Ithaca is Gorges #WordlessWednesday

Ithaca, New York, is a college town in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.  Its geology is quite interesting.

You may have heard of the Ice Age.  The glaciers carved out what we know today as the Finger Lakes.  Ithaca's geology is interesting.  Glacial runoff formed steep valleys and the water formed waterfalls.  The gorges and waterfalls still exist today.  The City of Ithaca has several waterfalls in or near their borders.

This one is aptly named "Ithaca Falls". I took this picture at the beginning of August, when normally, the falls would be a lot less impressive.  But this has been a wet year - perfect for August waterfalls.

Not surprisingly, Ithaca's tourism slogan is "Ithaca is Gorges".

You can see this waterfall off a city street - there is a small parking lot and some historic ruins in the area, also, that are easy to view.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for #WordlessWednesday.

Memories of my Father 2019

I originally posted this on July 11, 2017.  Yesterday I read a blog post about City of Water Day and the memories came back........ memories of my father, who worked for the U.S Department of Agriculture Cotton Exports/Imports office on Governors Island.  He would tell me stories of taking a ferry to Governor's Island from lower Manhattan and then back home.  Sometimes, the commute got pretty rough.

Around 1963, the office closed and my father was offered a transfer to Chicago. He didn't take it.  He loved New York City.  Except for his military service, he spent his entire life there.

Here's my post from 2017:

On one Memorial Day recently, when a website called Ancestry.com allowed people to search for free, I took advantage of it to find out more about my heritage.

I looked up my grandfather on my mother's side and found (definitely) his World War II draft registration and (possibly) his World War I draft registration.  For the first time in my memory, I saw his signature on the World War II document.

More intriguing, I found my maternal grandfather's town of birth - something I never knew - but it doesn't seem to exist -"Altsandas, Austria" - another mystery for a later date. (I am not sure what country it is in today, but it was Austria-Hungary when he came to this country around 1903). Last year, a blogger did some research, and it appears this town, and its residents, may have been wiped out by the Nazis during World War II. [since then, I have more reason to believe that my educated guess, sadly, was correct.]  At any rate, I can't seem to find it anywhere online.  I've said before that I owe my very existence to the United States and all those who fought in World War II for our freedom, and I'm serious about that.

I wondered why my mother's father had to register for the draft.  He was born in 1878, too old to serve in the U.S. Army in 1942, but I found out there was an event called the Fourth Registration, where all males from ages 45 to 64 were registered.  That's how desperate things were in 1942. 

I then looked up my father's World War Two enlistment record and found what follows.  After the war he worked for several years on Governor's Island, part of New York City, where his enlistment took place.  What I know of his enlistment is that he was already considered disabled (a childhood illness destroyed his hearing in one ear) and had tried to enlist without success.  But, by 1942, we needed anyone who could serve.

State of Residence:	New York
County or City:	Kings[Brooklyn]
Enlistment Date:	6 Aug 1942
Enlistment State:	New York
Enlistment City:	Fort Jay Governors Island
Term of Enlistment:	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component:	Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source:	Civil Life
Education:	2 years of high school
Civil Occupation:	Semiskilled occupations in manufacture of miscellaneous electrical equipment, n.e.c.
Marital Status:	Single, with dependents
Height:	69
Weight:	130

There was Governors Island again.
More memories.  Why would my father have been single, with dependents?  I did know the answer to that question.  Because he helped to raise his youngest brother after his mother died.  Just as he raised me after his wife, my mother, died when I was 12.

I have so many memories of my father - the walks we took, the movie he took me to the day I graduated Elementary School (West Side Story), and then how life changed for him as he grew older, and ended up in assisted living in Brooklyn.

Right now, of all my aunts and uncles, only one survives - the man who my father helped to raise.  I visited him in 2002, and my uncle told me he owed a great debt to my father, who had sacrificed so much for him.  It was a debt he felt he could never repay.

And, as for me, I didn't know how much I owed to my father when I was a teen fighting to breakaway from him.  But I do know now.



I finally got to visit Governors Island, many years ago, for a couple of hours.  Perhaps I'll blog about that one day.

The Fellowship of the Flood Assembles Again

The people of Louisiana are undergoing epic flooding.  It's not the first flood event in our country this year, or the second or the third.   My heart goes out to those in all the places who have flooded this year - Louisiana, Ellicott City, Maryland, Houston, and more overseas, because I know, on a much smaller scale, something of what they are going through.

In a blog post from 2011, I called that fellowship 'The Fellowship of the Flood'.  It's a club that you don't ever want to join.  Membership is automatic when you have experienced a flood.

The fellowship is millions strong, and growing.

But, for those who are members of the Fellowship, you know that the experience of being in a flood never leaves you completely.

Ever.

There are two groups of people you can talk to about your flood experiences.

Those who know.

And those who can't imagine.

I belong to several blogging support groups.  One of the members of that support group lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Another blogger posted this video on Facebook.  Her area was impacted by another "epic" flood earlier this year.

I can't imagine what her area is going through, because I know just enough (from personal experience) to know that I can't imagine.  My flood was not their flood. But someone out on the street playing a piano does not surprise me at all, based on my own experiences.


That's the first thing to admit.  You DON'T know what those in Louisiana are going through, unless you are there.

In September of 2011, after widespread flooding impacted many areas of our state, New York,  I find (going through those posts) of my feeling of gratitude.  That may or may not surprise you.

This September I plan to republish some of the posts, from September of 2011, to remind myself of how lucky I was.

It is hard to tell people how to support others who are going through a disaster of this magnitude, but just being there to listen is important.

There are some of the things you should know to do if you go through a flood.

And then there are the things people should and shouldn't do if you are moved to help.

Right now it's the everyday things people n the flood zones need.  Clean drinking water.  A place to wash your clothes.  Oh, how I missed having a place to wash my clothes. 

A place to feel human again.

What they don't need are flood tourists.  If you aren't a trained helper, or belong to an organization that knows what they are doing, you will do those people a favor by staying home.

Meanwhile, those flooded look around and see life going on, and wonder when their lives will get better.  You must know it will be a long process.

You may find you need professional help to move on.  You should not hesitate to seek it.  Even a year later.  Even more than that later.  It's not weakness.


For those not affected physically but want to help, this is my advice - be very careful, if you are moved to give for flood relief.  Be careful who you give to.  So many scammers out there. 

With our changing climate, we must learn how to live with floods.

I fear this is only the beginning.

When Water is Toxic

None of us can live without water.

When we turn on our tap, here in the First World, we expect the water coming out of it to be potable.  We depend on our government to provide a good drinking water that will not poison us.

What happens when the water you drink is toxic?

I want to thank Denise, a blogger in Michigan, for inspiring me to write this post.

Back in the late 1970's, my spouse and I drove through Flint, Michigan on the way to somewhere else.  We passed auto plant after auto plant.  But, with the decline of the auto industry, Flint declined, too.   The decline was so serious that a movie about Flint (Roger and Me) in 1989 became a hit - a controversal hit, but a hit nevertheless.

Now, Flint is in the news again, for the worst reason - children are involved.

In 2014, Flint, which was drawing water from the nearby major city of Detroit (about a 45 minute drive away) decided instead to draw water from the Flint River to "save money". Immediately, there were complaints about the taste of the water, which were disregarded. In the fall of 2015, it was discovered that this was a tragic mistake - the proportion of children with above average levels of lead had doubled.  In October, Flint reversed this decision, but it was too late.

Now, the water in some parts of Flint is testing at some of the highest levels of lead researchers have ever found in a municipal water supply-enough to meet a government definition of toxic waste.  Now, the National Guard has been called out to distribute drinking water to the affected residents.

How toxic is toxic?

I can remember when lead was used in household paint.  Then, they found that children would chew flaking paint, and the lead caused all kinds of damage - to quote the Washington Post, problems caused by lead "can include high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems, kidney damage and memory and neurological problems."  Lead was banned from paint.  Later, lead was banned from gasoline.

The terrible effects of lead, in other words, have been known for years.

Yes, just imagine - endangering the future of children to save some money.  Water that goes into baby formula, water that goes into schools, water that goes into daycare centers...water, the staff of life.

Until it isn't.

I rarely get political on my blog, but this defies belief.  Our President has declared a Federal emergency in Flint. 

Hundreds of children have tested with too-high levels of lead in their blood.


The natural urge of many of us is to reach out and contribute money for relief/supplies. But, if you do, please be very careful. Scammers love to take advantage of these situations.  Please be careful, and investigate any organization you want to give money to.

 One TV network has posted this information, which I have not investigated, or endorsed.

What will be the end result of this tragedy?  I shudder to think that we are only seeing the beginning.

Would You Drink Your Toilet Water?

Today, in the United States, it is Earth Day.  It's the day to think about the environment, and our impact on it.

Years ago, my spouse and I lived (for about eight months) in Wichita Falls, Texas, a city of about 104,000 about 10 miles south of the Texas/Oklahoma border.  It was an interesting experience but I have not been back since.

Today, I turned on the Weather Channel while preparing to go to work, and there was a fascinating discussion about a city so terribly impacted by drought, that they are trying to get state approval to capture and recycle their "potty water" (as they call it) and mix it in with reservoir water.

Turns out that city is Wichita Falls, Texas.

Things are desperate in Wichita Falls. They have been in a drought for some three years. Their reservoirs are hovering around 25% capacity.

So, are you grossed out by the thought of drinking your toilet water?

A couple of interesting thoughts.

I grew up in New York City.  To me, drinking water was something that came out of faucets.  My parents rarely took me out of New York City - for one thing, our family did not own a car. (Back when I grew up, this was not uncommon in New York City.)  In fact, I never saw a garden until I was 17 years old.  Really.

One day I found out our drinking water came from a place called the Croton Reservoir. As a teenager, I got to see this reservoir - a large lake.  And, I suddenly realized, there were FISH in this body of water.  Fish who ate, drank and...pooped.

I was drinking water with FISH POOP in it.

It wasn't long before I found out that was the least of my worries.  Many cities took their drinking water from rivers (such as Binghamton, New York, whose drinking water comes from the Susquehanna River.).  If your drinking water comes from a river, maybe you know that your drinking water contains wastewater (treated, you hope) from every city upriver from you.  And, in turn, the cities downriver of you are drinking your wastewater.

So many of us already drink toilet water indirectly.  The difference is, Wichita Falls wants to use this treated water directly, mixing it in with the fresh reservoir water, to make up about a third of their water usage.

Not a happy thought for Earth Day, is it?

Well, as it happens,  a lot of people are watching the Wichita Falls situation with a lot of interest.  Other cities are thinking of trying to pass legislation to allow direct usage of this formerly dumped resource.

After all, astronauts are already doing it.

The good citizens of Wichita Falls have dropped their water usage from about 40 million gallons a day to about 11-12 million gallons. But that just isn't enough.  So, besides the waste water recycling project, the city is going to try cloud seeding.  And, people are purchasing rainwater collection systems to try to capture whatever rain does fall.   But, to survive, they may be turning to toilet water.

We can't live without water.  Would you drink treated toilet water to survive?