The House in Upstate New York Leap Day Flower Show

Once every four years, we are given a bonus day.  Today is leap day.

Why do we leap?  It's interesting.

At my Weight Watchers meeting this week, we were asked if any of us were born on February 29 or, if not, if we knew anyone who was. No one born on that day, but a couple of us knew people.  The next question:  do they celebrate on February 28 or March 1?

Today they can celebrate on February 29.

But, the bonus day has been interesting so far for other reasons.

A Facebook friend reminisces about her late father, who was born on February 29, 1916.

A person I sometimes interact on Facebook with reported a scam.

And...I decided not to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show, a show I've wanted to go to for years.  I had taken off yesterday and Monday from work to do this.  We were waiting for the last minute because it's still winter, and a snowstorm could have prevented us going down this weekend.

But it wasn't the weather that stopped me. It was fear.  Not of the flowers and plants, but of the massive number of people expecting to attend - perhaps over 250,000 in a week's time.

It's true that the flower show is taking various precautions. And, there are no known cases of coronavirus in Philadelphia.  But this show also attracts people from various parts of the country and the world.

Ironically, in a way,  we did our normal food shopping this morning in a crowded 100,000 plus square foot supermarket.  Perhaps you are less fearful at home.

But even at the checkout, I looked over at the next checkout and a couple were rubbing their hands with hand sanitizer. And I find myself reading a bit obsessively about the virus and how to prepare (and we did go to the store for extra supplies.  Also, hand sanitizer - which I normally try to avoid using, being more of a believer in the power of soap.)  I'm becoming a lot more conscious of touching my face, and trying to break the habit.

Valentines Day Gift

So, I am going to do my own little flower show today.  No, it's not the Riviera theme of the Philadelphia Flower Show.  Call it the House in Upstate New York on Leap Day theme.

Black Friday special at Home Depot and still has some blooms

Usually I don't even have this many flowers.

But this year is special.  It's a leap year.  And my Thanksgiving cactii will all be in bloom a couple of days from now.

Do you get the idea that I like pink flowers?

A poinsettia from 2018 continues to rebloom, slowly.  Looks better than it did on the 15th.

With us posed on the knife edge of who knows what, all we can do is hope for the best, and take a flower break from time to time.

Happy Leap Day to you.

Flower Power!

Spring Backs Off #SkywatchFriday

The week started off so mild.  People took to the local rail trail to exercise in the amazing 50 degree weather on Sunday where I live near Vestal, New York.

The sun shone, the sky was blue, and the snow was melting.

Monday, a beautiful clear sky.  But that was the last of the sun.  By Thursday, the snow had arrived again.

Not visible in the picture, the buds on these Bradford Pear trees were covered in snow and were not going to hear the signal to start their bloom cycle today.  The sky was white, the sky we know as a "snow sky".

Neither were these Bradfords, as the wind blew. 

Courthouse, downtown Binghamton.  No end to the gloom here.  In this picture, what started as a slushy mix made for some slippery walking.

Around sunset, the sunset tried to give us a show.

We missed the blizzards to the north and to the west, thankfully.  Spring has backed off and winter has reminded us to look at the calendar.

Join Yogi and other skywatchers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Library Tree in White #ThursdayTreeLove

As I write this, we haven't had snow on the ground in a few days, but that is about to change later today.  Just to the west of us, parts of New York State are under a blizzard warning - intense snow and wind, through Friday night.  The Great Lakes aren't frozen due to our relatively mild winter and that's a perfect setup for lots of snow near the lakes. 

We won't get the massive snow where I live but we are going to get strong winds, too.  No surprise - March is almost here.

We had some snow earlier in February and I decided to head to the public library.

On the side of the library parking lot in Endicott, New York, I saw two trees.

One person's everyday view is another person's visual treasure.

Joining Parul at Happiness and Food with her #ThursdayTreeLove.

Swamp Root #WordlessWednesday

This is the building Swamp Root built.

The Kilmer Building on the edge of downtown Binghamton, New York was built in 1903 as a facility for manufacturing Kilmer's Swamp Root, a patent medicine that made its creator quite wealthy.

It later had other tenants, including a perfume making facility. Eventually, it stood vacant for some 17 years.  In the early 2000's, it was renovated and opened with two tenants, a jewelry store (which closed earlier this year) and an upscale restaurant.

Inside the Kilmer building.

A fireplace inside the then-jewelry store.

Mosaic.

Some more of the mosaic work in the building.

Our area has a wealth of old buildings.  Sadly, many are in ruin

But others, like the Kilmer Building, have been rescued.

I am joining the following blog hops this Wednesday:
Sandee at Comedy Plus

Natasha and Esha's Wordless Wednesday

She Did the Best She Could

I grew up in the 50's and 60's, a time when we were in a space race with the Soviet Union.

All the astronauts were men.  The people in the control room were men.

Little did I know about the female "computers", who, starting as early as 1939, helped to put airplanes in the air and, eventually, the United States into space.  No one talked about them.  No one taught us about them in school, even in the science oriented high school I attended in New York City in the late 1960's.

No, NASA's face was totally male. 

I did not pursue a science career (I was never able to conquer mathematics) but the space program always remained dear to me.

Some of these computers, not machines, but humans who did their calculations by hand, were women of color.  They rode to work in segregated buses, consigned to the back.  They worked in segregated rooms.  Some had to go to the bathroom in a different building than they worked in.

In those days, a "computer" was a human.  Machine computers were primitive, and not trusted for many calculations.

Eventually, a book called "Hidden Figures" told some of the stories of three female computers of color..  Among them was a woman by the name of Katherine Johnson, who did the calculations for some of the first Mercury missions and Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the moon, among many other accomplishments.  She retired in 1986.

In an interview several years ago, she humbly said "I did the best I could".

Fast forward to 2017, when spouse and I traveled to Columbia, South Carolina to view the total eclipse of the sun.  

At the museum where we saw the eclipse, there was a NASA trailer and a long line to get in.  We saw their display and, at the end, were invited to the Langley, Virginia NASA facility where Katherine Johnson and others had worked, for an open house that October.  They only hold the open houses every five years, and this one was special - their 100th anniversary.   Health permitting (Ms. Johnson was in a wheelchair by then), Katherine Johnson was planning to attend.

But my elderly mother in law's health was starting to fail, and we could not make the trip.

Yesterday, we lost Katherine Johnson, aged 101.
May she rest in peace.

Jump In - Music Moves Me

It's Monday, and it's time to rock into a 29 day February!  It comes only once every four years, so it's time for a celebration.


Who are the members of #MusicMovesMe?

We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  

Our conductors? First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

For February our guest conductor is Robin at Songbird's Crazy World.  For today, her theme is: "You Pick".

I can't resist one song about leap years:  Leap Year Song by Jonathan Mann.  After all, Saturday will be Leap Day.

But I did look for some songs that talk about leaping, or jumping, for a leap day theme.  These aren't Leap Day songs, but enjoy, anyway!

Jump, by Van Halen.

Jump Into the Fire, sung by Harry Nilsson.

Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones, in a live performance.

And one more, from their first album.  You either like this or you don't.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Get Up and Jump.

Speaking of jumping, I couldn't resist including a little Double Dutch.  I grew up in New York City watching this style of jumprope, and this video give you a taste of its competitive level.  I could barely single rope jump, with my lack of coordination.  This jumping is so athletic.



And that's a wrap!

Please join me same time, same place, next Monday!

No Golden Snowball This Year

In the midst of turmoil in our government and a possible pandemic of something originally known as the "coronavirus", spring made a temporary visit to the Southern Tier of New York State today.

The sun was out. And it was (sort of) warm.

It seemed everyone was out and about, soaking up the 50 degree F (10C) temperatures.  The walking trails were crowded.

Vestal Rail Trail, Vestal, New York

True, it will be a while before the snowpiles are gone.

Vestal Rail Trail, February 23, 2020

But the trees were responding to signals we humans do not pick up.  I am sitting in my yard, in fact, as I blog this, and I am looking at a tree glowing in the sun.  Its sap is rising.

Soon enough, it will be cold again. We also can have some of our worst snowstorms in March.  Right now, though, we are some 25 inches (63.5 cm) below normal in our snowfall.

We sit in the middle of the Golden Snowball statistics (the Golden Snowball is an informal competition between five cities in upstate New York for most snowfall in the season.)  Rochester is in the lead, and even they are below normal.

But I was thinking of all those walkers out today, even if the breeze took some of the heat out of the air.

Spring, New York pleads,  please don't tarry!

Washington Our First

Back when I was growing up, today would have been celebrated with a day off from school - George Washington's birthday.

Our first President.

And everything that can be said about him has been said, right?

Wrong.

To get us into the mood:  11 Little Known Facts About George Washington.

I'm enjoying a biography of George Washington called "You Never Forget Your First", A biography of George Washington, by Alexis Coe.

I'm not sure I will finish it, as I don't seem to have the stamina to read a lot of non-fiction right now.  Perhaps, once I retire, that will change.

But there is a lot of fascinating information here, as a good modern biography must explore: his actions towards the enslaved people he owned, the truth about him freeing them when he died (particularly heartbreaking), and his beliefs concerning the abolition of the institution of slavery.  None of this was ever discussed in my history classes back in the 1960's.

There's more, including a fascinating discussion of his false teeth, the lies he told, and the things people believe about him that just aren't true.

The various charts in the book (diseases he suffered from and how he was treated for them, the animals he owned, including his beloved dogs, the battles he fought in) are worth the reading all by themselves.

All in all: a complicated man, this man who was "the father of our country".

Warts and all.

Spring Tempts #SkywatchFriday

T.S. Eliot thought April was the cruelest month, but I beg to disagree.

February is, at least, where I live in upstate New York.  At sunrise now, the birds are singing, preparing for spring.  Buds are appearing on the trees.  Soon, I'm sure I'll be seeing the glow in the upper branches, indicating sap is rising.

But it's still cold, and snow still threatens.

Meanwhile, the sun still rises every morning.  It starts out small.

Then spreads (it's hard to see, but there's a little orange block in the lower left hand side - this is the sun reflecting off a building.).  Pink appears.

Slowly, the glow grows.

Finally, the sunrise sweeps its way to a stand of Bradford Pears.   Visible to me, but not to you in this picture, are their buds.  It's a bit early, and I know that they are only teasing me.

Their buds await the signal that will send the trees into glorious bloom.

Until then, I dream of spring.

And sunsets.
It's Friday, and I'm joining the bloggers who watch the sky (led by Yogi) at #SkywatchFriday.

Strawberry Onions

I've been dreaming of strawberry onions since March of 2013, when we visited a Florida farmers market and discovered them.

Strawberry Onions?  Yes.  They are a mild variety of onion.  They grow in strawberry fields in the Plant City, Florida area, which is a major strawberry producer.

They don't get their taste from their strawberry neighbors, but they thrive on the water and fertilizer given to the strawberry plants.  They used to be grown at the perimeter of the strawberry fields but production is growing, thanks to a growing demand.

It's a win-win situation.

Onions can be somewhat ordinary, I admit.

Our onions in the community garden

We grow them quite successfully in our community garden in Binghamton, New York.  But right now we have gone through our entire 2019 harvest.

So, back in January, we were in Florida and went to a strawberry stand in Plant City, Florida.

Yes, we were told, they ship strawberry onions.  In fact, they ship them all over the country. 

We'll be getting our shipment next week. 

We can't wait.


Will they taste as good as we remember?

Hidden History #WordlessWednesday

Near what was once the Binghamton, New York train station, stands a tower.  People pass it all the time, but do any of them understand its significance?

It's history, hidden in plain sight.

Let's find out more.

Come closer, and you will see a historic plaque.  This is a Marconi Tower.

Here's its story- the story of a 1913 wireless cellular experiment.  There were once four of these towers.  Now, only one is left.

Joining these bloghops:
Sandee at Comedy Plus
Esha and Natasha's Wordless Wednesday

Bagging the Bag

No, it's not the Zombie Apocolayse.

Come March 1, the state of New York, where I live, is banning single use disposable plastic bags.  The ban doesn't touch all plastic bags, but targets those bags you get at the supermarket for your groceries.

If you haven't been in the "bring your own bag" habit, it's time to start getting in the habit.  In fact, two supermarket chains in our area are no longer offering plastic bags at the checkout.  One stopped offering them on January 27.

There are good reasons for this ban.

New York is in good company.  There are various bans in place all over the United States already.

Depending on stores providing disposable plastic bags can be a hard habit to break.  In fact, some people are hoarding the bags because they use them for other things.

I do use these plastic bags for some reasons - spouse puts veggie trimmings in them, and in the winter, when you can't bring them out to the compost heap in bad weather we keep them indoors until we can.  I've used them to protect library books when I walk back from the library in rainy weather.

We used to bring the bags to a recycling bin outside the supermarket, but turns out it is difficult to recycle these thin bags.

(Note, this ban does not extend to plastic used to protect meat or deli, or bulk bags like those sold for trash.  There are other exceptions).


It's past time to stop their use.

 Here is a blog post with some more history, and suggestions.

Ironically, when these bags first came out, a lot of people loved them, especially in my native New York City.  Unlike paper supermarket bags, they had handles, and they were waterproof. They were small and manageable for those having to walk several blocks from the store. You didn't need to bring a wheeled shopping cart with you.  But, there were also too many unintended consequences.

I'm getting myself into the habit.  Too many times reusable shopping bags lay in our car's trunk.  Now, they are in the front passenger seat, ready to be grabbed.   If I go into a store, my only choice will be paper (for 5 cents each).

Just like my childhood.

We can do this.

Are you in a town or city which has banned these plastic bags?

Every Lyric Tells a Story Story #MusicMovesMe

You know the drill - it's Monday, and it's time for Music!

Who are the members of Music Moves Me (4M)?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  

Our conductors? First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

For February our guest conductor is Robin at Songbird's Crazy World.  For today, her theme is: "Songs that tell a story".

This is a theme full of richness.   Music lyrics tell so many stories.

Some are based on historical events or wars.

Johnny Horton - The Battle of New Orleans (with apologies to my British readers).

Covering The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", Joan Baez sings of the United States Civil War.

Some are working class songs, such as Midnight Oil's Blue Sky Mine (about workers in an asbestos mine in Australia and a mining company that wouldn't take responsibility for their illnesses).

Billy Joel sings the story of a struggling Long Island fisherman, accompanied by the great violinist Itzhak Perlman in "The Downeaster 'Alexa'"

A story about loneliness - The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", a favorite of my teen years.

This Marty Robbins song from 1959 speaks of a man who does the unspeakable for love, and its aftermath.  Listen to the wonderful lyrics of "El Paso".

I end with a final true story in Bob Dylan's Hurricane, from 1975, about a boxer, Hurricane Carter, who spent 19 years in prison for murdering three people - a crime many say he did not commit.  WARNING:  The "N" word is included in the lyrics.

I sadly left out The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a song I love so much but I have included in another blog post somewhere along the line. 

Join us next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Sweet Sugary Nostalgic Sunday- Breakfast Cereal

I was doing a little shopping in the supermarket this morning while waiting for a renewal prescription to be ready, and this display caught my eye.

Would you believe...

...these were in the cereal aisle.

OK, I admit it.  When I was a kid I ate my share of Cocoa Puffs (introduced in 1956) Lucky Charms (introduced in 1964), and Cap'n Crunch  (which was introduced in 1963).  And, if you know how old I am, you would know that I was not eating Lucky Charms and Cap'n Crunch as a young kid, either.

Not pictured, but loved, were Froot Loops (Fruit Loops when introduced back in 1959) and Trix (1954).

There was also Sugar Smacks, and the key word there is "sugar", because there wasn't too much of anything else in them.  And finally, Sugar Frosted Flakes, which were "Grrrreeeaaat!", and came out the year I was born. Somehow, by the 1980's, the word "sugar" was dropped from the title, but I'm sure the sugar wasn't dropped from the cereal.  I wonder why not.

Somehow, I did manage to survive all the sugar and the artificial colors.

But Kisses cereal? Peeps Cereal?  Aren't those candies? So, candy made into cereal?

Maybe the endmilk (the milk left in your bowl after you finish your cereal) is what you are after when you eat cereal?

OK, I admit it.  That cereal aisle above made me think.

I don't like Peeps as candy, either, but Kisses are an old favorite, both the original ones, and the ones with almonds, and the ones with cherry cordial centers, and....(besides Oreos, this may be part of why I ended up on Weight Watchers.)

But, back to the topic.

One more child confession.

Strangely, as a kid, I also enjoyed Cheerios, Shredded Wheat (where you added your own sugar and I never added that much) and Kix, which were the healthier (supposedly) version of Trix.   Today, I'm still into Cheerios and Special K, but I'm more an omelet person.

So, as an adult, are you still a fan of sweet cereal?  If so, which cereals do you prefer?

If you don't eat them as an adult, did you like them as a kid?

Finally, would you eat any of the stuff in the above pictures?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day February 2020

What a Garden Bloggers Bloom Day this has been!

Normally, by now, I am scrounging for anything in my house in the zone 5b Southern Tier of New York...anything...that might contain a bloom.

But not this year.

I have three African violets blooming, and one that just stopped blooming.

Do you get the feeling I like pink or purple flowers?

You would be right.  This is the one that was on its way out and today, the bloom was shriveled up.  But I am giving this plant its moment.

I am honoring this pleasant surprise.  This is a poinsettia from 2018 I kept in my office cubicle until late fall, then brought home.  It is starting to show some color! (Those colored leaves poinsettias are famous for, by the way, are not flowers,  They are a specialized leaf called a bract.  The actual flowers are in the center and small. )

This is my fancy African violet that has nice leaves and small blooms.  It is starting to bloom again.  It's doing quite nicely in a self watering pot.

My orchid buy from Home Depot on Black Friday is just now starting to lose its blooms.  This is one of the nicest purchases I have ever made on Black Friday.

My gift for Valentine's Day - a cyclamen to kill.   Seriously, I've killed every one I've ever been given.

My Thanksgiving cactii have buds again.  This one is the furthest along.

This year, I can turn to the outdoors! 

My Lenten Rose had started to bloom right after January GBBD, and I was holding my breath because we have had snow, and this morning, with the snow cover disappearing, it got down to 4 above zero F (-15.5 C) .  When I took this picture, the temperature had climbed to 8F. Well, there are some flower buds that may have survived. 

There is also this plant, whose name I have totally forgotten, that has some buds on it.

I have one more to discuss.  This fall, I decided to be experimental and force daffodils.  Spouse and I purchased a shallow clay pot in a nursery in Ithaca, New York, and planted five or six daffodil bulbs of a variety recommended for forcing.  The instructions said to put the pot in the ground at soil level, and then, at the beginning of February, dig up and bring indoors and keep well lit.  A week ago, we noticed this.  It's hardly grown since, as you can see in today's photo,  but I need to be patient.

One more thing - I have two phalenopsis orchids that have something looking like white mold on them. And actually, none of my several orchids (ones I've kept from previous years) look happy.  I may have overwatered them.  None are showing signs of wanting to bloom, either.

But hope springs eternal in the garden!   Thank you for sharing my world today.

Join Carol at May Dreams Gardens every 15th of the month and see what other gardeners are doing for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

February Features #SkywatchFriday

When we got some sunshine earlier this month, I couldn't resist these  pictures.

Near sunset.  To me some of them look like feathers.

Sometimes you just have to draw a line in the sky.

Or two, or three.

I love the variety of clouds from day to day.


Today I am joining the bloggers who watch the sky at Yogi's #SkywatchFriday.

Slumber in White #ThursdayTreeLove

They slumber on, the trees.

Cutler Botanical Gardens, last Sunday, Binghamton, New York

Surrounded by cold snow, they patiently await a signal none of us humans can hear or sense.

The signal tells them it is time.

They will start to bud, then bloom, then finally, grow leaves to catch the spring and summer sun.  Another cycle will begin.

But it's not time yet.

They sleep.

They wait.

Do you love trees?  Why not take a picture and post a link at Parul's #ThursdayTreeLove, which is in session every second and fourth week of the month.

Walk LIke a Penguin #WordlessWednesday

Where I live in upstate New York, we are in the heart of winter.  That means snow.  And ice.

Ice is pretty but deadly.

We have a large senior population in my county (my spouse and I included) and falls are especially dangerous for our age group.  Falls are one of the leading causes of deaths among the elderly.  If you are young, you aren't immune, either.

Hence the advice:  Walk like a Penguin.

Ice scares me, but I will also say, I've been seeing these signs pop up more and more where I live.  This one is near our local library.

Here's how to walk like a penguin.


I am joining two #WordlessWednesday blog hops this week:
1.  Sandee at Comedy Plus

2.  Natasha and Esha.