Morning On Chautauqua Lake

Long Point By Evie

7:36

7:43

It's just about 7:00 as I start this and I have been listening to Morning Joe and the lake sky and lake begin to lighten to a mass of gray, the shorelines black.

Yesterday was like most of the others, obviously, as we are following the advice to self-quarantine.  I was lucky to wake up to a windless morning and despite the drizzle, I went out for a good paddle down to Wells Bay and back, always a good way to start the morning, to perk p my mood.  After finishing the blog, I still felt like doing something so I found a recipe for Chana Dal, another Indian dish using split, skinned chickpeas, It sounded easy, cook the dal for an hour and make a sauce of garlic, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, tomatoes, and a can of coconut milk. It took longer than I thought and I am not sure it was worth it because the chickpeas still seem tough, the flavor a bit bland.  I will work with it more today but may end up throwing it out.

A Quiet Early Afternoon

Fortunately, we missed Trump's two hour Town Hall on Fox News, where else, where Fox toadies threw Trump softballs to answer, as he suggested we get back to work by Easter, 'a beautiful time...a beautiful timeline. It's a beautiful day, it means so much to me" so says our fake born again President.  Of course, Trump is not relying on science or facts for this, just his gut.

Lunch was great, another bowl of cauliflower soup and a couple of toasted cheese sandwichs spread, of course, with Wegman's jam.  I got bored with the Prime Video series about the drug trade, so I started a new series called Blood, which I had started a few months ago.  At least I remember watching the first episode, a good sign.

Thunder Bridge

It was another day of leisure for both of us, with a few housekeeping chores but that's about it.  Around 3:30, I decided to walk the Chautauqua Institution; Evie was not feeling chippy, so I went off by myself.  There's been a brouhaha lately by the locals who are complaining that residents from the New York City area are migrating to their homes in Chautauqua, emptying the local stores of groceries, ignoring quarantine and perhaps bringing the Covid19 virus with them.  I think this is mostly fear and resentment by the locals, who see the residents as wealthy, liberal know it alls.

Chautauqua Woods And Creek

On my walk,  I noticed a few cars from out of state but it was hard to tell if the population had grown more than twenty or thirty residents if that.  I passed four or five people out walking like me which is unusual because we rarely see anyone on our walks.  It was a chilly day for a walk and I was out for an hour, walking over two miles according to my Apple watch which keeps track of all my exercising from paddling, to yoga, to walking, to working in the yard.

One Of Our Favorite Houses Wrapped For Winter

Dinner was easy we thought as our local pub was advertising their usual Tuesday night special of two steaks and fries for twenty bucks.  All we had to do was pick it up.  When we called around 6:15, the steaks were gone, alas, so we had to settle for burgers and fries.  I drove over to Greenhurst, walked in and it was ready, paid my bill, and drove home.  The burgers and fries were fine, not as hot as we would have liked but still tasty.  We watched a bit of the Trump Show, then the news and finished a Home Town before finishing the night with three more episodes of The Americans.

Here is a quotation from Gloria Steinem that made both of us laugh out loud this morning. "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."

A Blah Morning On The Lake

Photo by Evie From Her Loveseat

7:17

Monday Late Morning Snow

There's nothing exciting to say about this morning's sky except its dripping gray.  The shorelines are blurs, a result of a light mist.  Temperatures are in the 30's, maybe in the '40s later in the day. It's not tempting to kayak but as long as the wind does not pick up, I will get out there.  It's 9:30 as I finish the blog, after a forty-five-minute paddle and a few photos of waterfowl.  As a reward, I am enjoying some homemade apple pie a la mode for breakfast, no granola today.

Kayak Morning

Buffleheads 

My Paddling Destination This Morning

Bald Eagle

We self quarantined yesterday, never really getting out other than to pick up the mail.  It was too cold and wet to kayak, so we had a long morning coffee, listening to both Morning Joe and NPR, waiting for Michael Smerconish to come on Sirius.  We knew we wanted a good soup for the next couple of days so Evie put together our cumin flavored Indian cauliflower soup.  While she made it, I helped with the prep and did up the dishes.  Other than that, we just sat around, watching some TV, listening to the radio or reading my Dave Robicheaux novel by James Lee Burke.  I haven't read his novels since the 1990s and I am enjoying it, set in New Iberia, LA.

Lunch was the cauliflower soup and another bagel with cream cheese and tomatoes.  Evie worked on a drive up list of groceries from Wegman's but their website was giving her all kinds of trouble.  I talked with another one college teammate and his wife and both are doing well in Oxford, Ohio, empty and quiet of 17,000 students Miami University students.

Midafternoon, after my nap, we both felt like doing something.  Evie had the best idea and put together an apple pie with a cream cheese crust.  While she cut up the apples, made the topping, I found a chilling album on Apple Music called Pure Yoga and I practiced asanas to the music for forty-five minutes, as the aroma of baking pie filled the room. What a great way to enjoy yoga, with cinnamon and apples wafting through the room.

For dinner, we were having the leftover stir fry but Evie perked it up with more mushrooms and cabbage, so we had more than enough.  We had a great salad,  enjoyed our stir fry but not the Open Mike Trump Show, which dominated the news stations for close to two hours until even Fox moved on to something else.  For Evie, it's fun because she and my sister Ellen send "snarky" messages back and forth as Trump speaks.  At least the homemade apple pie with ice cream was enjoyable. We ended the night with Home Town after a couple of more episodes of The Americans.  Nina is executed for being a traitor, so one of our favorite characters is gone.  Sad making.

A Discouraging Overcast, Windy, And Wet Morning

7:15

7:37

Sleet At 9:00

It's 7:43, the lake's a choppy gray, its color matching the sky and we will have showers on and off most of the morning, in some areas, maybe snow.  It's 37º and not a good day for a paddle or even a hike this morning.

On The Road Again

Early Spring Hike

A Quiet Beauty

Yesterday was chilly, with a biting wind but sunny most of the day.  I woke wanting to do something different outside so after our coffee and writing the blog, I decided to drive nine miles to the Brown's Creek Tributary Forest Preserve, over in Ellery.  It was too early for Evie so I went off by myself.  We had walked the trail in the fall and really liked it.  It's interesting how different it is in spring, leafless, wet, just barren trees jutting up into the sky.  I walked for only thirty-five minutes down the trail to its end at an asphalt road and back.  I thought it was longer than that; perhaps I took the wrong trail.  Regardless, it was settling to be in nature, oblivious to the politics and hysteria and fear that covers the world.

A Gurgling Brown's Creek

Still Worth A Walk

We both wanted to get back to some semblance of normal which meant that since it was Sunday, we wanted to have a big breakfast.  So Evie fried up some bacon, eggs, and served it with a bagel as we watched out Sunday TV show, CBS Sunday Morning.  After brunch, I called Ron, one of our good friends who lives in Maine and they had just returned from a week's vacation in Florida.  They are doing well and happy to be back home.

Social Distancing At Long Point?

We then took it easy, reading, napping, watching some TV or listening to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, available on Sirius Radio.  It is still fun.  At 3:00,  I pulled out my yoga mat and practiced asanas for 35 minutes.  We then wanted to get out and breathe some of the cold air so we drove to Bemus and walked around the village.  Usually, we are the only ones out but we passed three or four other couples, like us, out to get some exercise after spending the day in isolation.

We both wanted an Asian dinner, so with Evie as my sous chef, I put together a pretty darn good chicken, shrimp, and vegetable stir fry, highlighted by hot bean sauce, soy, ginger, and garlic.  Served over rice, we were in our own Chinese restaurant.  It would have been perfect except that the self-pitying Propagandist in Chief was on TV for an hour and a half, bemoaning the fact that no one gives him credit for not taking his pay, for the fact that 'it cost him a fortune, billions of dollars because he became President. What a whiner.  I thought he was on TV to talk about ways to halt the Covid19 virus.  I guess not.

After dinner, Evie wanted to watch  Contagion, the most-watched film on TV recently, available on Amazon Prime for 3.99.  Although overdone, it mirrors many of the consequences of a pandemic that we are experiencing.  It did have a happy ending.  I hope the filmmakers are right.  We ended the night with another episode of The Americans.

Chillin Early On A 19º Morning

6:59

7:24

7:46

8:08

A brilliant sunrise fills our living room with light on a cold Sunday morning. I have had to move twice to avoid the blinding sun, no regrets.  It's not only cold but windy so I won't be able to get out on the lake, alas.  I was excited when I got up to see a clear sky but then I looked out the bedroom window and the flag was flying wildly.

We woke up to an overcast Saturday morning, matching our gray moods, a result of self quarantining.  We had the usual Saturday morning, lots of just sitting around, listening to NPR, writing the blog and getting ready for me to take the trash to the Transfer Station.  To my amusement, as I drove into the Transfer Station, I was greeted by a huge sign reading: Please Stay Six Feet Apart. Even my trash guys are being careful.  Once that was done, the day was open, with nothing we had to do.

We thought about making a soup, never got around to it. Thought about a good dinner but both of us wanted hot dogs, yep, hot dogs for some reason they sounded good to us.  So we basically wasted a good day for the most part although Evie was busy writing and designing a few Felt cards.  I talked with my sister, Ellen, and her family is doing well.  We usually share ideas on books and series to watch on TV so I came away with some good ideas.

We were at a bit of a loss as what to make for lunch until Evie had the great idea of tuna melt sandwiches, tuna, cheese and tomatoes put under the broiler.  So we shared a couple of sandwiches and I watched another episode of my drug cartel show on Prime Video although I am not taken with it. Sometime after 12:00, Our Propagandist in Chief began his rally once again, so I tuned out and read, then took a great nap until awaken by my good friend, Ron, wondering how we were doing.  It took me a while to figure out what was going on, who I was talking to because I was in such a sound sleep and I was talking on my Apple watch, not my phone.

4:40

It started to clear up in the afternoon, so after I practiced yoga for forty minutes, we decided to get outside and go for a walk around the Chautauqua Institution.  It was windy and cold when walking west, towards the warming sun, but fine on the east/west side streets.  We walked for only a half-hour before we had enough of the wind and cold and drove home.

Chautauqua Institution's Brick Walk

Because it was Saturday night, we were looking forward to a Manhattan night, with good swiss cheese and crackers.  We sat around, listening to the New York Times Top Twenty Five Songs Now, some good, some we could do without.  It was nice and relaxing, as we watched another day of isolation wane.  Around 7:00, Evie grilled the Sahlen hotdogs, microwaved the Bob Evans Mac N Cheese and I got out the mustard and ketchup and we had a tasty if unhealthy dinner.  Since there's not much on TV on Saturday nights, we went straight to Season Four of The Americans, watched a couple of episodes until we were tired and went up to bed.

A Fun Poem From The Writer's Almanac For All Dog Lovers:

Dharma by Billy Collins The way the dog trots out the front door every morning without a hat or an umbrella, without any money or the keys to her doghouse never fails to fill the saucer of my heart with milky admiration. Who provides a finer example of a life without encumbrance— Thoreau in his curtainless hut with a single plate, a single spoon? Gandhi with his staff and his holy diapers? Off she goes into the material world with nothing but her brown coat and her modest blue collar, following only her wet nose, the twin portals of her steady breathing, followed only by the plume of her tail. If only she did not shove the cat aside every morning and eat all his food what a model of self-containment she would be, what a paragon of earthly detachment. If only she were not so eager for a rub behind the ears, so acrobatic in her welcomes, if only I were not her god.

Life Taken For Granted

7:34

8:20

Looking out at the lake this morning, all seems normal, nothing changed but everything has.  We, like millions of others, are locked in our small space, realizing maybe for the first time how fortunate we have been to live in our small world of Lake Chautauqua.  If nothing else, this virus makes us appreciate the normal, our boring old life and how privileged and lucky we have been.  We should wake up every morning with gratitude, with kindness towards all.  Enough.

It's a gray windy morning, cold enough to have snowed if there was any precipitation.  It's 25º and will not get much warmer over the next couple of days.  I can see a couple of buffleheads playing in the water along our shoreline, oblivious to what's going on in most of the world.  I am listening to CSPAN, always interesting to hear what Americans think.  Most are sensible but filled with certainty, whether from the left or right, and a few are scary ignorant.  It's now 8:15 and I am listening to our NPR station.  At the moment, there are 47 cases of COVID19 in Buffalo and surrounding areas, none yet in our county probably because of lack of testing.  New York State has the most infections in the US, more than 8,000 and we are put on a statewide quarantine except for essential services as of 8:00pm Sunday.

Yesterday was a bit different because Evie had a test downtown Jamestown, so we were off by 9:00.  I dropped her off at 9:30, stopped at CVS and picked up a Lysol knock off, then picked her up at 10:00.  While I waited, I talked on the phone with Paul, a college teammate and all is well with him and his family. We then drove to Wegman's, not as busy or empty as we thought but we were only able to get about half we wanted.  Check out was slow as they wipe down the counter after each customer.

We were home earlier than usual,  put everything away, then, unfortunately, we realized the Trump Comedy Show And Rally was back on TV.  He cannot help but put himself in front of the Nation, spew disinformation and attitude and meanness before letting the medical experts speak.  At least he is now acknowledging the seriousness of Covid19 after spending weeks downplaying it. I can't watch for more than five or ten minutes but Evie remains glued to it, popping Xanax every 15 minutes, just kidding.  For lunch, Evie got creative, making some chicken broth then dropping some store-bought tortellini into the broth and heating up some frozen Buffalo chicken egg rolls she had frozen. So I had different lunch, always good, always appreciated as I started a new series from Prime Video, again, about the drug trade.

After lunch, I did the usual, read some and took a nap.  Afterward, I decided to get some things done so I got online and filled out my census information.  It took at most ten minutes so I would suggest everyone get it done because it's important for all kinds of reasons.  I also paid some bills online before deciding I need some exercise. I got out my yoga mat and cushion and practiced for 35 minutes.  It was still early by the time I finished, so I put on a fleece and went for a half-hour hike through our woods, wet from the rain overnight.  As always, walking in the woods is salubrious, worth the effort to get outside.

5:15

Fallen Leaves, Leafless Trees

We then relaxed with a glass of wine after Evie talked with our daughter Jill for a half hour.  All is well with our families, by the way, all three practicing self quarantining.  Around 6:30, Evie made the rice, roasted the salmon after marinating in soy and maple syrup, sauteed the spinach and made a salad.  It was a good dinner, just right, and we were happy.  We watched 10-15 minutes of CNN but nothing changes despite the mantra 'breaking news' so we switched to Amazon Prime and finished up Season Three of The Americans and started Season Four.  Paige has just confessed to Pastor Tim that her parents are Russian spies.  Why in many of these series are daughters always the ones to cause problems, whether 24, Homeland, or now The Americans?  Just saying.

Overcast, Wet, Warm, and UnHealthy

7:17

It's 7:23, just beginning to get light, with rain occasionally falling on the roof.  I thought at first I might kayak but then the wind picked up, the rain came, and I lost my interest.

Yesterday was a trifecta for me, as I try to keep busy.  The day began with a misty morning, but I got out my paddle anyways and kayaked down to Whitney Bay and back, catching some good photos of a raft of buffleheads.  We then finished up the blog, adding a few photographs from my paddle. We then relaxed, listened to Michael Smerconish on Sirius Radio.  Evie usually has him on for three hours each morning.  He's good, worth listening to and as fair as any radio host can be. Around 11:00, I got out my yoga mat and did my asanas for forty-five minutes including lots of prana or breathing exercises, good for your respiratory health. 

Around noon, I fixed my lunch, heating up the last of the dal and toasting a bagel, adding cream cheese and tomatoes.  I was looking forward to the last episode of Narcos, rooting for Felix but knowing he was going down as head of the cartel.  It's pretty bad when you end up rooting for the murderous drug boss.  While I was lunching, Evie was on the phone talking with or daughter Beth.  Their family of five is in quarantine in Dallas, both Mitch and Marisa home from school, Rami working at home, Beth as well. It's sad because it's Mitch's final semester of college at UT in Austin.

Nestor Plaza, Smith Library

Mid-afternoon after a nap and some reading, we decided to go for a walk to our go-to place lately, the Chautauqua Institution.  We don't go far, maybe a mile or a half-hour walk, just enough to say we did something outside.  When we returned home, I did a bit more raking of twigs, just to get some more exercise.

Chautauqua Bridge Over Creek

We enjoyed a glass of wine until the Trump Comedy Hour And Rally came on all channels, as he dominated the screen with misinformation, lies, self-congratulation, ending always, with self-pity.  What a disgusting individual.  And yet, 55% of Americans approve of his performance,  Maybe we are watching the wrong channel.  Sports fans, most of us can't get tests (unless you are an NBA player) and there is a shortage of masks and swabs despite what the White House sycophants say. After all, this "wartime President" is not the "shipping clerk-in-chief! "

We had the leftover Santa Fe chicken for dinner with a salad and watched three more episodes of The Americans, ending the night with Off The Grid, as they built a container home in Spearfish, South Dakota, near the Black Hills.

A Foggy, Misty Morning

7:10

9:05

It's 7:40 and I have been up for an hour, listening to the news about the coronavirus, the maddening lack of tests available despite the White House assurances that they are available.  It makes one ask who is in charge, Peter Sellers from Being There?  It's warming up here, rained quite a bit overnight and the lake is like glass, the sky still gray with fog. It's now 9:30 and I have been out kayaking for 50 minutes, paddling north to Whitney Bay and back.  I was lucky to get closer than usual to a raft of buffleheads and get some good photographs.

Kayak Morning 

A Pair Of Buffleheads

A Beauty Glides By

Male And Female Buffleheads

Yesterday we stayed home (most of the day) like good citizens although it's hard and will only get harder.  I did start the day with a great paddle, a kind of self quarantining with the lake, as I am sure no one else was out there in the morning.  I did say aloha to my neighbor who was in the front yard, letting their dog out for a run.  It's a good way to start the day, perking up my mood as just being on the lake is an antidepressant.  We then finished up the blog, and I cleaned up the kitchen while Evie talked with my sister Ellen who lives in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C.  Although they are much closer to New York City then us, their restaurants are still open.

Around 11:30, I wanted to go for a walk, so Evie and I drove over to the Chautauqua Institution for a short walk.  It's a good place, as we rarely if ever see anyone on the streets other than construction workers.  It really is different around here from a city because we can be outside much of the time, on trails, woods, even our neighborhood and not endanger ourselves or other people.

We were home by 12:30 and I had more of my dal and Evie made me a tasty quesadilla with tomatoes, cheese, and pepperoncini.  I watched the penultimate episode of Narco which means it's time to start looking for another series for my matinees. We then spent our afternoon as usual, doing little other than reading, watching some of the news, or napping.  Dinner was made on Tuesday, Sante Fe chicken so Evie did not have to worry about dinner.

Around 4:30, we walked down the street because a huge black walnut was being taken down by a huge crane with a bucket.  They were really professional and it was a difficult job.  I made the mistake of asking Evie if she too wanted to watch, a big mistake.  We ended up spending three hundred bucks as she talked them into coming down to our yard and trimming a sugar maple in our front yard.  At least we now have a much better view of the lake. 

We had our wine watching them take a large branch down, so after they were done, it was time to warm up the Santa Fe Chicken and make a salad for dinner.  We ate watching the snippets of the latest Trump Coronavirus Rally, always entertaining if not informative.  We miss Colbert but still have many episodes of The Americans to go so we are not short of series to watch.