Warming Up For A Day

7:07

Swans in Early Morning

Swans

Up Close Just Off our Front Yard

A Sunny Friday Afternoon 

Up at 6:20, listening to Click and Clack.  Right now it's 7:00 and the shoreline has a rosy glow, rising to a light blue...amazing.  The lake has various shades of blue, a tinge of pink, frozen in some parts, open in others.  It's 35º after yesterday's deep freeze of a morning.

No yoga yesterday so I walked Dobbins Woods for about forty five minutes.  It was snow covered, perhaps a inch, the ground frozen, especially the wet areas, which creaked and crunched when I walked over them.  The pines, weighed down by snow, obscured the mostly open views of the leafless woods,  I am always amazed by the amount of dead fall, littering a nature preserve or most woods, often blocking trails, horizontals to the healthy vertical trees.  The forest floor was scarred by occasional animal tracks, rabbits and deer probably, otherwise untouched except for my boot prints.  It was very cold and when the wind picked up, I felt like Shackleton on the South Pole, a bit of hyperbole as he was not in a forest!  It was just cold!  I then went to the Vision Center at Walmart, to have my eyes checked.  When he first asked me to look look the lens and tell him what I could see, all I saw was a blue.  The had the wrong chart!  Fortunately, my eyes seem healthy, have changed very little in three years, so I do not need new glasses.  I liked the optometrist, kind of a dude, dressed in all black, shaved bullet shaped head, youngish, a local who works here and Fredonia, not your average eye specialist.

Dobbins Woods

Dobbins Woods

For lunch, more cauliflower soup and a bagel with salmon spread, then stayed inside, too cold to kayak and read, made up some black bean soup for the weekend, then at 4:00, went to see Zero Dark Thirty, the film about the search for Osama bin Laden.  I, finally, really like a film.  Right from the first moment, I was into the film, hardly realizing I was sitting in a theater, as Kathryn Bigelow, the director, wowed the viewer with her story telling ability.  The first thirty minutes, the most controversial, are uncomfortable as we move from one torture scene to another, the water boarding especially hard to watch.  From these, we move through the phone records and emails and dead ends, some shocking and violent, that eventually lead to Osama's death.  We are in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, other posts, as Maya, played by Jessica Chastain, angers various station agents with her onesidedness, her sticking to the goal of getting Bin Laden.  It takes almost  ten years, as we move through a number of terrorist attacks, the gathering of info until there's enough evidence to suggest that he may be in Pakistan.  The decision to 'go' is by no means a sure thing and the tension of arriving at this momentous point is well done.   Though Obama never appears, we get the drama of making a decision that guarantees nothing, and there's everything to lose.  The last thirty minutes take us, via helicopter, along with the special forces ops who actually make the raid, and it moves very slowly, with no music, just occasional gun fire and blasts to open doors, as the troops methodically move through the compound, eventually finding and killing Bin Laden, bagging him, and bringing him and various hard drives back to base.  A good movie, perhaps great, like The Hurt Locker, the Academy Award Winning film from a few years ago, also directed by Bigelow.  A riveting film by Bigelow, pitch perfect performance by Chastain, it raises lots of questions about torture, about the amount of time and money spent to find Bin Laden.  It makes a good story and, for Maya, it's a sweet end to her obsession.

O, yea, I put together my bicycle trainer, so I am ready to work on my aerobic exercise, to complement my yoga.  Let's see if I join the 95% who end up never using their exercise machine, or the 5% who use it regularly.

Ready to Ride

A Blanket of White

7:25

Woodlawn 

Looking Towards Woodlawn at Dusk

Partially Frozen Lake atLong Point Marina 

Woodlawn's Creek

Up too early again, 5:30, 16º outside, an inch of lovely snow blankets the ground, no animal tracks, no gouges, just virgin snow.  Snow showers this morning, cold and windy the rest of the day, not exactly kayaking weather but I might give it a try if it's not too windy.  No yoga this morning, just an appointment to get my eyes checked.  It might be a good day to hike Dobbins Woods, as it's spectacular just after a snow fall.  We will see what I am up for.

My days don't seem to change much, like yesterday, yoga in the morning, coffee, a walk in the afternoon, dinner at the Seezurh House with the Mc Clures, not that I am complaining.  Yoga was good, crowded, one of two guys, and lots of work on the lower back.  We did do something different, though; we gave ourselves a foot massage, a treat for our hard work according to our instructor, Danielle.  She also happens to be a masseuse, so she know what's she's doing.  It felt good actually though I don't usually look so closely at my foot and toes.  She mentioned that she is going to India in late February, to Goa, where she will take more yoga classes.  Interesting.  I did not have much to tell her about India since my backpacking trip through India was thirty seven years ago.  It's bizarre how something like that, my trip through the Far East, seems like a mirage, like it never happened.  Only a few images remain in my mind.  Perhaps I should go back through my diary to reconstruct my trip, get out my India slides, so I know, for sure, it happened.  Once something is over, it's over.  Like it never happened.  Live in the moment, be present.  I'm trying.

In the afternoon, I read and took a nap, after my restless night.  Around 4:30, I took a walk through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, as it was getting dark, the shadows lengthening, the sun disappearing in the west.  I enjoy the lake at this time of day, like a black and white photo, little color, just shadows, shades of gray and black.  At 6:30, the Mc Clures picked me up and we went to the Seezurh House, our routine, but I ordered something different, just to prove I am not an automaton, pot roast with mashed potatoes!  Exciting and quite tasty, especially with a couple of drafts of Yuengling.  We finished around 9:00 and I came home, watched some Louie C.K. and then went upstairs to read.  I fell asleep around 11:00, waking at 3:00, again at 5:00 before getting up at 5:30.

By the way, I changed my morning routine, as I am sitting by the fireplace, enjoying its warmth instead of looking out the front windows at the darkness.  Once it starts to get light, I will go back to the couch and watch the sun rise.   It's 7:15 and the darkness is just beginning to fade, the shore lines hinted at.  Time to turn off the fire place,  move to the couch.

IN THE WOODS: TANA FRENCH

The novel begins in the 1984, with the disappearance of two twelve year olds, a young boy and a girl, and their friend Adam Ryan, found speechless, with blood in his shoes, unable to remember what happened to his friends. Some twenty years later, Adam is now Rob Ryan, a detective on the Dublin Murder squad.  His partner is a young woman, Cassie Maddox, and they are both asked to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Katy Devlin, in Rob's old neighborhood, Knockaree, a housing development out side of Dublin.  Cassie and Rob are given the case though no one, except Rob's  partner, Cassie, know that he was the boy in the early disappearance of the the two twelve year olds.  Thus begins the hunt for the murderer of Katy Devlin, a ballet prodigy.  The Devlin's, the parents, also have two other daughters, Jessica, Katy's twin and Rosalind, her older sister.  It's  soon becomes clear that Rob is still haunted by the memories of what happened to him when he was twelve, that he should not have taken the case but he cannot help himself, hoping that some how, this search for the killer will also open some doors from his past and lead him to what actually happened on that day some twenty years ago.

Ryan and Cassie are perfect partners, friends forever, at least for the first half of the novel.  They know each other habits, spend all day with each other, as detectives, often have dinner with each other, Ryan often sleeping on Cassie's couch if it's a late night.  And it works, until it doesn't one night when they sleep with each other.  It freaks Ryan out, he draws back, freezes Cassie out,  and won't discuss the 'mistake,' which it is from his point of view.  Cassie, we are not sure of.  She acts as though it's no big deal, but we also think there's more to it then she lets out.  This personal stuff is all going on as they try to solve the murder, complicated by the fact that Katy is found at the site of an archaeological dig, short lived however, as the city will soon be building a highway over the site.

Thus, we get the complication of those who want and don't want this highway, those who tend to profit from it, those who oppose it on environmental and cultural grounds.  All these concerns surround the case, as well as the possibility that this murder has a connection with the disappearance of the two kids twenty years ago.  As these two events seemingly match up, Ryan goes deeper and deeper into a hysterical state, as he tries to remember what happens.  His ruminations, almost hallucinations, bollock up the investigation, his relationship with Cassie, and his place on the murder squad.  Eventually, they limit the suspects down to two people, both working on the archaeological dig.  Ryan comes up with the clue, the fact that a trowel was used in the murder, implicating the diggers.

As things unravel, nothing is as it seems.  Ryan is taken in by Rosalind Devlin, the sexy older sister, who we find is a psychopath, hateful of her much admired younger sister.  She uses her wiles to convince Damien, one of the student archaeologists that she loves him, that she's been abused by her parents, a result of her sister's lies.  She convinces him that if he kills Katy, the abuse will stop.  He's obviously a dim bulb though she's not, a women who can lie with impunity, has no conscience, and gets off in the end because it cannot be proved that she instigated the whole murder.

Ryan ends up demoted from the Murder Squad because O'Kelly, the chief, discovers that this case is personal for Ryan.  He loses Cassie to a fellow officer, Sam O'Neil who worked with the two of them on the case.  He must live with the fact that it's his fault for messing up not only the case but his relationship with Cassie.  His life, in many ways, has ended, no longer a detective, no hope of a relationship with Cassie, not trusted by O'Kelly, and living alone, seemingly friendless.  I am not sure if he appears in any of her next novels; I don't think so because I know that Cassie Maddox does.  It's interesting to note that we see the novel through Ryan's, not Cassie's eyes, yet she ends up in the next novel, not him.  It was a good read, complicated, a bit far fetched in the end, a deep psychological study of someone who ends up ruining his life, throwing away everything he has wanted

A Busy Boy, Yoga, Kayaking, and Hiking

Woodlawn

Birds Rising at Wells Bay This Morning at 8:15

8:15

Woodlawn from my Kayak

A restless night but did not get up till 7:00.  It's 30º outside but getting colder during the day, with snow predicted, about an inch.  When I got the paper, a light dusting covered the lawn and drive way though it did not feel that cold.  Right now it's lightening up so I can see the gray clouds, threatening at the moment, the lake still open, with a slight wind.

Yesterday began with one of my better yoga classes, with Elise.  For some reason, the three of us really enjoyed class, more vigorous, lots of different and new poses, ending with a relaxation where we laid on our backs with our feet up against the wall.  We worked on all parts of the body, too, which I liked and there was little talk. My kind of day at yoga.  Stopped by Ryder's Cup for a coffee and came home to a placid, inviting lake.  So, I put on my boots, life jacket and got out my paddle which I had put away for the winter, slid my kayak out of the boat life, plopped it in the water, jumped in and paddled away.  It always feels invigorating, even exciting to be out on the lake after a long absence, especially in the winter when you know you are not supposed to be kayaking, ice fishing perhaps, but not kayaking.  I was out for about forty five minutes, stopped around the reeds in front of Giarizzo's by ice, like a pane of glass.  I was a ice breaker for about fifty yards but turned around, afraid I might get stuck and have to get out of my boat to break the ice.  I then paddled back past the campground, to the beginning of Whitney Bay and headed home, refreshed and happy to have been out on the water.  Right now the lake does not look at all inviting, with the dark clouds so that may have  been my last paddle on the lake till spring.

Kayak Afternoon

For lunch I had left over pizza and Indian cauliflower soup (yum), watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, took a nap and began reading another Robert Crais novel, with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, the two private investigators.  Fluff but fun.  Around 4:30,  I drove to Mayville to walk the Rails to Trails Portage Pathway.  I was surprised that a good part of the pathway was still ice covered, probably from the snow mobiles packing the snow.  I was able to navigate it pretty well although it was also wet and muddy in some areas, a good place to test if my Gore Tex hiking boots are waterproof.  They are.  I walked out as far as the wetlands, then walked back on a path which cuts up through the woods, most likely on private land but it's there and nicely wooded.  I did have to then walk through the back yard of two homes to get back on the trail but there were no dogs and I was able to slink by unnoticed.  It was almost dark when I got back to my car, a good walk.

Portage Trail

Woods At Dusk Along Portage Trail in Mayville 

Dinner was the left over  chicken cacciatore, with good bread, a glass of wine and I watched a movie, Beasts of the Southern Wild, nominated for an Academy Awards. It's set during Katrina, among the poverty stricken families that live in the wetlands of Louisiana named The Bathtub by its inhabitants..  The narrator and star of the movie is a six year old named Hush Puppy.  We follow her struggles and adventures as the floods come, rendering her, her father, and other friends homeless.  Independent and stubborn by nature, they refuse to be saved by the authorities, preferring instead to stay in the Delta, some how surviving by what Ralph Ellison called 'shit, grit and mother wit.'  Eventually, they are 'rescued' by the authorities, settled in a compound of some sort but break out in mass, to return to their home, the Bathtub, to watch Hush Puppies Daddy die in his home.  I cannot say I loved the movie though I wanted to.  I never really bought in to the story, cared much about the characters, unfortunately, and I tend to not like magic realism.  Hush Puppy was the center, in fact, she's up for an Academy Award but I found her voice over tiresome and too mature for a six year old.  Still, it's an amazing film, with most of the cast ordinary people and some of the scenes of the Delta, the poverty, and flooding are moving.

More of the same today, yoga at 10:00, perhaps a walk, then dinner at the Seezurh House with the Mc Clures.

Home Alone

Laura Lynn, Evie's sister, and Marisa, Beth's daughter, August, 2008

A Blue Sky, Yesterday Afternoon

Back to Normal, a Gray, Overcast Morning: 8:10

Well, it's about 8:30, though I have been up for an hour, with coffee, NPR, a cold morning, 28º, and a placid lake, ribboned by shoreline shadows.  I ought to be out there kayaking but am not up to it at this time, perhaps later in the day if it stays calm.  Evie's in Las Vegas for a week, with her sister, Laura, so I am on my own, a scary thought.  I miss her already and am bored, sitting her by myself with my coffee and radio.  Don't cry for me Argentina!

Yesterday started early, at 3:00, as Evie wanted to be at the airport by 5:30 for her 7:00 flight to Las Vegas.  We made it right on time, an easy drive in the dark; I returned home by 7:00 ea, after a MD's run for coffee and an egg sandwich.  I did manage to take a quick nap, perhaps an hour (I can sleep any where at any time, the envy of Evie), then went off to yoga at 10:00 though I had no pep, as my Dad would say.  No pep!  I better get used to it.  There were only three of us, two women and me, and Chris, our guru, much admired by the way, by both women.  He's talky, something they must like but I don't.  I want to get on with the Asanas, not very "yogaily' I know.  We did work on the back again, which I like and he's a good guy so I will continue with him.  I think I am the only person who seems to go to almost every morning class.  Most people follow one of the three teachers whereas I tend to go to all three, if they teach in the morning.  I must have much more leisure than others, or they may prefer one teacher to another.

Evie had an good flight, fortunately, even had Wifi so she could use her IPAD.  Leah, Laura's daughter picked her up at the airport, which was nice and she was in their home in North Las Vegas around 1:00.  She will be there at least a week and, perhaps, her other two sisters, Claire and Jean may drive up from Scottsdale for the weekend.

The rest of my day was wasted, no pep, so I just laid around the house, reading and taking cat naps, not even wanting to take a walk.  Around 6:00, I drove over to Mc Clure's and Ron drove the two of us to Fredonia, about a thirty minute drive to see Fredonia State Men's Basketball play Lockport, a league rival.  We stopped at the Ellicottville Brew Pub, just off the main square, sat at the almost empty bar and had a great burgers and fries along with a couple of drafts, a good choice.  We got to the game about ten minutes before it started.  Somewhere between one and two hundred fans watched the game, with little if any emotion, no cheering except for the teams.  Students were not back yet, though Ron told me their average attendance was around three hundred fans a game.  The teams were well matched, at least in the first half, which ended fairly even.  But the second half was a different story, as Lockport took control, winning by twenty points.  It was a hard fought game, both teams aggressive to the point of almost being out of control.  For me it was just as much fun to watch the people watch as the game.

We stayed till the last minute, drove back to Mayville, where we stopped at the LakeView for another couple of beers before going home.  It was about 10:30 before I went up to read and fell asleep around 11:30.

Evie's Las Vegas Bound

8:45

Swans Are Back

Walking Woodlawn/Victoria Woods

Woodlawn at Dusk

Up at 3:00 and yes, it's dark out, as we have to leave for the Buffalo Airport in about forty five minutes.  Evie's flight leaves at the ungodly time of 7:00 AM, so we want to be on our way at the latest by 4:00, getting here there by 5:30.  I feel surprisingly good at the moment, but let's see how I feel later today and if I make it to yoga at 10:00,  It's 24º outside and partly cloudy, a chance of rain.

Yesterday was getting ready for Evie's trip day though I did make it to yoga at 9:30.  A  good class, one of two guys, in an increasingly crowded yoga studio.  We worked quite a bit on chest openings, using the egg, which we placed in mid back when he laid down on our back, spreading our arms, creating a nice curve.  After yoga, I went to  Wegman's to pick up food I might need this week.  Meanwhile, Evie was getting packed and made both chocolate chip cookies for me and some Indian cauliflower soup, one of our favorites.  I did get a nice walk in around 4:00, through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods and it felt invigorating to be outside, to have it cold once again as I walked, so different from Sunday's sixty degree walk around the CI.  The snow has completely melted and the woods floor is completely brown, with pressed or smashed leaves, from the snow.  I did walk along the lake, past Telkins and it looks like there may be a structure going up just beyond their house, where there used to be a cottage, just below the blue house.  The area has been cleared of trees, though no digging or building has been started.

For dinner, we had the slow cooked chicken cacciatore and it was perfect, great sauce and the chicken was done just right.  I think we may start using it more as it was nice to have dinner finished except for a salad.  We watched Downton Abbey and remain disappointed, as it seems predictable and routine or more of the same.  Maybe we (me) are just getting too cynical.  We went to be early since we were getting up at 3:00, Evie at 9:00, me at 10:30.

It's now 8:30 and I am back from the airport, having had a Mc Donald's coffee and sandwich in Fredonia, betting home around 7:00, just as Evie took off.  I was able to sleep for about an hour, finish this, and am off to yoga at 9:45.

Perhaps A Kayak Morning But Getting Colder

8:00

Bell Tower at CI

A  Forlorn and Morose  Garden and Yard

Walking the CI

Up at 6:30, much colder than yesterday's high in the 60's. a steady 31º.  It's supposed to stay in the 30's most of the day, 20's tonight, and be cloudy as well as windy.   The lake looks open, at least at 7:00 in the morning so I might try to kayak sometime today or tomorrow, if the wind dies down.  I assume it will be open for a few days until it gets colder later in the week.  Evie flies to Las Vegas tomorrow, early, her plane leaving at 7:00 AM  to stay with her sister Laura, so today will be a day of getting ready, going to bed early.

Our only activity yesterday, other than reading, watching TV, and making meals was to take a walk at the CI around 10:30, though it was drizzling and overcast.  There's not much interesting nor arresting to photograph at this time of the year in the CI, especially when the snow has melted.  Everything looks either gray or green, no bright colors, except for a few obnoxious painted homes.  The Purell guy's house continues to inflate, more outbuildings, more intricacy, more angles, and one wonders when it will ever be done.  Some windows are in, no siding yet, lots of Tyvek, and mostly mud around the house.  It's nice to know, though, that this 13,000 square foot is green and sustainable!  Sounds like a relative of Al Gore though not as wealthy after Al's selling of his cable channel to Al Jeezerra.

On Ice's Edge

Fog rising

For much of the afternoon, we watched the lake slowly melt, fog roll in, and sea gulls return, and I think I saw a bald eagle in the trees, off towards Victoria.  It was a huge bird, with a white head, otherwise mostly black and I know our neighbors, the Fox's, saw one a week or two ago.  I don't think it was a turkey buzzard because of the white head and neck, the way it flew.  The birds at our feeders have slowed down, as the feeder is till half full, perhaps because the birds have hid enough of the seeds to get them through the next few weeks.  An article in the Post Journal mentioned how birds take seeds from the feeder, then hide them in cracks and crevasses of many trees, for later meals.  I have also wondered if this slowing down might be a result of a predator in the neighborhood because there have been few if any  birds around in the last twenty four hours.

Before our walk, we got out the slow cooker/pressure cooker/rice cooker combination and put together a chicken cacciatore, turned the cooker on slow cook and forgot it for the day.  Easy.  Evie made my usual Sunday breakfast, two eggs, over easy, an everything bagel, and a couple of slices of bacon.  I not sure why this meal tastes so good, perhaps because it's so different from my usual breakfast of plain yogurt, raw oats, and blueberries.  Late afternoon, we decided to hold off on the chicken dish till Monday, since I had bought two New York strips at the Lighthouse.  So I threw four potatoes in the oven, grilled the steaks outside, and Evie made a salad.  A  great dinner, the steaks just right for once, tender but not raw, and a white Belgium ale made the meal perfect,  We watched most of the Golden Globes, laughed hard at Amy Pohler and Tina Fey jokes as hosts but I get tired of seeing the same actors and shows win year after year, like Homeland, with Damian Lewis and Claire Danes.  And who is the Foreign Press who votes for these awards?