A Taste of Winter

6:38

7:00

7:20

Up  at 6:30 to streaks of light, a choppy lake, a white lawn, as it snowed about an inch over night, frosting both the lawns and rhododendrons in front of our house.  I don't imagine it will stay for long, once the day warms up, however, at the moment it's 23º, the sun is out,  blindingly bright at the moment, before it hides behind a cloud.  Perhaps a good day for a walk or hike, depending on our mood and the weather.  We do like hiking in snow covered woods though it will be quite wet because of the melting snow.

7:50

Yesterday morning was a bore for me, as I had to drive to Erie, to get my Honda Pilot serviced, getting it ready as  it can be for our drive to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.  It's a forty five minute ride to the dealer, then a two hour wait, nothing seriously wrong but lots of rust underneath and the fear that something might go wrong.  Both the gas and brake lines are starting to rust out, according to the mechanic, though for the moment, they seem to hold but...and that's the rub.  Do I wait until something goes or deal with it before?  We both hope to put off getting a new car because we do not know what we want, a high mileage sedan like a Prius or Ford Fusion Hybrid, or a larger, four wheel drive vehicle like a Subaru Outback or Toyota Highlander, both more expensive then the sedan and worse mileage. Do we need a four wheel drive or not is another question we need to answer.  As you can see, we are not ready to make a decision so I think we will soldier on with our 2000 Accord, 2004 Honda Pilot.

After the dealer, I did some shopping at Wegman's in Erie, a great store, much larger than the one in Lakewood, and had lunch there before driving back to the lake.  When I got back, Evie had done some raking in the yard, filled a garbage can with leaves and twigs and she made some of our favorite cookies, Lemon Scented Ginger Almond cookies, just perfect with a cup of Turkish tea, which we had mid afternoon.

Bufflehead Ducks Arrive

Around 4:00, my buddy Stan Marshaus called, needing a ride to Westfield, to pick up his car.  He hit a deer last week and it needed work.  So I drove him to Westfield, dropped him off and returned home just in time for wine, Castello cheese (brie and blue), as we sat and watched it begin to first sleet, then snow.  For dinner, we had left over pizza along with some Mercimek Corba (Lentil Soup), and we watched The Good Wife and Masters of Sex, and we are now all caught up with our shows.

I am about half way through Richard Russo's first novel, MOHAWK.  What a different world Mohawk (the late 1960's in a decaying New England town) is from  David Downing's novels set in Nazi Germany.  The problems in Mohawk, mostly personal, seem insignificant compared to those suffered by the Jews and Germans during WWII.  I want to scream at the characters in MOHAWK, "Get over it," but THEIR problems, no matter how minor, always take on great importance because they are THEIRS, not someone else's.

It looks like a meat loaf, mashed potato and gravy, and brussel sprouts night.  I cannot wait!

A Touch Of Pink

7:00 

7:30

Up at 7:00, to a mostly gray, cloudy sky, 34º, perhaps some rain and snow later but a day like the last couple, gray and windy with little chance of sun.  Get used to it, I suppose, the lack of sun that is;  this ain't Florida, Arizona, or California but Western New York!

As I indicated, yesterday was overcast, occasional rain, and quite windy.  We did not feel like our usual walk at the CI so we decided to go to the What's New Fair at Jamestown Community College, about 25 minutes away.  We have gone the last two years and we wanted to support the AAUW which sponsors it for college scholarships for young women.  It's filled with crafts, little of which are of interest to us though we enjoyed a couple of potters and the alpaca booths.  Lots of Christmas stuff obviously, crafts made by the locals, and not as crowded as it would have been on Saturday.  We ended up feeling guilty for not buying anything though we did enjoy talking with the friendly participants.

The rest of the day we did very little, watched some football, listened to a couple of games on the radio and read.  It was quite windy as I mentioned, lots of small branches down this morning and yet, a couple of crazy fishermen were on the lake, fighting the wind and white caps.   For dinner, Evie had made pizza dough a couple of days ago, refrigerated it, so she got it out and put together three pizza rounds, with various toppings.  I fired up the grill, slid them on the pizza stone for 8 minutes and, viola, we had three nice pizzas for dinner (and lunch tomorrow), to go along with a salmon salad, not the most complementary side but tasty none the less.

Fishing On A Windy Day

Fighting The Waves

We watched 60 Minutes, waiting for Homeland to come on at 9:00 and enjoyed the segment on a photographer who befriended both the Kennedy's and the Beatles.  Amazing photos of both from the 1960's.  And Homeland was better this week, as its starting to make more sense, and Saul's locking of the Senator in his office was a nice touch of humor, just what our Senator's need, with their arrogance, sense of entitlement and know it all attitude. I am sure all who watched cheered when it happened and wished it were more true to life.

Veggie Pizza

I head to Erie today to have my Pilot checked out, making sure its in good shape for our annual Thanksgiving drive to Kansas City and back.  Let's hope all goes well.

POTSDAM STATION: DAVID DOWNING

POTSDAM STATION takes place in the last days of WW II, mostly in Berlin.  It follows three characters who have been introduced in the previous three novels, journalist John Russell, now working for the Allies, Effi, his girl friend, who has been living in Berlin under an assumed name, surviving but just, and Paul, John's eighteen year old son, who has been drafted into the Germany army, hoping to stall the Russian and American advances.  It's April, as Berlin is being bombarded constantly by the Allies.

Russell is in Moscow, at the behest of the Americans, hoping to accompany the Russian troops as they descend upon Berlin.  By doing this, he hopes to find both his girl friend Effi and son Paul before the Russians.  He convinces the Ivans only by agreeing to be parachuted in ahead of the take over, to try t o secure the Nazis plans for a nuclear weapon before the Americans arrive.  He parachutes in, they find the plans, but his compatriots all die but he's left with the plans  Now alone, he must somehow survive among both the Ivans and the SS troops who are hanging anyone they think has deserted the army. While he looks for Effi, she is mistaken for a Jew because she has taken in to her charge an eight year old Jewish girl who lost both parents.  The two are sent to a camp but are after a few days, they are released along with the other prisoners if they sign a note that the commandant has let them go rather than following orders to liquidate them.

They then moves from one bomb shelter to another, trying to survive the bombardment, avoid the SS, and the Russians.  Meanwhile, Paul, the eighteen year old son, sees his group routed by the Russians, retreats, befriends a couple of youths who have been drafted into the army despite being fourteen years old.  And he watches as one of the SS shoots Werner, a 14 year old, as a deserter.  Paul wrestles with himself, whether do be honorable and continue the fight or to flee.  He finally decides when he sees the SS officer who had executed his young friend,  Werner.  He shoots him just as he has executed another civilian and, ironically,  his father, John Russell, observes this action.  They reunite briefly and Effi, after leaving the bomb shelter, finds John back are her apartment.  All's well that ends well; Russell convinces the Russians to allow his son, Effi, and his brother in law to leave for the American section of Berlin.  He stays behind and for their help, he shows the Russians where the nuclear plans were hid, and the novel ends with him still in Russian occupied Berlin though he seems to have convinced to keep him alive,  that he could be useful as a double agent, the next book I assume.

Downing clearly puts much of the blame for what has happened in Germany on the US for staying out of the war for so long.  And he has great sympathy for the Russians, who have suffered the most at the hands of the Nazis and their own government's expediency, perhaps up to sixty million Russians died during the war.  Russell, Downing's mouthpiece, thinks they deserve the most of the territories though he is clear sighted about the failure of Communism in Russia.  Its goals were noble, equality, brotherhood and internationalism,  the results, however, were disastrous, a dictatorship as bad as the Nazis. Something like communism could not be institutionalized by a Stalin; socialism only worked as a chain reaction.  He also does not gloss over the failures of the US, what he calls the country of money and greed. He's caught in between, with no good choices though the US ends up being preferable for his family to the Russia of Stalin, as he's always the pragmatist.

Sunday Mist, Fog and Rain (Shopping at Musky Mall)

7:51

Up at 7:00, rain on the roof, You Bet Your Garden on the radio, with the annoying, know it all voice of host Mike Mc Grath,  and a gray, misty lake, as the line between lake and land blends into nothingness. Surprisingly, I did see a solitary fishing boat, floating just off of Long Point, no doubt hoping for a good day.   Despite the gray, there's a certain beauty to this kind of morning, the senses assaulted by the changing weather.   It's 36º out at the moment, and we had a half inch of rain over the past 24 hours.

We had a good day yesterday, a nice walk in the morning, a relaxing afternoon, and an evening out. For our walk, we went over to Bemus Point because they were having a 20% off sale at all of the shops and though we  really did not have anything in mind, we thought it might be fun to see.  First, we walked Lake Side Drive, almost four miles, on a windy day but once we rounded the corner, the wind settled down and we were able to enjoy our walk, no rain, partly cloudy skies.  We only shopped at the Muskie Mall, the pottery shop in particular as Skillman and Wright is too expensive even with 20% off. The potter and owner of the shop is married to Tom Dawes, a guy we met while kayaking a couple of months ago.  She has lots of interesting pieces and we did buy a small bowl, with a neat lip, for pouring small amounts of liquid, like four or five eggs which you might want to scramble.  Not many people in Bemus despite the sale, which was too bad as we like to see the local businesses supported.

Inside the Musky Mall

Evie, Reindeer and Santa, at Musky Mall

Earlier in the morning, Evie had made up a batch of Turkish Lentil Soup, so we had that for lunch, tasty with mint and a bit of a bite, along with toasted cheese.  We took it easy the rest of the day, my only real chore was hitting the Transfer Station, with trash.  We could not make up our mind whether to eat in, grill pizza, or go out so we decided late afternoon to go to the Rod and Gun Club for dinner. Around 4:30, I took my usual walk through the Woodlawn/Victoria woods.  There's something magical about dusk, especially if it takes place as early as 5:00.  I did meet a neighbor on the walk, Carol Baldwin, who lives up on #394, just to the south of Woodlawn Avenue.  When I hike, I usually walk through the back edge of her property.  So it was nice to meet her and ask if she minded, which she didn't but appreciated that I asked.  She has a 15 year old Jack Russell terrier called, what else, Jack, and is retired, having moved to this house about four years ago.  I ended my walk in Victoria, ran into John and Mary Ann Johnson, again, and we had a good talk about teaching and retirement.  Mary Ann had just announced her retirement from teaching so they were in a good mood, ready to celebrate by having dinner by a fire.  They are a nice couple.

Crowded Bar at the Rod and Gun Club

About 6:15, we headed to the Rod and Gun and I had to drop Evie off at the door and park in the adjacent lot, not a good sign.  When we got in, the place was packed, and we had to wait to find a spot at the bar.  We were told the wait for dinner would be at least an hour if not more.  We decided to have a couple of beers and see how long it might take.  Evie struck up a conversation with a couple who live on the lake in Lakewood, and their next door neighbor's  house was badly damaged by the heavy winds this past summer.  After about forty five minutes, we checked and it would still be over a half an hour, so we made a command decision: we left and went once again, filled with yuppie guilt, to Kentucky Fried Chicken for another bucket of their finest.  We had enjoyed it quite a bit the last time. It was a mistake; we took it home, settled in to watch TV, and both of us dug into the chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits.  Unfortunately, we both also felt uncomfortable after our grease feast and I don't think we will be going back for quite awhile.  Me thinks our hunger for unhealthy food has been satisfied for quite awhile.

We also could not find anything worth watching, so we ended up watching a couple of episodes of Diners, Drive In's and Dives, always fun to watch.  I finished the fourth volume of the David Downing series set in Nazi Germany, POTSDAM STATION,  and the WW II is ending in this one, as the Russian and American forces overtake Berlin.  And I started Richard Russo's MOHAWK, set in 1968, in a mill town in New England, quite a change from Nazi Germany.

STETTIN STATION: DAVID DOWNING

This is the third in the six novel series set mostly in Nazi Germany, beginning in 1939.  In this book, it's 1941, and the United States will soon enter the war, compromising John Russell because he has an American passport.  Most of the novel revolves around Russell's realization that he must find a way out of Nazi Germany for both him and his girl friend Effi.  Like the other novels, various intelligence agencies use Russell, both the German and Russian but also American, for their end but he also uses them..  And like the other novels, one of the major threads is the Nazi treatment of Jews.  Both Russell and Effi have sympathy for the Jews and do what they can to help them escape the clutches of the Nazis.  John also comes to realize that there's more going on than just putting the Jews in concentration camps, that the SS have ordered large quantities of poison gas, a story he wants to get to the West.

When a errand he's running for the German Intelligence goes wrong, the SS attempt to find him.  He flees, finds friends among the Communist underground, who have promised him help escaping if the need arises.  They smuggle Russell and Effi out of Berlin, eventually hoping to find them a passage as stowaways on a ship to neutral Sweden.  The last third of the book is a nail biter,  as Russell and Effi continually have to outsmart the Nazis.  Eventually, to save Russell's life, Effi refuses to accompany him to Russia, where a ship will take him to Sweden.  She feels she can figure out a way to survive on her own in Berlin where her family lives.

John eventually makes it out of Germany, to Sweden, and Effi we assume makes it safely to Berlin. The novel is best at recreating a realistic picture of the bleakness of life under the Nazis, the complete control they have over the lives of their citizens, mostly a result of the fear of the SS, who seem to have the right to act with impunity.  And we get a pretty good idea of what it was like for the average German, afraid to stand up to the powers that be, unlike John and Effi who have the moral courage to do something by helping the Jews.

 It's hard to believe that people believed in the Nazis, were patriotic, country loving masses.  Not everyone was a believer, however, and many of the characters we meet are like John and Effi, unhappy with what is happening but feeling powerless to do anything about it.  For three novel now I have been living part of my day in this dismal world of Germany, nervous and scared, and it makes me more and more grateful to have lived in the US.

As I write this, it's the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the beginning of a nationwide pogrom when the Nazis destroyed thousands of synagogues and over 7500 Jewish businesses, marking the beginning of their destruction of the Jewish people.

Another Cloudy Saturday

7:00

Up at 6:30, lit the fireplace, and settled in to listen to Click N Clack, Only A Game, and surf the web for something of interest, worth reading in two or three minute swatches.  Can't concentrate any longer than that any more!   Briefly, the sky off to the southeast turned pink, then just as quickly the color dissolved into the ubiquitous gray of winter.  It's 32º outside, some rain forecast, high in the 40's, the kind of weather we have been having for the past week, next week as well.

Yesterday was a day of contrasts, as the sun might peak through the clouds briefly, then just as quickly cloud up and drizzle, even sleet for a few minutes, then stop.  Not exactly conducive to wanting to be outside, to hike or walk, so we stayed in much of the day.  Evie was suffering from a stomach virus so it was just as well.  I did venture out to Lakewood, late morning, to pick up some salmon and other staples at Sam's Club.  And, taking my life in to my own hands, I drove into the Home Depot parking lot.  Within 30 seconds, an elderly women pulled out in front of me, never looking to see if a car was coming.  As I drove on in to the parking lot, shaking my head, another car driven by an elderly gentlemen cut across the parking lanes, in front of me, bringing me to a stop.  I had earlier in the morning commented on the fact that downtown Jamestown seems to have a couple of accidents every week.  I assume the Lakewood business area does as well.  We often take the back road to Lakewood, or the lake road, just to avoid #394 and the busy section from the Mall to Wegman's, to Sam's.

The afternoon was filled with reading, some Turkish tea, and putting my entire record library on shuffle, so that I never knew what tune might pop up, fun and surprising at what played, from the Chronos Quartet, to Radio Head, to Johnny Cash.  Around 4:30, I got antsy and decided to walk the Woodlawn/Victoria woods, still muddy from the rains, but passable, with trails covered with matted leaves, no  crunch as I walked this time.  Occasionally the sun would peak out, lighting the opposite shore line, then disappear, leaving the coast in shadows.

Long Point at 3:00

Evie was feeling well enough to make dinner; she smeared the salmon with mayo, put it in foil, and I cooked it out on the grill for about 15 minutes, just right.  We also had jasmine rice and garlic spinach, a combination we both enjoy.  We have enough salmon left for a great salad for dinner or a couple of lunches, as well as some rice and spinach.  We watched two episodes of Parenthood, still compelling, though the fidelity of the married couples is being tested.  The matriarch of the family is taking off to Italy, on her own, leaving the patriarch home alone, and one of her daughter's seems to be finding solace in a stay at home Dad.  Trouble is brewing in Berkeley.

And the birds seem to be back though nervous, briefly feeding before flying off, most black capped chickadees, tufted titmouse's, and nuthatches.

Windy and Cloudy, With A Few Snow Covered Roofs

7:28

Up at 6:30, thinking that the yard might be snow covered, at least according to the forecast but just a couple of roofs have snow, as its not that cold out, 39º at the moment.  Snow is predicted later this morning but I doubt it.  Yesterday we talked about kayaking this morning, especially if there was snow but the lake looks choppy, gray, uninviting, so we will have to come up with a walk.

Yesterday was a lazy day, not much accomplished but because of the wet weather, the gray skies, it was a good day to hang out in the warm house, listening to POTUS, NPR, reading some, or watching some day time TV, a rare occurrence.  Evie did put together some bread dough early morning, made a pita, with garlic and olive oil for lunch, a loaf of bread for dinner.  And we forced ourselves to go for a walk at the Chautauqua Institution around 11:00, despite the light drizzle.  The cool air, however, invigorated us, as it always does, the rain sporadic, so we did enjoy our walk.

Hanging On To Its Leaves

We returned home around 12:00, had the pita and cauliflower soup for lunch and watched some Stewart and Colbert.  It got nice around 4:30 before it got nasty at dusk, windy, dark, and sleeting, just the way we like it at times, so we got out some St. Andre cheese and crackers to compensate.  We even decided to have a rare Manhattan before dinner.  Around 7:00, we ate, pre cooked ribs from Trader Joe's, coleslaw, and baked potatoes, all tasted great, just what we wanted.  We watched another Stewart and Colbert from two nights ago.  Colbert had basketball great Julius Irving on and he was smart, funny, classy, and charismatic.  No wonder he was such a star.

4:30 PM

I forgot to mention I refilled the bird feeders hoping they might attract some birds, a few showed up but and this morning, so far, none have come to feed.  Strange.