Rain, Sleet, Snow, Ice

Kayak Morning

Paddling Along Woodlawn

I was up at 7:00 to an increasingly cold morning, and it will get down to the low teens tomorrow on Thanksgiving.  I walked out and picked up the paper in slush despite the fact it was 22º.  We may get a couple of inches of snow today and I assume the lake may start to freeze in some areas.  Well, it hasn't frozen yet although I had to paddle through ice pellets.  Still, it felt good to be out on the lake once again

7:38

Yesterday morning was great as I got to kayak in the snow though I was wet and cold by the time I got home.  I had to change and even take a shower to get warmed up so it was colder than I thought.  After breakfast and finishing up the blog, we worked at getting things ready for Jill's family as they arrive today, Wednesday.  After that, I felt like getting a coffee, so I thought I might as well return the returnables to the can man and I also stopped at Wegman's to pick up a few things and some beer for the holidays.  It was crazy, senior Tuesday and pre Thanksgiving.

When I returned home, Evie had been busy with prepping the turkey and making a few side dishes so all they need is to be heated up on Thanksgiving.  We are trying to get as much done ahead of time so that Thanksgiving Day will be more fun for everyone although Halle already is asking about what she and Evie can make/bake together.  For lunch, I had the leftover tas kebab with mashed potatoes and finally finished the Netflix series, The Sinner.  I did take a short nap, read some as both of us enjoyed the afternoon inside because of the inclement weather outside.  Around 3:30, we got the alert that all romaine should be thrown away because of fears of ecoli.  So I jumped in my trusty Subaru, raced to Wegmans, again, and was able to pick up three or four bags of butter lettuce and head lettuce, enough so we could have a salad the next couple of days.  Wegman's obviously had not gotten the news about the romaine, nor had the shoppers who were still buying it.  The odds of getting sick from it are probably the same as winning the lottery but why take a chance.

We did not want to fuss with a big dinner, so we heated up the leftover pizza and Evie made a great salad which was enough.  We watched Colbert, some breaking news then turned to Vice News for some 'real news' that was not breaking.  We ended the night with MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, the second episode.  We love the setting, family life in Naples in the 1950s but it's a bit slow like most European films.   They tend to linger on faces, on landscapes.   Fast and furious is not them.

Fog And Snow Morning

Kayak Morning

The Good Life

It's 7:15 and I have been awake for an hour.  I can barely make out Long Point because of the fog and wet snow, a black and white morning on the lake.  It's just above freezing, thus the wet snow and we may get an inch of whiteness this morning.  If it continues snowing, I am going kayaking. And I did, loving it heading south, not so much so coming home with the wind, wet snow, and fog. 

7:59

Well, it's a Tuesday morning, and Jill's family arrives tomorrow, Thanksgiving, the next day and we are excited.  Yesterday was more of prepping for Thanksgiving, for three days of family.  I could not pass up an early morning paddle because the lake was so calm and inviting.  I was not out long because I had to leave for yoga at 9:00 and have breakfast and finish the blog before I left.  The class was good because Danielle is back, after a week at a yoga retreat in Costa Rica.  After class, stopped at Ryders, ran into Joe from our Thursday morning coffee group.  He had spent the weekend on a porch with a gun in Pennsylvania, hoping to see a deer.  Little luck but plenty of good bourbon.  I then did a mega shopping tour of Wegman's once again, as buying for the holidays, getting all the good things, never seems to end.  The store was crowded as everyone was hoping to avoid the Tuesday or Wednesday rush for Thanksgiving.

Morning At Long Point

When I got home, Evie was going crazy, the kitchen something out of Animal House.  She had put together our dinner, tas kebab, a Turkish stew with allspice and tomato paste.  And she had started two soups, the favorites of our two granddaughters, Hayden and Halle.  And she had my lunch ready, tuna melts with tomatoes and had pulled out a carton of chicken noodle soup to go along with the sandwiches.  I had a doctor's appointment at 1:15, so I was back on the road at 1:00.  I had a quick check of my sore neck and ear but all seemed fine.  On the way home, I stopped at Tops to pick up the groceries I forgot when I went to Wegman's in the morning.  By 3:00, the kitchen was semi-clean, soups were made, dinner was set and Evie's was sitting down for the first time all day.  I tried to nap after shopping but just read, then watched some of the breaking news on CNN.

Around 4:30, I went out to fill the bird feeders, then took a hike up our hill, then along the waterfront, about a half hour of exercise, avoiding the woods because of deer hunters.  Who knows for sure where they sit, where they hunt and I know our woods often have deer.  We have our preprandial routine down pretty well after close to ten years of retirement although we have changed seats lately, sitting around the fireplace, enjoying a libation and snacks, still, however, with a view of the lake,

Tas kebab is one of my favorite dinners, especially when it's served on top of mashed potatoes.  I had two helpings, left enough for today's lunch.  We watched Colbert, then the new series from HBO called MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, based on the novel with the same name.  It's stunningly filmed, set in Naples in the 1950's.  We ended the night watching the exciting first half of the Chiefs/Rams game before going up to bed.

A Placid Lake, A Quiet Morning

7:44

I slept in until 7:00, a surprise, as the bedroom was already somewhat light.  No snow, no wind, picturesque, with grebes diving, a female cardinal at our feeder, an occasional gunshot, alas. And it was too inviting to not kayak so I went out for a half hour paddle, great fun and way to start my morning.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday was a dreary Sunday, one of those gray, wet days, slush and melting snow, occasional sleet, light snow, colorless, just Chautauqua gray.  We,  however,  did get things done, organizing our week, making sure we had everything we needed for a fun Thanksgiving.  So it was a let's make a list morning, two or three of them actually, before we decided to drive to Lakewood, let Evie get a walk as we strolled through the aisles of Aldi's.  We increasingly are liking that store, especially its weekly deals and its staples and vegetables are cheaper than Wegman's or Tops and good quality.  Evie insisted on getting in her walk, browsing every aisle, even picking up a pair of Christmas themed pajamas.  Aldi's had everything obviously.  On the way home, Evie suggested getting a skinny latte at Ryders' Cup, so we stopped there, got our coffee and went home.  It was a pleasant way to get in Evie's walk and therapy,  retail that is.

A Hairy Woodpecker

Once we put everything away except for things Evie needed to start her prepping for Thanksgiving, she made a big breakfast, of home fries, eggs, bacon, and bagels.  We watched CBS Morning and was told by Evie to stop saying it usually avoids politics on my blog.  So I am not saying it.  As usual, it was good, this time with a food theme for the entire hour. 

And as they say, that was it for the day.  We did little for the rest of the afternoon until 4:00 when we decided to have a pizza for dinner and drove over to Bemus Point, ordered our pizza and then went for a 20-minute walk around Bemus in the failing light.  It snowed some, we stopped to take a selfie and it was just right. 

Selfie In Front Of The Lenhart Hotel

We picked up our pizza, went home, and had our usual wine time with the fire until 6:30.  Evie made a salad, heated up the pizza and we had dinner while watching the last Real Time with Bill Maher of 2018.  We then watched SNL and 60 Minutes before going up to bed, the end of a productive day.  O, yea, I forgot to mention we took the advice from the NYTimes and took the turkey out of the freezer and let it begin thawing. 

Sunday, Sunday, Get Ready For Thanksgiving Day

8:17

It's almost 8:00 and I have been up for an hour and a half, listening to gunshots, either from duck or deer hunters.  Not exactly the sounds I like to hear in the morning.  I prefer loons, even geese.  While reading this morning, I saw that the Lighthouse Grocery, where hunters take their deer to get dressed, already said they were full and set the limit for today at the first twenty-five. 

We got a dusting of snow last night but may get up to three inches during the day. My iWatch just told me to stand up for a minute so I guess I have been sitting for too long.  He/She is a tough taskmaster.

A Downy Woodpecker Takes A Rest

Yesterday morning was good, especially since I was able to get in a good paddle down to Wells Bay and back to Woodlawn, with little if any wind, no other boats, just me in my church of the lake.  Afterward, we finished the blog, I had breakfast, then drove off to the Transfer Station with all our trash from the week, mostly discard Amazon boxes.  They just keep coming.  I then drove into Lakewood to pick up a few bottles of wine from Bag & String, a pretty good local place.  That was it for the day as far as anything productive is concerned. 

For lunch, Evie made me a big salad to go along with the last of the butter chicken and I began watching the Ohio State game.  I soon got tired of watching their dismal play and returned to my thriller set in New Orleans and Natchez and took a brief nap, probably a half hour.  Just right.  Evie was watching a movie on the TV so I sat in the living and read, surfed the Net for interesting articles, then watched some more football when Evie's movie ended.

Around 4:30, I took a walk up our hill, just to get some exercise and get outside.  When I returned, Evie was ready to shower and get gussied up as we were going to Linda and Ron's for a steak dinner.  The roads were fine and we were in their kitchen, drinking Octoberfest beers by 6:20, looking forward to the steaks.  Ron grilled them to perfection on their back porch and we had a great dinner, steaks with baked potatoes, French bread and a salad with blue cheese dressing.  We had an apple and raisin dessert, with caramel sauce, while sitting in their living room in front of their fireplace.  It was a good way to end the evening, one in which Linda outdid herself.  We are lucky to have such good friends.  We were home by 10:00, in time to watch some TV and read before going to bed. 

Evie's latest photo app called Photo Booth:

More Of The Same

7:13

Kayak In The Snow

Ready To Paddle

I was up at 6:15, made the coffee, walked carefully outside to get the paper and have been sitting on the couch, reading the NYTimes, listening to NPR, as morning slowly arrives.  It's gray on gray, of course, the temperature just above freezing so the snow is starting to melt, turning to slush.  It's almost 8:00 as I finish writing the blog, a gaggle of Canadian geese are floating in front of our house. 

Geese In The Morning

I am contemplating a paddle but it's still a depressing gray out so I might forget it.  At least, it's a windless morning.  And the solitary paddle was great, the silence occasionally was broken by gunshots, as deer season started this morning

Kayak Morning

Ice sickles

Ice Breaker

Yesterday as I mentioned, we woke up to six or seven inches of snow.  I was outside shoveling and clearing snow off the car by 7:15, making sure we would have no trouble getting out of our street.  Earlier, Shane had cleared the street and a section of our parking area which helped.  I then finished my breakfast, the blog, said aloha to Evie and drove off to a good yoga class with Julie.  Since we had decided we were going out for dinner for the first time since Evie's operation, I had no need to do any shopping so I stopped at Ryders for coffee and talked with Dave, the resident seer, for 15 minutes.  I then drove home on wet but not icy streets, to a house having been clearly organized and cleaned, as Evie had been busy.  She is slowly getting her mojo back.

A Solitary Grebe, A Deep Diver

For lunch, Evie had made me up a plate of leftover butter chicken, roasted veggies and rice so all I had to do was microwave it.  I watched more of The Sinner, not sure as to whether I like it or not but I stick with it.  I then finished up my Gabriel Allon novel and started a new one by Greg Illes, another tome of six or seven hundred pages.  He's good and this is the fourth or fifth I have read by him, most set in Natchez, Mississippi.  After a nap and a short walk through the neighborhood where I checked out the work on our neighbor's house, which is now up on blocks.  Guys were working beneath it, slowly building the foundation of cement blocks, cold and wet work. When I came home, I made myself some Turkish tea, grabbed a couple of cookies and my book, and enjoyed the late afternoon until it was time to go out for dinner.

Evie wanted to go to the Viking Club, a 15-minute drive, so we left just before 6:00.  Roads were wet but not icy and we easily found a place to park because the club was not very busy.  We found a seat at the bar on a surprisingly slow night.  We had a couple of beers, talked with Jeff, the bartender, and Doug, another friend before we decided it was too empty to enjoy a dinner.  So after a couple of beers and popcorn, we skipped dinner, the fish fry, and went home.  Evie made us salami sandwiches, with mayo, mustard and pickles, and that was good enough. We watched the second episode of another Australian series called Janet King.  It's on Acorn TV.  It's not great but we will stick with it I think.  We watched Colbert to end the night before going up to read for a bit. 

A Heavy Overnight Snowfall

7:42

I woke up to trees frosted with snow, six to eight inches of it, and just now, at 7:15, the sound of a snowplow clearing our road.  Winter, at least for now, has arrived in November.  It's 32º so it's a wet snow, not the kind that's fun to shovel.  We may get another inch or two but it looks like the worst is over for today.  It's 7:30, time to go out and do some shoveling, especially the foot high ridges of snow made by the plow on both sides of the road. 

Yesterday was a day of sleet, rain, and as I mentioned above, snow overnight.  It was a good day to stay inside but as intrepid as I am, I left for yoga at 9:30, ready for a class of China Gel rub, foot massages, and rose water spray.  I put up with it, with our substitute teacher, and it was a good class.  I don't mind being touched, usually a no-no in yoga. After class, I drove to Aldi's since Evie had done a thorough look through their Wednesday ad and there were things she wanted, like chocolate covered cookies and gingerbread cookies as well.  So I joined the crew, put the quarter in the slot and pulled out my cart.  It's rarely crowded so shopping is easy and the cashiers are speedy, almost too much so as she threw one item after another in the cart.

So I arrived home with a Trader Joe bag of goodies (Trader Joe's owns Aldi's or vice versa) and Evie was delighted with my cache.  For lunch, I finished off the last of the pot roast soup and Evie made me a nice toasted cheese sandwich with Aldi's square sourdough bread.  Yum.  I watched more of The Sinner before checking on a strange whirring sound we have been hearing coming from neighbor's house.  It's been going nonstop for days, so Evie called to let them know and they will be checking on it today.  Afterward, I tried to nap, to no avail so I just read on the couch for most of the afternoon.  Evie, after a busy morning, also relaxed most of the afternoon.

Fishing In Fog

Snow And Sleet

Around 4:00, it began to sleet outside so the crazy that I am, I decided to go for a short hike in the woods. It felt good to be outside, sleet occasionally hitting my face, as I tromped through the Victoria woods, a wet snow covering the ground.  I was out for only 20 minutes but enjoyed the cold air, the darkening woods.  When I returned, it was time to enjoy the fire, the end of day, with a glass of wine. 

Rain/Sleet/Snow At 9:30 PM

Neither one of us wanted to fuss much for dinner, so Evie pulled out the bacon and made both of us some BLT's for dinner.  And we watched the end of A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL.  We loved it, wished it were more than three episodes.  The actor who plays Norman was wonderful and we ended up moved and sympathizing with his plight as a gay man in Great Britain in the 1970's.  We ended the night as usual with Colbert before going up to bed. 

Another Autumn Winter Storm Advisory

7:14

A windy, chilly, but clear morning here at the lake.  A winter storm, however, will be here in a couple of hours, stay with us for the next day or two.  It's nice to know that because we are retired, we don't have to go anywhere, just stay warm and happy, watching it snow.

Yesterday was a lost day for me, a good one for Evie.  I left for my doctor's appointment and an echo test in Erie at 10:15.  The roads were fine, no snow or ice, so I made good time, had my echo at 11:30, a peanut butter and jelly lunch at noon and the cardiologist appointment at 1:30, basically wasting the entire day.  By the time I was through, it was after 2:00 and I headed straight home, not wanting anything to do with retail therapy at the Mall.

When I walked in, the kitchen was filled with Indian spices as Evie was making butter chicken (chicken tikka masala), one of our go-to Indian dishes.  The chicken is coated in cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon and then marinated in a ginger, onion, yogurt mixture.  Separately, Evie put together a tomato gravy made of tomato puree, cream, garlic, jalapenos, etc. and simmered for half an hour.  The chicken is later grilled and added to the sauce.  The kitchen was a mess so I got busy cleaning it up as Evie finished up our dinner.  The rest of the afternoon neither of us stirred from our couches, either reading, catnapping or watching the never-ending Trump show, with an occasional wave to other news.  Dinner was basically done so we had our wine in front of the fireplace, no appetizers this time, enjoying the arrival of darkness.

We ate our Indian dinner at 6:30 along with more roasted butternut squash, naan, and salad.  Excellent!  I happened upon a new series on Prime Video called A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL, with Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe, a British Liberal leader who was forced to stand trial in 1979 for the attempted murder of his ex-gay lover.  It's a mixture of politics, ambition but with humor which makes it fun to watch.  We watched the first two of three episodes, then ended the evening with Vice News and Colbert.

Finally, a very happy birthday to our youngest, Jill.