The End of Summer

It feels every bit like fall. Good weather for going to the state fair, not so good for the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers still struggling to ripen.

We did our first trip to the fair on Friday to see llamas. One of the things I will never understand about The Mister is how he can hang out for hours in the llama barn at the state fair year after year.

The Spa

Rachel Alexandra

There's racing and then there's racing racing. I used to enjoy thoroughbred racing. I will be forever grateful to Point Given for giving me a way to escape the immediate aftermath of the events on 9-11-01. I spent a few days on the Cape that October before I picked up my aunt in Oxford (she was supposed to fly from Logan to Pittsburgh on 9-11) and after a short visit here, I drove her to my cousin's near Pittsburgh.

From Pittsburgh I drove to Ashland, KY where The Mister and I lived '78-'83, and then on to Lexington. I stayed at one of our favorite inns, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, caught two days of racing at Keeneland and visited Point Given and his stable mates, including Seattle Slew and Silver Charm, at Three Chimneys Farm.

It was a beautiful autumn that year and I was lucky to be able to take off the way I did.

Now I find it kind of sad that since then I've come to see horse racing as just another example of excess, another lovely notion ruined by too much money. And the connections of Rachel Alexandra are a perfect example.

As of yesterday, Rachel A. is scheduled to run at Saratoga on the 5th. Despite my misgivings, I'd really like to see her run. But, and this is why I'm trying to sort all this through here, the 5th is also the day the draft horses compete in six and eight horse hitches at the state fair and I always love seeing them.

'Tis a quandary.

Racing

First there's the race against late blight. I've picked more tomato leaves than fruit so far this year but weather conditions have suppressed the blight for the last couple of weeks and now I'm just waiting to see if the plants will hold on long enough for all the green tomatoes to ripen.

Then there's the race against the calendar; I'm still waiting on the first eggplant. I didn't have to protect them this year from flea beetles but I think I'll try to extend the season a bit for these beauties with a poly tunnel.

A Real Heavyweight

At this point in my life I've been routinely shedding possessions rather than adding to them. For one thing, over the past several years now I've limited myself to no more than one new cookbook each year but for some odd reason since I've been doing this the cookbooks have gotten huge. Why??

I tried to avoid buying my own copy of this tome. I borrowed a copy from the library and tried to be satisfied with that but it is just too lovely, the stories, the photos, the recipes, everything about it except the size.

page 578, Special Sablé Biscuits, plain & salted

page 588, Chocolate Parfait

made with Amedei Chuao and a Swiss meringue

What I Did On My 'Vacation'

Well. This year Versus finally made The Tour available online. I bought a pass for the whole thing and got a great picture when I hooked up the MacBook to the TV. I don't care for the Versus commentators, particularly Paul Sherwen, so I listened to David Harmon and Sean Kelly on EuroSport.

I was sorry to see my favorite rider, Oscar Pererio, abandon early on but I was happy to see Franco Pellizotti win the polka dot jersey.

And the tour went through the Val d'Aosta this year on a gorgeous day with great visibility. Merci Versus.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cycling/pgStory?contentId=9820260#sport=Tour%20De%20France&photo=9819868

Mannequin Pis

or Manneken Pis
"Is Peeing in Public Green?"

a Mannequin Pis bell my mother bought in Brussels during WWII

A Dark and Dreary June

Shortly after I put up my last post I read that Kenny Rankin had died. It came as a shock. His voice has been part of the soundtrack of my adult life. For years Kenny Rankin and Michael Franks were the two people I would drop everything to see perform, especially in the intimate settings of clubs like The Bottom Line.

I've been playing his music constantly for the past three weeks. I've downloaded the stuff I still had on vinyl and anything else I didn't already have. Some recordings like my favorite disc, "Here In My Heart" aren't available any longer; how does that happen?

A few days earlier Koko Taylor died so I've felt obliged to play some Wang Dang Doodle, etc. too.

The music hasn't made me feel better so much as it's supported the mood I've been in.

We've had so much rain the garden is a mess: weeds and slugs. Until this week I haven't even wanted to look at it. I've been able to ride a bike into one village or the other for various errands but I've only done one nice ride on my road bike. And here it is the end of June.

And I haven't been able deal with people except in small doses. Almost everyone I come into contact with seems clueless about the ramifications of the economic collapse and they continue to act as though nothing's changed. I feel like I live in an asylum. And the inmates are definitely running it. And just to prove it there's this national hysteria about Michael Jackson.

I'm just grateful it's been a good month for strawberries.

Old is New

The old quart canning jars I brought back from Ohio are in better shape than I expected; only one of the 36 had a chip on the rim. I haven't used a lot of quart jars in the past but I'm planning to use these to can more in the way of sauces, ragus and such. I've wiped off one layer of grime. Now I kinda wish I still had a dishwasher...

I can't help but wonder about the folks who filled these jars over the years and the meals they prepared with the contents. I think these jars are typical in that they haven't been used by the children or the grandchildren of the original owners and the details of their history are lost forever.

Peregrines 2009

On Tuesday they banded the four young Syracuse falcons: three were judged to be female, but they're uncertain about the smallest bird.

Meanwhile somewhere in or around the Cleveland Clinic, a 2005 Syracuse fledgling named Cade is tending her first brood of four.


Unfortunately the fledging I had the close contact with last year, Matilda, was euthanized after she was found badly injured earlier this year.

A Wet Week

After two months with very little rain, storms staying to the north of us, storms tracking south of us, the week I plan to set out tomatoes and such we get at least some measure of rain every single day. I feel like I'm getting further and further behind. Oh and we've spotted another groundhog in the neighborhood; lovely that is.

At least the little fringe tree is happy and its scent fills the yard.

A Long Week

Last week was a long one. It started off on Monday with the installation of an old cabinet where the dishwasher used to be, followed by the new countertop, sink and old new faucet. As with any project there was a mess to clean up before I could make a cake and head to Ohio on Thursday. And the tomato plants had to be staked and moved outside at the last minute when I realized they were going to outgrow the lights before I got back.

All went well in Ohio although my mother says that's it for birthday parties; if she has any more birthdays she says please just send a card.

Memorial Day (observed) I was home for our traditional trek to Tully's to watch the lax championship game. As it happens, this year both teams came from the homes of two members of the Iroquois Confederacy with long traditions of playing lacrosse, the Onondaga and Cayuga Nations. I was cheering for Cornell but Syracuse did it again coming from three goals down with less than four minutes left to tie it in the last few seconds and then winning in overtime, 9-10.

Me Mum

hiding her rheumatoid hands, 1984?

Today is my mother's 90th birthday. I'm driving to Ohio this morning with a homemade angel food cake per her request.

Europe, WWII

Growing

My tomatoes have taken off but I won't be able to put them outside until Monday; it's going to be interesting to see if they outgrow the lights before then.

Meanwhile there are four peregrine eyas on the State Tower Building again this year and they're also growing at the usual alarming rate.

May 16

May 20

Haxnicks Ltd

Haxnicks' Easy Net Tunnel

I've become a big fan of Haxnicks products. I got a big net tunnel from Seeds of Change a few years ago and after seeing how well the material holds up I invested in a few more this year. The netting provides protection from critters, especially the bunnies when they're small enough to squeeze through the fence, and the deer before I set out the tomatoes and such sprayed with Tree Guard ®.

We escaped the freezing temps the past two nights but one of the great things about these tunnels is that they can also support some Agribon or plastic. They're wicked easy to move and store.

Haxnicks

Note

Freeze Warning
for Onondaga County, NY
from 2 am EDT, Mon., May. 18, 2009
until 9 am EDT, Mon., May. 18, 2009

Issued by The National Weather Service
Binghamton, NY
4 am EDT, Sun., May. 17, 2009

... FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 9 AM EDT MONDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A FREEZE WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 9 AM EDT MONDAY.

TONIGHT WITH CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS TEMPERATURES WILL FALL TO AROUND FREEZING. LOW TEMPERATURES LATE TONIGHT WILL BE IN THE LOWER 30S. SOME RURAL VALLEYS COULD BE EVEN COLDER... WHILE LOCATIONS IN URBAN AREAS AND ON THE FINGER LAKES COULD REMAIN JUST ABOVE FREEZING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A FREEZE WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO THREATEN OUTDOOR PLANTS. THOSE WITH AGRICULTURAL OR GARDENING INTERESTS IN THE WARNED AREA ARE ADVISED TO HARVEST OR PROTECT TENDER VEGETATION. POTTED PLANTS NORMALLY LEFT OUTDOORS SHOULD BE COVERED OR BROUGHT INSIDE.

Another Season Begins

http://www.voydanoff.net/albums/crane-creek-birds/c_bobolink2.sized.jpg

The bobolinks have returned to the meadows at the park and are performing another concert of sorts as they do their aerial loop de loops. In some areas it devolves into an odd battle of the bands when they try to out do their neighbors, the red winged blackbirds, but up on Farmers Hill there is one male who has a spot pretty much to himself and he put on a lovely show yesterday.

One Season Ends

The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra finished their classical season last night with an appearance by Joshua Bell. He of course was the consummate virtuoso but what we both noticed this time, in this performance of this particular piece, was the glorious sound of the violin. As Bell said, "it has a very powerful lower register" and it seems to be made for the Violin Concerto No. 3 by Saint-Saens.

Bell prefers his 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius, with its "good balance between the sweetness, which Strads tend to have, a sort of soprano, feminine sweetness to them," he says. "But also, it has a very powerful lower register. It's very well-balanced, and it projects very well in the hall."

He will play the "very operatic, very dramatic" Saint-Saens concerto on his Stradivarius. Bell also describes the piece as underrated, but definitely a showpiece that he finds captivating.

"The slow movement is one of the most beautiful of all the violin repertoire and sort of magical ...," says the 41-year-old violinist. "Then the last movement is sort of Gypsy flair, kind of brings the house down. It's got everything. It's got the flash. It's got the beauty."
Melinda Johnson, The Post Standard

A Taste Of Spring

A good year for the rhubarb. I've sacrificed color for an old, early variety, Victoria. I'd like to add another variety with more color but these plants have done so well and have such good flavor that I doubt I ever will...

A Passing

My mother-in-law died on Monday. Her last years were exactly what everyone fears, a slow neurological deterioration affecting her mentally and physically. My father-in-law did a heroic job of caring for her at home, with considerable risk to his own health, until the last couple of months.

She was a very emotionally distant woman. If I were to write her epitaph I would simply quote something she often said, even to her younger son who was clinically depressed and eventually committed suicide: "I shouldn't have to say that I love you; you should be able to tell how I feel from what I do." She never saw the irony.

22

The evening of August 31, 2004, I was driving home from a lecture at Le Moyne. The moonrise was so spectacular that I didn't think to turn on the Yankees' game until I was halfway home. I still remember sitting on route 92 waiting to turn left onto Hunt Lane when John Sterling gave the score: Indians 19, Yankees 0. I was sure I'd heard it wrong and I think I missed a couple of breaks in the traffic waiting to hear the score repeated.

In all the insanity surrounding the new Yankee monument to excess I've found comfort in fact that it was my hometown team, the Cleveland Indians, that gave the Yankees their worst home shutout in the old stadium, final score: 22-0.

Given that fact, I thought it was odd karma that the Indians were the first team scheduled to play the Yankees in the new stadium. I'd planned to listen to the game on Thursday but didn't realize it was a day game until it was too late. Yesterday the game was on Fox so I made it a point to take a break from the garden to watch the beginning.

I don't think this new record will hold. It seems like this $1.5 billion obscenity "plays small" and may host many more home run derbies.