A Chilly Morning of Many Skies

6:38

6:39

7:08

8:20

We were both up by 6:30, just before the sunrise.  It's 41º outside, cloudy when we got up, now clearing to the south, overcast to the north.  A few ducks are floating by, the song birds are chirping now that it's light and are hitting the feeder.  Another fine morning on Chautauqua Lake.

Yesterday was back to routine, yoga, then coffee, then a stop at both Home Depot and Wegman's Yoga was crowded, 17 of us; we ended class with our mats perpendicular to the wall, so we were on our backs, feet against the way, like dominoes.  I quipped how it was "Cosy, like a sleepover,"getting lots of laughs, something yoga needs; we are often too serious, holding meditative poses though told to smile.  At Home Depot, I bought some plastic ties for my martin house, to fasten the owl guard, then on to Wegman's, for the usual basics for the week.  

I was home by noon, to a living room in disarray, as Evie was into deep cleaning, something she does each spring, taking each room apart, washing, polishing, then vacuuming, perhaps rearranging the furniture.  Once done, even though things don't look much different, they feel different, like your car after an oil change or car wash.  It just feels different, moves more smoothly, cleanly.  

Before lunch, I decided to disinfect our well, a process we try to do once a year; it's fairly easy, pouring a solution of a quart of bleach to five gallons of water, down your well.  Then, we turn on each faucet, both hot and cold, until we smell bleach.  We then let it sit until this morning, when we begin turning the water back on, emptying the lines and the well until we no longer smell chlorine; we will drink bottled water for the next couple of days just to make sure the chlorine is gone.

I helped Evie finish up the living room, then we had lunch, quesadillas with tomatoes, cheese and avocados, quite tasty.  We watched more of The Daily Show (three more months until Jon Stewart hangs it up, alas), and The Nightly Show.  The rest of the afternoon we took it easy, I napped, Evie read and made a few phone calls, to Dot, my step mother in law, who lives in Arizona, and Jill, our daughter.  

Storms A Coming

6:06 p.m.

Around 4:00, I went out and spent a half hour gathering the branches and twigs, a result of last night's 50 mile an hour winds.  More expected today, by the way.  And I got my martin house ready to set, putting on the owl guards, the doors and just as I finished the sky darkened and it started to pour.   I ran to get my camera because the sky was an amazing collage of black, gray, and streaks of white, threatening but beautiful in its own way.

6:07 p.m.

For dinner, we doctored up the Chinese from Saturday, adding snow peas, mushrooms, and more sauce, so we had an easy but good dinner with, of course, a glass of wine.  We had a few of our favorite shows saved, so it was a good night for viewing.  We watched Nurse Jackie, then Mad Men, both in their last year, a good thing as both our losing their panache.  And we watched another Rita, more sex for Rita, this time with her son's father in law, an old flame. But she's sometimes great with kids, just not her own.  Bizarre but interesting series.  I went upstairs to read my latest book, DAWN PATROL, only to realize, now that I am half way in it, that I read and even summarized it back in 2011.  Yikes.  Nothing wrong with rereading a book but I would like to know I am 'rereading it.'

A Night Of Strong Winds, A Day Of Thuderstorms

6:52

Leonard and Davis Houses

It's 7:15 and I have been up for an hour, listening to the winds whip through the yard, shaking trees, the canvas on our porch, stirring up the lake.  It also howled most of the night, sending Evie downstairs to sleep for much of the night.  The birds are having a hard time at the feeder, the wind shaking the feeder, knocking them off the perches.  It should let up by 11:00 but then the thunderstorms will come.

Yesterday was another good day, mostly sunny till late, cooler than Saturday with the highs in the 60's, a day to be outside.  We had an easy morning and looked forward to having both the McClures and Jones's over for Sunday dinner.  Before we drove off to Long Point State Park for a hike, Evie was able to prep some of the dinner and put together the yeast dough for Chillingsworth's pumpkin rolls, letting them rise during our walk.

Long Point State Park

Walking The Long Point Beach!

Woodlawn/Victoria (photo taken from Pavillon Beach)

Jones' and Cooley's Abodes

It was a windy, cool day for our hour and a half walk, through the woods, still mostly brown except for patches of vinca on the forest floor.  As usual, we were the only ones hiking until we got out to Long Point's tip, where a couple of families were also out for a Sunday morning stroll.  We did vary our walk some, walking along the shoreline of Long Point, on the sandy foot wide beach, when possible.  The tip was  windy, so we didn't linger but headed back through the corridor of Black Locust trees, always impressive in their height and variegated bark.  We were home by 1:00, so Evie got back to prepping some, while I made myself a cheese and salsa omelet, and with a bagel, I had another good Sunday brunch.

Park Trash (Been There Forever...why?)

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting ready for dinner, reading, watching some TV, the Cavs beating the Celtics, and waiting for 6:00 to arrive.  We have not seen the Dave and Pat Jones since last fall, so it was great to see them again; they spend their winters in Houston.  We sat around with drinks for an hour, dipping, then munching on sour dough pretzels.  For dinner, Evie made pork tenderloins, with a pan sauce, a cabbage and cheese strudel, salad, and pumpkin rolls.  Everyone enjoyed their dinners but were too full for seconds, so we have another dinner for tonight.  We had homemade lemon squares for dessert, and sat around wondering if Dave's purple martin gourds, which he had just put up on a pole in the lake, would survive the winds during the night.  They did. Everyone left around 9:45, and we were tired, so we put away the leftovers, and washed half the dishes, leaving the rest of the this morning.  Ugh.  We went to bed listening to the winds shake the trees, the house, hoping we would wake up to no downed electrical lines.  We were lucky, or so it seemed.  Everything works and at first glance, no large tree limbs are down, no obvious wind damage.

A Slight Chill, A Blustery Wind

5:56

6:14

6:41

Up before 6:00 to a light blue sky, a touch of orange at the horizon, a chill in the air, 43º, compared to yesterday's high in the 70's.  I am listening to Kazuo Ishiguro, one of my favorite novelists, being interviewed about his new novel THE BURIED GIANT, on the 75h Avenue Project.  I will summarize some of his ideas in my last paragraph in case any one is interested.   When I stepped outside to take a photograph at 6:00, I was able to see/hear a bass boat racing around Long Point. Fishing season has unofficially begun!  The bass boats are back.

Well,  I was up early yesterday, too, an exceptional morning dawn, ate my breakfast, got my blog done and was on the road to yoga by 8:40 only to find out it was cancelled.  How I missed the cancellation remains a mystery.  So, I stopped at Ryder's, bought a coffee and some fresh eggs (from Janice's hen house), then went to Wegman's to pick up a few things.  It was surprisingly busy at 9:15, especially checking out until I realized they only had four lines open.  Besides groceries, I bought Evie a bouquet of flowers, being the good husband that I am.

Kayaks Ready

When I got home, Evie had made some lemons squares and done some prepping for tonight's dinner when we are having friends over.  So she was ready to kayak because the lake was glass like and inviting.  So we quickly got our boats in the water and paddled towards Tom's Point only to realize half way there that the wind had picked up demonstrably, so we headed back in to the headwind, struggling some.  We never learn; we need to get out on the water earlier before the mid morning wind picks up.  But it was still energizing to be out on the lapis lazuli blue lake,  about the only boats on the lake.  After kayaking,  I headed to the Transfer Station, de riguer, and met some out our neighbors, the Johnstons.  Lunch was easy, a couple of Sahlen hot dogs with Stadium mustard.

Fire Department Testing at Marina

The afternoon was luxurious, in the high 70's, a warm sun, a chaise lounge and a good book.  Evie happily enjoyed two or three hours reading and doing nothing for once.  I joined her but I soon got bored and went in to watch some golf and the NBA playoffs on TV.  They soon became boring so back outside I went to enjoy the outdoors and read DAWN PATROL.  That's how we spent yesterday afternoon until it was time to prep for dinner.

I woke up yesterday morning wanting Chinese, so I picked up the bok choy, bean sprouts,  ginger, some mushrooms,  at Wegman's and at 6:00, we got busy chopping vegetables, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, putting together sauces and by 6:45 we had a Sezchuan chicken, with peanuts, hot bean sauce and lots of vegetables, our favorite way.  It was good but not great as I can never get the seasoning quite right; it's always a bit bland.  Perhaps it needs that old Chinese magic: Aji-no-moto (MSG).

I could not find the DVD from Netflix; I hope I did not lose it so we watched IDA, a Polish film which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture.  It's appropriately filmed in black and white, set in Stalinist Poland in the 1960's, the  tragic story of a young woman discovering her family's past.  Anna, an orphan, and now a catholic novitiate, is about to become a nun.  She is sent out by the Mother Superior, to experience life, make sure her vows are genuine (not quite Sound of Music).  She goes to stay with her Aunt Wanda, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, irreparably damaged by her past.  From Wanda, Anna learns her real name is Ida Lubenstein,  her family Jewish and  they were massacred by their Polish neighbors in the 1940's.  The two of them journey back to her parent's home, talk with the families, and find out who murdered Anna's parents and Wanda's sister.  They eventually find where the family was buried, and the perpetrator digs up the  grave site.  Wanda picks out a skull and only then do we realize that she had sent her son to Poland to escape the Nazis only to have him also murdered.  The two then go to a Jewish cemetery, bury the skull and Anna returns to the convent.  She, then,  returns to her Aunt's apartment when she is notified that Wanda has committed suicide by jumping out of her apartment window.  After spending a few weeks in her aunt's apartment and tasting life, dressing up, going to restaurants, drinking alcohol, and having a brief affair, the film ends with her walking back towards the convent. To be confirmed or renounce her vows?  Slow, austere, silent, sad making, wonderfully acted and filmed, worth viewing but it leaves the viewer bereft, empty, a result of man's inhumanity to man.

Kazuo Ishiguro talks about the importance of societal vs individual memory and his novels raise the question: how much do we want to remember?  For example, memory often results in extreme violence such is what happened in Yugoslavia after Tito died.  THE BURIED GIANT, set in Arthurian England is about enforced amnesia, which brings about a peace.

Is forgetfulness essential for healing, even necessary for peace.  Ishiguro plays with the tension between remembering and forgetting...which is preferable?  Should we, Americans,  forget about our sordid history of slavery? Should we ignore or forget the Native Americans genocide (or winning the West)?  Or should we bring them more out in the open, at attempt at some kind of reconciliation (like what happened in South Africa).  Or would  revisiting these terrible historic periods bring more anger, hatred, and violence, not reconciliation and peace?

Most of his novels deal with self deception, the war over what's true, the need for delusion or hope. Our fate is inevitably sad (we must die), yet his novels are optimistic;  we go on, we endure, and often try to be decent to each other.

He ends the interview by suggesting that much of his choices as an artist are intuitive, unable to explain.  This line, this point of view, just sounds better, hard to put into words.

A Rosy Colored Dawn (Thanks, Homer)

6:40

6:42

Here is yesterday's poem from The Writer's Almanac...I really liked its message, love of difference, awe of the natural world.

Looking for the Differences  by Tom Hennen  I am struck by the otherness of things rather than their same- ness. The way a tiny pile of snow perches in the crook of a branch in the tall pine, away by itself, high enough not to be noticed by people, out of reach of stray dogs. It leans against the scaly pine bark, busy at some existence that does not need me. It is the differences of objects that I love, that lift me toward the rest of the universe, that amaze me. That each thing on earth has its own soul, its own life, that each tree, each clod is filled with the mud of its own star. I watch where I step and see that the fallen leaf, old broken grass, an icy stone are placed in exactly the right spot on the earth, carefully, royalty in their own country. Anyways, I was up early, 6:15, a lovely cloudless morning, a delicate rose sky, now turning a deep orange, as the tip of the sun has just peaked over the shoreline at 6:40.  I am always amazed at how quickly the sunrise moves north. This morning, it rose just above the tip of Long Point State Park. This is as perfect a morning as I can remember unless you like rain and snow. Most of yesterday morning was wet, on and off drizzle, and cloudy so it was easy to leave the house and drive to another good yoga class, love that legs up against the wall.  Afterwards, I drove to the local Salvation Army and dropped off lots of goodies, mostly clothes but also a sewing machine, a portable crib, good things for people who might need them.  We both wish we could give this stuff to local people who might really need it, but we don't know how go about that so the Salvation Army is easier.  I stopped at Sam's Club for gas, amazingly cheap, $2. 52 compared to the price of almost four dollars a couple of years ago.  Gas is the only thing that I can remember that has gone down in price over the past couple of years.   When I got home, Evie had made more headway in the attic, and there was more stuff for the Transfer Station this morning, more for the Salvation Army the next time I go.  About 12:30, Evie had it and made an amazing lunch for the both of us, potato pancakes made from leftover mashed potatoes, bacon, fried eggs and toast.  I was in luncheon heaven, as we watched a couple of  The Daily Shows.   The rest of the afternoon we took it easy, finally, Evie sitting outside in the sun on a chaise lounge, reading the sequel to THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, one of her favorites, titled, THE LOVE SONG OF MISS QUEENIE HENNESSY.  I finished THE WHITES, took a short nap, then had to decide between a kayak paddle or cleaning up the yard, cutting down the grasses, taking leaves and twigs up the hill.  I chose to do the yard work...idiot! Outdoor Porch Weather Ron and Linda stopped over at 6:00 because we were going for a fish fry at the Seezurh House.  So, we took the covers off our porch furniture, swept and cleaned it, and the four of us sat outside on the porch with a beer and appetizers for the first time since last October.  It was a balmy Spring afternoon, so it was enjoyable, watching the lake shimmer, change colors.  The Seezurh was packed, as was the porch, which was good to see, the out of towners have returned.  We are used to being the only patrons in the restaurant during the winter.  We were lucky to get a table in the bar, a good waitress and we had great fish fries, Ron's so large that it hung over his plate.  Evie and I ran into our good friends, Jane and Jerry Grice, and Jane's brother, Buzz was in town.  We had a good time, love being in a restaurant that's filled with happy people, reminds me of Turkish restaurants, which are always noisy, no quiet, funeral like restaurants there. We got home int time to watch one more episode of American Crime before going to bed and I started a new thriller, right up my alley,  called DAWN PATROL, about a surfer who is also a private detective.  Love it.  These guys get up at dawn each day to surf before leaving for their jobs, which is just what I used to do in Hawaii, paddling out in the dark water of Ala Moana before the sun rose, just to get a few waves to myself.   Ah, nostalgia.   Surfer Dude, 1968, Makaha Beach, Hawaii Surfing Makaha....Believe It!

JAR CITY: AN INSPECTOR ERLENDUR NOVEL: AMALDUR INDRIDASON

My first Icelandic novel, another in the range of dark, somber Scandinavian mysteries.  Inspector Erlendur is the typical hard boiled detective, cranky, not very well liked, stubborn, tending to go his own way which upsets the higher ups.  And his life is a mess, though he's not a drunk as I recall; I finished it about a week ago and the story is beginning to fade.  His personal problems tend to overtake him at times, as his daughter is pregnant and a drug addict, unwilling to listen to her father, yet needing him at the same time, to get her life back together, to protect her unborn child.  They are at each others throats off and on during the novel, but finally seem to reconcile by the end.  There are two other stories, one involving a bride who disappears at her wedding; no one is overly concerned, thinking she has just run off, and Erlendur is helping the family find her.  The main story involves the seemingly simple murder of an older bachelor, known for his proclivities with women. He's bashed in the head by an ash tray, suggesting the killer was known to him.

It gets complicated when Erlendur discovers the murder victim raped a young women twenty five years ago, and she became pregnant.  When the Inspector Erlendur started to understand the man's sordid past, he begins to follow the threads that lead to the killer, multiple rapes by the victim, and eventually, the man dying at the hands of his own son, the child of rape.

It's much more complicated then that because of a hereditary illness which kills the son's four year old daughter.  He works for a DNA company and because of his daughter's death and his understanding of DNA, he traces his own DNA back to this awful man, the one who raped his mother, passed this lethal hereditary gene on to him and his daughter.

Thus, the motive is uncovered, the son found and he confesses.  As to the missing woman, she fled the wedding because her father, who had been molesting her since she reached puberty, hit on her at the wedding, so understandably, she fled only to be reconciled with her understanding husband in the end.  The end.

Drizzle and Fog

7:44

8:15

It was 6:45 when I got up to a increasingly foggy lake, 52º out, a light drizzle.  The last few days of sun almost made me forget that Chautauqua gray is the predominate winter/spring color. Still, there's a beauty in it, the daguerreotype quality of the morning, like something out of Matthew Brady's Civil War photograph.  Just saw two geese skid to a water stop in front of our house, water splashing in the air.

Red Breasted Merganser

We woke up to a sunny morning yesterday, which gave way to clouds and intermittent rain in the afternoon, keeping us inside most of the day.  I did make it to yoga, however, mentioned to my group that I had read book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up because we were talking about how neat our class was.  Well, I may softened their image of me as just an 'old jock,' as they were all interested in the book, a number writing down the title so they could get it.  And best of all, Danielle complimented me on the progress I have been making with my ham strings, something only a yoga student would understand.  I feel like a little boy back in kindergarten, with my teacher telling me "what a  good boy I am."

Common Mergansers

Our project, or I should say Evie's project with my help, was to tackle our attic, which became the resting place for everything we needed to move when we painted the bedrooms last week.  Needless to say, we could hardly get into it as it was such a mess.  But, we made some progress, the key, moving another extra mattress that we need for the summer when our grandchildren arrive.  Once we figured out where to put it, we began to make some progress, and by 2:00 Evie was downstairs, having organized and packed all the toys our grandchildren played with over the years, too sentimental to throw out or give away.  And, she brought down all the dolls and doll accessories which the our granddaughters loved, sorting the usable from the worn out, packing them in boxes, ready for visitors.

A Raft of Buffleheads and Ducks

6:55 PM

It rained off and on, as I mentioned, so after making some progress with the attic,  we relaxed with blue cheese, crackers and some wine, enjoying dusk, the rain, the beauty of a gray sky, raindrops on the windows, the ever changing color and texture of the lake.  It was a night for an easy dinner, heating up Tuesday's barbecued chicken with noodles, and making a salad.  Nothing like leftovers,  I always say.  And we watched the penultimate episode of The Americans, which has become our favorite TV series.  We can hardly wait to see how this season ends because there are so many loose ends.  And we watched another episode of Rita, a good one, as she takes the side of the "bad boy" the delinquent who everyone wants thrown out of school.   Because she is an outsider, she always tends to sympathize with the underdog, those who are bullied.   And  I am just about to  finish Richard Price's THE WHITES, and I don't think it's going to end well.  As I finish this, it's 8:55 and I cannot see beyond the trees because of the heavy fog.

An Example Of Biff's Rock Art

Some Sun, Some Clouds (Hiking Allegany State Park's Christian Hollow Trail and Steeners)

6:45

7:22

I arose (like  the Greek God, Zeus) just as the sun was beginning to climb above the horizon at 6:45.  It looks like a decent day, temperature at the moment is 46º, the high in the 60's later in the day.  Not sure what today will bring, probably the usual, yoga, some reading, some organizing or working, inside or out.

Hike Ready

Yesterday morning was different as I did not go to yoga, as we decided to change our routine, avoid that rut of sameness. So we left for the Allegheny State Park (third largest in the US, 97 square miles) around 10:15, back packs filled with hiking necessities (supposedly), water, almond butter and jelly sandwiches, maps, compass, Ben's tick repellent, a Gerber tool/knife, a reflective space blanket, and most important, bear spray.  Wow, am I prepared! What happened to just a lazy, fun, easy innocent walk in the woods, no fear, no needs, just a path, a pair of shoes, and a friend.

Spring Hiking Trails

Ready For Bear

Too Many Choices

Anyways, the ride, as I expected, took forty five minutes (44 miles) to the Art Roscoe Center, in the northeast section of the park.  This is where most of the trails are located, for hiking or cross country skiing, and there are many choices of various lengths.  We have hiked the Patterson and The Stone Tower Trails in the past, so we decided on Christian Hollow this time, a four mile loop, with a Vista of the Allegany Valley midway.  It was a perfect day for a hike, in the 50's, sunny, no breeze and not a soul, just us and the sound of the tap, tap, tapping of an occasional woodpecker.  And, as we assumed, nothing yet was in bloom, so the trees were bare, the ground covered with leaves from the fall, the color, brown, brown, brown, with a blue sky if we looked up through the limbs, but it was still exhilarating to be out in the woods once again.  Both of us felt this way, excited to be hiking in this grand forest.  The trail followed the rim of a promontory, leading out to the Vista, then back, with steep drops on the side, leading down to the valley.  It was an easy hike out to the Vista, where we relaxed, had lunch, took photographs, enjoyed the sun.  The hike back was a little longer, about 50 minutes, so the hike was less than four miles I would guess.

Confusing!

We stopped at the Administrative Building, overlooking the lake, built in 1929, a few years after the park was created by the New York Legislature in 1921.  It's a grand Tudor style stone building, with various meeting rooms, a gift shop, and restaurant, open during the warm months.  Although we have been in the park numerous  times, we never knew this building existed.  We browsed a bit, took some photos, enjoyed their exhibition of birds and animals of New York, before heading home.  We were home by  3:00.

Casino From Bridge

Stow Ferry From Bridge

Evie took advantage of the late afternoon, to paint one more of the mirror frames for our bedrooms.  It was warm enough, in fact, to paint it outside.  We then got cleaned up because Ron and Linda were back in town and we were going to Steeners' Pub, once again, because it was wing night.  They came over at 6:00 and got a tour of our newly painted bedrooms and Linda, of course, was ecstatic about the colors, as I had hoped.  I gave her a hug of thanks after the tour.  Interestingly, she brought over an article from yesterday's Pittsburgh Gazette, which explained how to make peameal bacon, one of our favorite breakfast foods.  The only place to buy it around here is The Lighthouse but it looks easy enough to make, so we make give it a try.

We were lucky to find bar corner seats at Steeners Pub when we arrived, and settled down, for a few beers, wings, and conversation.  My wings were the best, the chef's special sauce made up of various other sauces.  Linda ordered a burger, Evie and Ron medium wings.  The food was good, especially the fries.  The restaurant was crowded, everyone enjoying wing night (10 for six bucks), and of course the great fries.  We were home by 8:30, in time for a dish of ice cream, and a fast forward through the various acts on American Idol.  We were both in bed by 10:30, the end of a good day.