Warming Up

It's 27 degrees out, Chautauqua gray, with freezing rain expected this morning, then as the temperature rises to the high 30's, we will have just rain.  It's hard to believe it's Friday already, as the week has flown by, pretty typical for a retiree I suppose.  We have an art show to attend this evening, as Judy Gregory, a friend from the CI has an opening of her work at the Rockefeller Art Center at Fredonia State College, about 25 minutes from here.  We went there in the fall for a lecture by Harvard professor Howard Gardner and it was fun to be on a college campus again and the town of Fredonia has a few interesting restaurants and some more college oriented kinds of shops.  It's also where we went contra dancing in the fall, so I am anxious to go back tonight, to have dinner then attend the opening of Judy's show.  We got to know them about 20 years ago through my basketball, as Fred is a fanatic, still playing all over the US in 3 on 3 tournaments.  We had not seen them for a long time till I ran into them this past September at the CI.  We had them over for dinner, found we still had a lot in common, especially since we had retired, and went out to dinner with them one other time before they headed south to their house in Davidson, NC, an area they have found amenable, especially since it's got the college campus right there.  I am not sure if they are up here for good; I doubt it as I am sure Fred will want to enjoy another month or two of warm weather in South before coming North.

We just got back from working out and it's a dreary, wet, rainy day, the kind that makes you long for the sunshine in Florida or Arizona.  Most people go south to escape the winter; I think I would prefer to skip the early spring, the weather from mid March to late April, when Chautauqua is at its worst aesthetically, wet, muddy, soggy, with green just beginning to show.

Brilliant Sunshine and Five Degrees

Another beautiful morning, as the sun moves closer to due East as it rises(6:49) and the days get longer as well, as I get up to light, eat dinner now when it's still light(6:09).  I was just reading the recent New Yorker an they have a long article on the fanatical fans of my Turkish team, Besiktas.  Though it's about the soccer fans, the same thing could be said about the basketball fans.  It's quite long but worth reading or at least skimming to get some idea of how the 'people's team's fans live and die for the black and white.  It's now 7:45 and I have to get ready for my breakfast club, at the Bemus Point Inn.  The group is getting smaller as two of the five are in Florida, and one my head's that way on Monday, leaving Stan and me for next week, the only snow birds to stay here.

We worked out at the gym this morning, and around 1:30. Evie went to get her hair done and shopping.  I watched a documentary called Restrepo, which won awards, about Sebastian Junger, who was embedded with a team for at least six months in Afghanistan.  It was very real and hard to watch at times, especially when you learned that the area that spent so much times and lives on was later just left to the Taliaban.  It makes you feel that all was for nothing, which I am sure how they feel as well.

I did go snow shoeing for an hour and it was great.  First, I went out on the lake, but it would have been better to ice skate though with snow shoes, it was easy to walk.  I went down towards Giarizzo's, then headed up through the homes, following a stream though the woods up to a couple of ponds, just below Route 394.  I then headed through the woods, up behind our the homes in Victorian, untouched by anything but some deer tracks.  It was a crusty snow, like frosting on a cake that had been left out for three or four days.  He was easy hiking, as I did not sink much, and the woods were beautiful at this time of the day.

We are having salmon dinner, but are relaxing now with a mannie before we eat.  And just a few minutes ago, Marlena called to ask us if we would participate in a Flat Stanley project, which involves her sending us a picture and then we do something with it.  We will just have to wait and see.  She is a delight on the phone.

Winter Returns

In the 30's when I arose, but it's already in the 20's and will be down in the single digits by this evening, as the winter we love returns, no more (for now) thaws, plenty of sunshine tomorrow (today it's Chatauqua  gray) and we have little on the agenda, other than a excursion, perhaps, to Clymer, a small town about 20 miles from us, which has a pretty good carpet store (according to Marlea, who is from Clymer).  We are going through  the process, as I mentioned, of buying floor to floor carpeting for our downstairs, something to brighten up our living room and give it a pop, as they say.

We spent the afternoon driving to Clymer, to a carpet store called Moser's.  It's a small town on the NY/PA border, mostly farming, about a 30 minute drive.  We like the area, it's so rural and filled with great farms, and the town's restaurant, The Dutch Village restaurant, is the kind of place we like to stop, filled with locals, and it has a huge gift shop, with everything you don't want filling up nook and cranny of the six or seven rooms of stuff.  The dining room has counter, surrounded by booths, and a large dining room in back.  I had stuffed cabbage rolls, with tomato gravy on mashed potatoes.  Yum.

And we really like the carpet story; the owners are very friendly, the wife running the store, the husband does all the measuring and installing.  They had the kind of carpet we wanted, lots of choice, and we took home four racks of choices so we can see how they fit in with our furniture, wood work, and walls, though we will be painting them if we get a new carpet.  We also browsed around the local grocery store, but a bird house, made to look like a flag on a pole, and by the time we headed home, it was sunny outside, so it was a lovely ride home.

Now it's time to read, relax, with a nice glass of white wine, as dinner's prepped and ready to go.

Dazzling Sunshine Today

I woke up late, for me, about 7:15 and uncharacteristically, the bedroom was filled with light.  It was the sun beginning to rise, though I am usually rising to a darkened room.  Anyways, it's now 8:30, the sun is brilliant over Bemus Point, and I can hardly look that way, as the lake is so shiny because of the ice.  I have to move my seat because the sun's so bright in the living room.  It sounds like a good day to go ski through Long Point, the rails out to be easy to follow, groomed by the snow mobilers and skiers, and the high today will be around 30, perfect if not a bit warm for skiing.

Beth and Rami must have gotten home yesterday from Big Sky because Evie's on the phone talking to them now.  It must be hard to get back to the routine after a week of skiing in Montana.  The price we have to pay for having a vacation.

I am tempted to go to a basketball  game tonight at Jamestown Community College, as a couple of local teams play in the second round of the b-ball tournament.  It's always fun to go to these  games, to see the cheerleaders, the crowd, the high school spirit, in fact, the spirit of the entire town, which usual turns out for these games.  It reminds of the way it used to be when I played; all the parents and grandparents would come to the game and it was something the entire town would attend.  Clymer plays Panama, two  towns within 15 miles of us, I would guess.

Earlier today, I tried to walk out on the lake,  but my boots went through right at at the edge, up to the top of my boots.  That's why it's strange to still see fishermen out on the lake, as well as a few snow mobiles.  We went over to Long Point this morning and skied/snow shoed for about an hour.  The paths were well groomed to say the least, and fairly icy in places that made it difficult to cross country ski but he was good to be out in the woods with the sun out.  Some of trails were even bare leading up to the woods so we had to walk a ways on pavement before putting on our skis.  We got back around 1:00 had lunch, watched Jon Steward and Stephen Colbert, my routine for lunch, took a brief nap, read some of my next book, INFIDEL,  byAyann Hirsi Ali, and now its time to get ready to head off to Lakewood to return the carpet swatches, pick up some paint colors, then go to the basketball game.  A lazy day, though it went awfully fast.

Foggy and 42 Degrees

Not a very inspiring day outside, gray upon gray, as the lake seems to be melting, as is the snow on the lawn, and puddles are beginning to form in areas where the snow has been beaten down by the rain.  Thaws are harbingers of spring but bring very unattractive days, the mud and dirt from snow plows, the black and white photograph like days.

We had the Cassell's for dinner last night, as they stopped by on their way back to Hudson.  They stayed for a couple of hours, which was great, and seemed in no great hurry to get home.  We had a great dinner of baked ziti, homemade Italian bread, and brownies with ice cream for dessert.  We found out that their youngest, Pat, has decided to go to WRA, a surprise to both of us because he seemed set on the high school a year ago.  He seems so grown up, able to articulate why he preferred the Academy, that he had felt the high school would just be more of the same and Reserve offered him a new experience.  Barb and Mike had just gotten back from a family trip to Alta, Utah, an old time ski resort, which they loved.  Family dining, amazing skiing, everything they hoped it would be and nice because all four of them were together for a week before Ian headed back to school.

We have nothing we 'must' do to today, though I think we will probably head to Weggies to get groceries for the week.  It's going to be difficult to enjoy the outdoors today, so I assume we will head to the gym for a workout later.

We stayed up for the Oscars last night and found them fairly predictable.  I cannot say either of us like James Franco much as a host  but Anne Hathaway has charm and energy, which made kept the show  going.  We still think Winter's Bone was the best picture, though we also liked The King's Speech as well.  It's amazing how articulate some of the winners are, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman, for example, whereas some are inarticulate.  The night seemed to belong to the Brits, who won lots of the various awards.  I was interested in the affection and respect that the actors/actresses felt towards their directors, suggesting that they were geniuses: David Fincher for The Social Network, Christopher Nolan for Inception, and I think Christopher Lolyd for The King's Speech.  And Harvey Weinstein always seems to be in the background, financing and supporting great films through Miramar.  I did not think any of the songs were memorable, a weak year for music.  Still, it's fun to see the glitz and glamour one night a year.  I do miss Billy Crystal...no one has yet to match his performance.

It's been cloudy most of the day, but now, around 5:00, it's clearing up just a bit and getting colder, dropping down to 15 tonight.  Weather  here at the lake is so arbitrary as everything is melting today but they are calling for black ice tomorrow.

Blue Jays Cometh

Chautauqua gray, warmer, around 29 degrees, as I sit listening to Weekend Edition on NPR, and Liane Hansen who retires in May.  I don't particularly like her voice or temperament but I have listened to her for a least ten years.  Blue jays have suddenly appeared at the feeder and on the ground (where I spilled some bird seed); they are aggressive birds, and at least ten were hitting the feeder as well as prancing on the ground.  I have only seen one or two this winter until today; there have been a number of crows in the trees as well, so its been a most active morning, with the regulars, black capped chickadees, nuthatches, tufted titmouse's, some doves, lots of woodpeckers(downy, hairy and red bellied), and the ubiquitous sparrows.  I also noticed lots of tracks in the what was once virgin snow, so there must have been some deer here at last night as well, as the yard is covered in tracks and they lead up to our bushes, especially the oak leaf hydrangea, which they seem to like.

Evie's making her Italian bread, baked ziti, and green beans, for later today, when we expect the Cassells to stop by on their way home to Hudson.  We haven't seen them since early January when they stopped here on Friday night for dinner.

We are going off to walk the CI soon, as its mild out, with a inch or two having fallen last night, which will make it a beautiful morning to walk in the CI.

Just finished my favorite meal of the week, fried eggs, two strips of bacon, and two slices of home made bread.  I am not sure why this meal is so satisfying but it is, simple, three very different tastes, and perhaps the salt from bacon, which I love.  We did go for a walk at the CI and it was perfect weather for a walk, though it was warm enough that we worked up a sweat and hand to open our jackets.  There are still few people at the CI, a few travellers with their snow mobiles at the Maple Inn, but for the most part, we hardly saw a soul.  Right now, I can hear the snow dripping off the roof, as it's 40 degrees out and the outside is beginning to change, with little snow left on tree branches, just in nooks protected from the sun.  Water moving, hearing it drip or flow, are signs of the coming spring, as the picture below suggests, taken at the CI this morning.

The birds still are going crazy, either from the warmth, or the free food in two feeders.  Sitting here is like being at an aviary airport, as various sizes and breeds of bird fly by the window, either swoop toward the feeder, or down to the feed that's fallen on the ground, then off again, in the same direction they came from, or off to new haunts.

Ten Degrees and Sunny

Another surprisingly cold morning, though the sun's out, the tree's are frosted with ice, and it looks like another beautiful Saturday morning.  There's very little action on the lake yet, perhaps because it's so cold, just one or two fishermen out there in their tents off of Long Point.  If I want to cross country ski today, I need a snow mobile to drive by and make a nice path, otherwise it's slogging through foot deep snow, quite a work out.  I think I'll wait a bit for it to warm up before I venture out although there's no wind so far, quite a difference from yesterday when it was often wild outside, winds up to 35 miles an hour.

I have noticed that not too many birds have been a the feeder this morning, in contrast to yesterday when it was quite busy.  I did notice a red headed hawk the other day, sitting in the maples, so I wonder if he's back looking for breakfast.  Maybe it's too cold or too early for them because they don't feed when it's dark, just wait, like most of us, for the sun to rise before sitting down to breakfast.

After an initial early morning sun, it clouded up and we are back to Chautauqua gray. with occasional snow flakes, and a warming, as it's 30 degrees, just a I came in from cross country skiing for a bit.  The snow was not at its best, a bit wet, leaving tracks of water in the snow as I went, but it was better when I was able to find some snow mobile tracks, down towards Giarizzo's.  We worked out this morning as well, from 11:00-12:00 and stopped at CI's library to return a few books, pick up Infidel, a biography I have been wanting to read, of an amazing African woman, who ends up in Holland, I think, a virulent anti Muslim, who teamed up with Van Gogh to make a film about Islam's fanatics which got Van Gogh assassinated, and she had to go into hiding, and still must,  I think.  Of course, I picked up perhaps the last Jack Reacher I haven't read though I might find one or two left in other libraries.  A back up in case I get bored with Infidel.