A "Super" Morning On Chautauqua Lake

7:32

7:33

7:36

Wow, it's 7:50 and the sun is filling the air with its light, rising over Bemus Point, not a cloud in the sky, on a chilly morning, 25º.  The lake looks inviting, still snow covered for the most part and the fishing guys are out in the middle, have been for an hour.  It looks like a great day on the lake.  And snow is forecast for the next four days.  Yippee!  Bring back winter.

Yesterday turned out to be a nice day, with sun and some clouds later but no precipitation. Because I was up early, had lots of time for coffee and my blog, I decided to go to yoga at 9:00 with Julie.  It's a more difficult class but  I am getting used to it and seem to be improving some.  

Valentine Cookies...Yum (although I didn't get to taste one)

When I got home, Evie had spent the morning packing up cookies for Valentine's Day, no easy task as it took a good hour, finding the right size box, packing the cookies so they don't break, then taping and addressing the boxes.  I took them to the post office, now open on Saturday's from 10:00 to 12:00 on my way to the Transfer Station.  When I got home, I found some mojo and hung two clothes racks for Evie, in our hot room, so we can now hang things in there to dry.  It's one of the few handy man jobs in my career where it ended up being simple and easy, no glitches.

Since it was starting to get nice out, cool but sunny, we decided to drive over to Long Point and hike the park. We were surprised at how much snow there was within the woods, though when we walked out to Long Point, it was mostly frozen ground, little snow.  If felt good to be back outside in the cold air, enjoying the woods, the view of the lake, and as usual, we were the only ones hiking the woods. We were home just before 2:00, just in time for lunch of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, leftover from last night's dinner.

And that was it for the day.  We had planned on going out for dinner but neither one of us had the energy to rise off our couches to shower and get ready.  So we stayed home, ordered a pizza from Coppola's in Bemus Point, and I picked it up at 5:00.  We then relaxed in the living room, with wine and cheese and crackers and listened to Prairie Home Companion, without Garrison Keillor who has retired.  It just did not seem right to not hear his voice and I doubt it will ever be the same or successful.  We had our pizza and a salad for dinner and watched a pretty bad two hours of the Bernie Madoff story.  What a creep, using his friends, knowingly cheating them of their life savings.  Just another example of what seems to motivate too many people: greed, greed, greed.  We then watched the spectacle of the Republican Debate, as each tried to tear down the other, make them look foolish which is not difficult with the likes of Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and the automaton, Marco Rubio. They really went after him and highlighted his robot like responses, repeating the same lines over and over again.  We went to bed before Saturday Night Live but look forward to watching it today with Bernie Sanders as Larry David or vice versa.

A Good Looking Morning Sky

6:45

7:45

I was up at 6:20, surprised by a crescent moon, some visible clouds, some light by 6:30.  Now, at 7:10, the eastern sky is a gray band just above the shoreline, then pink, gray and cream above, as the morning attempts to clear.  It's 27º and should be a sunny but cold, in the 30's, kind of day.  And two fishermen are out in the middle...how they got there is a mystery because most of the shore is not frozen.

The only major change to yesterday's routine of yoga for me, a work out for Evie, was our meeting at the eye doctor office in Jamestown, to pick out a new pair of glasses since I have yet to find mine. We pretty much knew the frames I wanted, light and unbreakable, not too hip but classic, something I will still like in five years.  Once the frames were picked out, the hard part began, as there all kinds of choices for lens and coatings, each more bucks.  Fortunately, I do have some insurance so the total for my frames and lens was around two hundred when I was thinking I might have to spend four hundred dollars.  A deal?

Afterwards, we stopped at Sam's Club, to pick up a few things and a rotisserie chicken, big enough usually for at least two dinners, perhaps a lunch.  We were good about buying something we did not need, always the temptation at a store like this.  We then went our separate ways, Evie to work out, me home to make lunch.  I put a few pieces of sliced pork between a couple of tortillas with cheese and jalapenos and browned them in a pan.  With homemade vegetable soup, I had a good lunch,  I watched another episode of TREME and made some headway with my book FOREVER.  I should finish it some time today.

Reflections On Woodlawn Creek

Snow Covered Victoria/Woodlawn

Evie was back around 2:00 and we whiled away the afternoon doing little.  I did take a walk again, through the snow covered woods, the ground covered with animal tracks and for the first time, I think I observed the tracks of rabbits.  It was fun to compare my walk in the snow covered woods with my walks the previous two days, when there was no snow.

Long Point, Late Afternoon

The Sun, The Sun

When I got home, since I have been hankering after something chocolate, Evie and I quickly put together a brownie mix.  I then peeled some potatoes for dinner while Evie decorated cookies for Valentines Day.  After the cookies, we relaxed with a glass of wine before putting together our dinner of rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a salad.  We watched the first episode of the six part O. J. Simpson mini series.  It was fairly compelling and interesting to see all the details that we had forgotten about the six months of drama.  This particular episode ended with his memorable Bronco ride on a LA  freeway, with police and media helicopters following him, as the nation watched.

We ended the night watching an interesting documentary featuring the best of Super Bowl Half Time shows.  The NFL began bringing rock stars to the half time in 1993 with Michael Jackson, mostly because other news channels like FOX were luring away the audiences at half time with shows of their own.  Because the NFL was losing revenue and audience, their solution was to get rid of the traditional marching bands and bring on the rock stars.  It worked.

Frosting In The Morning

7:50

Back Out Again On The Lake At 7:45

I have been up since 6:00 and just now, at 7:00, the whiteness has appeared, on the lake and yard. The green, green grass of yesterday has disappeared under a thin layer of snow.  It's chilly once again, 26º, what a contrast to the 60º of a couple of days ago.  There will not be much accumulation, alas, an inch or two of snow at the most, good enough to hike on but not ski.

No big changes yesterday other than the fact that I misplaced or lost my glasses, on the way from my car to yoga class.  After class, I went to put on my glasses, usually in the pocket of my fleece and they were not there.  I searched the room, walked out to my car looking carefully at the ground, checked my car, called home to see if I left them there, but no go.  I went home and actually drove back to the studio to check, once again the area and the studio but nothing.  I assume someone must have picked them up but what they did with them,  I don't know.  The studio was going to call if they found them but I have heard nothing so far.  This morning, I will check in, hoping they have been found but I doubt it.  So, I will have to drive to Spectrum, my eye doctor's office, and order a new pair.  I have not had new frames in almost six years, so it's not a big deal.  But I would love to know where the glasses went.  Infuriating.

So that was yesterday morning, basically a bust.  After all the searching, upstairs, downstairs and in various drawers, Evie gave up and drove off to Lakewood for her workout after spending the morning making cut out valentine cookies.  I had lunch, soup and a leftover burger, heated up and still good.  More of TREME because I too soon get tired of the talk on Sports Center, especially the Super Bowl hype.  Then, on to the living room, to read and take a nap.  Interestingly, as I was leaving yoga yesterday, one of the women was talking about how she loved her naps.  We commiserated and a second joined in, agreeing with us, what a great thing a nap is, usually right after a good lunch.  I am not alone and will continue to struggle against feeling guilty about 'wasting time,' by taking a nap.

Victoria/Woodlawn

Evie was home around 3:00 just as I was dressed and ready to take another walk through the woods. It was a walk similar to the day before, a woods devoid of undergrowth, snow, just a layer of leaves. I ran in to my neighbor, John, and he and his wife are taking off next week for Ottawa to ice skate. There's a river that flows through the city, freezes, and five miles of it is used for iceskating, where you can skate from one restaurant to another.  They went last year  and loved it.  I wish I knew how to skate!

Long Point at 4:00 PM

We had our usual pre prandial wine with pita chips and hummus.  I forgot to mention the celery and carrots, our sop to health.  Dinner was already made as Evie put together Cuban sandwiches before we sat down,  French rolls with mayo, mustard, dill pickles, Swiss cheese, pork and ham, then heated on a grill until the cheese melts  They were great, my favorite sandwich.  We watched American Crime Story, then American Idol before turning to the debate between Bernie and Hilary.  It was actually pretty interesting, with two thoughtful candidates,  and both did well, probably because the Republican debates have set the bar so low.  As usual, I had enough of politics by 10:00 and went upstairs to read.    

A Touch Of Winter

7:40

It's 7:20 and both of us are up, listening to the pundits debate the politics in New Hampshire; I just heard one ask Bernie if he was Larry David... ha, ha.   It's 34º and was supposed to snow last night but it was hardly a dusting and at the moment, it looks like a whiteout is coming although it has yet to snow.  I assume it's waiting for me to get in my car and drive to Bemus for breakfast.

Cloud Splendor

Yesterday was a good yoga class at 10:00, nothing special, just ten of us, even a couple of guys.  I was uncharacteristically warm, of course, almost got up to 60 in the afternoon. When I got home, Evie was ready to go to the Y and she had already put together my lunch, an amazing salad of leftover salmon and avocados, one of the reasons I love having salmon for dinner.  We always have enough left for a salad the next day for lunch.  I started the second season of TREME and got bored half way through, too much music for me, and went into the living room to read and take a nap, or what the Greeks and Spaniards might call, a siesta. The Europeans understand its beauty; it's like waking up to two mornings, ready to go.

Victoria Creek's Mouth

Woodlawn and Victoria Melt

Selfie In a Tee Shirt

Evie was back by 3:30 and I was ready to get out, so I went for a hike through the Victoria/Woodlawn woods.  The streams are lively and noisy, filled with melting snow, and the woods floor was surprisingly dry except for a few areas where water would drain down to the creeks.  It was good to be in the woods again, with blue skies, the sun beginning to drop behind me.  I was out for an hour before coming home and Evie was ready for bear: she wanted to give me a quick hair cut.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Woodlawn Creek

Babbling Brook

After the haircut, we both showered, got dressed, and drove off to Jamestown at 5:30 because we were going to the Reg Lenna Theater to see THE BIG SHORT.  No Forte restaurant this time, as we decided on Mexican and ate at the bar of a very crowded Taco Hut, just across the street from the theater.  Evie loves their portabello pizza on a crispy tortilla and I ordered flautas, with a white sauce, and sides of rice and beans.  All was good.  The theater was not as crowded as Saturday but a really good crowd of close to four or five hundred I would say.  We ran into Julie Lescynski and her husband Tom, as well as a woman who works at the Robert Jackson Center.   The movie was interesting but did not grab us like SPOTLIGHT.   It's so outrageous that it might be a comedy.  The comedy, however, the silly person who trips over a chair. is the average American, who trusted both its banks, the rating systems, their real estate agents and the government.  So it's really tragic as well a comic and it follows the traders who understand the housing market was going to fail and bet against it, bet against the US economy and made billions.  Ah, the beauty of rampant capitalism.

April In February: Rains, Winds, Gray Skies

7:45

Another 7:00 morning, the lake like a pond, the wind howling, heavy gray clouds fill the 43º air.  Not exactly the kind of day that makes me want to get up and go.  But I will, eventually, to yoga, then to dinner and a movie tonight in downtown Jamestown, something to look forward to on this ugly February morning, of mud and melting snow.

Yesterday was partly cloudy, with blue skies in the afternoon yet cooler than I expected and not the kind of day to hike or cross country ski although a few fishermen did traipse out on the lake, both in the morning and late afternoon.  I had a good yoga class at 9:30, a small class, with two guys and two gals.  A couple were new to yoga so class was basic which never bothers me.  That's where I belong.  I went feeling blah and returned with some energy.  Getting off the couch, doing something outdoors or physical like yoga or working out at the gym always makes us feel better.

1:45

Evie was raring to go to the gym when I got home, so off she went, as I was making my lunch, a quesadilla and soup and I finished the first season of TREME which surprisingly ends with the suicide of a writer/professor, played by John Goodman, depressed by his inability to write and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  It made me curious enough about the next season to watch it again.

I then got back to my book, FOREVER, by Pete Hamill, a fictional history of New York City, took a brief nap before I drove off for the required oil change for my Outback at Schultz in Fluvanna.  They talked me into their special, two oil changes, tire rotation and safety check for $120. 00.  What happened to the cheap oil change?  Now I have to use synthetic oil, get a change every 6000 miles, tire rotation every 7000 miles.  They get you coming and going.  Afterwards, I decided to go to one of those self car washes, so for $2.50, I got to spray the dirt off my car for four minutes, enough time I thought.  When I got home, Evie had also just returned from her workout and shopping at Wegman's, filling the kitchen counter were her groceries.

We relaxed at the end of day with a wine spritzer, listening to what else, the pundits dissect the previous night's Iowa primaries.  I have to say that I am not very enthusiastic about any of the candidates.  I think our system is strong enough to survive any of them and it usually makes little difference if it's a Republican or Democrat who gets the Presidency since neither can do much without the acquiesce of Congress.  As I think back, however, to the past 16 years, I am confident that if Gore had beaten Bush, we would never have gotten into the quagmire of Iraq so maybe who gets elected does make a difference.  And the Republicans do sound much more war mongering than the Democrats, stereotyped as anti military and wimpy, particularly Obama.  Our system is not perfect but at least the change of power, so far, has been peaceful.  And the concentration of power seems to change every four or eight years, bringing in the other party.

Dinner was one of our many favorites, broiled salmon with rice and garlic spinach, just what I wanted.  We were not sure what to watch, started two movies and ended up watching a 2014 film, KILL THE MESSENGER, a true story, about a former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter, who moved his family to California to work for the San Jose Mercury,  discovers the CIA's support of the drug cartels, using the drug money from selling drugs to the ghettoes, to fund the anti Contra mercenaries in Nicaragua.  Like many anti institutional films, it shows his fight to get his editors to publish the story and when the government and CIA push back, smear the authenticity of his story, the paper retracts the story, unwilling to stand up to the power of the CIA.  Eventually, he loses his job, commits suicide even though eventually, his reporting is proved flawed but basically correct, forcing the resignation of the Director of the CIA.  It's not a great movie but a good one,  And another which reiterates the importance of the press and its willingness to hold our government up to transparency, outing its corrupt elements, lies, and push back at truth tellers.

Fire Up The Lawn Mower (not quite)

6:53

7:22

7:36

7:39

Awake at 7:00, to a clear sky, a slash of orange over the far shoreline.  Now, at 8:00, the sun is blinding, filling the now ice covered lake, warming the cold 25º morning.  A couple brave souls are out in the middle of the slow melting lake.  Today should get up into the 40's, tomorrow the 50's, before snow is once again forecast for Thursday as winter, hopefully, returns to Chautauqua.

Yesterday was my typical Monday, a good yin yoga class with Danielle, followed by coffee at Ryder's Cup, then a stop at Home Depot for the first time in months, to pick up a clothes rack and blocks for raising the one end of our bed, to help us both sleep more peacefully and avoid acid reflux.
When I returned home, Evie had made tuna and tomato melts for lunch and I warmed up the cauliflower soup.  She then drove off for her workout at the YMCA while I ate lunch and watched some Sports Center.

Woodlawn, Early Morning

At 1:45 I left for the doctor's office, where I was having my first Wellness Visit, a new requirement from Medicare.  Basically, you fill out six or seven pages of questions and then meet with a nurse to go over them, mostly to make sure that you are safe and healthy, especially I assume if you live alone, are unhealthy, or dependent.  It makes sense and hopefully heads off problems before they get out of control, like senior abuse, drug addiction, or lack of proper care.  My PA also gave me a quick, not required physical, to take advantage of the visit, a good guy.  And I signed probably for the 5th time, my willingness for my medical records to be shared with other doctors or hospitals.  Wouldn't it be nice if all hospitals and doctors offices were on the same page, the same app rather than each having their own.  I also stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a couple of prescriptions and the hardware store before getting home around 4:00.

Evie was watching the build up to the elections in Iowa, so I joined her and we both sat there and watched TV for an hour, listening to the pundits make predictions and listening to the two sons of Donald Trump talk about how wonderful their father  would be as President.  We then adjourned to the living room for a class of wine and some roasted peanuts and raisins and listened to more politics on POTUS.

Dusk

Bemus Farm At Dusk at 5:26

Around 6:30, I went outside and grilled some burgers for our dinner and Evie heated up the kuru fasulye to complement the burgers.  They were great, just what we wanted, with pickles, mayo and ketchup.  And we watched Billions, a Showtime series that we would like much more if it didn't feel obligated to include a scene or two of soft porn, like it's necessary to keep its audience.  We also watched Bill Maher's Real Time before turning to the political coverage at 9:00 when things began to heat up.

It was interesting to watch how the Democratic caucuses worked, as we watched a group of Bernie Democrats in Ames, Iowa, mostly students, try to convince the undecided to join their group. They were articulate, passionate and knowledgeable, and made us both encouraged about the young voters in America.  The only thing that took away from our optimism was the role that religion continues to play in our politics, as one can easily see my the last three winners of the Republican primaries in Iowa, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and last night Ted Cruz, all evangelical Christians who vote for candidates only if they share their Christian values.  I had enough by 10:00 when it was basically clear Cruz would win, Hilary and Bernie were a tie.

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There Goes The Snow

7:50

7:51

I actually slept in till 7:00. awakening to a gray morning, a slick lake surface and a rapidly melting yard of snow.  Spring?  Not yet I hope but it was in the 50's yesterday, will stay warm for the next few days at least.  We love winter but this ain't winter!  And for the first time in a couple of weeks, the warm weather, tentative ice has kept the fisherman on shore, at least this morning.

Sun On A Gray Sky

Skiing Off Long Point

Yesterday was another sunny, warm morning, with lots of guys out fishing despite the warm temperatures, getting suntans.  We took it easy much of the morning trying to decide if the lake would make for good skiing when we ran into our neighbors, the Fox's, who told us that another neighbor had just gotten back from skiing across the lake and it was fine.  So, we strapped or buckled on our skis and went off, enjoying another late morning of sunshine, warm weather and surprisingly good skiing despite the melting snow.  I had enough after a half hour, my legs, especially my inner thighs sore from skiing, no doubt a wimp.  Evie stayed out another half hour as it was so much fun.

Shadow Selfie

We decided to pass up our usual Sunday morning breakfast and eat healthy, for me yogurt, an oat meal mix and blue berries, for Evie, a smoothie of spinach and bananas, surprisingly tasty.  And I have to confess that much of the afternoon, we felt guilty for watching the SAG Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards.  Sitting inside when it's sunny out is one step closer to being a Joey Bimbo! We were pretty good at predicting, as almost any category that had an African American in it, was won by an African American.  To make up for the white washing of African Americans from the Oscar Nominations a couple of weeks ago?  Or coincidence? And we were pleased to see SPOTLIGHT win for best ensemble cast in a Motion Picture, well deserved.

Dusk

For dinner, we were going to cook burgers outside but since we skipped breakfast, we decided to have breakfast for dinner, easy and good.  So around 6:30, Evie fried some bacon and eggs, toasted some bagels and heated up the leftover mac and cheese, a surprisingly tasty accompaniment to the eggs and bacon.  We watched a fairly new film, about the brutality of the Mexican drug trade called, SICARIO.   From what I have read, it's accurate but not a feel good film for sure.  Neither of us liked it much but stuck with it.  We then watched a new mini series from Showtime, called The Circus: Inside The Greatest Political Show On Earth, with comments and interviews by pundits John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.  It goes behind the scenes of both the Republican and Democratic candidates, shows them before going on stage, talking with them on their buses.  It's worth watching, especially the first episode.  They show Trump in Pensacola, FL, with an audience of 30,000 screaming fans.  Absolutely Scary!  We ended up watching The Good Wife, complaining about how silly it was,  and who cares about their complicated cases but we continue to watch out of habit.