Frozen in Time

Have you ever been frozen in time?

You may have been.  Have you ever gone to a high school reunion, expecting to find a room full of 17 and 18 year olds, and shocked, instead, to discover that everyone had aged - just like you? Or, visited a place you haven't been to in many years, to find how much it's changed?

I sometimes ride the subway in my native New York City, where I spent the first 21 years of my life.  Before I left, I used mass transit all the time - my family never owned a car. (Back in the 50's and 60's, non car owing families were common in the City.) I've visited New York City a number of times since I left, and sometimes I use mass transit. When I ride the subway, a art of me knows how the subways look, sound, smell nowadays - but a part of me expects to see token booths and does not expect Metro Cards and people listening to music on their phones. 

Another example:  I lived in Tampa, Florida for a couple of years back in the 1970's, and visited the Orlando area several times during that time.  I've been back to Tampa twice since then, the most recent visit being in March, and have been in the Orlando area three times.  A part of me knows that Orlando is a city of skyscrapers and theme park sprawl but I'm amazed when I'm there, because Orlando wasn't like that at all in the 1970's.  I-4 was not a superhighway, and Tampa's downtown was several sort of tallish buildings.  Today I would, and did, get so lost in downtown Tampa that it's amazing I'm still not wandering around looking for the exit.

Yes, at times I am frozen.  Frozen in time, suspended in a time that no longer exists, and not knowing what to make of it.

Has this happened to you?

An Unknown Tree Grows in Brooklyn

My friend of 50 years, who lives in Brooklyn, has given me permission to use the "A ____ grows in Brooklyn" meme one more time before she clobbers me.  (oops, too late.) 

As a native of New York City, and someone who loves the world of flowers and gardening, I always love to point out that there are indeed green things growing in New York City, and trees (and other things) grow in all the five boroughs, including my father's native borough of Brooklyn.

My friend is more knowledgeable about plants than I am but she wasn't able to find the identity of this street tree growing in a Brooklyn neighborhood.  I saw the same tree last year in Binghamton, New York (where I work) and couldn't get an ID on it, either.  It is not a Japanese lilac but those white flowers smell so sweet.  It blooms too early for a Japanese lilac.  I don't think it is a linden, but we are fresh out of ideas. 

Does anyone know what this is?

I do know this is a beautiful flowering cherry.

I think the same kind of tree but in a different light.

This tree on Ocean Parkway isn't blooming but it is coming out with pale yellow leaves - perhaps some kind of ash?

And, more flowering trees along Ocean Parkway.

When I see the late snow impacting various areas in the Western United States (including Missouri and Colorado), my heart sinks.  I hope spring comes to them, soon.

Has the weather been unusual for you this spring?

Civil War Sunday - Who Are You Loyal To?

It's May 5, 2013.  As someone interested in the Civil War, I should have been at the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Chancellorsville, attending various historical talks and reenactments, and hearing all about Confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and his soon-to-be-fatal-wounding by his own men.

I'll let others more qualified blog all about it.  Tonight, I'm not someone interested in the Civil War but someone visiting friends and family in New York City, the city where I was born and grew up. I'm mulling over a statement a fellow blogger, one who lives in a former Confederate state, posted on my blog several days ago:

  "I would pledge my allegiance to my state before my Federal government any day"

It was such an interesting question, to this native New Yorker, that I spent time in the early morning when I could not sleep thinking about it. Who am I loyal to?  Who owns my heart, my identity?

If you had asked Stonewall Jackson who he had pledged his allegiance to, he probably would have answered Virginia (his birthplace is in Clarksburg, West Virginia, but it was Virginia when he was born.  Or maybe he was born in Parkersburg.  We really don't know.).  Robert E. Lee would no doubt had said Virginia, too. 

At reenactments, we have asked the question of reenactors playing the role of generals from the Union side, and they answered - to their state.  Not to the Federal government.

This was a common belief before the Civil War - your allegiance was to your state.

After the Civil War?  I think, for people in the North, we think less about our state identity than people living in former Confederate States do.  But, I think we all, as a people, think of ourselves as American in a way that we did not before the Civil War.  But, not always.

It's another way that we Americans, in many ways, are still fighting that war in our minds, even if we aren't taking up physical arms against ourselves.  Even what we call the Civil War differs, depending on if we identify ourselves as being from North or South.

So, technically, I should be pledging my allegiance to New York State.  But, not so fast.  Things are never that easy.

There is a big mental divide between people living in New York City and people living in the rest of New York State.  The two geographic areas actually have very little in common except for the fact that they both have the same Governor.  I've actually lived longer in upstate New York longer than I lived in New York City, and I think like an upstate person. 

But, if I open my mouth, I sound like someone from New York City.  I have "that accent".

And, while I am New York City, the sounds and smells bring me back to a core part of me that still belongs to New York City, and always will - although I fled New York City the second I could once I was grown, and never turned back.  Not only that, I was born in Queens, grew up in the Bronx and now, my remaining friends all live in Brooklyn.  I spend my time in Brooklyn.  I have not set foot in the Bronx in over 15 years.

So, I honestly don't know who I am loyal to, other than identifying myself as a citizen of the United States, the country I have lived in all my life. 

Is your loyalty to state/province?  Or your "federal" government?

Sustainable Saturday -A Backyard Grows in Brooklyn

Today, I am in Brooklyn, one of the boroughs in New York City. A number of friends and relatives live in the area,and I am visiting them.  I am also checking out the post-Sandy recovery of the  Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn, which I'll blog about later this week.

(Incidentally, the "Brooklyn Strong(er)" dates from right after Sandy- I believe it is an update of an original slogan from post-Hurricane Katrina).

Today is bright and sunny and about as good, weather wise, as it gets in Brooklyn.  Yards are not big in Brooklyn, but it's quite possible to grow some of your own food.

You can start seeds in a portable greenhouse.

These pots will be full of green in another few weeks.

 

It isn't too early for some crops.
Strawberries, for example, are already blooming.

And rosemary, which can overwinter in Brooklyn, is blooming.

Many people would be surprised at how green Brooklyn can be, and what you can do with limited space.

Next week:  Red Hook, one of the neighborhoods impacted by Superstorm Sandy, recovers.

"Guest" Post - What Should a Caregiver Know About Physical Abuse of an Elder?

Today, I am featuring a "guest post" - actually a post from the blog "The Intentional Caregiver" that I am posting with permission..  

This is part of the power of the Internet - to be able to share information. Thank you, Shelley Webb, for posting this "must read" article for any caregiver.  I wasn't able to use it when I originally contacted you several months ago, but here it is now.   

As some of my readers know, I am a long distance caregiver for my mother in law, and for my brother in law, who is developmentally disabled.  And sadly, this kind of thing happens. 

We have used a geriatric care manager, and I can tell you without hesitation - a good one is (to quote the cliche) worth their weight in gold. 

What Should a Caregiver Know About Physical Abuse of an Elder?

As a caregiver, you may be providing actual physical care to your loved one or you may be supervising home healthcare providers or staff members in a facility.

If ANYONE besides you is providing care to your loved one, it is important to examine your loved one for signs of physical abuse, which is, of course, illegal, and should be reported to authorities.
The first rule of thumb is to ask the care recipient if anyone is hurting them. (This should be done when hired caregivers are not within hearing distance.) Observe their reaction when they answer.  Their body language may say more than their words.

Look for bruising, bumps (especially on the head), blood on clothing, bedsheets or furniture.  Do keep in mind though that many seniors may be taking prescription blood thinners which can cause bruising and bleeding, so if your care recipient is capable of answering, just ask them what happened. If they cannot speak for themselves, investigate further.

Seniors also may be prone to falls and while this is not abuse, it is important to note, because they may require additional care and/or a doctor’s visit to determine why this is happening. If falling is frequent, are there safely precautions in place?

If your loved one is bed-ridden, or spends a great deal of time sitting propped in a wheelchair, check for signs of skin break-down.  This can be a sign that they are not being turned (neglected) and that is also considered physical abuse.

Are they being cleaned appropriately?

Is there unexplained weight loss?  Are they being provided enough fluids and nutritious foods?  Are their caregivers taking the time to sit with them and help with feeding or is the food just being discarded. (Look through the trash if they are being cared for at home.)  Show up at mealtimes if the loved one is being cared for a facility to determine if staff members are assisting with the meal of if the food tray is just being left at the bedside.  Is there water within reach?

If your loved one is on oxygen, where is it?  Are they wearing their cannula or is it on the floor or rolled up on the oxygen container?

If your loved one is being cared for by hired professionals, the more time that you, a family member or a designated advocate spend with your loved one, the better.  It is a sad but true fact that the more a family visits their loved one, the more important that elder will be perceived and the better the care they will get.

You’re most welcome to use this article on your website, blog or in your e-zine if you include this entire blurb, without modification: If you liked this article by Shelley Webb, you’ll want to hop on over to www.IntentionalCaregiver.com where you can find more articles, resources and support for caregivers of aging parents and loved ones.   Geriatric care manager, Shelley Webb has been  a registered nurse for over 30 years and was blessed to have cared for her father in her home for more than 4 years.

Fighting the Civil War at a VA Hospital

I rarely post about political issues in this blog.  But, today, I am making an exception.

Recently, I became aware of a situation in Hot Springs, South Dakota, at a historical display at their VA Hospital.  Eight flags were displayed.  Two of them were Confederate flags.

Mind you, this wasn't in a former Confederate state.  This was in a state that didn't join the Union until 1889, 24 years after the Civil War ended.

Hot Springs, South Dakota?  I was there many years ago, when we visited Wind Cave National Park. (The cave is well worth the visit, by the way, as are the Black Hills in general. It's a beautiful area.)


But back to the story:  a couple of black veterans being treated at the facility for post-traumatic stress syndrome objected to the flags.  The flags were removed.  Then, after the vets were released, they were replaced.

Now,they have been taken down again.

Good.

So, why do I feel so strongly about this?

My Dad was a disabled veteran of World War II.  He suffered lifelong problems due to a head injury.  He looked to the VA (Veterans Administration) system for health care.  In fact, he died in the emergency room of a VA Hospital.

I am not writing this post to debate whether having Confederate flags on display at a VA hospital is racist or not, or whether the display of a Confederate flag anywhere but on a Civil War battlefield or historical site or a Civil War related museum, cemetery or educational exhibit is racist.  I don't think this is a case of political correctness.  Rather, it's a case of respect.  The Confederate flag, for a portion of our population, is a symbol of suffering, hatred and/or intolerance. 

It does not belong in a VA Hospital, on a state flag or in any government facility devoted to healing.

Here are some facts:

1.  Many of our veterans are minorities.
2.  All veterans should be thanked for their service by everyone in this nation, black and white, north and south.
3.  No veteran should ever be made to feel inferior, unappreciated or uncomfortable, but especially not in a VA hospital.
4.  We allegedly ended the Civil War in 1865.  The key word here is "allegedly" because if you visit various websites and read various books, you will quickly realize that we are still fighting it.

The blog that alerted me to this situation is more than right about this fact that we sometimes forget:

If you want to hate those veterans for feeling the way they did, and if you want to post hateful comments in newspaper articles or even my blog, you can thank the sacrifices they and other veterans made in their service to this country for your ability to do so.

Spring Things - Variety Pack

If we could buy spring beauty like we could a variety pack of cereal, what might we find?

Perhaps these primroses in my back yard.

Perhaps a weeping cherry (I loved the lighting) on the West Side of Binghamton, New York.

Perhaps a bed of tulips in front of a housing development for seniors in downtown Binghamton, open and welcoming the sunshine.

Perhaps a forsythia and a magnolia near the Broome County courthouse in Binghamton.

And perhaps some daffodils in a front yard in Westover, near Johnson City, New York.

But wait!  Variety packs usually have six boxes, don't they?  Well, here is my 6th spring thing.

Even an abandoned factory building (the former BAE plant in Westover, ruined by our flood of September 2011) can be beautiful on a sunny day in upstate New York.

If you could make up a spring variety pack, what would be in yours?

Historic Binghamton, New York

Do you remember The Twilight Zone?  Many people do, whether they saw it in its original showing on television in the early 1960's (as I did) or in reruns (as folks younger than me did).

I never dreamed I would work in the city where Rod Serling grew up, but I do, and a couple of times a month (at least) I even walk on the street where he lived  His childhood home on the West Side of Binghamton is privately owned and not open to the public, but there are many places you can walk and enjoy a nice spring day on streets where Rod Serling no doubt walked many times.

Rod Serling's neighborhood today is part of a historic district - called the Abel Bennett tract.  

There is nothing Twilight-Zony about this lovely historic district, named after the first mayor of Binghamton, especially on a sunny spring day like the one we had on Saturday.

Come take a little walk with me, as we pass by pink and white flowering trees.

Another view of pink cherry blossoms.

And, in a front yard, yellow and white species tulip and blue anemone.

And with that, I bid farewell to the bloggers in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  I had a good time, and hope you did too. 

My next challenge is the 2013 WordCount Blogathon in June - I hope to see you there.

My Blogaversary and the Chickens

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my daily blogging streak.  Yes, starting with my post of April 29, 2011 I have blogged daily. Through thick, through thin, even through the aftermath of a flood (thanks to us having been on vacation, and our neighborhood never losing power).  Will I go for Year 3?  I don't quite know.  I don't know how much of an achievement daily blogging is - perhaps it is more an indicator of how crazy I am.


After all, I have a memoir to write.  I made my 10,000. word goal on my Chicken Memoir for the April session of Camp NaNoWriMo (10,300 words to be exact) and just might sign on again for July.

It's been quite an experience starting to write a memoir of growing up in New York City and then totally changing my life around by moving to rural Arkansas and living on 34 acres.  I've found I'm far from the only person who has written about experiences with chickens - which I owned and loved -hence, my "chicken memoir".

I have been away from chickens for almost 30 years, and times have changed tremendously.  Thanks to the site Mental Floss, I found out today just how out of touch with the chicken world I am.

I knew there was such a thing as urban chickens.  I've heard chickens several times while exercise walking through the West Side of Binghamton  (a household in Binghamton, NY can own up to four chickens.) I don't live in Binghamton, and I don't know if chickens are legal in my town of Union.  But more and more, cities are legalizing chickens - at least, hens.

There are chicken blogs, chicken message boards, and now - chicken motels.

Yes.  You see, urban chicken owners aren't necessarily into livestock for earning a living, unlike farmers, who need to schedule their lives around their animals and their crop cycles.  Some animals need a lot of care - for example, dairy animals   need to be milked every 12 hours. Chickens need to be cared for daily.  Eggs need to be collected. City people want chickens but also still want to vacation.  So what happens to the chickens when it is vacation time?


When my spouse and I lived in rural Arkansas, we were able to take short vacations only because one of our two neighbors would look in after our chickens, ducks and geese.  They would feed them, collect eggs (which they kept, of course) and lock them up at night.  We did things for them if they had to be away.  That's how things work in the country.

But if you are an urban chicken keeper, your neighbor might not be interested in sitting your chickens.  Hence, chicken boarding.

I am intrigued by the idea, although I can quickly see some downsides. But, it does make sense to offer a service for which there is a demand.

A retirement career for my spouse and me? My spouse, quite honestly, has missed chickens in his lie more than I have.  I don't think I'm ready to restart my life with chickens.  At least, right now.

But it would be nice to think there might be chickens in our lives again, one day.

But, first, I must ask.  If you run a chicken motel, what would be your chicken turn down service?

Civil War Sunday - The Confederates of Upstate New York

It's funny how life works, because when you are busy traveling hundreds of miles to learn about Civil War history, you can sometimes find it in your own home state of New York.

It's even more fascinating when the history involves a New Yorker who served the Confederacy.  This isn't the only time New York and the Confederacy have been linked - there is the fascinating story of the hamlet of Town Line New York that appears to have seceded from the Union and did not rejoin the Union officially until 1946.

There are a number of fascinating articles online about whether this secession actually happened. (All I can say is that, despite statements that their fire department logo still includes a Confederate flag - their current patch has an American Flag and Flag of the State of New York.)

And then there was Jedediah Hotchkiss.

I had not heard of Hotchkiss when, in March of 2012, I was browsing the wonderful Civil War bookstore located in the National Park at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  I found a book "Civil War Battles The Maps of Jedediah Hotchkiss". by Chester G. Hearn and Mike Marino.  I quickly found that the book was not a biography of Jedediah Hotchkiss, a schoolteacher and geologist before the Civil War, who ended up becoming the mapmaker for Stonewall Jackson.  (We are coming up on the 150th anniversary of this famous Confederate general's death, and I will be blogging more about him next Sunday.)

Still, I found value in a book that contained some of Hotchkiss' maps, and Civil War era photographs, and I bought it. 

Later last year, my spouse found that one of his co-workers is interested in the Civil War, and this person told him "You've got to go to the Old Stone House Museum in Windsor!"  I work with a couple of people who live in Windsor, (which is a rural village a few miles from here) and it turns out one of them knows the person who runs that museum - she offered to set up a visit for us and her sister, who also loves the study of the Civil War - but we were never able to make the connection.

So, a second time, I ran into Jedediah Hotchkiss. He was born, and grew up in, Windsor, on property where this museum is now located. He later moved to Virginia, which is how he ended up on the side of the Confederacy, making maps for Confederate generals. 

So, object lesson here - don't ignore treasures in your backyard.  Tomorrow, I'll be contacting my co-worker.  Time to visit.

And now, it will also be time to hunt for other New York Confederates.  None of us should be surprised - few of us today realize just how this war split our nation (and still does, to some extent) and how fighting it made the United States the country it is today.

Do you have a nice regional museum that mainly locals know about?

Sustainable Saturday - Living on The Ledge

What could be more sustainable than taking wasted space on your sunny windows or even sunny walls (in a bath enclosure, for example) and growing herbs, lettuce or even beans? 

Are you tired of knocking over plants on your kitchen windowsill when you use your sink? (I am). Do you wish you were the perfect waterer so your window ledges would never need repainting? (Or, as with so many of our windows, we have a tiny window sill and you wish you just had room to put plants on them, period)?

Before I start sounding like an infomercial, my usual disclaimer:  no, I am not receiving any compensation for this post - and no, I have not used what I am about to blog about myself.  Although I'll be thinking strongly about that, perhaps come fall.)


We were out and about this morning, going to several local nurseries to plan our plantings for this year, when we saw this display:

When I saw the planter with pole beans thriving inside of it, I had to talk to the woman tending the display.  We ended up having a pleasant conversation.

This woman is is the inventor, and told my spouse and I that this product was made locally, here in the Triple Cities of upstate New York. 

She demonstrated how you can get her "living ledge" to "stick" (not quite the right word, but it does assemble easily and firmly, yet causes no damage to anything it is applied to) to your windows. 

If you go to her web site (yes, you can purchase this online) you'll get a better idea of how it works.

If it works as demonstrated, this would also be a wonderful way for apartment dwellers in big cities to grow some of their own herbs, or lettuces, or even air-cleaning houseplants.  You can bottom-water easily with these units, too.  How I would have loved this when I lived in New York City!

I have a soft spot for female entrepreneurs (my grandfather was a small business owner, but the gene skipped me) and if they are trying to enrich the local economy, so much the better.  I wish her the best.

Do you grow small plants like lettuces or herbs indoors?

The Zone of Alienation

This is one zone you probably don't want to be in, this abandoned zone which some call the Zone of Alienation.  Its other name may be more familiar to you.


It's been deserted for almost 27 years now, these cities and villages in a country that existed then but no longer exists.

It's a living laboratory for the study of how nature reclaims an area that was once a city, and a living laboratory to study what happens after a nuclear disaster.  And this city could become Europe's biggest wildlife sanctuary, some 1,600 square miles, because what scientists thought would happen to the life remaining in that city hasn't happened.

We in the west know this city, and a nuclear power plant, as Chernobyl.

A nearby city, Pripyat, founded to house the workers at the Chernobyl plant, also lies abandoned.  It had about 49,000. residents on that day, Saturday April 26, 1986, when disaster struck during a systems test at the power plant that gave Pripyat its reason for existing.

Because the then-Soviet Union tended to keep disasters secret as long as they could, the people of the Soviet Union didn't hear of the disaster from their own government for nearly two days.  Meanwhile, we in the West were both horrified and fascinated as the news trickled out.  We heard about it for months afterwards.

The abandoned cities and villages are being reclaimed by Mother Nature.

It may amaze you to know that you can actually take organized guided tours of a portion of the Zone of Alienation.  And, it may amaze you even more that some scientists are hotly debating what is happening to wildlife, even as the zone remains quite radioactive.

Make no mistake - this was a disaster that affected thousands and thousands of lives - the lives of the families of the dead, the lives of the thousands who were evacuated not knowing they would never return home, the lives of thousands more who feared contamination of their food and contamination of their bodies.   I also know that this disaster, with 31 "official" deaths, has no doubt claimed a lot more people through cancer and other illnesses, and will continue to.

But the pictures fascinate, both the pictures of the deserted cities, site of so much human misery, and - the wildlife.

Is it possible that one day, the Zone of Alienation may be the Zone of Amazement?

Would you want to visit Chernobyl?

Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza

Have you been guilty of mishearing song lyrics, to sometimes comic results?

I have.  I bet you have, too. A number of websites exist for the purpose of discussing song lyrics and allowing people to discuss lyrics that other people have misheard, sometimes with quite comic results. 

There is even a name for this - mondegreens.

Take the song "Tiny Dancer", by Elton John.  I love that song.  I have several of the earlier Elton John albums, such as Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboys, Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player and Yellow Brick Road.  Plus, one of his greatest hits albums.

I've spent countless hours, since the early 1970's, listening to these songs. (I will also admit I am not partial to his later work.)  I clearly hear "Hold me closer, tiny dancer". But somehow, I never realized that young Tony Danza had crept into the lyric when I wasn't looking.

"Tiny Dancer" came out in 1971. Tony Danza was born in 1951. The show "Who's The Boss" started in 1984.  So, Tony Danza must have been pretty young - about 20, to be exact - when he appeared in the lyric, only 13 years after the song came out.

For the record, I never have watched the TV show Friends (the show that immortalized the "Young Tony Danza" lyric), so no wonder I was the last to know.

Until yesterday, that is. A tweet led me to the website Mental Floss (a wonderful magazine, by the way, and I can't wait until the next time I visit my childhood friend in Brooklyn so I can sponge off read her husband's copy) which had rated the "Ten Most Often Butchered Song Lyrics".

And "Tiny Dancer" was #1 on the list of most misheard lyrics!

Now, my personal most misheard lyric is the Bruce Springsteen/Manford Mann's Earth Band classic "Blinded By The Light.", as immortalized in this skit.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Atlantic, the BBC has had its own fun with mondegreens.

I must admit, in more than one instance, that the wrong lyric makes more sense than the right lyric.

Do you have a favorite misheard lyric?  Or have you been singing the wrong lyric of a particular song for years?

Spring Things - The Flowers Have Come! The Flowers Have Come!

Shout it from the streetcorners!  Proclaim it throughout the Triple Cities of upstate New York!  Spring has arrived.

On the West Side of Binghamton, I took these photos today while on my exercise walk.  The rain held up long enough for me to take these pictures.

Saucer magnolia.

A weeping cherry.

Yesterday, the sun shown so bright that the forsythias glowed. I wish I could have caught the glow with my camera.  These pictures were also taken on the West Side of Binghamton (later this week, I may show some pictures taken at my house and in my neighborhood.)

Here's a cherry.

And a star magnolia.  Magnolias here are so fleeting - sometimes the flowers only last a day or two before they drop - depending on the weather.

Finally, from several days ago, species tulip.  In some ways, I enjoy the hardy species tulip more than the fancy varieties of the hybrids - the Parrots, the Rembrandts, the fringed, the peony tulips. There is something so bright, so hardy, about these little specimens - and I love the stripes that some varieties bear. (They also seem to weather our climate better than the hybrids.)

Is it spring yet where you live?  If it isn't, I hope you enjoy this sneak preview. (And for my readers in Australia and New Zealand, please just enjoy.)

Fame and Fortune Will Have to Wait

One week left to Camp NaNoWriMo.  One week left to write my chicken memoir, the vehicle by which I will achieve fame, fortune, and the adoration of millions.

No, thousands.  No, hundreds.  Well, maybe twenty people, including my spouse, my childhood friend in Brooklyn, a couple of people at work and, if I'm lucky, my sister-in-law. (My sister in law even traveled to Arkansas, back in my chicken days, to visit my spouse and me.  Now, that's a sister-in-law!)

Some people had their salad days.  I had my chicken days.  And, my salad days, too, but I digress.

I was idealistic once.  And then, life beat it out of me.  Not totally, because I still believe in the sustainable lifestyle.  But trying not to freeze in a leaky cabin in Northwest Arkansas  heated by a wood stove made from a 55 gallon drum during a Blue Norther, is not my idea of sustainable living.  It shouldn't be yours, either.

What I would really like to do is write a funny memoir, but then I don't know how I would deal with the sad stuff.  There was some sad stuff.  Sad stuff comes to us all.

So, right now, because Camp NaNoWriMo (like the official NaNoWriMo 50,000 word novel in 30 days competition in November) is about nonstop writing with no editing, I have 6,985 words worth of "I did this, I did that, and,if you are interested, here's how to raise chickens and definitely how NOT to build a leaky cabin."  If you want to read about potsy and Spauldeen balls, and Black Austrolorp chickens, this will be your book.  If I keep up the memoir writing after Camp is over, that is.

Now, all I need to do is follow through.

Have you ever written your memoir?

Earth Day 2013

After our community 2012 Earth Day event was cancelled due to the aftermath of the flood of September 2012 that impacted portions of the Triple Cities (Binghamton area) of upstate New York, the event returned for 2013-actually two events.

After having waited on a long line the Saturday before to recycle some electronics, we realized how much of a demand there was for that kind of service. Many people do not want to see their old computers, cell phones, DVD/CD players end up in a landfill, but many communities do not offer an alternative.  And if they do, and you give the material to a recycler, are you assured that your old electronic "junk" won't end up in a third world landfill?

Universal Recycling in Binghamton, New York (and other location throughout the United States) is trying to prevent that.  The electronic material you bring in is broken down into components and the various ingredients (as described by the young man we spoke to at the Broome Community College Earth Day event on Sunday) are sold to companies that can use them.  They do everything possible to keep materials out of landfills.

We also spoke to employees of Broome County about their composting programs, and to a man who sold us a composter years ago, which we still use.  He told me that, for years, he's had a vermicomposting (worm composting) box in his office, and many of his c workers were unaware of it.  He brought it to the Earth Day event and showed me the worms, but to be honest, I am too squeamish about worms to consider it.

This time, we did not leave with tree seedlings (we have several growing in pots from previous years but have no room on our small lot to plant them) but did get a free packet of scarlet runner bean seeds, crocheting instructions for making a beach bag out of plastic grocery bags and a cloth bag for our grocery shopping.

What did you do for Earth Day?

Civil War Sunday - The 35th State

Before and immediately after the start of the United States Civil War, a total of 11 states seceded from the Union, starting with South Carolina on December 20, 1860 and ending with Tennessee on June 8, 1861.

Four of these states (Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee) did not secede until formal hostilities started with the Confederate bombardment of Ft. Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina on April 12, 1861.

Of the states that remained in the Union, five were slave states:  Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, and a fifth state that was not a state when the Civil War began.

The state of Virginia paid a heavy price for its participation in the Civil War.  More battles were fought in Virginia than any other state (Tennessee ranks second in that statistic), and, during the war, it split into two states, with the western part of the state (under circumstances which some historians argue were illegal because the official government of Virginia never gave permission for the part that became West Virginia to leave - but on the other hand, Virginia had left the Union by then) voting to rejoin the Union as the State of West Virginia, a slave state.

The movement for the western part of Virginia to leave Virginia dates from before the Civil War, but, because of the Civil War, was able to become a reality.

As so many other "facts of history", the history of the Civil War is complex, with many twists and turns, and I am only a layperson, not a trained historian. There is a lot material online, if you are interested in how the exact process took its course.

What can't be disputed is that on March 26, 1863 voters approved the constitution of the to-be state of West Virginia along with an amendment called the Wiley amendment that would have gradually emancipated ("gradually" is the key word here) slaves in the state, and on April 20, 1863, 150 years ago yesterday, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that area that would become West Virginia had met all the requirements to achieve statehood and would be a state 60 days later:  on June 20, 1863.

June 20-23, 2013, the state of West Virginia will celebrate its sesquicentennial, the only state that entered the Union during the War Between the States.

Sustainable Saturday - Spring (Plant) Cleaning

(My Earth Day post will be on Monday.)

When we are trying to engage in sustainable living, it's a good idea to have some plants strictly for pleasure. Plus, houseplants can clean indoor air, improving your quality of life.

I have several of the air cleaning plants at home.  I have three spider plants, several Mother-in-law's tongue (I bought my first plant at a "houseplant party"in 1977 and still have the original plants-or their descendents), a Warneck dracaena (my plant is over 6 feet tall) and aloe vera (more on that later).  At work...well, that's a post for another day (luckily I work in a plant-friendly office.)

But over the years, plants can get spindly, woody, or need dividing.


My Vicks plant, for example, is woody and has been dropping a lot of leaves - perhaps due to some overwatering.  I am going to take some cuttings and propagate it, and then put the rest of the plant outdoors once we pass our last frost date.  It will have one nice season in the sun and then I will have to figure out what to do with it come fall.

Most people don't have rosemary plants as houseplants, but we have to - at least, in the winter.  We overwinter several plants - luckily, my spouse is strong as I have a bad back.

We lost a rosemary over the winter - the first one we propagated from our original mother plant. In the Binghamton, NY area where we live, it is too cold (zone 5) for rosemary to overwinter outdoors. (This is how we do it.)   This elderly plant is struggling to come back but my spouse is not optimistic.  This plant may date from 1989 - and if it doesn't live, this plant above will be our new senior plant.

My Aloe Vera came from Home Depot (it begged me to buy it) and must be close to 10 years old. It is  seriously pot bound, which may not be a problem, but I think I've been watering it too much, too.  I need to see if there are any pups and if so, I'll divide it.

Do you have houseplants?  Do you have a spring "cleaning" of your plants?

Tweeting the Night Away

Binghamton, New York and Boston, Massachusetts. Some five hours apart.  Worlds apart.

In downtown Binghamton, population 47,000, I found myself in the throngs of noontime shoppers.  With my former walking companion, I was in a department store helping her to shop for a baby shower for a little newborn baby girl. We oohed and ahhhed over the cute outfits, purple and pink and yellow and pale green, covered in little flower prints.

I left work and sighed as the 74 degree breeze washed over me.  I admired the springtime flowers.

The beautiful blue of chionodoxa..

I doubt anyone was listening to our police scanners online, or tweeting about our backyards.  We had our 15 minutes of fame on April 3, 2009.  But, you know, because of our mass shooting that day, I can identify in some way with that city five hours away.  In a small way, we are siblings.

 Now, at 8:49 pm Eastern Time, we are in some kind of unreal drama in the town of Watertown, MA.  If this had been a movie script, it would have been tossed on the discard pile.  Boston Marathon bombers.  And, four days later, after a carjacking (with the driver released!), and a police chase worthy of a M rated video game complete with suspects tossing bombs and grenades out of their car, Boston and surrounding areas were in a suspended Friday, mass transit shut down, people told to stay home and stay away from windows.  No spring day for them. 

Instead, people posting pictures on Twitter. Deserted downtown Boston.  Deserted I-93.  Deserted Kenmore Square, it's iconic Citgo sign.  It's like the movie set of some strange apocalypse movie.

The house on Franklin Street.  The suspect, in Watertown, hiding in a boat.  Watertown? Boat?

Dead? Alive?

So now, I follow the news on Twitter instead of TV.  I find links to eyewitness photos.  Links to police scanners.  And the most hysterical, side-splitting irreverent tweets.  I don't dare repeat them here.  It really isn't funny except maybe in a black humor kind of way but I'm reading them to my spouse, while he eats pistachio nuts on the couch and watches a baseball game, and he's laughing away.

And now, it's just been confirmed by NBC news that the suspect is alive and in custody.  I read it first on Twitter.  Boston, can you breathe now?  It's safe to turn off your computers now.

What a spring day.

Lightening Bugs at a Quarter of

Memoir writing at the virtual Camp NaNoWriMo is making memories flow.

I started out in college as a history major, but within a year had switched to cultural anthropology.  One of the required courses was a course in anthropological linguistics.  It became one of my favorite courses, which amazed me because my auditory skills aren't a strong point.

Taking that course is how I found myself on a New York City college campus on a beautiful fall day, asking fellow students what time it was.  My aim was to find students from various parts of the United States (and even the world) and ask them certain questions.  Based on the answers they gave, I would draw a "linguistics" map.

Think about this for a minute.

You know those sandwiches made with thick, long, crusty Italian bread?  Commonly, those sandwiches are made from cold cuts, mustard, lettuce tomato, onion, sometimes salad dressing and pepper rings or pickles.

What do you call that sandwich?  In the old days, if you were from New York City, you probably called it a hero.  In New England, you might have called it a grinder.  In Philadelphia, a hoagie.  My husband, who spent part of his childhood in Westchester County, New York, calls them wedges.

How about those early summer insects who fly in the evening and are able to light up part of their bodies?  What do you call them?  Fireflies? Lightning bugs? Lighning beetles?

How about carbonated drinks?  Soda?  Pop?  Soda Pop?

And that's why I was pulling aside random strangers, asking them to take a survey, and then pointing to my watch.  The little hand was on the 3 and the big hand was on the 9.  And I was writing down their responses:  did they say a quarter to three?  Or a quarter of three?

How did they pronounce the words Mary, Merry and Marry? (midwesterners, like one of my late aunts, tend to pronounce them exactly the same.)

In a way, that class has stayed with me all my life.  Little did I know that in the 10 years after my college graduation I would live in Florida, Iowa, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas, and I would hear my class in action as I interacted with people in each area.  Even after I moved to upstate New York, I listened to the women who told me that "they were pregnant for (name of their child)" rather than the New York City "pregnant with".  And, something enjoyable wasn't just good, it was "wicked good".

Now, years later - so many of these regional expressions are merging.  Perhaps thanks to a certain fast sandwich chain, many of us call that Italian bread sandwich a "sub".   I don't hear "wicked" used as much as I used to.  But other expressions live on, and I look forward to seeing fireflies this summer while I sip on a diet soda.

What regional expressions are used where you live?