Saturday, April 11, 2015

Jabber Waulkie

Beware, my reader, of the Jabber Waulkie!


Today is "J" day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  We are almost halfway through this annual April challenge, where bloggers must make a daily blog post (exclusing Sundays) in the order of each letter of the English alphabet.  26 days, 26 letters, 26 days of fun.

My theme is America the Beautiful and today I am bringing you to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York - Seneca Lake, in particular.

Before I tell you about the Jabber Waulkie, I need to explain a little about the Finger Lakes.   These are a series of some 14 lakes, aligned north to south, and so long and narrow they look like fingers from above.  The arrangement of the lakes makes for a microclime that has milder weather than the surrounding parts of New York, and the clime is perfect for growing grapes.  Someone is even trying to get a tea plantation established, a post for another day.

As a result some of the Finger Lakes, such as Seneca (the "middle finger"), have become one of the premier wine making regions of the United States.   In some places along the the Eastern shore of Seneca Lake, you find winery after winery.  If there were sidewalks, you could practically walk (or stagger, after a while) from winery to winery.

And, there is something else about Seneca Lake.  It has its own monster, just like Nessie of Loch Ness and Champ of Lake Champlain.

Its name, supposedly, is Jabber Waulkie.  The Native Americans of the region claimed Seneca Lake was bottomless and had a monster.  In 1899, it was supposedly killed. Or not.  The lake is some 618 feet deep, and the bottom is below sea level, so who knows?


Seems all Internet discussions of Jabber Waulkie point to one winery in particular, JR Dill. What the heck.  I visited the winery, and had some Jabber Waulkie wine. (I liked it.)
Each winery has its own special touch.  At J.R Dill, their tasting bar has beautiful glass embedded in it.

I highly recommend visiting the Finger Lakes even if you aren't a wine drinker.  If you are interested, I can write some more blog posts about the region.

I wanted to close by giving shout outs to some fellow A to Z'ers.  I've found several interesting blogs in my A to Z journey.  These aren't all of them; hopefully will include some more links next week.

CollectInTexasGal (vintage photos and memories of growing up in Texas)
Rosie Amber
Hungry Enough to Eat Six (food blog, doing vintage cookbooks this month.
And, one I have to give an "R" rating to, but I enjoy this most hilarious (and, at times, raunchy, and totally inappropriate ) blog and its send up of Martha Stewart for the month of April.  The rest of the time she is...well, who she is.  Life by Chocolate.  (Hopefully, no one gets offended.)

Tomorrow-off day, will be my usual Civil War Sunday theme.  On Monday, off to somewhere with a K.

23 comments:

  1. Alana,
    That's incredible that the narrow lake is that deep! Whoa. And why couldn't there be a monster down in the depths? I'd love to come see this region, and sample some of the wines made there.

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    1. Yes, you'll have to return to New York one day. Just not in the winter. And there are so many wineries to choose from. If you do, be sure to also visit the Cayuga Creamery for some wine sorbet. In other news: Would you believe I saw my first local crocus yesterday?

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  2. "Middle finger"? Well, my brain went somewhere interesting with that...

    Liz A. from Laws of Gravity

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    1. Well, after I reread the post I thought about that too. But Seneca Lake is really called the middle finger by some! Who says we don't have a sense of humor here?

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  3. What an interesting story. My husband's grandma used to call his sister a Jabber Waulkie because she talked a lot. I have heard the term for years but never knew the origination. :)

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    1. My friend and "guest photographer" have taken "jabberwalkies" for years. When I saw this wine, I was so tickled! She doesn't drink, so the photo had to do.

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  4. It's easy to remember the "middle finger" lake! It's nice to meet you through A to Z! Both Texas Sue, and Rockin' Robyn (Life By Chocolate) are wonderful women with witty blogs. Robyn's Martha Stewart parody is all done in fun, and she's been a loyal blogging friend for years! I'm your newest follower, Alana!

    Julie

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    1. Thank you for the follow, Julie, and I know I will enjoy following yours, too. I think a lot of my readers were taken by the "middle finger" lake. Who knew?

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  5. I'm laughing, and I'm honored. Thanks so much, Alana. Before we started the Challenge, I told Alex and Arlee that I'll designate it for Adults Only - so that nobody is offended. They told me that, no, my writing/blog isn't offensive - not compared to some of the Adult Only blogs. I have to agree, though the mention of Martha Stewart can be offensive.

    Upstate NY has beautiful areas. I'd love to learn and see more. That glass bar is gorgeous too.

    THANK YOU, Alana.
    Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

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    1. I am - and will enjoy your continued series tomorrow!

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  6. That was an interesting read all right.....Loved the picture of the coloured glass.

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    1. Thank you. I can't remember if it came from one of the Finger Lakes (I think it's more a type of "sea glass" - action of waves rounds out pieces of glass) but it sure was pretty.

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  7. A monster in the lake? Am sure its seen after you have several of those pegs of wine!

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    1. Well, I do enjoy the legend of the monster protecting the lake and the wineries!

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  8. Ah, so Jabber Waulkie is based in reality. What a miracle that you could clear that up for me. Great to be connected to a friend on the other side of the world.

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    1. I'm really not sure if the name was created by J.R. Dill but it is interesting how a number of lakes seem to have legends of strange creatures living in them. Where there is smoke...

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  9. I have heard of the Jabber Waulkie and hope I never meet it, but I'd like to try that wine. :) And that bar is stunning!

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    1. Not sure where they sell the wine outside of New York State - you'll just have to come to the Finger Lakes and write about them. Or maybe not - we might have a disaster.

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  10. We went to the Finger Lakes on a trip to eastern Pennsylvania to visit family. I read in a travel book that Indian legend said God laid His hand down on the most beautiful place in the world and formed the Finger Lakes, and I think those Indians were right! We spent a delightful day playing around Lake Cayuga and Taughannock Falls and Buttermilk Falls. I wanted to move there immediately, but my husband said I wouldn't survive one winter.

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    1. Thank you for your praise of the Ithaca area. A travel slogan for Ithaca is "Ithaca is Gorges" (the pun very much intended) and they are right.

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    2. I want to visit the area again! Haven't been able to talk either of my kids into going to Cornell yet, so I have an excuse to visit :)

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  11. Cheers!!! Tipping my bottle/glass to your Jabber Waulkie middle finger lake and to Youse Guys up there with a great sense of humor. Did I spell Youse right? I really wanted to say AllYa'll, but was going for a Yankee accent.

    Enjoyed reading about the 'Finger Lakes'. Thanks for the ShoutOut, much appreciated. Looking forward to your week 3.
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal AtoZ 2015 Challenge Minion for AJ's wHooligans

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