike)

6:38

Merganser Among The Raindrops 

It's 7:30 and I have been up for forty five minutes, not much of a morning sky, no colors, no obvious sunrise, just a gray blanket of a sky, a gray wrinkled lake surface.  It's 36º out, the yard and walk, damp not wet.  It looks like rain off and on for the day, the rest of the week looks sunny.

A Not So Subtle Request

We did not get outside early enough yesterday to kayak as the wind picked up around 9:30, and we were still sitting here drinking coffee, listening to NPR, reading the paper (spoiler alert...more drug busts in Jamestown).  Because we missed our walk Saturday afternoon, we wanted to get one in on Sunday, so with drove off to the Mt. Pleasant Trail head for the Westside Trail, just this side of Sherman, a quick 15 minute drive.  On the way, we saw our first red winged blackbirds of the spring.

A Touch Of Green

We have been on this trail in all seasons, so we know it pretty well but not well enough, as it was quite muddy in some sections, making it difficult to walk without sinking in.  It had not rained recently, in fact, it snowed about five days ago, so it was a bit of a surprise to find it so wet. The woods are still bare of leaves, though they have buds and, for some reason, we noticed bright orange spray paint on lots of seemingly healthy trees, for what we are not sure.

A Marked Forest

We persevered, walking as far as the Lean To, a covered shed for hikers to spend the night.  Unfortunately, it was a mess, riddled with plastic bottles, beer cans, and trash, the result of pigs who hike!  I am not sure why/how anyone who hikes this trail, enjoys the outdoors, would leave litter like this behind.  We were out for about and hour and a half, slow going because of the mud.  At least the temperature was fine, high 40's, perfect for a long walk.

An Explicit Request

Trash Left Behind By Hikers

We got home around 12:30 and Evie made breakfast, of fresh eggs from the Ryder's Cup and home fries with onions, a good way to start the rest of the day.  It's still too early around here to do much in the yard other than pick up twigs, and Evie's garden is still too wet to work in.  So, we stayed inside the rest of the afternoon, Evie reading her book, and I watched the Cavs beat the Celtics to move to the next round.  Not much action around Woodlawn, nor was there much on the lake.  Perhaps it was too windy.  We relaxed with a glass of wine around 5:00, enjoying the beginning of dusk here on the lake.

About 6:30, we both went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, fried rice.  This time Evie was the sous chef, I was the cook.  I had bought some ground pork on Saturday, so I flash cooked it in the wok, adding hot bean sauce and garlic.  I took it out, then steamed the bok choy, celery, carrots, broccoli and cabbage (we like vegetables), then added the cooked pork and rice, some sauces, and we had a pretty good rendition of fried rice.  It was a good night for TV, so we started with Bill Maher, switched to Nurse Jackie at 9:00, and finished the night off with The Good Wife, before going up to bed to read before sleeping.  I am not sure what we would do if we did not have something good to watch each night...read more I guess which would not be so bad.

Four More Inches Last Night (Hiking Westside Overland Trail)

This Morning at 7:19

Up at 5:45 and I checked outside to see how much snow had fallen; our parking area is covered with snow again (we have shoveled it at least three times) as is our car.  I have to drive to Jamestown this morning to get something fixed on my Honda and it looks like I will be fighting winter effect snow both ways, not something I look forward to doing.  

The Boys In The Band

Yesterday, my day started with shoveling the parking area, then breakfast at the Bemus Point Inn, and home, to a house filled with the smell of ginger bread cookies.  We had five of us at breakfast, had some good laughs as usual.  What else is breakfast out for?  

Ready for Bear

Why We Hike

Both Evie and I wanted to hike some where but we were not sure where.  Finally we decided on the Westside Trail, getting on it outside of Sherman at the parking area on Mt. Pleasant Road, a mistake.  When we got there, the lot had at least six inches of snow but we were able to park.  We started our hike and soon realized we should have worn our snow shoes which are still parked in our attic.  By the time we got to the trail proper, Evie's feet were already wet, as we were tromping through snow up to her knees.  We stuck with it, however, for about twenty minutes, then turned around discouraged but enervated because it was so spectacular in the forest, trees literally frosted with two or three inches of snow. Even though in was in the teens, we would have enjoyed the walk if it had not been for the cold feet.  We were out for only forty five minutes, alas, but we will be smarter next time and bring our snow shoes.

Vistor Registry on Westside Overland Trail

We got home around 12:30, and Evie had made a big pot of vegetable soup, just what we needed after our hike.  With a toasted cheese sandwich, smeared with jam (my idiosyncracy), we enjoyed our lunch watching Jon Stewart.  The rest of the afternoon I relaxed, read, took a nap while Evie baked and decorated cookies for a good part of the afternoon.  She wants them done by the weekend so she can send them off to the granchildren for Christmas.  It's time consuming and tiring, from standing at the island and deocorating, so she was ready to relax with a glass of wine around 5;30.  I did go for a walk about 5:00, the Woodlawn/Victoria loop and by the time I got home, it was dark.

Woodlawn at Dusk: 5:00

For dinner, we had one of our summer meals, barbecued chicken with noodles.  I fired up the grill and in 14º weather, I grilled the chicken with apple butter barbecue sauce.  It was easy, especially when there are no spiders to clog my grill.  We filled up on chicken and sinful wide noodles, cooked in chicken broth.  And we watched a new series on TV called Alpha House.  We get it free though our Amazon Prime account.  To watch it, Evie fires up her iPad, goes to the Amazon Prime website, pulls up the app. and starts the movie.  Mean while, I turn on Apple TV and  the program on Evie's iPad appears on our wide screen TV.  Ah, technology, how sweet it is.  We watched five 25 minute episodes, starring John Goodman.  Based on four Republican senators who actually lived together in a Georgetown house in the 1990's, it clearly a satire of today's politics, making fun of them, as each symbolizes an aspect of the party.  Decent but not great.  

Finally, Evie sent me this brief essay yesterday, about the demands the new world of technology places upon our consciousness.  And it explains, clearly, why  both of us enjoy the outdoors whenever we can.

Battling A Sense Of Lost Time

by Marcelo Gleiser 

 Dec. 11, 2013 

 

The first word that comes to mind when I think about modern life is "overload." The second is "dispersion.'We are the targets of an ongoing war for our attention: the Web, new technologies, food, clothing, music. We feel the constant need to be connected; TV and radio are just not enough. We need to link to social media outlets, know what's going on or else be out; each instant of time is taken by a screen, small or large; information pours down in torrents.If we forget our cell phone at home, we feel like a body part is missing; we are the phones, the phones are us. We are addicted to it, as we can see when a plane lands after a 45-minute flight and hundreds of passengers turn on their phones as if their lives depended on information that just came out. We are addicted to linkage and I am guilty as charged.We no longer allow time for contemplation.People feel time is passing faster because we have less and less control over it. To do nothing feels like a huge waste of time. Any open window of time must be filled with tweets, Facebook updates, email, YouTube videos, podcasts. If no one is talking about us, let's make sure that they do. One of the victims of this "race to linkage" is our connection to nature. We can call it the new missing link. We hardly look up to the sky or the at the life around us. To most people nature is a concept, something that exists out there, that we see in YouTube videos or magazines, on BBC and Animal Planet specials. To recover a sense of control over time we need to return to nature; we need to create space to observe other forms of life; we need to reconnect with the night sky, far from the city lights. At least this is what I do to slow down. To me, entering a trail for a hike or run is like entering a temple. And as with any temple, I go in search of a connection, trying to restore a sense of identity as I surround myself with green and blue.

Sunny, Blue Skies, Warming Up, Sort Of (Hiking the Westside Overland Trail)

7:30

I slept in until 7:20, amazing to get up to a living room not cloaked in darkness.  The sun was already up over Wells Bay, though a few clouds hid it.  It's 34º, getting up to the 40's later in the day, melting most of the snow no doubt.

Hitting The Westside Trail Again

A Forest of Spruces

Yesterday was still cold in the morning, a great temperature for a hike, so we drove off to the Westside Trail Head, on the Mayville/Sherman Road, about two miles beyond Hannum Road.  We had walked this trail for the first time two years ago with a group, our first long hike of close to 8 miles.  We did not walk as far yesterday, a total of three miles out and back, as part of the trail was closed.  We did walk from C to D and beyond some, at first somewhat boring but we  finally got into it, as we got to a forest of Spruces, thick and dark, the kind of woods we like.  It was supposed to be a windy day but we did not really notice it except when we began and ended our hikes, when we were in more open areas. The forest was winter like, brown tree trunks, leafless, no snow, just row after row of vertical stripes against the sky.  The trail was frozen in some areas, wet in others, so we had to pick and choose the trail, trying to avoid getting a 'soaker' though we both had on Gortex hiking shoes.

Checking Out Sherman Livestock Diner

We were out an hour and a half, then headed up on towards Sherman, stopping at the Sherman Livestock Auction and Market, a huge barn like structure,  in operation since 1937, a muddy parking area, with lots of pickups and horse trailers sitting outside, as well as a sign that said Restaurant--11:00-4:00.  We reversed course, walked into a charmless cement block building with a sign 'kitchen' on one door, 'open' on the other.  Five or six older farmers were sitting at  the counter, downing burgers and fries, a few couples sat at tables, including a couple of Amish farmers.  We looked around, decided to pass because there was no soup, but will stop back next time we are in the vicinity.  The restaurant or diner is run by Dan Johnson's wife and sister in law, the owner, having opened it recently, or so I think.

Hot Dogging In November

We didn't get home till after 1:00.  Before we left, I put together a black bean soup, so we had that for lunch and Evie made some guacamole, a healthy lunch, all veggies except for the Tostito's.  We did little in the afternoon; I finished MOHAWK and started my next David Downing novel, Lehrter Station.  Around 4:30, we decided to get some fresh air, so we drove over to the Long Point Marina and walked out to the tip of Long Point and back, hoping to see the sun set over Woodlawn but we were too late as it was hidden by the tree line.  I forgot to mention that just before we went for a walk, a Sea Doo raced by, did tricks out in the middle of the lake, before driving back to Wells Bay.  It looked like fun. After our walkt, we stopped in at the Seezurh House for a beer, talked with the bar tender for a bit, then went home for dinner.

Algae Residue On Shore Line

We had the left over meat loaf, just as good as the first day.  I had mine with mashed potatoes and gravy, again, and Evie made herself a meat loaf sandwich, her favorite.  We watched two more episodes of The Enemy Within, one more to go, and then went up to bed to read.  I am now immersed in post WW II Britain and Germany, as John Russell struggles to put his life back together.

Threatening Skies, Cooling Off (Hiking The Westside Trail: Stebbins to Bates, K-J)

7:10

Up at 6:45, a slash of light off towards the east shoreline.  It's 48º outside, 60º inside, fleece weather both in and out.  We have yet to light the pilot on our gas fireplace but it is going to happen soon as the days continue to get cooler.  And later today, our dock comes in, another sign of the coming of colder weather.

Bates Road Trail Head

Despite the rain Wednesday night, the wet lawn, we decided to chance a hike on the last leg of the Westside Overland Trail (we will have completed all 24 miles of the trail), wearing our waterproof hiking boots in case of wet trails.  Fortunately, the sun came out as we started our walk on Stebbins Road, and we hiked to Bates Road and back, a little over four miles.  It was one of our favorite hikes, perhaps because of the sun but also variety of trails, through woods, ravines, over creeks, wetlands, along large hay fields of green, colorful forests in the distance.  The middle 1/10th of the trail was through wetlands but fortunately, boards set on blocks, forded most of the wet areas so we hardly got wet.  As usual, we were the only ones on the trail though we did see a ATV parked and wondered if he was a bow hunter, out for deer.  We had forgotten to wear our lime colored shirts, to easily identify ourselves in case of hunters, so we made ourselves evident by occasionally yelling, "Coming Through" or "Hiking," just in case.  We will bring a whistle next time, wear the bright jerseys, especially since deer season starts in full force in a couple of weeks.  We were out just about two hours, happy to be outside on a day in which we thought it would rain, excited to have walked the entire trail over the past two years.  

Fall Countryside Near Sherman

Trails

Boardwalks Over Wet Lands

The rest of the day till about 5:00 was sunny though cool, too windy to  stay on the dock for long and was probably the last day for our dock life.  A good part of the afternoon Evie spent decorating Halloween cookies for our grandchildren, a time consuming project, involving spreading the white sugar coating on each cookie, then sprinkling them with colored sugar.  I baked my bread with trepidation since the dough was wetter than I remember, but it turned out great looking, brown with a hallow sound when knocked on with your knuckles.  Today we will see how tasty it is, what the texture is like, the key to a good bread.

Bread

At 5:00, just as it started to rain, we went into Lakewood, to do a few errands, bank, wine store, and Wegmans before driving to Frewsburg, about 20 miles away, to have dinner at The Corner Coffee House & Bistro.  We have been there once before but wanted to go back when they had music. Fortunately, octogenarian Pete Petke and his band were playing from 6-8, a group of guys of all ages, playing the best of the 1930's and 1940's Big Band and Dixieland music, the kind of music my Dad would have loved.  They were really good, especially the clarinet player, and Pete entertained the small audience with his sense of humor.  Our meals were average, not as good as we hoped, though the menu is interesting.  Evie ordered the roasted salmon with pineapple, me a pasta carbonara.  And the service left something to be desired as our waitress was certainly not overly officious.  The best part was the music, the food secondary, at least that evening.  And Pete and his buddy, like two bird dogs,  zeroed in on our table (Evie) at break, sat down and talked with us for ten minutes about their lives as musicians, quite busy playing three or four times a week,  even at their age.  They were a couple of characters, fun to talk with, and we realized later that they had played at the Rod and Gun the last time we were there, about three weeks ago.

Evie with Razz Rasmusson, clarinetist and Pete Petke. trombonist

Chef Joseph Sharing Fresh Pasta Secrets

We were home by 8:15, early enough to watch a couple of more episodes of the fifth season of Damages, which we are liking more and more.  We were both in bed at our usual time, 11:00, to read before falling asleep.

Another Fine Day On Deck, Hiking the Westside Overland Trail (M-L)

 

7:20

I am getting used to waking up to a dark house, especially if it's around 6:00.  I stumble around, trying to find the coffee pot, turn it on, find the remote to turn on NPR, get out a cup, pour my coffee and make my way to the couch.  I don't like a light on at this hour, preferring instead to sit in the dark and wait for the lake to slowly turn gray, watching the dawn lift it's veil of darkness.  My computer screen is the only light I and I even turn its intensity down because the brightness is obtrusive.  Later this morning, I have yoga because my teacher asked if I would take Tuesday's class this week rather than Wednesday, since I would have been the only student on Wednesday.  Being the flexible, good  guy that I am, I agreed since my days are usually wide open.

Most Trails Are The Same But Different

Floor of Hiking Trail

Sound of Water

Hiking Down a Valley

Yesterday seemed like it was going to be wet and overcast.  Despite this forecast, we wanted to get in a hike, so we decided to head back to the Westside Overland Trail, where we stopped on Saturday, and walk through the wet woods, bringing along slickers in case it rained.  We started on Stebbins Road, walked south to the turn around where we stopped on Saturday, completing the M to L section, a little over a mile out, a mile back.  It turned on to be a great walk, lots of variety, hardly damp, lots of pines and most of the deciduous trees still had their leaves, so we were always in the shade,  surrounded by green, staying cool yet working up a sweat.  We have one more 2.5 mile leg to walk and we will have completed the entire trail.  We both have commented on how little wildlife we see when we hike, few if any birds, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, or bears( thank goodness).  The only sounds, a babbling brook, the wind through the trees, the crunch of the leaves as we hike, a tree swaying, knocking against another trunk, sometimes the sound of car in the distance.  We were out over an hour but it was an excellent hike, one we will do again.  We came home via the Stedman/Sherman Road, as the sun came out, highlighting the vast green hay fields on both sides of the road and in the distance, framing the fields, the multicolored trees, leaves orange, red, yellow and brown. Lots of leaves still remain on the trees, despite Sunday night's rain.

Wind Break of Pines

Country Side Colors

During the the afternoon, Evie did some prepping for tonight's dinner, but most of the afternoon, she braved the wind, sitting on the dock, wrapped in fleece and blankets, determined to enjoy one more day out on the dock before fall really arrives, with a wind chill too extreme to sit out side.  Wimp that I am, I sat inside or out on the porch, with my Turkish tea, reading my new book.  Around 5:30, Evie started warming up the leftovers for dinner and to my delight, put together some buttermilk biscuits, the perfect accompaniment to our dinner of chicken, portabellos, and garlic spinach.  We watched The Good Wife, as things are beginning to fall apart at the law firm. Not much else of interest, so we spent the rest of the time channel surfing, until we went upstairs to read and eventually sleep.  

Buttermilk Biscuits

Hiking Westside Overland Trail (L north), An Overcast Morning, Alas

Kayak Afternoon, The Good Life

7:35

Up at 7:30, to roar of a boat next door, the only one at the dock.  I had forgotten about the early morning noise, so this was a final reminder of summer, the last I think.  It's gray on gray, lake and sky, for the first time since last Monday, the morning of heavy rain, gray skies, when we headed off for Letchworth State Park.  Today calls for more clouds, the possibility of rain in the afternoon, still warm however, high in the low 70's.

We wanted to get a decent walk in yesterday morning, not too long because we wanted to enjoy the perfect fall day at our house.  So, we decided to walk a leg of Westside Trail, one we had not been on before, seven miles from our house.

Trail Head

Follow The Creek

Cathedral of Trees

One of Many Forests 

We drove out the Stedman/Panama Road, took a right of Eiden Road, to Wall, a left on Wall to Eggleston Road, then a right for about a mile, where the trail head south begins.  We took the south trail last year but not north.  So we had to go along Eggleston for another mile, to the trail head L, which heads north.  There, we entered the woods, and for 3/4's of a mile, we were in a beautiful forest, crunching through two to three inches of leaves until we came to a back road.  Unfortunately, to continue the trail, we had to walk the road for a mile, to get to the next leg of the trail through the woods, the Edward J. Whalen Memorial State Forest. By the time we got to the new trail head, we decided to just walk the road back the way we came, make it a shorter walk, less than two hours, less than four miles, just right because we were back home by noon.  We did find out where to start our hike next time, by taking Eiden till it dead ends, hanging a left on Stebbins or Town Line Road for a couple of miles, where the trail crosses the road.  Once we walk both of those legs, we will have hiked the entire Fred Cusimano Westside Overland Trail, 19 miles or so over the past two years.  Not much of an achievement but still something we have done together, have enjoyed, and will do again, especially in the winter with the snow.

It was another warm afternoon on the lake, some traffic because this may be the last Indian summer like weekend, and lots of people are up to enjoy the good weather.  We lounged in the sun, on the dock, as the leaves fell on the lawn, ignored by Evie, who jumped into the lake and swam twice, a crazy lady. Around 5:00, we went for a kayak ride, over to Long Point, the brilliant sun warming our backs, so bright that when we returned, we had to paddle close to shore, to be in the shadow of the shoreline and avoid the blinding sun.

The Ultimate Decadence, Turkish Chai on the Dock

For dinner, Evie made portabello mushrooms stuffed with garlic spinach and tomato, along with brown rice and a salad with blue cheese dressing, a good way to start the evening.  We finally happened upon a good film on Netflix , THE LATE QUARTET, the story of four musicians who have been together for  twenty five years until their bass player comes down with Parkinson's disease, threatening the group as a whole, flaying bare the emotions and conflicts hidden for years.  We both were transfixed on the tube for a couple of hours, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as usual, was perfect as the 2nd violinist, as was Christopher Walken, the bass player