The Sun Also Rises (Empty Bowls at St. Hedwig's Social Center, Dunkirk, NY)

7:50 Sunrise

Fishing Early On A Cold December Morning

Another sleep in, till 7:30, the sky blue, the sun yet to rise above Wells Bay, about as far south as it's going to get.  It's cold out 26º, and it looks like a perfect day for a walk at the Chautauqua Institution, something we have hardly done all fall.  It used to be our routine to walk it every Sunday but not this year for some reason.

Yesterday was a different Saturday, as we had waned too leave for Empty Bowls by 9:45.  Since we got up later than usual and it took longer than I expected to finish my blog, we had to hustle to get our morning together.  I was able to head off to the Transfer Station, however, by 9:15, and we were on our way to Dunkirk by 9:50, a little over a half hour drive.  The last two years, we got there just before 11:00 and people were already browsing for bowls so we wanted to be one of the first to get in, the first to choose our bowls.

Early Birds Get The Best Bowls

One Of Four Rows Of Donated Pottery

Enjoying Soup

So, we were there by 10:30, wondered if they would let us in and viola, there were ten to fifteen were already walking around the tables.  We were told not to pick the bowls up off the tables until 11:00 but within five minutes, they announced the hall was open.  We gathered the bowls we liked, browsing the four tables,  over a thousand bowls I think, then sat down and picked out the top six, a difficult task because there were so many we liked.  After we made our decision, we paid for them, one hundred dollars, a nice way to make a donation to the Food Pantry.  Then, our bowls were wrapped, except for two, which we then used to get soup.  First each bowl was washed and dried, then soup was ladled into them, and we were given a slice of bread and a cookie.  We sat down, along with others, and listened to a classical music group play.  The soups were quite good, made by the local culinary students, makings donated by local restaurants.  I had potato leek, Evie vegetable.  We finished up, and our bowls were again washed and dried and wrapped.  One of the volunteers I recognized from last year because we had both been students in a yoga class at Studio Panterra in Westfield.

Empty Bowls is a wonderful way of bringing together a community in support of those who are needy.  As I mentioned, everything is donated, the money for the clay, the time of the potters, the food for the kitchen, and all the workers are volunteers. And people like us can feel good about buying the bowls because 100% of the proceeds will go to the Food Pantry.

Happy Volunteer Bowl Washers and Dryers

Student Culinary Volunteers

We left about noon and stopped at Tuscany, an interesting deli and kitchen store in Fredonia.  It has lots of kitchen goodies that Evie liked, but we left with only a sub sandwich.  On the way home, we stopped in Mayville at the Lighthouse, had them cut us four nice pork chops with bones.  We would have bought them at Tuscany but they only had boneless, an increasing habit at the local stores as well.

We were home by 1:00, time for a lunch of a sub sandwich, and football or basketball.  I had hoped the Ohio State game would be one but discovered they were playing at 8:00 in the evening.  So I watched some games I could care less about before falling asleep for a nice nap.  Evie, too, relaxed most of the afternoon, reading, listening to music, surfing the Internet. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, just what we wanted.  Around 4:30, as Evie was putting together our dinner of chicken, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, I went for a walk in the Victoria woods, bushwhacking most of the way, which means not walking on paths but through the untrammeled woods.  For some reason, I love to do this.  I feel like I am discovering new paths, like the early frontiersmen who mapped this country.  Most of the undergrowth has died out, the floor of the woods strewn with leaves, so it was easy to make my way up and down low hills and gullies.

Around 6:00, we sat down with cheese and crackers, a glass of wine, to listen to Garrison Keeler's Prairie Home Companion.  I wondered what it would be like if he ever retired, if anyone one could take his place.  I doubt it; his show and character and skills are one of a kind.  With his retirement or death, Prairie Home Companion will end.  We watched mostly junk TV as we could not find anything we wanted to watch and ended up watching Bridesmaids on regular TV, where the movie was hardly longer than the commercials.  When you are used to watching shows on DVR, it's maddening to have to sit through a commercial.  We were tired, left Bridesmaids before the end, and went up to bed to read and sleep.  Another good day at the lake.

A Saturday Morning Rain

We both slept in till 7:45.  For us, that's sleeping in.  It's cloudy and wet out side, puddles of water sitting in the side yard.  It does not look like a day for a walk or hike, just driving off to Dunkirk, to participate in the Empty Bowls Program, which we enjoy.  Potters in the area make over a thousand bowls, which are sold, then filled with soup, to benefit the Food Pantry in Dunkirk.  This will be the third year we have gone.  It's a great way to help those who cannot afford a meal.

7:55

Yesterday began with yoga with Courtney and to my surprise, there were six other students.  The last two Fridays, I was the only one in class.  I hope it continues and everyone seemed to really like the class so I am optimistic.  After class, I stopped, again, for a coffee, and Joyce, the barrista's parents were there, having their coffee and breakfast.  They come quite often and I have gotten to know them. Evie was gone went I got home, off to the dentist again for an adjustment, and she also went shopping at T. J Maxx.  What else is there to do on a cold, wet afternoon.  The big news from the morning was the burning of the Mexican restaurant on #394 in Lakewood.  From the newspaper, the fire department put it out in the morning, left, and the fire started back up later, completely destroying the restaurant.  Because it was supposed to rain most of the afternoon, I decided to walk the Woodlawn/Victoria woods before lunch, always changing, easy and fun.

Nature's Horizontals

Nature's Verticals

Evie returned home around 12:30, having to take a detour around the restaurant.  For lunch we had cauliflower soup and a bagel, filled with avocados and tomatoes.  We watched Stewart go off on the Grand Jury verdict in NYC, then Colbert, who is counting down his last ten shows.  Stewart had Angelina Jolie on.  She has directed the filming of the novel Unbroken, which was opening Friday in many theaters.  It look pretty good and its her second directing job, the first about the wife of Mark Pearl, who was beheaded by Islamic extremist.  I never saw the movie but it got pretty good reviews

The Chickitas At Seezurh House

After an afternoon of tea, cookies, books and a nap, we got ready to go out with Ron and Linda.  Our original plan was to go into Jamestown for the Christmas Parade but together we decided because of rain and freezing rain, also a weather advisory, to just go across the lake to Bemus and have a fish fry at the Seezurh House.  Looking at at the paper this morning, it looks like it was the wrong choice, as the parade seems to gone off with no hitches, the weather cooperating for the most part.  Rats.  Anyways, the Seezurh House was fairly crowded, three of us had fish fries, and it was a fun evening.  We were home by 9:00, said aloha to the McClures/Hepp because we won't being seeing them again till mid January, as when they come up next, we will be off to see our kids.

Hard To Describe These Two

We watched some TV, then went to bed where I finished my book, ME BEFORE YOU, just before my digital library account expired.  And I started my next book, which could not be more different, REDEPLOYMENT by Phillip Klay, one of the NYTimes top five novels of the year, a series of short stories about the Iraqi war, the difficulties the soldiers faced, d both in Iraq and coming home.  So far, it's very good, and I cannot wait to get back to it.

TGIF No Longer Has Much Meaning

8:00 AM

3:30 PM, Perfect For Kayaking

It's 7:50 and I have been up for an hour, watching the dark gray turn to light gray, the lake appear, also gray, a gray day as it were.  It's 30º out at the moment, and a winter advisory for today, starting at 1:00 for freezing rain, icy roads, not the kind of weather one might want for a Christmas Parade in downtown Jamestown.

New Eight Limbs Yoga Studio In Lakewood

Yesterday I began yoga again, after a fortnight hiatus.  I was looking forward to it because Eight Limbs has moved to a new building, just renovated by Danielle DeVine, our teacher.  She is excited and rightly so, as it's a nice addition to the Main Street of Lakewood.  Previously, it had been an abandoned building that she and her husband bought at an auction a few years ago but we not able to renovate it till this fall. Besides a yoga studio, it has a fitness studio, a physical/massage therapy room, and a Thai Yoga studio.  Our room is much larger of course, still in the state of transition as Danielle not sure how best to organize the room, the class.  Right now it's a newly painted room, with some shelves for yoga stuff.  We had fourteen students, but the room still seemed crowded as we spaced ourselves now that we had a larger room.  Class was fine; it felt good to stretch and move my various ligaments, muscles, and connective tissues.  Yin yoga tends to hold a pose for three to five minutes, and is not particularly vigorous.  Before class, I gave Danielle an evil eye pendant, to hang above a door, a good luck charm found in most homes in Turkey.  After yoga, I stopped at Ryder's for a cup of coffee, of course, and came home to an empty house as Evie had another dentist appointment, then planned to spend the afternoon shopping.

Danielle, Our Teacher: Namaste

It was strange to be in our house alone for four hours on an increasingly sunny day.  Evie had made one of my favorite soups, a Indian flavored cauliflower soup and along with a bagel and cream cheese I had lunch.  I put off watching Stewart and Colbert and instead, tried series I have been wanting to watch called Wallender, in Swedish, based on the Henning Mankell novels featuring Kurt Wallender, head detective.  Though it was subtitled, I soon forgot about them and was totally engrossed in the story, a search for terrorists, protesting the exhibit of cartoons, showing the prophet Mohamed, or so the police thought.  It was really well done and I plan on watching the rest of the series over the next few months with Evie.

Kayak Afternoon

Lake Begins To Freeze

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and taking a nap until about 3:30 when the lake, smooth and silent and empty, became to great of a temptation so I went kayaking.  Unfortunately, both kayaks were on their side, a result of water turning into ice on the inside.  I was able to chip it out in large pieces or I would not have been to keep it steady.  Just as I paddled off towards Long Point, Evie honked, having just returned from the store.  She quickly ran inside, with groceries that needed to be frozen, changed, and came out for a paddle as well.  It was cold, especially our metal paddles, which quickly froze our hands.  It was energizing to be back out on the lake again, but it was cold. We paddled down towards Wells Bay, at times breaking a thin layer of ice, but soon turned around, deciding twenty minutes of paddling was enough.  Earlier in the day, we had seen a guy out fishing but he did not seem to last long.  And about forty five minutes ago, we saw a boat already out fishing off of Long Point.  What passion for fishing.

Full Moon At Dusk

After we came in, we put away the groceries, and sat down with a glass of wine in our new glasses, realizing as we drank that we had two sizes, one for white, another for red though we did not know this when we bought twelve of them at IKEA for $4.94.  For dinner, Evie bought a rotisserie chicken at Sam's, so dinner was easy, a baked sweet potato, garlic spinach and salad.  We ate watching Colbert and Stewart, then finished the TV series, Fargo, which, though violent, about a psychopath, is really quite good, even humorous at times, the kind of Coen brothers are known for.  After it ended, we channel surfed, found nothing worth watching, so I went up to bed, to read, leaving Evie to enjoy her shows.

Dark, Threatening Clouds Early, Sunshine Later

7:25

It's just after 7:00 and I have been up since 6:30, the outside at the moment dark and threatening with streaks of light.  Not much of a sunrise this morning, just a graying of the sky.  I look forward to some sun since we have not had any the last couple of days.  It will remain cool, with high around 32º, perhaps warm enough to kayak later if there is no wind.  It would be nice to get out on the lake.

Yesterday was another day of getting back into our routine.  I bagged yoga, deciding to take it easy for one more day, so my only activity of the morning was to do a few errands in Lakewood.  When I got home, Evie had the kitchen counters filled with butter, roll out cookies, all to be sent to KC for our granddaughter, Marlena, and her friends to decorate for Christmas.  They will have lots of fun.  It was chilly and damp outside, but our yard was strewn with twigs and branches, as usual, so I spent a good hour outside, raking and picking up a couple of barrels of dead fall.  Our yard looks a lot better as a result, both front and back, ready for another snow fall.

We had Evie's soup for lunch and a half of a sub sandwich we bought for lunch on Tuesday.  And we are back in routine, watching Stewart and Colbert as we eat our lunch.  Neither of us had much mojo the rest of the day.  I had a once a year call from our financial advisor. When you reach 70, you are required to start taking money out of your IRA which means, of course, paying more taxes.  There's always a catch.  It looks like things will be fine for another year, so don't worry kids.  We won't be moving in for awhile!  Her advice---go on trips now while we are still healthy.  Good advice I suppose.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, making myself some Turkish tea, and munching on some of the Goya cookies I bought before our trip.  I am not crazy about this bunch but they do go well with tea.  I also got a few things done, little things, like making appointments, sending off a thank you note, things like that which nag until you get them done.

Beth's Painting Above Mc Clure's Fireplace

At 6:00, we drove over to the McClure's and Hepp's for a beer before going off to the VFW for wings.  We walked in, grabbed a beer, went into the living room and there, above their mantel, was our daughter Beth's painting, framed, in glass, with a light on it.  It was amazing to see it framed and in their home. They are thrilled with it as well.  Because it's above a working fireplace, they were told they would need glass over it to keep it from darkening and it's been framed so the glass does not touch the canvas.  We left for the VFW around 7:00, in a light rain/sleet.  The VFW was not very busy though a few people obviously had ordered wings to go.  Our waitress, Sarah, was particularly cute, talking about how much she loves Christmas, decorating her home, even the VFW.  She's been the waitress ever since we have been getting wings there.  We filled each other in on our Thanksgiving activities so there was lots to catch up on.

We were home around 9:15, to our warm house, to pajamas and some TV before going upstairs to read and sleep.  We will see the Linda and Ron again on Friday, as we will be going to downtown Jamestown for their Christmas Parade.  We went last year and loved it, lots of floats and marching bands and groups.  Let's just hope it doesn't rain.  Last year we had light snow which was perfect.

Home Again, After 1953 Miles Of Interstate Highways---Thanks Dwight David Eisenhower

7:50

It's strange to get up in my own house after twelve days on the road but it's easy to get back into routine, coffee, NPR, take a couple of dawn photos, and write my blog.  It's warmer than I thought, 38º, a dreary morning of grayness, both sky and lake.  Ah Chautauqua!

We worried yesterday about more ice on the roads and were not sure whether to leave early or later from our Hampton Inn. So we left some neither early nor late which seemed to be just right.  Before we left, we saw the terrible freezing temperatures in Indianapolis, causing all kinds of accidents, the kind we witnessed the day before in St. Louis.  Fortunately, by the time we left for home, 8:30, all the roads were either treated or seemed dry, so we made it without incident around Columbus and down to Cleveland via # 71.  The weather report indicated snow and ice in the Erie area in the early afternoon, so we rarely stopped, making it home much quicker than usual, in five and a half hours when it usually takes us much longer.  And the roads were fine, even on #86 through Chautauqua County, a relief I must say.  This entire trip always seemed to have a weather hazard hanging over our head even though we never ran into a problem.  Perhaps waiting a day to leave for Euclid, then another day before leaving for Lee's Summit made the difference.

A Dreary, Wet Welcome To The Lake

Everything seems fine in our house and yard, always a worry when we get home.  We quickly unpacked the car as it began to rain just as we finished.  And even though it was a sickly looking afternoon on the lake, we were glad to be home and settled for a couple of weeks.  I quickly got back into routine reading some before taking a late afternoon nap.  How delicious.

Neither one of us felt like fussing with dinner, so Evie got some turkey meatballs out of the freezer, thawed them, then put them in a store bought pasta sauce and we had dinner.  We obviously have missed a number of our TV series, so we started with Homeland.  It was probably the most tense, best written, and scary episodes in four years of the show.  Evie, especially, could hardly move as the prisoners were exchanged.  We then watched the new series, The Affair, and it, too, really grabbed us, with its turns, tension and character driven plot.  So we had two hours of tense, emotional TV, so we lightened it up the last hour, with Stewart and Colbert.  I finished the first book of a series of Department Q novels, The Keeper Of Lost Causes, by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, which I really liked, in the same order as Joe Nesbo and Henning Mankell.  And I started another novel set in England called Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes, and I am really into it as well.  How nice to have something to read that you so enjoy that you put off eating or sleeping to keep reading. The first line of the New York Times review of this book tells you all you need to know about it. "When I finished this novel, I didn’t want to review it; I wanted to reread it." 

Looking back, we had a wonderful trip, spending a night with the Holzheimers in Euclid, a weekend with Evie's sister, Elaine, and her family in Oak Park, and a week in Lee's Summit, with our son Tommy and his family.  How lucky we are to have family we enjoy and can visit.  

Icy Roads In St Louis, A Long Ride Home

Crossing the Missouri River

I like getting up early at the Hampton Inn,  getting Evie a couple of coffees, then settling in at the breakfast room, a few others are up this early.  We are not sure whether to leave around 8:00 or not, as we are waiting on the weather report on icy roads.

Yesterday, for example, we left early from Lee's Summit, as I woke up at 3:00, could not get to sleep so I got up at 5:15 and we were on the road by 6:15, looking forward to an easy ride, at least we thought. When we got to within twenty miles of St. Louis, traffic stopped and it was clear that the roads were a real problem, icy and slick, with numerous accidents along the way.  It was slow going, and we even got off the interstate for a half an hour.  Overall, we lost about an hour and a half at least in time but once we got through Missouri in to Illinois, it was mostly clear sailing, though there were a heck of a lot of trucks, more than we remember.

A Long Ride Home

Icy Roads, Trucks Turned Turtle

God In the Plains

We finally arrived at our Hampton Inn, a couple of hours later than we expected.  We were too tired to go out for a burger and fries, looked for a  fast food and decided on Skyline Chili, a few hundred yards from our inn.  I don't think we have been there before so we took a stab at their entrees, Evie having a Greek chicken wrap and I had their four way chili on spaghetti noodles.  We brought them back to the room, relaxed and ate.  Neither were very good unfortunately but there was no way I was going out again so we made do.  Evie's chili is much better than Skyline's, and beans or onions are extra?  What kind of chili is that?  We watched TV, no football, and went to bed around 11:00, 10:00 Kansas City time.

Crossing Mighty Mississippi

Late Afternoon Indiana Sky

We hope to be home mid afternoon, depending on the roads, whether we stop at Trader Joe's or not. Let's hope the roads are not icy. We have been gone twelve days, stayed in three different homes, one inn and are ready to get home, like always---once more to the lake!

Up And Away Before 6:00...To The Lake

All A Gal Needs To Be Happy---Her Dog, Beats and iPad

It's too early, 5:15 but we want to be on the road early because we have at least a ten hour drive ahead of us today, another four or five Tuesday, getting us to the lake on Tuesday afternoon.

I had my fill, in fact, we all had our fill of the tube yesterday, especially football.  We had a lazy morning, watching CBS Sunday Morning, as everyone slept in, Evie till 9:00, Nick till noon, the two sleepy heads.  Tom and I took a quick trip to the HyVee to pick up eggs and noodles, for breakfast and the turkey soup Evie was making for a mid afternoon lunch.  When we returned home, Evie made us mushroom omelets for breakfast, with bagels as well.  And that was enough to hold us until later.

Around noon, Rose and Frank, Mary's parents came over for the afternoon.  They are always fun to be with, so we had a merry afternoon of TV, food, and good stories.  The NFL games begin at noon here in the Central Time Zone, so we started with the Steelers/Saints, switched to the Kansas/Michigan State basketball game at 1:00.  When that ended, we went back to the NFL game until 3:30, when the game we wanted to see, the Patriots/Packers came on TV.

Playing Telefunky With Mary's Parents

Just before game time, the turkey soup and Slovenian sausages were ready, so we took time out from serious viewing to eat, but not for long!  Neither Frank nor Rose had had Slovenian sausages, but they loved them, reminding Frank of the Polish sausages he used to get years ago.  Though the sausages are made in Euclid, they traveled to the lake, back to Euclid, then to Chicago and finally, KC before we enjoyed them...well traveled dogs.

A Dog Tired Group From Watching Football

Marlena had Olivia over again for the afternoon, and with Evie, they played some  Telefunky while the guys were watching the games.  They even had time to decorate more cookies that Evie had brought.  Around 6:30, we had a respite as the Packer game was over, and the Chiefs game was not to begin for another hour.  Rose and Frank decided to go home and watch the game, so some relaxed, Evie and Mary quizzed Marlena on math terms, and Tom and I enjoyed watching something other than a football game.  Before the game, however,  Evie and I decided to get all our things packed, which took awhile but by game time, we were ready for our trip tomorrow morning.

Cookies Divided 

Yum

By game time, we were hungry, so we got out some leftovers and had a snack during the game. Although the game starts early here, at 7:40, neither Evie nor I stayed up until the end of the game because we were tired and wanted to get a good night's sleep before our drive.

I don't care if I watch another football game until Monday Night Football hits the air tonight.