A Bruegel Like Morning Sky

7:26

7:30

A Rare Sighting (for us) of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet

It's a morning filled with a threatening sky, a gray cloud stacked on gray cloud, straight out of a Pieter Bruegel the Elder painting.  Our lake wall is buffeted by waves, the wind brisk and variable, the temperature a chilly 40º.

Monday was not typical, at least for me.  Evie had an easy morning for once, not worrying about dinner, doing what she wanted.  I started my morning with a good Yin yoga class although we once again worked on forward bends, not exactly my cup of tea but I persevered.  After class, I got my Monday coffee, said aloha to Joyce and Dave and talked to a couple who had been to a bizarre Halloween House in Buffalo where they were invited to shoot darts into the bare back of one of the guys.  He also walked on a bed of nails.  It was then on to Home Depot because I needed a dust filter for my lawn mower.  But since I was there, I looked at new Samsung Electric ranges since ours is on the fritz.  I knew Evie liked the idea of a double oven, so I brought home a description of that particular oven.  And since I was there, I talked with the gal at carpets, got an estimate for a couple of swatches I liked, and brought them home with me for Evie to look at.  I did not stop there because Wegman's was next door and I had to pick up a few things before driving home.  It was an interesting morning, to say the least.  We have talked about a new carpet for the past few years and we probably do need a new range but nothing gets done unless I act as the catalyst, like I did this summer when we bought a new refrigerator.

When I got home, Evie had made up a tasty vegetable beef soup out of yesterday's beef stew and she grilled me a couple of cheese sandwiches, so I had lunch and finished off another Longmire before taking a decent afternoon nap and continuing to read Ann Patchett's COMMONWEALTH.

Western Sky - 6:00 PM

Walking Lakeside Drive 

We had decided  when I got home that we would walk somewhere in late afternoon, so around 4:30 we drove over to Bemus, to walk Lakeside Drive, our go to walk in our early years here at the lake before we discovered Long Point State Park.  It was a chilly, windy afternoon, almost too windy for a walk but we persevered and took our time, taking many photographs, doing a walk through in a house which was being built (invited by the builder), and walking down and looking at some of the yards of a couple of empty lake front homes.  We walked to the end and back; it took us and hour and a half and somehow we walked 4.5 miles despite the fact the walk is usually only three miles.

Lenhart Hotel in Autumn

Dusk From Bemus Point

We decided to stop in at the Seezurh House and reward ourselves with a beer for taking such a brisk walk and ended up staying and having a healthy dinner of chicken wings and their special, three tacos for five bucks.  We sat at at the bar and talked most of the time with Robin, the manager of the bar/restaurant and the bartender, Deb, both who have been working there for years.

Wings And Tacos At The Seezurh House

We did not get home until after 8:00 and quickly put on our sweats and hunkered down in the TV room to watch some TV, first the new HBO series DIVORCE, then another episode of THE CIRCUS, on Showtime, which chronicles the election.  It is really well done and we have enjoyed it.

It's now 8:00 and though rain is predicted, a patch of blue sky has just opened up, with some sunlight. I have yoga this morning, then I have to drive into Erie to get the seat belt on my Honda accord replaced, free of charge fortunately.  Go Tribe! Go Cavs!

Cloudy Skies And A Yard Of Fallen Leaves

7:03

8:06

I slept in 15 minutes, getting up at 6:15, to a pitch black house.  I turned on the coffee, then our fireplace and went outside to see how much rain we had in last night's brief storm, about an inch.  It's a chilly 45º, perhaps some rain later this morning, probably not a leaf mulching day.

Yesterday was like many Sunday's in autumn, filled with wind, some clouds, some sun,  a neighbor outside in his yard, raking leaves and cutting his lawn,  a dinner in the oven, and football on the tube or radio.  I can look back over close to 70 years and see the same kind of Sundays (although in my early years,  I probably went to church with my Mom like a good boy).  Evie decided to enjoy the leisure of a Sunday morning but I had some mojo, so I went out and filled three barrels with twigs, leaves, and pine needles, mostly pine needles as our pines shed an amazing amount of needles.  I also cut our neighbor's yard, mulching all their leaves, leaving their yard green and empty, ripe for more fallen leaves.  Actually, Evie did not lounge  around for  long, as she decided to put together my granola, oats, walnuts, flax, and cinnamon, (my brakfast mix) and our dinner, a beef stew, with carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions, filling the house with its aroma.

About 12:30, we had our big breakfast of eggs, bacon and a bagel and  got back into the routine of watching CBS Sunday Morning, now with Jane Pauley as Charles Osgood has retired.  We miss him, like Garrison Keillor.  Some people cannot be replaced. We then took it easy, reading, napping, doing some chores or watching some football for 15 minutes before getting bored, no matter if it's the Bills, Browns, or Patriots.

A Double Mulched Yard On A Sunday Afternoon

Mid afternoon, Evie fired up the lawn mower and cut and mulched the leaves in our yard.  There were so many fallen leaves that she ended up cutting it twice, to make sure the leaves were thoroughly mulched.  By the time she was done, both lawns were literally leaf free...for a few hours.

Monday Mornings Fallen Leaves

While Evie prepped our dinner, making a salad, heating up the beef stew, we relaxed with a  glass of wine, shelling peanuts for an appetizer, watching the leaves fall on our virgin lawn.  I forgot to mention that since we put up our bird  feeders, we have become avid birders once again, as the black capped chickadees, sparrows, finches, nuthatches, woodpeckers, cardinals, and blue jays are back. We were transfixed by a small sparrow or finch like bird, with a bright, fluorescent red cap,  try to fly through our window for about 15 minutes.  We never did identify him and we had never seen such a bright red cap.

Finch, Sparrow? We don't know.  

Evie served out beef stew over baked potatoes, a hearty Sunday dinner, and we watched various programs on TV, not wanting to start a new series yet.  60 Minutes was interesting, as  they interviewed some very articulate Ohio voters, why they are voting for Hillary or Trump.  Neither manifested the civic ignorance that seems so prevalent in today's election, the refusal to dig deep into any issue, to get at the facts and truth.  Too easily, we just believe what we are told, either by Hillary or Trump, MSNBC or FOX NEWS.  Although it was not a busy Sunday, we were both tired and went up to bed early, to read before sleep, a gentle soporific.

That Morning Sky

7:07

7:17

8:00

8:30

It's 8:00 and I have been up since before 6:00, Evie since 7:00.  The sky is filled with dark clouds, occasional breaks of light, some pink near the horizon.  In other words, another amazing morning sky.  I was just outside, picking up fallen twigs, waiting for the sunrise around 7:45 but the clouds are blocking its rise, just coloring the horizon at the moment.  It may break though later.  We have had no rain for a day so things are drying out, the leave are beginning to crisp and soon it will be 'lawn mower time,' mulching the leave.

Long Point State Park

Leaf Strewn Steps

Yesterday was overcast and windy much of the day, the sun not coming out until late afternoon.  We had a leisurely morning before doing more  downsizing, mostly of clothes we don't wear.  Ironically, Evie's favorite local writer,  Margaret Russell, started her essay with the line: "I started up into the attic the other day...armed with boxes and tape and heavy duty garbage bags," ready to get rid of all those things she never used.  Good luck.  After filling a couple of bags, making the tough choice of whether to keep that jacket or sweater you have always liked but have not worn in ten years, we decided a walk through Long Point State Park was a good idea, and we were tired of making choices.  So we nervously jumped into our old Honda, but it started right up so we drove over to the end of Lakeside Drive, parked our car, and spent the next hour and a half enjoying a walk on the leaf strewn trails of the park.  It was brisk out, maybe 50º, time for gloves and a stocking cap, and we loved it. Cold weather energizers both of us.  We were the only ones in the woods, on the trails, which was nice.

Loving The Brisk Morning

In The Woods

Afterwards, we stopped at the Bemus Point Market to pick up some carrots but ended up buying two stuffed pork chops because they looked so good.  We then drove to the Ashville General Store which was having an Autumn Energy Fair.  We were not sure what it meant, so we were somewhat surprised to find it was mostly about psychic readings, massages, and Tong Ren Healing , with a few potters and jewelry makers thrown in.  It was not of much interest to us.  I ordered my favorite sub, the Hijacker, much like a Cuban.  We then drove home, shared the Hijacker for lunch, and then spent the rest of the day doing little until it was around dinner time.

Late Afternoon Sky

About 5:00, Evie turned on our quirky oven (we may need a new one), which turns off for no reason. She was able, however, to make a pan of brownies, bake some potatoes, and cook our pork chops, though we had to check the oven every 15 minutes to make sure it did not turn off.  If it did, we just turned it on again, which seemed to work.  Once most of our dinner was prepped, I made us a Manhattan, Evie got out the brie with blue cheese, crackers and pistachios, and we listened to Prairie Home Companion, minus Garrison Keillor.  The new host, Chris Thile, a mandolinist,  was  pretty good but we miss the unique voice of Garrison.

Spotlight On Long Point at 5:30 PM

It was another enjoyable night, watching the sky get dark, listening to the radio, enjoying our drinks and appetizers.  Dinner was a bit of a disappointment, however, as the stuffed pork chops never seem to be as tasty as they look.  At least that's been my experience.  We watched a couple of Stephen Colbert and James Corden before going up to bed.  I finished my book, THE AIR WE BREATHE by Christa Parrish (decent not great) and started Ann Pachett's new one, COMMONWEALTH.   I think I am going to like it because I was drawn into the story and characters after a few pages.

Cloudy And Breezy But No Rain

7:58

8:21

It's 8:20 and I have been up for a couple of hours, enjoying my morning coffee, listening to Only A Game as I waited for it to get light enough to take a couple of photographs of the 38º morning.  No spectacular sunrise, just an amalgamation of gray clouds, a gun barrel gray lake and a yard filled with mostly yellow leaves.  Time to get out the lawn mower, Evie.

Yesterday was the second rainy day in a row, in fact, it rained most of the day, a nice, gentle all day rain, totaling five inches in the past 48 hours.  I went to yoga, just five of us and had a few laughs afterwards talking with our teacher, Julie,  about the elections, what else is there to laugh about.  I did stop for coffee, talked with Dave about the new burger bar and micro brew restaurant which would be opening soon, most likely with 15 dollars burgers!  He's not too excited, nor am I.  When I got home, Evie was relaxing with her Ipad, playing words with friends, reading.  This has happened two days in a row, finding her relaxing when I come home.  Obviously, because of the rain, she has not been able to get outside and do things.

Leaf on Rain Splattered Window

Before lunch, we made it our goal to finally put away our air conditioners which have been sitting in the bedrooms for a week, and go through our clothes and other stored items one more time to give to give to Journey's End, a group in Buffalo that works with recent immigrants.  For lunch, I had a leftover enchilada and the last of the lentil soup.  And I hoped to watch another episode of Longmire but Netflix did not seem to be downloading, perhaps a result of the group that hacked into the Internet, taking down other sites.  I was not happy...where is my Netflix!

The rest of the afternoon we took it easy because we were going out for dinner.  Evie turned on the fireplace and we read in the living room, enjoying the fire.  We were showered and off to see our good friends, Linda and Ron's new house by 5:30.  They bought it knowing it will need a major renovation but hopefully, by next spring, they will have a great home on the lake, just like they wanted.  We decided to have a fish fry at the VFW, just a mile away from their house.  We usually go there on Wednesday's for wings, so this was something new.  We always feel welcome at the VFW because everyone is so friendly.  We knew our waitress and Ron and Linda seemed to know quite a few of the patrons as well.  We had fish fries which include a salad bar and we made it just in time as the kitchen closes around 7:00.  Ron brought us four beers, just five bucks! Where can you get four beers for a five bucks!  We left about 8:45, went out to my Honda Accord and it would not start, no matter what I tried.  So we went back in and one of the guys offered to drive Ron home to pick up his car.  Evie, Linda and I sat at the bar, had another beer, checked out if a garage would be open on Saturday for my car,  and enjoyed ourselves waiting for Ron.  He was back shortly and before we got into his car, I decided to try my car one last time... and it started right up.  There must be a car god! So we bid our friends adieu and drove home with some trepidation but we made it, so I can relax this morning and not have to call AAA.

When we got home, we watched more of the pundits (it's a habit now) as they dissected the Al Smith Dinner Thursday night.  O'Reilly of course thought Hillary showed little class only to have Chris Wallace disagree saying Hillary had the right tone but Trump went way over the line, with barbs not appropriate for this particular dinner.  Surprise.

A Welcome Rainy Couple Of Days

8:18

8:20

Woodlawn Colors

I woke at 6:00 to the comforting sound of rain on the roof.  Walked outside in the dark to puddles everywhere,  3.5 inches of rain in our new rain gauge.  It's been raining on and off for 36 hours, a rare experience in Chautauqua County recently.  Autumn seems to have arrived in the last two days, temperatures and leaves falling,  colors changing,  daylight dwindling as we march towards the winter solstice on December 21st.   It's 48º, a high perhaps 50º if we are lucky.

Yesterday was a welcome gray and wet day, quite a contrast to our Indian summer days the previous couple of weeks.  That's ended for sure, or so it seems, so instead of enjoying sunning on our dock, we are going to have get outside and walk or hike more, now that the days have cooled off.  We had plans to walk in late afternoon but ended up putting it off for another day because of the rain.  I did make it to Yin Yoga, my favorite class, in fact, everyone's favorite because it's easy on the joints and does not demand  much rigor,  just holding a pose for a couple of minutes.   After class,  I came straight home because earlier in the morning  I had breakfast at the Bemus Point Inn with three of the guys.  So I was coffee-ed out, still full from scrambled eggs with crumbled bacon.  

When I got home, I was surprised to see Evie relaxing although she quickly made it clear she had just sat down, as if I caught her relaxing.  Hey, I spend my life relaxing for the most part, avoiding anything that might demand too much effort or time.  So I am always happy to see her 'doing nothing,' which seemed to be her theme for the day.  She did , however, make our dinner, black bean and chicken enchiladas  and got my lunch ready, leftover mashed potatoes made into patties and fried, with the butter chicken from the previous night's dinner, a perfect lunch.  I ate and watched, right, Longmire and have perhaps five more episodes to go in this new season sad to say.

Crisis On Long Point?

I fell asleep reading my new book, awakened by Evie who was bemoaning the fact that there was a power/front shovel off of Long Point, worried they might be taking down a couple of trees.  I suggested they might be attempting to stop the erosion of the point and said we should get out our kayaks and go look, which is what we did.  Fortunately, the rain had stopped, the lake was calm, so it was fun to paddle over and see what was  going on.

Fighting The Erosion Of Long Point

The operator, when he saw us, stepped out of his cab and explained that they were attempting to stop the erosion by placing huge rocks in a V around the point. Evie was ecstatic because we both love to look at this peninsula each morning and have grown quite attached to the slanted tree on its point.  We paddled home happy with our knowledge that our tree, the tip of Long Point's erosion, may have ended.  We will,  however,  have to wait to see what the winter ice does to the rock wall.

Cruising Long Point

A Happy Paddler

We then enjoyed the late afternoon, and Evie put together her favorite garlic paste, a Middle Eastern mixture of 4 roasted garlic heads, oil, lemon juice and water called Toum.   Afterwards,  Evie put the enchiladas in the oven, made a salad, and sat down with me to enjoy a glass of wine while dinner heated up.  The chicken/black bean enchiladas are not only tasty but easy to make and put together if you have cooked chicken.  We put salsa and sour cream over them and it's become one of our mainstays, healthy and good.  We watched the first two episodes of HBO's new series, DIVORCE, which we both liked and the first episode of their newest attempt at a blockbuster, WESTWORLD, about a futuristic amusement park which allows its visitors to live out their fantasies through artificial intelligence.  It's confusing at first but eventually we caught on.  It's not our usual cup of tea but we will stick with it to see if it grabs our interest.  We ended the evening watching Hillary and the Donald jabbing each other, and themselves, at the Al Smith dinner; there were many funny moments but, as expected, Trump took it too far and was booed for several of his comments.

A Morning Of Lightning, Thunder And Rain (Dock's In, Alas)

This Morning At 7:30

Wednesday Morning Kayaking

Woodlawn

Woodlawn/Victoria

Woke at 4:30, went back to sleep until 5:45 and got up, anxious to hear what the pundits on Morning Joe had to say about the debates.  Evie also had a bad night, no doubt too pumped up from the debate debacle.  The pundits were predictable in their criticism of Trump's refusal to say he would accept the results of the election, that he would wait and see.  Most felt the debate did nothing to help Trump get new voters which leaves him many points behind Clinton in the various polls.

Yesterday began the way I like to start my day, especially on a sunny, warm morning, with a half hour kayaking.  I was seemingly the only one on the lake, the waters smooth and calm, the sun bright in the Eastern sky, lighting up the colors of fall.  It was difficult to finally head home and get ready to go to yoga class.  Yoga class was at 10:00, which gives me an extra half hour to relax and get ready, which I like.  Class was fine, always different and challenging.  I stopped at Sav A Lot, can't go home from yoga without a stop at the grocery store.  Picked up some heavy cream for our dinner, shallots, and peanuts in the shell for snacking.  They looked good.

Working On The Dock

When I got home, I wanted to get the dock ready for its removal later in the day, so I donned my bathing suit, got out my power drill, and waded in the water, pulling the lag screws from each one of our horses.  It's a job made easy by a power drill but must have been a bear years ago.  I also removed all the furniture off the dock except for Evie's chaise lounge because she was sitting in it, wrapped in a quilt, enjoying her last hours on the dock,  reading her book.  I was done by 1:00 and Evie had previously made my lunch, hot dogs and soup, so all I had to do was plate it and eat while watching another episode of Longmire.  I am reading a new book, THE AIR WE BREATHE, by Christa Parrish, which started slow but I am into it now.

Bemus From Our Living Room Window

Evie stayed out on the dock until 4:00 when it was time to get the yard ready for the bringing in of our dock.  So Evie fired up the lawnmower and cut the lawn one more time, clearing it of the leaves, going over the area a couple times where the dock will be stored.  I moved the kayaks, set up the poles where the dock will sit and put away the dock furniture for the winter.  The boys, Chris and Austin, arrived on time for once, just after 5:00 and it took them about an hour and a half to bring in our dock, row boat, and kayak lift, record time for them.  They still don't seem to have a method but they are getting closer to being efficient.  This may be at least the 20th dock they have removed at around three hundred bucks for each dock, depending on its length.  Not a bad way to spend your fall.

Like the rest of America, we spent our early evening, fighting off the anxiety and fear of what the debate might bring.  We ate our dinner of chicken, mushrooms, broccoli and Indian spices, compromised somewhat by a problem with our oven (we might need a new one).  We sat through the pundits predictions of what Trump and Hillary's strategies might be.  And I have to say, I dislike Rudy Giulani just as much as Trump; he's a perfect Trump mouthpiece, obnoxious, nasty, and never answers the question.  We both watched the debate with fear, some anger at the refusal to answer questions,  the personal attacks but this is the third debate so we are getting used to it.  We then watched CNN's wrap up of the debate and it was extremely heated, as the Republican pundits tried to compare Trump's comments on refusing to say he would accept the election results with the Gore/Bush Supreme Court decision.  It was made harder, however, because Pence and Conway both said they would accept the results unequivocally and after the debate had to spin why Trump disavowed their words.  What a world.

The End Of Our Indian Summer?

Our Home In Autumn

7:06

7:42

7:43

8:12

Another beautiful morning, clear skies early on a moonlit morning, then a few clouds to make my morning photographs more interesting.  It's 53º, will get up to almost 70º later in the day, then the temperatures will drop.  Propitiously,  the guys are taking out our dock tonight, perhaps realizing the warm weather is about to end.

Yesterday was another day of routine, yoga at 9:30 with Julie, six of us, me the only guy, then on to the bank to deposit checks, and then a fairly long shopping list at Wegman's.  I wonder how many times a week I go to Wegman's on the average, at least twice, perhaps three times.  I don't mind it and I am practically there because of yoga so its no big deal.

When I got home, Evie had cut both our neighbors and our yard, almost twice but it did not do much good as the lawn was covered with leaves by the time she finished.  And this morning, as I look out our window, all I see is fallen leaves.  I don't think our lawn mower is going to get much rest today.

When Evie finished, around 12:30, it was dock time, as it may be the penultimate day on the dock since ours is coming in tonight.  It was pleasant enough, in fact, unseasonably warm at times.  Evie stayed out until the winds drove her in around 3:00.  I had lunch, tuna on a bagel and lentil soup, watched another Longmire, read, napped and woke up hungry for a pie of some sort.  Evie thought we had a pie crust in the refrigerator but we must have used it.  I volunteered to drive to Tops and get a Pillsbury pie crust while Evie got the apples and crumb topping ready.

Apple Pie

When I got home, Evie not only had the pie filling ready, but had made mashed potatoes for dinner, blanched the broccoli, and had the chicken breasts ready for roasting.  She rolled out the dough for the pie, put in the filling, turned on the timer and we were ready to relax on our porch with a Manhattan, good cheese, and crackers.  It was warm enough to sit outside, in fact, I was in a tee shirt.  As we always do, we ogled the sky as the sun began to set.  It's always a miracle of color, a delight to the eye even when the storm clouds moved in and it was raining by the time we had dinner.

When it was dark, we went in and had our dinner, salad,  chicken breasts and mashed potatoes, all a preliminary to what we had been waiting for, homemade apple pie with ice cream.  Yum.  We were both happy sitting on our couches, even if the elections were being rigged, fixed according the the Donald, a whiner extraordinaire.  We watched Stephen Colbert because he was doing a job interview with Obama, not as funny as we had hoped.  Then to bed, to read and fall asleep.