Six More Inches of Snow On The Second Day of Spring

Second Batch of Easter Cookies Are On Their Way

Snow Covered Pines in Backyard

7:30

Frozen Bench

Yesterday's Sunrise

It's 6:50 and I have been up for a half an hour.  We had another three or four inches of snow last night, not the ten inches they were predicting.  It's still dark so I cannot see much other than the tree in our front yard. Today was the second day this week I was supposed to drive to Erie to the Honda dealer, but I have cancelled both appointments because of the weather predictions.  I guess I am a chicken about driving on snowy roads.  It's now 7:09. overcast but no snow at the moment, no wind either, quite a change from the last few days.

By the way, I have forgotten to mention the absence of fishermen on the lake the last few days, not sure why because it's been cold and snowy.  Someone told me that fishermen were not allowed on the lake after March 15 but I have never heard that before so I assume it's apochryphal.  We did see a couple of snow mobiles coming towards us, from Bemus, a couple of nights ago.

Snow Shoe Lady

We were able to do yoga and work out yesterday, the roads clear though wet, no snow till the mid afternoon.  It  felt good to get back in the routine, again we did different poses, a couple which I just could not do as my knees are just not as flexible as must people, especially if I am kneeling and try to bend backwards, stretching both the knees and torso.   We made our bi weekly trip to Wegman's, shopping for a couple of weekend meals.  Our good friend, John Allen, a high school, college, and Hawaiian friend is flying in from Maui today for the weekend, to visit family and see his son play at Carnegie Hall next week.  He has been to Chautauqua a couple so times before but only in the summer.    He has a surprise coming.

I spent most of the afternoon reading some but watching quite a bit of March Madness, channel surfing between the four games.  The most exciting was the comeback of Marquette, defeating Davidson with three three pointers and a layup in the last minute or two.  Poor Davidson, so upset minded until the last second.

We had the last, thank god, of the corned beef and cabbage for dinner.  I think I have had enough for awhile, as I have had it for lunch a couple of times as well.  We watched more basketball (poor Evie), saw Akron get destroyed by VCU and watched some of American Idol.  I have to admit to liking it still, especially if you get to know the contestants, start to like some, see them grow, and wish the best for them.  And Nikki Minaj one of the judges is a riot.  We both really like music producer Jimmy Lovine's analysis of each contestent...he tells the truth, that some are better than others.  Unfortunately, the worst singer made it through the night, a sympathy vote I think because he broke down in tears the previous night after his performance.  I cannot believe I am writing about American Idol.  Where has my taste, my 'supposed' sense of culture gone.  As my buddy Mac would say, 'moose shit but delicious.'

Cold But Clear, For Now

7:20

Ah Winter!

Cathedral of Snow

Spring?

Up at 6:30, a couple more inches of snow last night, it's cold, 16º outside, and surprise, a clear sky above and out over the lake, a dense cloud bank, however, hangs over the far Bemus shore.  We have a winter wonderland outside, every branch of every tree seems heavily frosted, up and down the lake.  Welcome Spring.  Later today, lake effect snow warnings go into effect, with the possibility of six to ten more inches by tomorrow, noon.  An update on the weather...I just took a picture of clear sky, a view of the lake and a minute later, it has disappeared, as its snowing, obscuring Long Point.

Yoga was cancelled again, yesterday, because of the weather.  The roads were bad but passable, as we went out twice, with no problem.  Let's hope we have yoga today, Thursday, as I miss it.  Because of the the cancellation of yoga, we decided to drive over to Warner Bay, park, and go exploring in the woods east of RT. 426.  We had explored it a bit two weeks ago.  We first started with our cross country skis but found they iced up again.  Fortunately, we brought our snow shoes, so we traded our skis in for the shoes, and had a wonderful walk, through the most amazing, snow covered woods.  We were not sure where we were going, following trails, what seemed to be roads, mostly up hill, through the woods, trees snow covered, the trails having a foot of snow.  We eventually came out on to a clearing, where a large house sat, with no seeming road to it.  We then wound our way back, partially on a snow mobile trails, and back to the car, over an hour of rigorous walking.  It was amazing to be in these woods and it snowed much of the time, making it even more picturesque and challenging.  We stopped briefly in Bemus, at the library and went into Skillmans and Wight  to browse all the new but expensive clothes.

Snow Shoeing

Loving the Snow

We went home, had lunch and Evie then spent a good part of the afternoon decorating Easter cookies for the grandchildren, a time consuming, arduous process.  Let's hope the grandchildren appreciate all the time that went into each cookie before they devour them!

For dinner, we met the Mc Clures, who else, at Guppy's, a few miles away, near Maple Springs.  It's a cosy place to go on a wintry night.  We sat at their small, five people bar for a beer, then went to one of the two tables in the bar for dinner.  Burgers and fries were the special of the night so we all ordered the same thing, mushroom burgers and fries.  They were great, as good as the Seezurh House, and their menu is quite extensive, with specials each week day night.  We got home around 9:00, in time to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers blow a 27 point second half lead to Lebron James and the Miami Heat.  Poor Cleveland fans!

Spring, Beanie Babies, And Five Inches of Snow

7:26

The Nelson's

Donna In Her Beanie Baby Museum

A Case Full of Beanie Babies

Donna With Her Bear

Dinner

It's now 7:15 and I have been up for a half an hour.  It's light enough to see the lake, the snow covered trees and car, the white lake, after a day of snow fall.  We must have gotten five inches easily over the past twenty four hours, most of them coming last night. Lake effect snow warnings are in effect, four to seven inches possible, over the next twenty four hours, a nice Spring welcome.

Unfortunately, yoga was cancelled yesterday though the roads and weather were acceptable.  In fact, after making more cookies and decorating them in the morning, Evie did go off to the YMCA to get in her work out.  I did some yoga at home with a video, not the same as a class.  And I walked the Woodlawn/Victoria woods.  At first, I checked out the lake to see if it might be good for skiing.  I literally sunk into slush of two or three inches and discarded that idea.  The fact that no fishermen were out should have been an indication.  I walked through the woods and ice pellets as it was not cold enough for snow, just ice.  The snow, at least in the morning, was crunchy, the sky overcast, an easy walk through the bare woods.  It was not much of a work out but at least it kept me off the couch for forty five minutes.

A Basement Full of Beanie Babies

More Animals

Stuffed Animals

The snow began in earnest during the later afternoon and evening.  We were invited to dinner by Sam and Donna Nelson, friends of ours from the old days at Bud's Carriage House.  They are both retired teachers, live in Busti, and we usually get together a couple of times a year.  They live just about 15 miles from our house, so the ride there was fairly easy, in fact, when we arrived the sun was out.  We had a great dinner, pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, just perfect for a cold late winter evening.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the tour of their house. Unlike ours, which is basically sparse, without much decoration or knick knacks, the Nelson's overflows, with stuffed animals but mostly bears of almost any origin and well lit case after case of beanie babies, twenty seven cases of them, which Donna has collected and organized for over twenty years.  It's an amazing display of beanie babies, organized according to theme.  The Halloween bears are all together, as our the patriotic beanie bears, in stars and stripes, and the Christmas  beanie baby bears.  In their living room, Donna has a fake Christmas tree up year round and decorates it with the bears of that particular time of year.  When we were there, the bears had a St. Patty's Days theme.  They have a special room just off the entrance, with about eight cases of beanie babies, much like a room you might find in a museum.  Bear after bear sit in their cases, staring out at the viewers. Their living room is also decorated with bears, many sitting on the couches and chairs, even a carved bear coffee table.

We thought that was it until Sam took us downstairs, where case after case filled their basement with more bears, all organized again, by theme.  Sam had picked up most of the glass cases when Crawford Furniture went out of business.  Donna estimates she has a couple of thousand bears, if not more.  It's an amazing display even if you don't particularly like beanie babies or teddy bears; neither of us has seen anything like it in a home.  We cannot wait to take our granddaughters over this summer because they will love seeing all the stuffed bears and beanie babies.

Original Beanie Baby Store Shelf

Nelson's Great  Kitchen With Two Of Their Five Ovens

We stayed until 8:30, enjoying each others company but it was snowing fairly hard outside, so I thought we better get home, a good idea.  The ride home became more or more scary, as the snow was so heavy it was literally blinding, and the roads were slick, so if you tried to stop quickly, you would slide.  We drove very slowly, kept to the center of the road, if I could find it, moving over only if a car approached. Fortunately, everyone was driving slowly and carefully, aware of the weather, and no one tried to pass. We eventually made it, Evie white knuckled most of the way.  It was wonderful to get home and be warm and cosy.

LAST WORDS: GEORGE CARLIN

I am not sure why I picked this book up.  I do remember hearing a discussion of his writings and remembering a passage about life that I really liked but was never able to find again.  I guess I thought I might find it in this book.  Unfortunately, I did not, at least, I did not recognize it.

The book was interesting enough to keep me going but not interesting enough to recommend it highly.  It traces George's life, from his tumultuous childhood, at odds with parents and all kinds of authority, no surprise, to being thrown out of school in 9th grade, never going back.  At seventeen, he enlists in the Air Force, a mediating force in life, though he is eventually thrown out with a semi dishonorable discharge.  In the Air Force, however, he began his career, as a disk jockey on Air Force radio stations, achieving some notoriety, enough to land him a job in Texas, as a disk jockey after the Air Force.

He hones his skills on the radio, eventually gets fired for his antics, and goes to Hollywood, hoping to make it big, first as a disk jockey, then as a stand up comedian, lastly as a actor.  He starts to make a name for himself as a stand up comedian in the 1960's, appearing on various television shows like Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, later on Johnny Carson, even Ed Sullivan.  At this time, drugs especially cocaine begin to take over his life.  He also smokes marijuana almost everyday, even before going on stage, but cocaine raised the stakes, and effected his life, his marriage, and his daughter over the next twenty years. Sad.

His life seems to be one show after another, all over the United States, where  he seems successful but eventually does something to get him fired. Much of his comedy, so he says, has always been attempt to find himself, the real self, not the fictitious one that was on stage.  He seems to have disdain for most of television, those who make  their living from it, and assumes that he is different, sees through the BS, and eventually will find the real self.

It does get a little repetitious as he moves from one club to another, makes one album after another, spends a good part of his life trying to pay off debts he has incurred.  He was one of those guys who never looked at his accountants mailings, never realizing how far in debt he had gotten.  He begins to make it with his 'Seven Words You Cannot Say on Television," becomes an icon for the yuppies, the educated audience who like his kind of humor.  HBO specials also make him, as he begins them just as HBO is becoming popular, and grows along with the network.  In the 1990's, he finally makes it into films, especially Dogma,Outrageous Fortunes, and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure  and the children's series which he narrates, "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends."

Quite a bit of the book takes lines from various comedy acts, TV shows, books and movies, so you do get a feel for his writing, for his evolving comedy and thought.  He is a wordsmith, in a sense, loving language and playing with it.  He finally sees himself as someone who opens the eyes of his audience, to seeing the world around them in new ways, whether it's words,  conservative politics, or religion.  All three seem to be his major antagonists.

Wintery Mix of Snow, Rain, Ice Pellets

Evie's Easter Cookies

7:45

Up at 6:30, Evie's already up reading on her IPAD, coffee's made, the lake is just beginning to lighten.  My flag has been shredded by yesterday's vicious wind and there's more wind today, up to forty miles an hour.  It's 28º outside, not a very pleasant look to the day, cold and wet, with snow later in the evening.  And yoga has been cancelled by Chris because of weather.  This is becoming too common and it's fine this morning on the roads.

Ripped Welsh Flag

I went to yoga yesterday at 9:30, but Evie stayed home because she wanted to get some cookies made and decorated for the Hayden and Halle because they are leaving for vacation on Friday.  Yoga was crowded with three guys as well as the usual ladies.  It was a good class, again, some new poses, most that we held for at least three or four minutes, slowly stretching and gaining extra mobility.  This kind of yoga does not emphasize strength but getting a deeper stretch. Our teacher is good because she goes around the room correcting and helping various individuals to extend and deepen their poses.  We did spend quite a bit on time on the back, variations of the cobra, even some strengthening which I liked.

The End of a Welsh Flag

Evie took off when I got home, to work out at the YMCA, keep up her routine, and to run some errands.  She had also finished baking and decorating the cookies and wrapped them for mailing so she stopped at the post office as well.  Neither one of us did anything exciting yesterday afternoon, as it was stormy and gray outside.  So we read, watched some TV, and relaxed.

March madness has already begun as ESPN had a four hour show on the various teams, players, coaches yesterday afternoon.  It, the run up to the games, has become as big a thing as the games themselves.  I read an interesting article on from the Washington Post website called "March Sadness Not March Madness," which emphasized what I have felt all along.  Because players are often 'one and done,' go pro after a year, we never really get to know them, and there is no sense of a team developing over the years.  Thus, we no longer have the interest in the teams like we did years ago.  Or perhaps I am just  getting old and curmudgeonly.

Dinner was left over corned beef and cabbage, with vegetables, just as good as the day before.  We watched The Good Wife, a few other shows, read, and went to bed early.  Not a very exciting day except for the yoga and the cookie making.  I did finish LAST WORDS, George Carlin's autobiography and started on a book my nephew Pat Holzheimer recommends highly, ARCADIA.  So far, I really like it.

Looks Like Another Week of Winter

7:20

Sunday Morning 

Sunday Morning In Front of Long Point

St Patrick's Day Lager

Up at 7:15, the outside beginning to lighten, three fishermen already out in the middle of the lake.  It's only 24º outside but the wind, from the south, is very strong, making the wind chill around 15º.  The eastern horizon was pink along the skyline when I got up but now all is light gray, no sun rise visible because of the cloud cover.

Yesterday was a full day, as St. Patty's Day should be.  Because it was sunny early on as well as most of the day, we  got out our cross country skis and skied the lake for the first time in a couple of weeks. Before venturing out, Evie put together the dough for her Onion Rye Bread and left it to rise.  We worried the lake might be wet and we did have some trouble with our skis and ice but we still were able to  get in about an hour, gliding down to Sandy Bottom and back.  It was great being the only one's out on the lake on a sunny morning.  Coming back was more of a chore, as the wind, unnoticed skiing out was strong and cold coming back.  We had our breakfast around noon, the usual, eggs, bacon, and toast and watched Sunday Morning on TV.

Onion Rye Bread Rising

Part of the afternoon, Evie spent getting our St. Patrick's Day dinner ready.  First, she baked two loaves of Onion Rye, then got the corned beef and cabbage ready to bake for a few hours.  I did some reading and watched basketball, helping in the kitchen when I could,  usually cleaning up, as Evie bakes and cooks.  Around 5:00, the Mc Clures came over and the four of us walked the Woodlawn/Victoria loop, on a sunny and crisp Sunday afternoon.  It was a good way to work up an appetite for corned beef and cabbage, and we were out for just about an hour, finishing by walking back on the lake, as the sky was beginning to darken.

Late Afternoon Walk in Woodlawn/Victoria Woods

Mc Clures

Our dinner was one of the best I have had, the corned beef tender and flavorful, the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots done just right.  Evie bought two corned beefs and we easily went through one, started on the second.  I wonder why we don't have this particular boiled dinner more often.  Perhaps because the idea of a boiled dinner does not seem appetizing.  It brought back memories of my parents; my mom would always have corned beef and cabbage on St. Patricks Day and, at first, when I was young, I did not much like it but as I got older, it became one of my favorites.  We sat around the fire until about 9:30 when the Mc Clures went home.  It was another good St Patrick's Day Sunday.  We looked at pictures from last year, the lake open, an unseasonably warm day, so different from yesterday.

A Snowy St. Patrick's Sunday

Lakewood Rod and Gun Club With Pat and David Jones

7:25

One Year Ago, Record Highs

Up later than usual, 7:20. light snow falling and at the moment, I can hardly see Long Point.  Let it snow!  It's 29º outside, flurries expected much of the day, in fact, much of the week.  Lots of birds at the feeder, popping up to it from the bushes below.  Most are sparrows, nuthatches, and finches, which are starting to gain color.

Great Pyrenees

A good yoga class yesterday morning, about ten of us, and a long savasna, which everyone seems to enjoy.  We leave relaxed and carefree, at least for the moment.  Evie had errands to run, some shopping to do, so I waited at Ryder's Cup, talking with Joyce, the barrista, mostly about India.  Evie picked up corned beef  and cabbage for today's dinner, along with other good things, the makings for one of my favorite breads, an onion rye, a recipe we were given by Gene Higgins's wife, friends from Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey.  We took it easy Saturday afternoon, watching lots of basketball, and going for a long walk around the campground.  It felt good to be outside, fresh air is such an elixir, and we stopped briefly to talk with the owner of two Great Pyrenees, large, white, fluffy dogs, the kind the Bissell's owned when in Colorado.  When I left, I had hair and slobber all over my sweats. I had forgotten that the dogs drooled and shed excessively!

Not Quite Your Starbucks Which I Like...Buy Local

Around 6:00, we went over to our neighbor's house, Dave and Pat Jones, for a drink and appetizers, then went out to dinner at our Saturday night hangout, the Lakewood Rod and Gun Club.  We did not get there until 7:20 and though the parking lots were full, we only had to wait around ten minutes.  We all had the Queen's cut of Prime Rib and were in and out of the dining room in about an hour.  The service is amazing, has to be, as they must serve two or three hundred dinners a night. David was in town for a meeting in Rochester, at his alma mater, RIT.  They had just dedicated an amazing new building, the Golisano Sustainability Institute.  Everything about the building is green, with an emphasis on sustainability, also a new major.  From lights, to heating, to energy sources, it's efficient and sustainable.  Things like this are happening all over the United States, with schools and universities leading the way, a combination of both public and private funds.  It's nice to hear some optimism in this changing world. We stayed  long enough to hear the band play a couple of oldies but goodies (Little Darling by the Diamonds), getting home around 9:30.  I watched the saved second half of the Ohio Akron MAC finals.  The Bobcats played poorly the last ten minutes losing by nineteen points after being tied at halftime, quite depressing.  I went up to read my new book, LAST WORDS, the biography of comedian George Carlin, enjoying a few laughs before going to bed.