A Dismal Saturday, Cloudy and Rainy

7:58

Paddling at Dusk

A Lake of Reflections

Enjoying the calm

Woods at Chautauqua Institute

Up at my new usual, 6:00 to utter blackness, a few lights flickering off toward Maple Springs.  I am listening to Click and Clack, waiting for Only A Game, my favorite sports program.  I am not sure what today will bring because of the weather.  We are excited, however, about later afternoon because our neighbors are having a clambake.  Like my family, they grew up in the Cleveland area having clambakes every fall.  We have missed it the past two years because we were out east visiting friends but this year we are able to make it.  They, Jim and Barb Fox, drove in yesterday afternoon from Cleveland, with the clams on ice from Euclid Fish.  What memories I have of going to Euclid Fish with my Dad as a kid, picking up the clams, the boiler, bringing them home, spending hours in the basement cleaning the clams because they were sandy, my Mom cutting up the chickens and vegetables, in a bag,  shucking the corn and, of course, the pouring of the beer in the bake by a pregnant women. I can only remember my sister Ellen doing this back in the early 1980's.

We were lucky because yesterday because it was a beautiful day to be on the lake, warm enough to sit outside, to walk or kayak, all of which we did.  We straightened things around the house early morning, then went to Mayville, to get our flu shots, and shop some at Topps.  We then stopped at the CI and took a walk around the still leafy streets.  Lots of building going on and it  seems every week we see a new house going up, or an old house being torn down.  Construction always seems to be booming in the CI.

In the afternoon, Evie went out on the dock to read and I joined her briefly before going off to pick up my boat, to take it up to be stored.  Unfortunately, I had quite a bill as the steering cables had to be replaced again, something which was done three years ago.  I dropped the boat off at my neighbor's garage, up on Carpenter Pringle, so that's done.  Now all we need is for the dock to be taken in and summer/fall is officially over, alas.  About 5:45, we realized the lake was smooth, like oil, as the sky was a threatening gray.  We jumped in our kayaks, went straight across to Long Point, then back along Victoria and Woodlawn, and it was lovely to be out on the water at dusk, as the sun was setting, the storm clouds coming in to the area.

For dinner, Evie made a shrimp pasta, with lemon, garlic, and wine, and with salad and garlic bread, we were happy.  We watched a quirky Norwegian movie, Turn Me On, Dammit.  I won't go into great detail other than to say it's about a seemingly over sexed teen age girl, who ends up being ostracized by her high school friends for something she said.  She runs away for a weekend, to a college friend in Oslo, where she is accepted as normal and treated as an adult for the first time. She comes home changed, the boy she likes shows interest in her, and all is well in this boring little town.  One detail I did like---every time the school bus passed the sign announcing her village, she and her friends would give it the finger.  Neither Evie nor I was crazy about the movie, nor did we like the teenager much until the end when her boy friend announces he cares for her to the entire school.  Not your Pretty in Pink teenager flick.

GONE GIRL: GILLIAM FLYNN

I  have to admit I have mixed reactions to this book, like my sister, Ellen.  Neither one of the major protagonists, Nick the husband, Amy the wife, is to be admired, in fact, they are about as reprehensible a couple as I have read about in fiction.  But I read on, hooked somewhat or just wanting to get it over with, so I could say I didn't quit on it.

The narrative method is a 'he said, she said,' alternating chapters my each.  The first half catalogues the disintegration of their marriage, their falling in love in NYC, a lovely marriage, the beginning of their separation in NYC, as they both lose their jobs, and the final straw, their move to Hannibal, Missouri, seemingly the end of the earth for Amy, where Nick' Mom his dying, his Dad in a home with Alzheimer's.  The novel begins with the disappearance of Amy from their home in Hannibal, Nick's nonchalance at her leaving.  Soon, however, as he involves the police, he begins to worry, not only about Amy but himself, as the blame begins to fall on Nick.  We see the next few weeks as Nick gradually awakens to the fact that Amy has set him up, literally, for murder and a trip to the electric chair.  We also are privy to the diary that Amy has kept during their last few months, where she proclaims her undying and intense love for Nick, despite their problems. This seems to contradict all that Nick has said.  We are unsure of Nick, whether he's guilty or not through out the first half of the book.  He's never really says where he was, what he was doing during the morning of Amy's disappearance and together with his blase attitude, we are inclined to believe in his guilt.

That's why we are shocked in the second half when Amy resurfaces alive and well, eager to see how her nefarious and well planned trap has worked.  As Nick examines the various pieces of Amy's treasure hunts, something she does on their anniversary, he slowly realizes she has hinted, all along. of her knowledge of his infidelity, his lovelessness, and her anger and hatred towards him, leading to her plan.  But he cannot prove it, to the cops, to his sister, Go, to the famous Tanner, lawyer to the 'guilty.' As the story goes public, as his infidelity is made known, as well as his wife's pregnancy, Nick becomes the most hated man in America.  He vows to get back at Amy and because he thinks he knows her well, her wanting to be loved and admired, he begins to woo her back through the media, admitting his mistakes publicly, using the media, telling her that he was at fault, that he still loves her, wants to her back.  Of course, no one knows about this, that he hopes to get her to surface this way, and save his life.

And it works, as we see her struggles to survive in the Ozarks where she hides out,  with some white trash, finally ending up at an old and very wealthy boy friend's house.  He has been obsessed with Amy for years, sent her letters, and welcomes her back.  He sets her up in his lake house, and literally holds her prisoner, keeping the keys, locking the gate and door, taking the car.  Amy realizes this is even worst that living with Nick and decides the only way out is to put the blame for her abduction and rape on Desi, by killing him and fleeing from his violent and obsessive hands.  Which she does, turning up at Nick's door one evening, with the media cameras flashing, looking beaten and ravaged.  She expects Nick to take her back (she knows him so well), convinces the police that Desi had kidnapped her, and Nick and Amy end up back together.  Nick, of course, still enraged by Amy, by her plan to have tried for murder but because of the press and media, they continue to live together.  Nick, in rage, almost chokes Amy to death one night but stops at the last moment, realizing he is close to becoming his father, a monster, who hated women.  He teams up with one of the police officers and his sister and together, they try to figure out how to prove Amy murdered Desi and set up Nick.  But Amy's been too smart, left no loose ends.  And the coup de grace seals the deal, the marriage.  She has saved sperm from their earlier experiments at a fertility clinic to get pregnant.  She impregnates herself with Nick's sperm, announces she is pregnant and it's only then that Nick realizes that gives up.

He and Amy will be together for life and he vows to make sure their child will have a happy life, protected by him, from the insanity of Amy.  And so it goes.  Just to show you how little I cared about the end, I went to sleep with the last page or two to go.  In fact, I haven't read it yet but will do it when I finish this.  No surprises, just a great last line by Nick to Amy.  When asked by Amy why he has been so solicitous towards her, he answers: "Because I feel sorry for you. Amy asks, "Why?"  He answers: "Because every morning you have to wake up to be you."  This may be the only time in the novel where Amy is taken aback, surprised.  I give Flynn credit for her writing as she is insightful about modern life, about love, about people, their selfishness yet also their love.  I did like the sister Go!

Back to the Lake, via State College and Kinzua Sky Walk

7:11

Kinzua Sky Walk

Sky Walk

View of Kinzua Valley

Wreckage of Bridge from Tornado

On the Sky Walk

Penn State Campus

Penn State

Back at the lake, up at 6:30, as a dark blanket of clouds looms off to the east, perhaps a storm?  It's  forty degrees outside, the lawn covered with leaves, wet as it rained some last night.  The fire place is lit, the living room warm and cosy, as it's good to be back in our home.

Yesterday, as I mentioned, we relaxed in our Hampton Inn till about 10:30, when we drove in to the heart of the Penn State campus.  We walked quite a bit, enjoying some of the great shops, but mostly, we enjoyed walking through the campus quad, filled with students of all different cultures, surrounded by these amazing buildings, most fifty to sixty years old, if not more, which blend in nicely with the newer buildings from the past twenty years.  It is an amazing campus,  the landscaping and trees, especially in the fall, and as Evie said, no wonder they call it Happy Valley...everyone seems happy.  We found a Turkish restaurant, called Penn Kebab, just a hole in the wall, talked with the proprietor, who is from Istanbul, ordered a Turkish pizza and doner kebab and enjoyed it immensely. The place had been open about nine months ago, and he makes everything from scratch, even the phyllo dough or pizza dough.  It is a great place.

We then drove for a couple of hours, mostly through the hills of Pennsylvania, to the Mt Jewett area where we visited the Kinzua Bridge State Park, something I have been wanting to do.  It's a viaduct that spans a gorge of 2053 feet and is 301 feet high. It built by a coal company to bring coal, via train to their major cities.  It was built in 1881 in 94 days, using 125 iron workers.  By 1900, because the locomotives and products had become heavier, the framework was replaced with steel girders.  It stood  and functioned until the early 1950's.  It the 1960's it became a centerpiece of the park, until 2003 when a tornado, with winds of over 112 miles per hour, hit the area and destroyed many of the towers holding up the viaduct.  In 2011, the viaduct was reinvented as a Sky Walk.  Fortunately, we had nice enough weather, so we could enjoy the 300 foot walk out to the tip, to observe the destroyed steel framework in the gorge, the destroyed hillside of down trees, witnesses to the power of the 2003 tornado.  Neither Evie nor I could look down, over the side, without feeling queasy, a couple of puppies.  And, to make it even worst, at the tip of the bridge, they had a 10 squared foot glass floor, so you could look down 300 feet.  Needless to say we didn't. It was well worth the drive, and there were a couple of other vantage points, from which you could view the bridge and the spectacular valley, awash in colors, shapes, contours, and mist.

We got home about 5:15, having driven close to 475 miles in 36 hours, a great road trip.  Soup and cheese sandwiches for dinner as we watched the Al Smith dinner from NYC, listening to the two presidential candidates attempt to be funny.  Sometimes they were.

Enjoying The Mutts in State College

We really enjoyed our stay in State College, what a place.  We got to our Hampton around 4:30 and went downtown, to the campus around 6:30.  The campus is beautiful this time of the year, and basically hugs the west side of College Street, for almost an mile.  On the other side, are all the shops and restaurants, stores, coffee shops, diners, you name it they have it for almost a mile.  The east side, where we walked, was packed with people, mostly students but townies and tourists as well, going to bars, resaturants, shops, or running, just hanging out, having a great time and enjoying the fall night.  What a different feel from, let's say Jamestown, which is mostly empty, closed store fronts like most other towns in this part of the US. State College, however, is amazingly prosperous, no closed stores, crowded restaurants and bars, no place to park, just a great place to be, as a student or resident.

We got together with Mike Maimone, a former Reserve student, and his two band members, after something out of the Three Stooges, as we  tried to hook up at the bar, but there were two entrances, us at one, them at the other.  We then went to the Pickle Brew Pub for a burger and a beer, talked with them for a couple of hours, learning about their life as serious musicians.  It ain't pretty.  Mike and his band members, Chris on drums, Bob on bass, have been together since 2009.  Like most bands, they are struggling to make a name, to get their music out there, thus the trips to bars and venues all over the US, which end up not hardly paying their expenses. In other words, they are not getting rich.  All three have jobs, the kind they can leave if they are on the road, Chris teaching driving and substitute teaching, Mike designing websites. They played in Cincinnati two nights ago, Columbus last night, State College tonight, then  Philadelphia, and on to NYC.  When I asked them where they are staying, they were unsure.  Chris talked about something called StayMyCouch, a website where you could sleep for free in some one's extra room.  They have done it a couple of times.  If that does not work out, they may have a friend's apartment where they can bunk, or they may have to go on Price Line to get a room as the last resort.  Not a luxurious tour!  But their love, their passion is music, not comfort, which is obvious when you watch them play.  The venue, the Darkhorse Tavern, was not pretty, basically a brick basement, with about twenty five people, enthusiastic no doubt, but not a crowd.  But it did not deter The Mutts in the least, as they gave it there all, blowing all of us out with there power and enthusiasm.  This ain't a quiet little band.  There energy, their passion, there power as musicians, their pounding sound, separates them from other bands.  Chris on the drums, starts each number, in comes Bob on the base, then Mike literally hops up on the keyboards,  banging them with his fist, as if his life depends on the music, as he screams the lyrics (written by him) into the mike.  They knock it out of the park with there energy and the small group of music lovers were enthusiastic and appreciative.  My only criticism would be they were so loud, that I found it difficult to hear Mike's lyrics, some quite interesting and current, often political.  I would like to see him more like Bruce, full of power and sound, but also allowing the voice and lyrics to peak through the sound.

It was fun seeing them perform, getting to catch up with Mike and meet his friends.  All three really seemed to appreciate our effort to come and see them.  That was nice.  And we came away with two of their CD's and Mike showed us there latest, a pale green (not black) old style 33  vinyl record album that they just put together.  Cool.

Hiking Cook Forest, PA

Amazing granite

Need I say More

Huge white pines

Forest Floor

e

Relaxing on a Bench

Tree Root Art

Walking Up Longfellow Trail

Lunch

Typical hiking trail

Up about 7:30, here at the Hampton Inn, after a late night at the Black Horse Tavern, listening to The Mutts, one of my former student's band from Chicago.  More about this on tomorrow's entry.  We are just enjoying sitting in our room, surfing the net, and I have been downstairs twice, to get coffee and goodies from the breakfast bar.  Even I am not in a hurry this morning, to my wife's delight.  We hope to spend the morning walking around State College, then head home via Mount Jewett to see the Sky Way Walk, the reconstructed railroad bridge I had mentioned a couple of days ago.

Yesterday, we left for Cooksburg a bit late, around 9:30 and it took us just about two hours to get to the forest headquarters.  We spent much of our time on RT 62, just south of Warren, which followed the Allegheny River for about thirty miles, a marvelous ride, with much of the western side of the Allegheny Forest on one side of the road, the river on the other.  We eventually took RT 36, which led us eventually to Cook's Forest, an amazing place.  We got our map, talked to the help behind the counter, and headed off into the Forest of ancient pines, some of the oldest in the US, two to three hundred years old.

We hiked out about a mile and a half, much of it up hill, which took us an hour.  We then had lunch, one of Evie's favorites from grade school, a scrambled egg and bologna sandwich with Lays potato chips.  We ate in a valley in what is called the Ancient Forests, not a sound, not a soul, just the two of us communing with nature, o yea.  For those who may know the trails (and for my information when we return), we started out briefly on Birch, before heading up the hillside on Longfellow, through the Cathedral of Pines to where it connected with the north end of Ancient Forest Trail.  We wound down it, into the valley of ancient pines, then up and out, where we met up with Longfellow, before a brief side step on Red Elf, which met up with Tom's Run Trail, which follows the a creek for three miles, of mostly flat land.  We ended up on Rhododendron, which took us into the cabins and back to the Cook Forest Center.  We hiked in the shade 98% of the time, as the pines were out umbrellas, sheltering us from the sun.  And when we worked up a sweat, from hiking up the hills, we were actually chilly from the cool air.  A few observations, lots of trees down, on both sides, rarely moved, unless they were across the trail, making it look like a graveyard of trees.  Remember, the forest is a couple hundred years old, rarely harvested.  Lots of outcroppings of rocks, ferns on the forest flower, and the occasional rhododendrons on the side of the trail.  The woods were mostly pines, with some deciduous trees, thus the floor of the forest was covered with leaves at times.  It was deathly quiet, no birds, no animals scurrying, just the sound of our footfalls on the earth floor.  We passed by one couple until we arrived almost back, when there were a few other couples out walking their dogs.  The beauty and quiet is breath taking, especially when you are alone.  It would be just a beautiful in the winter, in snow, because the trees would mostly be pines, thus green and enveloping the trails.  The Tom's Run Trail would be an easy trail for snow shoes or cross country skiing because it's so flat.  The others would be more difficult in deep snow.

We left about 2: 30, driving south on Rt. 36 and in contrast to our entrance, the highway was littered with all the tacky shops, tourist traps, cabins, water parks, deer parks, almost anything you could name that destroys the pristine feel of the area.  The cabins in the park itself are rustic, with shared bathrooms, but I am sure there are decent motels around, one called the Gateway looked decent if we were to come back in January. It's just amazing how we can ruin something as beautiful as this area its left to individuals to develop as they wish, with no zoning or regulations, not that I want the government in my life!

It was an easy ride to State College, two hours, with only about 40 minutes on Rt. 80.  We found our Hampton Inn easily, relaxed there for a couple of hours, before going into the town for something to eat.

A Fine Day For A Road Trip

7:34

It's 39 degrees and the sun has just peaked through the clouds off to the east, on its slow move to the south.  It always amazes me, the difference between a sunrise in June, over Long Point Pavilion, to that in December, over Wells Bay.  I really paid no attention to this journey until we retired here a few years ago and I got to watch it move slightly each morning.  It also shows how unobservant I have been for much of my life, especially of the natural world.  I guess other  things were on my mind!

We did two things of note yesterday, go to the movies  at 4:00 (half price pop corn and drinks), and watch the debate.  Other than that, we did a bit of organizing, Evie went shopping, and I met her at the theater.  The movie, ARGO, starring Ben Afflect has gotten great reviews but for some reason, neither of us was taken with it. It's based on an actual incident, the freeing of six Americans from the Canadian consul's home in Tereran, back during the hostage crisis.  The build up to the actual escape seemed uninteresting, even boring.  When they actually left the home, to start for the airport, the pace picked up, though the problems they faced seemed predictable, the evil Iranian authorities finding out at the same time what was happening, the state department calling off the mission, cancelling their plane tickets, making it necessary to reconfirm them at the last minute, as they were at the Swissair counter.  It is an amazing story, we just didn't buy it or were moved by it.

The debate was another matter; Obama finally asserted himself, confronting Romney on his pledges, his plans, and most likely won the debate if there is such a thing.  Romney was as good as last time, but because of Obama's mojo, he did not appear as convincing.  Romney was strongest when he explained the failed policies of Obama, his promises that have not been met.  Obama was strong on almost everything else, especially when he angrily denounced Romney for suggesting  that he and his people had politicized the Libyan affair.  Obama actually turned his back on him in disdain, a powerful move I felt. The audience, supposedly the undecided, ought not be allowed to vote.  They seemed disinterested in the debate when the cameras showed them and I thought their questions were fairly mundane and predictable.  If you don't know who to vote for at this point, you have not been paying attention.  It's scary to think these people may decide the election, perhaps on a sound bite.Next Monday we see how the tie will be settled.

We are off in an hour for a road trip, first to Cooks Forest State Park, where we hope to go on a couple hour hike, then on to State College, home of Penn State, to enjoy the campus and listen to one of my student's bands play tonight at a local bar.  It's hard to believe he is now thirty two years old, struggling to make it as a musician.  He was the captain of the football team, a student in my AP class, went to Notre Dame, got a good job in the financial world, and threw it all aside about six years ago to concentrate on his passion, the keyboards and music. As far as I knew, he never manifested any interest in music in high school.  One can never tell where a person's real passion lies, as schools often put too much emphasis on academics, ignoring the arts.  He's a great kid.

Ah Chautauqua Gray

7:40

Woodlawn/Kinney's Run

Late afternoon Storm Clouds

Up late, around 7:35, to looming, even ominous clouds over the lake, the shore line.  It's much cooler this morning, about 43 degrees but I think it's supposed to clear up later, at least I hope so. Yesterday, we started the day with a pleasant walk through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, around 8:30, just as it was beginning to clear up.  It's mostly through woods, a path created by our neighbors and me in Victoria, a little over a mile, a great way to start the day.

Then, it was clean for the kitchen day for Evie, one of those days where she decided to spend the day washing down the entire kitchen, oiling the cupboards, and it looks amazing.  And we have so much in our cupboards that we never use, like most people, that they were cleaned out as well.  Meanwhile, as is my wont, I went to Lakewood, did some shopping for us, stopped at Ryder's Cup for coffee, read some on my computer, then went home for lunch.  Later in the day, I went to the CI library to pick up a couple of books.  I am inundated with books at the moment, as digital books and library books I have ordered have all arrived at once, and I have yet to finish the books I have been reading GONE GIRL AND HITCH 22.  What to do!

Late afternoon, I came up with the bright idea of another road trip, this time to State College, PA, to see another one of my student's play in a band called the MUTTS.  He has been at it for at least five years at least, living in Chicago, playing all over the US.  We will leave early Wednesday, drive to the Kinzua State Park, and hike and walk their Sky Way, an amazing reconstructed railroad bridge, at one time the tallest in the US.  Then we will drive to Cooks Forest for lunch and a longer hike of a couple of hours around the Ancient Forests in the Park.  These are mostly virgin forests with trees up to three or four hundred years old and tower some two hundred feet.  I have always wanted to go there, hike the trails, so this is a perfect opportunity.  We will drive to State College in late afternoon, check in our Hampton, walk around some, go to dinner then see his show at the Dark Horse Tavern in downtown State College.  I have already communicated with Mike so we may meet him for dinner if it works out.  I am not sure what we will do Thursday, whether we will hike somewhere else or just head home.  Depends on the weather I suppose.

Last night, for dinner, Evie roasted chicken breasts, cauliflower and potatoes for dinner and we watched a really interesting movie, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI, a film about an 85  year old sushi master from Tokyo.  He owns and runs the only 3 star sushi restaurant in the world, a small counter that seats 9 people, costs about $300.00 a person, and it takes a month at least to get a reservation.  It interviews him, what it has taken to become a master---75 years of working everyday, ten to twelve hours a day, and  doing something you love.  The filmmakers, all Western, interview Jiro, his sons, his sous chefs,  and they take us also to the fish market, where Jiro gets his tuna. It's not only about food, but about greatness, dedication, love and hard work and iron discipline, what it takes to be the best at something.  I recommend it on Netflix.