A Weekend Of White Begins

7:50

Well, another Saturday, another day, just like the others.  Our view doesn't change much this time of the year.  Lots of white, the yard, the lake, and a rarely changing sky of gray, yesterday being the exception.  Its still a chilly 16º, and it has been in the teens all week.  It looks like yesterday's fishermen on the lake was not a mirage.  A few guys were out yesterday afternoon and I can see at least one guy out in the middle of the lake this morning.

Yesterday was a carbon copy of the day before, as not much changes in our lives during the winter unless we hit the road for some reason.  And we are happy right now, to just hang out her at the lake for a couple of months of winter and snow.  I went to yoga yesterday, a beginning yoga class and it was really a beginning class, as a couple of the participants had never been to a yoga class.  So things went slowly but I did not mind.  I stopped at Ryder's Cup afterwards, bought a cup of coffee for one of the regulars who was celebrating his 70th birthday.  There's usually four or five of that age group hanging out in the morning when I stop by.

When I got home, Evie was taking it easy, had decided to take it easy by taking a day off from the gym and cross country skiing, a good choice.  So after a lunch of soup and a bagel, we both relaxed, reading and watching some TV, content to do nothing.  The extent of my physical activity was to rise up after a nap and make myself a cup of tea.  That took an effort because I was really enjoying my new book, Elizabeth Strout's new novel, MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON.

Victoria Woods

Late in the afternoon, however, I went cross country skiing in the woods.  It was great, cold and clear, the sun setting and I just made my own trails through the woods.  I ran into our neighbors, Jeff and Nancy again, and they were loving it as well.  And I noticed two guys out in the middle of the lake, having walked out from Victoria where I had checked the ice earlier and found it still suspect.  A couple of brave or stupid guys.

Ice Fishing Season's Opening

We decided to get Cuban sandwiches from Hogan's Hut.  I had heard from friends that they always stop there on the way home from skiing to get their sandwiches.  I can't say I agree as ours were not very inviting, a dark, almost black mystery meat on a  bun.  I am happy to say I survived the night without a stomachache.  Never again.  Just as we were sitting down to dinner, our doorbell rang and our neighbor, Jim Fox, dropped off a plastic bag of frozen fish.  He assumed it was left for us.  We were not sure about who left it until we remembered our fishing friend from the fall, a guy who we have talked to numerous times mentioned he had tried to leave us some perch one other time but was unsure of our house.  So we assume it was him but now we have to figure out when he left it, if it was yesterday or, perhaps, a week ago.  My guess is it was yesterday and that he was the guy out on the lake, fishing with a buddy.

Not sure what today will bring.  We have a light snow predicted for later, nothing like what is happening on the East Coast.

FLOOD OF FIRE: AMITAV GHOSH

This is the third and final book in Ghosh's spectacular IBIS TRILOGY, set mostly in India and China during the early 19th century.  In this text, we meet numerous characters from the previous books, like Zachary Reid, an American sailor, son of a slave and white man.  He heads East, ends up on the Ibis, a ship that eventually takes him and various other characters to China just before and during the Opium Wars, around 1840. Reid carries on an affair with a Mrs Burnham, the wife of Reid's eventual business partner in the opium business. We also follow Shireen, a Parsi Indian widow of a successful opium trader.  She like most widows is left penniless unless she goes to Hong Kong to stand up for her husband's business.  We also follow the life of Kesri Singh, a sepoy (soldier) in the East Indian Company, who fights in the Opium War. He seems to be the voice of the common man, neglected, used by the bigoted English who depend on the Indians but look down on them.

We also follow the machinations of both the British and Chinese, through the journals of Neel Rattan Holder, a bankrupted former Raja who becomes a friend to both sides.  From him, we see how brutalizing, racist and unforgiving was the opium trade or what the British argued was 'free trade.' Great Britain fought for the right to make profits from dependency of the Chinese on opium, somewhat reminiscent of the drug problems here in the United States. The destructiveness of the trade for both the Chinese and Indians, under the guise of religiosity and humanizing the 'other,' is disgusting and barbaric, the very worst of capitalism. I really enjoyed all three novels.

A Beautiful Morning Sky

7:18

7:23

7:55

I was up at 6:30, as the sky was beginning to glow with orange along the horizon.  A noticed a couple of lights out on the dark lake and assume it was ice fishermen, the first of the year.  I checked the ice two days ago and there's no way I would trust it.  It's now 8:00 and I don't see anyone out there.

Yesterday was another snowy day, snowflakes during the day, a dusting overnight, enough to cover our car.  I decided to go to yoga at 10:00, a good class of Yin yoga, crowded as usual because it seems to be the favorite class of the week.  Even my general practitioner, a health fanatic, was there, grunting along with the rest of us.  When I got home, Evie had shoveled the drive and parking area and was out, taking advantage of the foot and a half of snow, cross country skiing along Woodlawn and into the campground.  It was a perfect temperature, around 20º and no wind.  She was out for a good hour, and I saw our neighbors, Jeff and Nancy, were also out skiing enjoying the morning.

Woodlawn

I had an easy lunch of vegetable soup and a bagel, with cream cheese and tomatoes, and watched another episode of TREME.  It's inconsistent so far, some episodes move the story along, others are a bore, as little happens.  Evie decided she needed to get another workout in, so she drove off to the YMCA, then stopped at Wegman's to pick up a few things, getting home around 3:30, just as I was enjoying a latte and finishing my book, DARK WATER RISING, a thriller by an African American writer Attica Locke, who has been compared to Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles, both writers I have enjoyed.

Woodlawn, Late Afternoon

Dusk In The Woods

Around 4:30, I decided I had to get some cross country skiing in, so I strapped on my skis and went bush whacking through the Victoria/Woodlawn woods for an hour.  It was  great to be out there, the sun beginning to set, a blue sky off to the West, a gray one to the East, the trees frosted with dollops of snow.  Nothing like the woods on a snowy day.

Victoria Woods

When I got home, Evie was putting together a  tried and true comfort food dinner from her childhood, Slovenian sausages from Asman's Meats, in Euclid, Ohio, and beans and potato soup.  Yum  I have been eating this ever since I started dating her back in 1960, only fifty five years ago.  We watched some political shows, which seem to be only able to talk about Donald Trump, so we switched channels and watched American Idol, a much better choice.

And Winter Continues

7:38

It's just 7:00, still too dark outside to take a photograph. We got an inch or two of snow overnight, just enough to frost the car and the cold air continues, 16º at the moment.  We are going to miss the blizzard that's threatening the East Coast, fortunately, so we should have some good days ahead to enjoy the outdoors.

We were not sure what to do yesterday morning, so I finally went off to yoga, not having been there in a couple of days.  It was a  good class, lots of people, as the studio was closed on Tuesday because of the weather.  When I got home, we decided to cross country ski after lunch.  So I made a couple of BLT's and had them with soup.  Sometimes there's nothing as good as a BLT, and it's either the bacon or the tomato which seems to do it. Mayo helps, too.

Rails To Trails In Mayville

We decided to ski the Rails To Trails snowmobile path in Mayville.  We parked at our doctor's office's parking lot, crossed the street, mounted the three foot snow drift and skied through the woods, tree branches frosted with dollops of snow.  It was beautiful, just the way we like it.  And fortunately, we did not meet a snowmobile until we were just finishing up.  They can be traveling quite fast on the trails, so we have to be careful and alert in season, especially on curves.

We were home by 3:00 and relaxed the rest of the afternoon, reading or watching TV.  We were tempted to go out for dinner but it was too good just hunkering down in our warm house that we decided to stay home.  Dinner was easy, just warming up the leftover chicken picata and rice and for dessert, there was leftover icebox pudding.  Yum.  We did not really have anything up on our TV queue, so we watched some Chris Matthews before turning to American Idol to finish off the night.

A Break In The Snow

8:00

Ducks Off Of Long Point

I woke this morning to white, of course, but no snow flakes falling, the first time in a few days.  The lake is covered with snow, a vast bowl of white, surrounded by the green of pines, the temperature, a frigid 14º.  It makes me want to go out and ski but I checked the lake yesterday and it's still slush at its edges and no fishermen have ventured forth yet.  They will come.

Yesterday, at least for me, was a wasted day, as I did not get out to ski.  For some reason, I just did not have the mojo to put on my skis and go.  The weather may have contributed as we had close to a foot of snow to move from our parking areas and driveway which took me three trips outside with Evie's help to clear it.  It was the first time I wished I had a snow blower.  So that took up a good part of my morning, going in and out and shoveling.  Evie was busy prepping our dinner of chicken picata and ice box pudding because we were having a couple we met at the Viking Club over for dinner.

A Spot Of Open Water

Our afternoon flew by, the usual, lunch, so TV, a book and a nap.  And Evie worked some in the kitchen, set the table, got things all set for our dinner before our friends arrived so she could enjoy herself.

A Plump, Well Fed, Junco

They arrived at 5:15, a little late so we were afraid they could not find our house.  They had no problem, however, and quickly settled in with a beer and appetizers.  We did not know them well, just from talking a the Viking Bar so it was fun to get to know them.  Our music tastes quickly bonded us, as Evie played some of theirs and ours favorite groups from the 1970's on Pandora on our Sonos sound system.  And Dawn, an avid Beatle fan, has every album they made, the album covers in mint condition, a legacy for her son.  Doug was a social studies teacher in the Jamestown area for 30 years, an avid bow hunter, in fact, he dresses the deers he shoots and cans the deer meat.  According to Dawn, who grew up in the area, the venison tastes tender and not gamy.  They have so much that they are currently on the canned venison from 2012.

Dinner With Doug And Dawn

Dinner, the chicken picata, was really good, punctuated by Evie's pumpkin rolls, a pilav with spinach and salad.  We finished dinner off with icebox pudding in front of the fireplace talking about the controversial Netflix show, Making A Murderer. It was great fun getting to know them;  they stayed till after 9:30 before heading up to Ashville, where they live, about 15 minutes away.

Enough (Snow) Already!

7:30

8:00

It's a spectacular morning of snow, all the trees, their limbs, frosted with white.  The sky is gray, with streaks of cream, the lake a sheet of brilliant white snow.  It's also mighty cold, 9º in the shade.  We had a least 15-16 inches over the past day and a half and we love it.  Schools are closed today which is rare since Chautauqua County is used to at least  couple of hundred inches of snow each year if not more.  We moved our bird feeder to another window, filled it, and the sparrows and finches have just found it, and 8-10 of them a gorging on sunflower seeds.  There are so many that they seem to discourage other birds as we get mostly finches and sparrows, occasional cardinals, woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and juncos. This is the kind of morning where we are grateful for retirement because we don't have to drive to work although in my forty five years of  teaching, for forty three of them I could walk to school!

Cardinal In Our Lilac Tree

  Good Morning, Miss Vickie!

Yesterday started with good intentions; though it was snowing hard, I went out and shoveled a path to the car, cleared if off, and drove up the hill, intending to go to yoga.  By the time I hit  #394, however, my good sense took over and I turned around and came home.  It was not worth the nail biting drive to yoga, through heavy snowfall and icy roads.  It was a smart decision, something I am not known for.  It was strange because I usually go to yoga, to have a morning here at the lake.   Evie was busy as usual, doing her thing and taking photographs of the birds at our feeders,  so I went out and it took me a good 45 minutes to get our parking area cleared, as well as some of the road.  Shane, our plow guy, came by as well.  I actually shoveled in shifts, coming in to get warm, then go back out again because it was still in single digits.

Common Redpoll

Hairy Woodpecker

Around 11:00, it warmed up to 12º and started to snow hard, so I strapped on my skis and went cross country skiing through the campground.  I love skiing when it snows hard, making it difficult to even see where I am going.  It was cold but not unbearable until I hit open areas, where the wind blasted my face, forcing me to look sideways.  I was out for an hour, enough to get some exercise and not risk getting frost bite.  In fact, I was really sweaty when I got home, having put on three layers of warmth.

Cross Country Skiing Along Woodlawn

For lunch, Evie and I shared some leftover pizza from Saturday night along with her homemade vegetable soup, and I watched another episode of TREME.  It can be awfully slow.  The rest of the afternoon neither of us did much.  We read, watched TV, did a few things around the house but stayed inside until around 3:00 when I went back outside, shoveled the parking space again, came in and made Turkish tea and sat down to read.  About 5:00, Evie, wanting some fresh air, went out and did some more shoveling as it snowed most of the day.  And I looked out earlier this morning, and we easily have another six inches on our parking area from last night.

After relaxing with a glass of wine, we had a great dinner of breaded pork chops, apple sauce and home fries.  Evie seared them and put them in the oven to bake just before wine time.  They were huge but we managed to devour three, saving the fourth for a stir fry later in the week.  We got caught up on some TV, watching The Good Wife and a new series that just opened on Showtime called BILLIONS which at first looked disgusting but by the end, we sort of liked it.  Kind of.  I was intending to watch the match up between the Cavs and Golden State but when I checked, they were behind by 30 at halftime so I bagged it.  We watched some Stephen Colbert and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore before going up to bed.

We Got Snow And Cold (8º)

7:26

7:56

8:00

It was exciting waiting for it to get light, to see what the snow would look like on the trees and yard. We must have gotten ten inches overnight, a blowing kind of snow, so that the tree trunk is also frosted with white.  At 7:30, the now completely frozen lake is mostly gray/white and I cannot yet see Long Point.  Thought it's 8º out, the flag is at rest, not a whisper.

Yesterday we spent, as I mentioned, waiting for it to snow.  After our coffee, reading the paper, and listening to NPR, we decided to say the heck with it and despite the less than an inch of snow overnight, drove up to Webb's Trail in Mayville for some cross country skiing.  We figured there would be more snow in Mayville.  We were wrong, but there was enough on the trail, if we stayed off to the sides, to get a good hour of cross country skiing in.  Just before we started out, two cars drove up and out popped a woman, asking if we knew where there were any cross country skiing trails. They were from the Cleveland area and were about to head to Peek and Peak to ski.  So we told them there was one right ahead, so they decided to try it as well.

Cross Country Skiing The Webb's Trail

It was not the best skiing because it was icy at times and we found ourselves often sliding to the left or right, not just ahead. Still, it was great to be back out in the woods, on a trail, feeling the pull on our thighs as we slid forward on our skis. We ended our excursion at the Reverie Creamerie and spent a good 15 minutes talking with the owners, Rico and Jim because we were the only ones in the shop for most of the time.  We bought some more of our favorite cheddar, St. Ivy, and a French sausage which I remember from our summer in Paris back in 1973.  Rico and Jim have forty acres of woods between Sherman and Clymer, so we told them about Red's Pancake house which they had never heard of.  They are good guys, fun to talk to and knowledgeable about cheeses, of course.

Chickadee

 We headed home to our usual great breakfast of eggs, bagels, bacon and freshly brewed coffee.  Because we went skiing, we did not finish eating until about 1:30, late for us, and we watched CBS Sunday Morning, skipping through the commercials.  The rest of the afternoon, I did little other than watch football, read, and late afternoon, go outside to enjoy the cold air and quickly shovel our driveway of a couple inches of snow.  Evie, meanwhile, put together the makings for an angel food cake, the start of making an icebox pudding for dinner on Tuesday when our friends, Doug and Dawn from the Viking Club are coming to dinner.

Snow Fall At Night

Around 5:45, it started to snow, to swirl around our front spotlight, so we settled down on our couches with a lovely triple cream brie on a baguette.  It had been sitting out for five hours so spreading it was like putting a heavy cream on our baguette.  We complimented this with some wine, of course, and  stretched out the evening, watching it snow.  We love  this hour when it's snowing hard.  We feasted on the cheese and bread, knowing dinner would be more basic, a couple of hot dogs with cole slaw.  What a contrast!  From France to the Bronx.  But the dogs tasted good and we watched the first episode of a Swedish series about a journalist named Dicte.  I think we are going to like it.  We then watched some junk TV because we were taping shows we knew we wanted to watch but were willing to wait until tonight to avoid the commercials.  I wonder how many people are like us, willing to put off watching something for a day.  I finished, alas, my novel set in France and was unable to get the next novel in the series because the Lakewood Library was closed on Saturday morning despite the fact that they advertise it would be open. Annoying.

The weatherman suggests we could get another seven to twelve inches in the next twenty for hours.  I doubt it but can still hope.