Wednesday Blooms - The Last Flowers of Summer

Today, I am in Asheville, North Carolina, several hundred miles from home.  Trees are starting to turn here, and it still is summer.

Because I have these photos ready, though, I am going to concentrate on flowers from back home in upstate NY for this last Wednesday Blooms post of summer.

The first couple of pictures were taken in early and mid September in Binghamton, New York.

A mystery ornamental. Does anyone know what this lovely flower is?

Smoke tree.

This was taken in the small town of Owego, NY.  For some reason the blue is very prominent.  This is a yellow trumpet vine.

Last but not least - near a grapevine in Binghamton, I found these lovelies.  Any guesses?

Hopefully, after I get back home next week, I'll be able to share some of the blooms of my travels with you.

Jeff Shaara and the Sideways Photo

It's all your fault, Jeff Shaara.

Some deserving people never get the fame or respect that they deserve within their lifetimes.

Sometimes, it is up to their children to continue their legacy and reap the fame. The story of Jeff Shaara, best selling historical fiction writer, is one such story and what a story it is.  I wanted to tell your story and tell you how much a pleasure it was to meet you (and I will, in another post) but there is only one problem.


Your picture keeps coming out sideways.  And therein lies a tale.

I bought a new laptop and brought it on a trip. (Mistake #1-playing FarmVille instead of learning to use the new computer.)

I had not tested out any of the photo functions and it turns out that the Windows 7 on this computer is not exactly the Windows 7 on my 2 1/2 year old laptop. There is no way to rotate photos.

And when I tried to find the software I had installed on my old computer to compress pictures, I couldn't find it.  Nor could I remember what it was called.

So, to make a long story short, I went to C-Net to find some free software to edit and rotate photos.  Last night I finally had a decent internet connection.  The time was right!

I downloaded a nice sounding photo editing software and started to install it.

The first screen started out by having checkboxes defaulting to a new home page - I know this can happen with freeware.  Alarm bells weren't quite sounding.  I unchecked the boxes and went on.

Then a page came up that had alarm bells screaming.  It wanted to install a browser, something I had never heard of. The software rules said it would monitor websites I had visited and would collect information about my activity on Facebook (!) and, while it was at it, it wanted me to install something that would allow me to get all these cool games for my computer.

Danger, Will Robinson!  (oops, dating myself)  I think I have just downloaded adware or, worse, spyware.

I should know way better than that.

I backed out in a hurry but the offending program is still somewhere on my brand new computer.

Now, this is one good way to ruin a vacation.  So, folks, this photo may be the last one you see for a week or so.  It taught me how much I depend on photos in my blog now.  I will get to the Jeff Shaara story the next time I have a good connection, but it will be without photo.

Lesson learned! (and thank you, Jeff Shaara.)

But I'm still going to keep playing FarmVille.

Best of AM - The Continuing Tragedy of the Binghamton Salt Babies

I first ran this post in September of 2009.  This incident reached the national news - I remember it on the cover of a magazine when I was very young.  I never dreamed I would live in that community for a great part of my life.  And, I have not seen the woman in question in a long time.  I wonder what ended up happening to her and if she was really the person I was told she was.

The continuing tragedy of the Binghamton Salt Babies - more Forgotten History

There is an older black [this information is relevant] woman who has been seen for years in downtown Binghamton. She appears (to the casual observer) to be mentally ill.  She screams at the noontime lunch crowd. 

I was told recently that this woman was the nurse accused of the accidental salt poisonings of newborns in the Binghamton Salt Baby tragedy of 1962.  She had gone insane from the truth of what she had done, or so the story went.

I remember this news-I was young and the "salt babies" stuck in my mind.  I remember reading it in either Life or Look magazine for some reason-I wonder how reliable that memory is.  It was several years after I moved up here before I found out the incident had happened here in Binghamton.

In brief, a number of newborn babies at Binghamton General Hospital were fed hospital-mixed formula where salt was accidentally used instead of sugar.  The salt and sugar canisters were on the same shelf.   7 babies died from salt poisoning, several others were saved using dialysis.

So is this unfortunate older woman (who could possibly be in her 70's) the nurse mentioned in the Time article?  (Time had said she was a "Negro"-and, a pregnant mother of 3)  Was she ever charged with a crime?  Why were sugar and salt canisters stored so closely together?  What was the rest of her life like?  I could certainly see a mother of 3 not being able to live with this knowledge, if indeed she was the guilty party. (or, even more horribly-was she a scapegoat?  That was, after all, 1962.)

And, more of interest, what of the families who lost children? 

There doesn't seem to be very much online for this happening of 47 years ago....another instance of Forgotten History (except to the families involved), lost in the mists of time.

Civil War Sunday - Playing At War

War isn't make-believe.

I am down in Maryland visiting the South Mountain battlefield, (actually, scattered between two Maryland state parks and some sites on private land) and also, the Antietam battlefield for the 150th anniversary of  these battles.

Antietam was the bloodiest one day in U.S. Civil War history.  South Mountain is less well known, but was important in its own ways.

Yesterday, I went to the Antietam reenactment, about 2 miles from the actual battlefield.  It was very well put on (I thought) despite the large traffic jam to get in - and one thing they did impressed me very much.  (No pictures - sorry - I can't upload thanks to a balky internet connection.  Ah, travel....)

They (several times) honored the vets in the audience.  They honored a soldier just home from deployment and his two children, picked from the audience.  And they made the point, over and over, that war is not play. They don't put on the reenactments to entertain, but rather to teach.

I don't think I have ever been to a Civil War reenactment that has glorified war, but this one really brought the point home.

And today, I am linking this commemoration of battle in our United States 150 years ago as we fought for the survival of our Union (yes, I am a Northerner) with what is happening to one of my cousins.  My relative serves our country in the Foreign Service in an embassy in a country I will not name.  I blogged about this earlier this week in my post "Half a World Away". (I'm not linking, again, due to said internet problems.)  For what it is worth, this relative was born in a former Confederate state and grew up in a state that stayed with the Union.

But, we are all one, and I would like to tell the world we are one, despite our sometimes very verbal differences - especially in a Presidential election year.

My relative, after today, will be a little closer to home as this relative is being evacuated.  The embassy, let's just say, is a little the worse for wear.  Where it is is not in a state of war, but there has been war in several directions.

It seems a bit strange, visiting long-ago battlefields when a relative is in danger.  But I have to remember the lesson of the reenactors - they do not play at war.  Their business is serious, and it is to teach us the horrors of war and hate.  My relative is learning it first hand - hopefully I will never have to.

So, I would like to be lazy today and have a fellow blogger write my blog as things other than the Civil War are on my mind.  Well, not exactly writing for me.  I would love to introduce you to one of many fine Civil War blogs, John Banks' Civil War Blog. 

The John Banks blog contains a wealth of information about Antietam.  

Another blog of note about Antietam is one called Virtual Antietam.  I hate to call battlefields 'beautiful' but Antietam is a beautiful battlefield.  This will be my second visit there.

I hope to be able to bring you a current post in the very near future, Internet willing.
In the meantime, dear relative, stay safe.

Sustainability Saturday and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - September 2012

Decisions, decisions.  Today is the 15th of the month. Normally, I participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  If you came by today to see what is blooming this month at my house, you are going to see something a little bit different because I am on the road, at a Civil War reenactment, with a balky internet connection.  So this will be just a little bit different.

Thank you to May Dreams Gardens, once again, for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, and please be sure to visit some of the many gardeners from all over the world posting today.

I normally do a Sustainable Saturday post so I am trying to blend this and GBBD in one post.

In our small yard, we don't have many areas with sun.  We took advantage of our yard this year by growing red and purple peppers.  Groundhogs, our bane, don't seem to bother them.  They have been rewarding us with large yields and the plants are still very much in bloom.  After all, blooms are not all about ornamental.

Here's the red pepper.

And purple

Of course we still have some ornamentals in bloom.

Here's our sedum:  For some reason a lot smaller than in previous years.

Annual geraniums.

And beautiful white marigolds.

 In a pot, we tried growing cucumbers.  The groundhog stripped it, so we had to fence the pot.  Not very lovely or photo worthy, but the 3 plants in the pot did come back to give us a handful of cukes.

In the back of our house, we have two  Earth Boxes.  We grew lettuces this spring in one.  Right now, we have snow peas growing in the other. We have heirloom tomatoes in the other box.  They aren't doing well but our tomatoes at the community garden haven't done well this year, either.

What's nice is that the company that makes Earth Boxes is located in Scranton, PA (home of The Office), which makes them almost local.

I would also like to share some regional pictures with you, although it is not in the true spirit of GBBD because these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago.

While on an exercise walk, I snapped this picture of grapes growing in a front yard in Binghamton, NY.  This was peeking through a fence.  What a pleasant surprise!

And then, part of sustainability is attracting beneficial insects.

Of course, there is room for growing ornamental (especially those that attract beneficial insects and butterflies - this picture was taken near the grapes. (and, I finally caught a butterfly on camera.  Yes!)


We are fortunate to have neighbors who don't care that we grow some veggies in our front yard (mixed in with our flowers)

Have you tried growing veggies and fruit in your front yard?   Has it been a positive experience for you?  Or do neighbors/zoning prevent you from doing this?

Happy GBBD!

Best of AM - Memories of Paradise

 Childhood memories....from August of 2011

Color By Number - Memories of Paradise

Yesterday evening, coming home from my water aerobics class, the sky reminded me of the sky of a color by number painting.  All those shades of blue and light purple.

Do you remember color by number?  It was really popular in the 1950's and early 1960's, when I was growing up.   You can still find color by number in paint today.  But what my family loved was the Venus Paradise sets.  They were color pencil color by numbers.  They had sets geared to all ages - from children old enough to color to adults.

The pencils were numbered, and you got the pencils you needed for your set with the set.  My favorite was #7, Peacock Blue. You can even find the list of colors online (except for two "mystery colors").  It would seem that some older artists miss them, too - they were high quality but as a child, I just took them for granted.

My Dad and I would color together.  I would have my child's set and he an adult set.  I remember one in particular, set with famous buildings.  I remember him in particular working on a Taj Mahal picture.  I looked at him color with great concentration.  He put wax paper on top of the part of the picture he had completed so it would not smear.

His picture had so much detail.  You could barely make out some of the numbers in the small portions.  But I would grow up one day and be able to do complicated pictures just like my Dad!

Except I lost interest, until my son was born.

I went to all the stores (when he was old enough to color) and no one had them.  In fact, I couldn't find any kind of color by number pencil art set, period.

Venus Paradise is out of business.  And, I couldn't even find a set on eBay (I did find a couple of auctions for the pencils.)

The good news is that there is a pencil color by number set out there now. Better yet, the people who own the business remember Venus Paradise.  So perhaps a new generation of children will remember pencil by number sets fondly.

In writing this post, I find my spouse remembers the sets too.  He thinks when he retires, it might be fun to buy one.  But sadly, this is something I'm not sure will ever return to favor for the general population.

So....do you remember Venus Paradise?

Half a World Away

This is not my normal type blog post.  I am not a gamer, and I am normally apolitical in my posts.

I have a relative who is a career Foreign Service person representing our country.    I won't say in what position, and I won't say in which country, except to say that my relative is currently posted in a country that is experiencing violence related to the happenings recently in Libya and Egypt.  (I won't say where, except that it is not in Libya or Egypt.  I think it is pretty safe to say that.)

This person's spouse was a friend of one of the American dead from these occurrences, and as this person mourns the death of a friend, Sean Smith, I wanted to communicate something to my readers that I was told.

Many of us don't realize what Foreign Service people do.  Their mission is to represent the United States, sometimes in very difficult living conditions, and sometimes in very hostile populations.   Their lives are not easy. They do not live in the lap of luxury. They are sometimes in a lot of danger.  They do their best.  They are professionals.

They will not cower before terrorists.  My relative's spouse made that very clear.

This is one of those times.  My relative's spouse and children are there.  Maybe they will be evacuated.  I don't know yet.

If you are a citizen of the United States (like me), please keep these professionals in your thoughts and prayers tonight and every night.   You don't know my relative and you don't know the co-workers and colleagues, but know that they work every day for us, and are now in danger.

And, since life holds surprises, many are surprised to find that the late Sean Smith, among his various interests, was an online gamer.  I have never participated in those types of games (FarmVille is more my speed) but tonight, gamers are gathering to pay tribute to the man they knew as Vile Rat.

Rest in peace, Sean.

Wednesday Blooms - September Song

September is a bittersweet time here in upstate NY.  Signs of fall are obvious.  The last wildflowers of the year are blooming.  Nighttime temperatures can be in the 40's.  Impatiens and other flowers look weary.  Petunias are scraggly. But still, enough blooms remain to delight the heart.

I took these pictures Saturday in Otsiningo Park in Binghamton, New York.

White turtlehead....

Jewelweed.... (most of what grows here has orange splashes but I found a plant with all yellow flowers...sorry for the blurryness).

I am not 100% certain but I think this is wild sunflower.  I remember these when I lived in Kansas and hadn't seen these blooms previously in Otsiningo Park.

Finally, a message to my flower loving fans.  Saturday is normally Sustainable Saturday.  But it is also Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  I am going to have to choose between one and the other.

I am not sure about what I will do yet for Saturday.  Let me surprise you!

What wildflowers are blooming in your part of the world?

They Will Forget

One day we will forget 9/11.

One day it will be only the day on the calendar between September 10 and September 12.

One day, we won't remember the moments of the day.  The minute each plane hit.  The moment each World Trade Center collapsed.   The moment the Pentagon erupted in flames.  The moment Flight 93 plowed into a Pennsylvania field.

One day New York won't reschedule a primary election because it falls on September 11.

No, don't be angry at me.  I will remember September 11 for the rest of my life. I remember it every year.  First, it was my father in law's birthday (he would have been 75 on September 11, 2001 had he still been with us.)  Then, it became the day I watched in horror (after my employer hastily located a television) as the second tower fell, later finding out that one of my co workers lost his son on that day. His daughter in law was pregnant.  One of my cousins lost her next door neighbor.  The husband of a cousin lost his best friend.  13 people who went to my high school died that day.  Two of them left pregnant spouses.

Those children and others will be turning 11 in the next few months, and this is the point I want to make.  It is a point we may not like, but it is a point that history teaches us.

Our children will forget.  Or maybe our grandchildren.  It is happening right before our eyes.

I am the daughter of a World War II vet.  Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, is the date between December 6 and December 8.  It was also the birthday of one of my childhood friends.  It's interesting to me in a historic context, nothing more.  I was born over 10 years after it happened.  I lived in a post World War II world. World War II movies were a staple of Saturday afternoon TV in New York City. I grew up around adults who were Holocaust survivors.  But "December 7, the day of infamy" did not have the meaning to me that it did to my parents.  It couldn't.

My son was middle school age on September 11, 2001, and he remembers.  But those children who were 2 or 3 on that day, will they remember?  Will the 11 year olds, unless they lost a family member and 9/11 remembrance is something their families do every day?  Do you think the schools are teaching 9/11?  Some are.  Some aren't.  How about those homeschooling?  But even by learning at home or in a school building, 9/11 will never have the same meaning to them as it does to us. They live in a post 9/11 world.  The day itself will eventually be empty of meaning.

And maybe that isn't totally a bad thing.

As long as we give the day meaning, true meaning, and incorporate that meaning into our daily lives, our children will remember the meaning.  But they will turn that memory into something that matters to them, the generation that wasn't yet born.  They only know a post 9/11 world. We can never truly know what that means, to know a world from before that date we observe today.


Our world isn't theirs.

They will remember, but not the way we do.  Our job is to make sure they know about the day and its meaning, and let them sort it out..

But for now, my generation, and yours, will remember those innocents who died today.  Perhaps that is enough.

Sing a Song

A year ago, where we stood was covered with water and flood mud.
Yesterday, it was covered with dancing crowds.  The mayor (the man on stage in the white shirt and khaki pants) of Binghamton, Matt Ryan,  even sang and played the harmonica.

Yesterday was "Blues on the Bridge", the annual Binghamton, New York outdoor music party. Started by one man 11 years ago, it has grown into a much loved event held the Sunday closest to September 11 except if delayed by rain (or flood.) This event is no longer held on the bridge in question, which is closed to all but pedestrian traffic due to safety issues.  But at one time it was held on this bridge.  This bridge, the Washington Street Bridge, was built in 1886 and is a lenticular truss bridge.

The bridge is one of our historical treasures, and spans the Susquehanna River near its confluence with the Chenango River. 

Near the downtown entrance to the bridge stands a monument to the Spanish-American War.

 On another nearby bridge, which carries Riverside Drive into downtown Binghamton across the Chenango (and is closed to traffic for this event) tents with vendors line up. 

And then there is the music.I tried to upload a short video I took, but it must have given Blogger indigestion.  So, instead, I offer a video from the 2011 Blues, which went on (a bit delayed due to the flood cleanup and the electricity still not being restored) last September.

Although the original festivals were mainly blues, there is now quite a variety of music: blues, rock, Americana and even bagpipes.)

Once again, thank you to the organizers of this festival, who help us forget our troubles for a few short hours each year.

I want to leave you with one more picture of the festival.

I already can't wait until next year!

Does your area have a music festival that brings residents together?

Civil War Sunday - Harpers Ferry, WVa

 They call it wild, wonderful West Virginia.

The history textbooks will tell you that the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Harpers Ferry (then in Virginia, now West Virginia) took place September 12-15, 1862.  But most people know Harpers Ferry for a pre-Civil War event, the raid by John Brown on the United States arsenal in Harpers Ferry (that building, incidentally, no longer exists.)  Actually, Harpers Ferry is rich in history, and deserves another blog post devoted to more than Civil War era history.

What the history textbooks will not tell you is anything about this wonderful town, nor any of the other towns throughout the United States and Confederate States of America where these battles in textbooks were fought.

The textbooks will not tell you anything about what these places are like today.  Today, I would like to show you some of Harpers Ferry.


Too many times these places are like other typical American cities -full of strip malls and busy, busy traffic.

Harpers Ferry is not that kind of place.  Thank heavens.  It is a little bit off the beaten track and for good reason.  It is hilly and rugged.

I visited Harpers Ferry this past March along with the Antietam battlefield, and I will be returning to the area later this month.

The Appalachian Trail runs right through this area.

A monument dedicated to John Brown, erected by the NAACP, in Harpers Ferry.

A John Brown historic marker in nearby Charlestown, WVA, where John Brown was tried.

The bookshop at the National Park in Harpers Ferry is one of the best sources I've seen for Civil War books and related items.  I highly recommend a visit.  While in the book store, we saw this marker for a flood - as it turns out, Harpers Ferry is very flood prone and portions (such as Virginius Island) have had to be given back to nature due to floods, including some where townspeople died.

One of the many historic buildings in Harpers Ferry.  This is on the campus of the former Storer College, one of the first integrated schools.  Frederick Douglass was a trustee of the college. 

This is a view (a little blurred) of the Potomac River from a bluff.  I'm told sometimes you can see bald eagles flying over the river.

And, a beautiful sunset over Harpers Ferry.  Such a contrast from what was happening there 150 years ago this week.

I hope my travels later this month leave me time to visit the modern Harpers Ferry again.

Do you have a favorite town or city where a Civil War battle was fought?

Sustainable Saturday - Survival Can Be Ugly

Beware, community gardeners of Binghamton, New York.  Prepare for battle.  Our gardens are endangered.  Forces we thought were friendly are massing and their eyes are on our gardens.

Our gardens are under attack.  Our gardens are in danger.  No, I'm not talking rabbits, groundhogs or deer.  Not talking about powdery mildrew, late blight, or downy mildew.  I'm not even talking about cucumber beetles, squash bugs or colorado potato beetles.  We know about those foes.  We prepare for them each year.


The enemy is...get ready.....We are about to be attacked by friendly fire.  Our enemy is - our local regional farmers market-to-be?  We are fighting a planned indoor FARMERS MARKET?

I blinked and rubbed my eyes when I read the letter.  It was the letter we got yesterday from the hard working president of the Otsiningo Community Gardeners Association, the Association that my spouse has been part of since its inception.

We know what it is like to lose a community garden to developers.

It happened in 1993 (I finally have a date!) and many people fought hard to get us a new garden.  Now, we must get ready to fight again, 20 years later.

According to our president, these are the facts:
Our current permit with with Broome County expires in  2015.

In the meantime, a Regional Farmers Market is planned not far from our gardens.  And, it turns out, that Regional Farmers Market is our enemy.  Quoting from the letter "The County might decide that additional parking is more valuable....".  But here is the clincher:

If our community garden is unkempt, and an eyesore the County just might take our land for parking. (betcha they would take it anyway if our community gardener was designed by Martha Stewart?)

In a way he is right.  If we don't show pride, then it's a very handy excuse.  But pride did not save the Ithaca Community Gardens, now in grave danger from developers, just an hour from us.

Do a Google search for "endangered community gardens" and you will get over 3,000,000. results.  So, we should take this threat very seriously.  Thank you, John, for the wake up call.

I would like to address our county executive Debbie Preston and also Tarik Abdelazim, who is running against her.  After all this is an election year.  To you both, I would like to say:

Broome County is a blighted area.  You can't deny this.  Old Endicott-Johnson shoe plants and other abandoned plants litter our urban landscape.  Our downtowns contain many vacant buildings, some (I am told, and I have no reason not to believe this) kept that way by absentee landlords as tax breaks.

Various neighborhoods, including the beloved Westover I live in, are full of abandoned structures from the 2011 flood.  I could go out there right now and photograph them, but I choose not to.  What is the sense?

I could start a blog called "Eyesores of Broome County" and have enough material to last a lifetime. Am I proud of that? Not really.

We all hope the Regional Farmers Markets will attract people to our area.  It's not a wild dream.  Later this month I am traveling to Asheville, NC and one of the draws is their regional farmers market.  It will take your breath away.  It was studied by those planning our regional market.

There are a lot of hard working people in that garden.  Immigrants, poor people, working class people, and yes, people with health problems, people caretaking elderly relatives, people working 2 or  more jobs to make ends meet, and maybe others having good reasons why their gardens are not picture perfect.  It isn't just laziness or not caring that can cause a less than picture perfect plot.  People here struggle every day.

Ms. Preston or Mr. Abdelazim community gardens are a means of survival for the people of Broome County.  Survival isn't always pretty.  Sometimes survival is ugly.

If you want our land, tell us.  Tell us up front. Give us something concrete to work with.

Don't tell us in 2015 that our gardens weren't pretty enough.

It's a Flood Anniversary. Time to Party!

Yes, I freely admit it.  We in the Southern Tier of NY State are crazy.

Today is the first anniversary of the massive flooding that hit the Binghamton/Johnson City/Endicott/Vestal/Owego/Conklin/Kirkwood (and tack on a few more names) starting on Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

Time to party!

Today we look back at what was.  There will be TV retrospectives, and I am sure something in the newspaper. (I haven't looked yet).

 We will remember videos like this, posted right after the flood, complete with music suitable for a funeral.

And now it is time to move on.  Not to sweep the hardships under the rug, but to move into the future.  If we don't do it, the future will move us forward whether we like it or not.

And there is so much we have learned.

Take a 92 year old woman living alone in the Twin Orchards neighborhood in Vestal, NY.  It is so close knit that her neighbors (themselves flooded) came together to save her condemned home.   Even houses with windows once decorated by the dreaded X (condemned) are being fixed up.  In June, they held themselves a party.

The residents of Owego, NY, the coolest small town in America, are going to hold themselves a party tonight and tomorrow.  Tonight, 5 to 10pm ceremonies and sales, followed by fireworks (fireworks that couldn't be used July 4 and were held over).  Saturday, a free community BBQ.  They are another community that has come together.  They are calling the event "Turning the Tide".

Conklin, NY (they are flood prone anyway, but 2011 was over the top, no pun intended) celebrates with a Town Fair.

Today, the Red Cross thanked the volunteers that helped.  Tomorrow, our county officially commenorates the anniversary at 1pm.


It isn't all great happy ever after stories, of course.

Parts of my neighborhood of Westover, near Johnson City, NY, await buyouts.  There is some hope for my neighborhood, unlike some others.  The flooded part is right off a main street and it is hoped that the flood-condemned homes will be torn down and replaced with something better. (and, hopefully, something will be done to protect us from a repeat performance).



I have talked about the future of the former BAE building (one of the largest wood framed structures in the United States) in Westover, where 1300 people worked prior to the flood, so many times that my regular readers must be sick of it. Guess what.  The building still sits there, its interior walls stripped to the girders, patiently waiting for a wrecking ball that may be years in coming. After that - a park?  An urban food forest?  Who knows.

Some businesses in Westover, such as our beloved Tony B's, will never reopen.

Other flooded neighborhoods near mine will be razed and turned into parks.

I really don't know how to end this post.  These coming days will bring back so many memories, some that I wouldn't blog about just because they wouldn't mean much to someone who wasn't there.    The good memories.  The bad memories.  The strange sights I witnessed (and some of them, trust me, were really strange.)  The feelings that I know are part of the aftermath of a traumatic event.

But I decided to end this post by reaching out to all those trying to recover from natural disaster, especially those impacted by our recent Hurricanes Debbie and Isaac. 

There's life.  There's hope.  It will get better, one day.  You will smile and laugh again.

And one day, I hope you get to party, too.

Sustainability Saturday Special Edition - Mahopac, NY Farmers Market

I live about 150 miles from the farmers market I am featuring today.  We went to it only because we were visiting a relative, and had several unexpected guests.  We needed food - and quickly!

In a synagogue parking lot in the Putnam County, NY hamlet of Mahopac, several vendors had set up. But don't judge the Mahopac farmers market by its size. (I have a feeling the Sunday market is smaller than the other two weekly markets, which are also in a different location.)  I didn't want to wait until Saturday to share this with you.

We weren't in the market for mushrooms, but one vendor had several varieties, all grown on her farm in Goshen.

(I invite you to read the links to these hamlets and villages.  Many people outside of New York State think the entire state is New York City.  It isn't!  Far from it.  A lot of New York State is rural.  The area around Mahopac features lots of green, rolling hills.  But I digress....)

More mushrooms from that vendor.

Mix and match your own greens.   We did and they were so fresh and good.

The vendors also had baked goods, some of the best corn we ever tasted, green cauliflower, and baby seedless cucumbers that were so tender.

Last but not least, was the hot sauce vendor.  His tomato based hot sauces: hot, medium, and mild - were all made with heirloom tomatoes.  My spouse is a "pepper head" and soon a bottle of sauce was residing in our reusable bag.

Early apples were there too:  Paula Red (bought some to slice up with the pre-BBQ snacks) and Ginger Gold. A red pepper was purchased for a chick pea salad (recipe on the back of the Goya Chick Pea can) along with the aforementioned baby seedless cukes.  A squash went into the grilled veggies.

Now that we are transitioning into fall, many of the summer produce items will disappear. Fall is just around the corner so we are enjoying the last of the summer veggies.

What is your local farmers market selling this week?

Wednesday Blooms - Farmers Market Wildflowers

Over the weekend, I visited southern Putnam County, about 40 miles north of New York City.


In the parking lot of a local synagogue in Mahopac, a farmers market had set up.  Along one edge was a strip of undeveloped land, complete with wildflowers.  iPhone at the ready, I was ready to take photographs.

Here is one of the most invasive wildflowers in our area, Japanese knotweed.  The one good thing about it is that it is a good bee plant.  Bees love it.  My spouse admits a love for it, as it makes stream banks and the sides of trails beautiful at this time of year. 

Another invasive found blooming all over upstate NY is purple loosestrife.  This deadly invasive import has had New York State's wetlands under attack since at least the 1830's.

This plant was purple loosestrife.  Or was it?


The plant I saw didn't look exactly like purple loosestrife. And sure enough, the woman who sometimes provides me wildflower support ID'd this as a native Swamp Loosestrife, Latin name Decodon Verticillatus.

Not an import.  A native!

I don't think I've ever seen the next flower before but maybe I just never noticed it.  The blue flower struck me right away and I'm so glad I had my iPhone.  The picture is a bit blurry; I had to take it at a strange angle.

My "guest photographer", who I sent it to right from the spot (did I mention my iPhone?) quickly ID'd this as Dayflower.

Returning to invasive wildflowers one last time, this is Field bindweed. Actually, field bindweed is a wild morning glory, but trust me, you do NOT want to grow this in your flower garden.

You can find wildflowers in so many places - yes, even in the parking lot of a synagogue.  And if the farmers market had not set up there, we never would have visited his past Sunday.

Tomorrow, some pictures of the Mahopac, NY farmers market these wildflowers bordered.

Have you ever found your favorite wildflowers are actually noxious pests?

The End of the Beginning

Last night, Johnson City, NY had its traditional Labor Day fireworks, to celebrate the end of its annual Field Days.  Ironic in a way, as two years ago, Johnson City voted on whether to dissolve (it didn't.).  Last year, right after Field Days, the floods came to the site of the Field Days and our entire area.  We lived through it and, in a way, we had a new beginning.

This week, on and off, I will commemorate the first anniversary of the floods our part of upstate NY (along with other parts of upstate NY, the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania and some other areas) experienced from Tropical Storm Lee.

I will still have my Wednesday Blooms tomorrow and it will be a nice one, I promise.  But as we approach the September 7-8-9-10-11 anniversary of "The Flood" (as it is called here, without explanation) and its immediate aftermath, and its personal impact on me and my family, I may delay or reschedule several weekly features.  It is time to look back one last time, and then continue forward.

In a way, this anniversary is a "deja vu all over again" situation, as we are now facing rains from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac.  It shouldn't be serious.  But, on September 4, 2011 we had no idea what was going to befall us here in the Binghamton, New York part of the Southern Tier of New York State.


Instead, the action was on the Gulf Coast, as Hurricane Lee made landfall on the Louisiana coast.

In the meantime, our part of upstate NY had been spared a direct hit from Tropical Storm Irene, itself a former hurricane, but we had  received a lot of rain.  Rivers and creeks were running high.  The ground was soggy and saturated.  Previous to that we had the wettest year on record. 

But that is in the past, and last night we celebrated with fireworks.

As American as Baseball and Blue Moons

 Baseball and blue moons - what could be more American?

Today, in the United States, it is Labor Day - the day we celebrate our working women and men.  Many of us (ironically, not many laboring in the retail trades) have the day off.  It's a big day for travel, and that is what my spouse and I did today.

We've been having on and off rain from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac since mid-afternoon.

Friday, though, was almost picture-perfect.  We celebrated Labor Day early with a picnic at the local baseball field, followed by a minor league baseball game.

 I had a nice view of the full moon rising as the game between the Binghamton Mets (double A Eastern League) and the Trenton Thunder (Yankees) got underway.  The big-league Mets and Yankees are bitter rivals. As it happens, a lot of people in the Binghamton area are Yankees fans, which made the game even more interesting.

Suddenly, I realized I was looking at the blue moon.  I was armed only with my iPhone.  Around me, other fans were asking each other "was that the blue moon?"  Someone said "I wish I had taken my camera."  I did also, but was grateful I now had a camera with a phone.  (sometimes it does seem that way).

There are a lot better pictures of the blue moon than I was able to take.  But I had a very good time taking them.

Soon enough the sun set and the moon continued to rise.

Still another view.

And one final picture (blob in the center) as post game fireworks began.

If you are somewhere that celebrates Labor Day, how did you spend your day?

Civil War Sunday - The Day Two Generals Died in a Thunderstorm

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the United States Civil War Battle of Chantilly (Ox Hill), in Northern Virginia.

Fresh from defeat at Second Manassas August 28-30, this was the concluding battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign.  This particular battle is noted in particular for the fact that two Union generals, Philip Kearny and former territorial governor and Congressman Isaac Stevens, died. (How many generals do you find on the front lines of battle today?)

The battle raged in a thunderstorm so loud that it is said it drowned out the noises of battle. The battle lasted about two hours, but resulted in over 1,000. casualties.

Kearny's story was especially sad. He made the mistake of riding into the Confederate lines during the raging thunderstorm, and was killed when he refused to surrender.  It is said that Confederate Major General A.P. Hill (who we will run into again at the Battle of Antietam) exclaimed, upon seeing Kearny's body, "You've killed Phil Kearny, he deserved a better fate than to die in the mud." 

General Robert E. Lee wrote a condolence note which was ironic in a way, as Kearny (eventually) came to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. (The story of how this cemetery came to be should be the subject of a future blog post.)

It was very sobering when I visited the Centreville, Virginia area in July of 2011 to participate in the commemorations for the battle of First Manassas.  A number of Civil War sites have been swallowed up by development, something far too common and not unique to Northern Virginia.  The Chantilly (Ox Hill) battlefield is no exception.

Basically, what remains is a Fairfax County park.  Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to visit it.  I was hopeful of returning for the commemoration of Second Manassas this past August and visiting the park, but that was not meant to be. This small 4.8 acre park sounds fascinating.

A Civil War blogger has posted a wonderful description of his visit to the Ox Hill battlefield area, with lots of pictures.  It is a must read.

Were any Civil War battles fought near where you live?  Was that piece of your local history taught during your schooling?

Sustainable Saturday - Once in a Blue Moon

It is (sigh) September Fall is almost here in upstate New York.  Thursday morning it was 47 degrees.

(And, speaking of blue moons, I hope to bring you some pictures of last night's blue moon in a couple of days).

We have some of our nicest weather in September (usually).  Crisp, blue skies.  Low humidity.

The farmers markets are at peak.  Summer produce such as tomatoes, summer squash, green/yellow/purple beans and Butter and Sugar corn share space with potatoes, cabbages (huge this year!), Paula Red, Honey Crisp, Macoun, and Ginger Gold apples and....

Winter Squashes and pumpkins...

And sweet potatoes!

I was surprised to see white sweet potatoes - not at a farmers market but at a local stand run by a Pennsylvania farm, Russell Farms, which is about 20 minutes from Johnson City, New York not far from the PA side of the NY/PA border. Sweet potatoes are not a specialty of this area.  Our season tends to be a little short for them.  We've tried to grow them several times in our community garden, never successfully.

Although I prefer farmers markets, once in a blue moon (no, I admit a little more than that) I do my shopping at Russell's Vestal, NY farm stand. The hours are better, for one.  With that, I need to talk a little bit about the difference between a farmers's market and a farm stand.

Farmers' markets, ideally, sell produce sold by local farmers.  But here is a dirty little secret, as much as I love and support farmers' markets.  Not all the vendors do that.  It depends somewhat on the people who organize the farmers market.

When you see an upstate NY  farmers market vendor selling (for example) tomatoes in May, you should question exactly where it came from.  It might be from a local greenhouse.  Or it might be from a commercial source from hundreds of miles away.

A farm stand can be either run by a local farm, with their produce and produce of others, or it could be someone selling produce from the same "open market" sources as the local supermarket uses.

To make it even more complicated, some of our local supermarket chains (Wegmans, for example) try to sell local produce when possible.

So, as always, the buyer must beware.

But don't let that scare you away from farmers markets.  Local farmers deserve your support.  So does your local farmers market.  And not just once in a blue moon.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

It is the last day of August.

In one week, we celebra...I mean, commemorate - the one year anniversary of the floods that hit this part (and other parts) of upstate New York due to Tropical Storm Lee.

This is our newspaper's answer to the upcoming anniversary:  survey the readers.  Maybe I would get in the paper if I answered. At the risk of putting my readers to sleep, I will answer.

I have a lot of mixed feelings, believe it or not, about marking the anniversary.  There's a part of me that just doesn't want to talk about it anymore.  There's another part that realizes that it seems no one has really faced the issues that led to this flood.  For whatever reason, our climate is changing and many places not prone to flooding suddenly are - including farms in this area.  It isn't just the urban folk like me.

It's only going to get worse.  We (meaning the U.S. as a whole) must find a way to survive flooding, to adapt ourselves to our new reality. 

Flood walls need repair. They need to be planned differently.  We must have new building codes.  We plain have to learn to adapt.  There's a lot of work to do and I honestly don't see much of it getting done.  Local governments are strapped.  The Federal government is in major deficit? People don't have jobs.  How do we deal with this? 

I'm not having fun yet.  I don't think any of my neighbors are, either. No one is having fun, not the people in Louisiana, not the people in Florida, not the people in Fargo, not the people in Charleston, SC or Minnesota or anywhere else now on the front lines of flooding, except maybe the manufacturers of sand and sandbags.


But, for the sake of argument, if I did answer the survey: these would be my responses.  (and yes, you are excused.  You may now leave the blog.  Please come back tomorrow for my Sustainable Saturday.  Thank you for your time!)

* Required

Name *   Nope.  I understand why a newspaper asks for ID.  But this isn't a letter to the editor.  This is about peoples' personal experiences.  Is it really necessary?

Town *  If I named my neighborhood, locals would know it right away.  Not a good way to get fame.

Best phone number to reach you * This will not be published.  Yikes, they are going to call to confirm?  (See "name")

Have you recovered emotionally from the flood?  No, not there yet.  And maybe that's why you still see mental health volunteers (an excellent organization called Project Recovery) at places like local farmers markets and the Garlic Festival held two weeks ago. The kind follks at Project Recovery told me (yes, I spoke to them at one point about my personal issues) it takes a good year.  Recovery from a loss doesn't happen on a schedule and it isn't going to cut off on September.  But the healing WILL complete itself.  I am 100% sure of that.

Have you repaired your home? How long did it take? What did it cost?   About repairs, we are probably 98% there, but what is left is minor - it is hard finding a contractor around here, still, for small jobs.  Too many big jobs still needing their attention.  I understand this.  And, again, we suffered so much less than many other people in our neighborhood.  Cost: less than it could have been.  We were lucky.  'Nuf said.

What problems do you still face?  I will let those more greatly affected answer that.  I still have a house. I will mention this: Major employer (1300 jobs) left our neighborhood due to the flooding; guess what will happen to our taxes as the building sits and rots away?  

How did government -- local, state, federal -- work or not work for you?  Thank you for the comic relief.  I haven't laughed so hard in weeks. Seriously, I've heard mixed stories re FEMA.  My own experiences I blogged about some last year.


Do you know a neighbor who stepped up to help someone else? Glad you asked because there was a LOT of that.  You would need a special edition of the paper to list.  Neighbors. Churches. Local employers. Fire departments (for their pumps) from long drives away.

I also heard enough stories about those who took advantage, even those who pretended they were "victims". As usual, there are two sides to the human experience and I saw both of them last year.

I just hope there isn't a "next time".  But I know in my heart there will be.  Please, Press and Sun Bulletin, please report on THAT.

Civil War Sunday Special Edition - Birds and Battles

On August 28-30, 1862, Federal and Confederate troops fought near Manassas, Virginia and Bull Run Creek for the second time.

Thirteen months earlier, troops had fought the first major battle of the Civil War.  Troops were not battle-tested.  Some local people packed picnic baskets to make a day of it.  No one seemed to know exactly what to do, although they learned fast.


This time it was General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia facing Major General Pope's Army of the Potomac.  Once again, Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson was there. Different battle but the same end result - the Confederates won again, leading to the Maryland Campaign I will be following for the next month.

Now, where death once ruled, birders come to explore the battlefield.

Yes, 150 years later, many people visit the Bull Run (Manassas) battlefields - to bird.  I was a little surprised to discover this battlefield park of some 5,000. acres (the two battles overlapped some of the same territory) spans a lot of different bird habitats.

The list of birds sighted there is quite impressive.

Online, you can even find a list of birds sighted earlier this month in the parking lot of the New York Volunteers monument.  I've read that Bull Run Creek itself is prime birding territory.

I am not a birder, but I have always loved birds - watching them, owning them (earlier in my life), and listening to their songs.  But, except for people preserving history and memory, this land would have been gone.  Based on what has happened in the surrounding area, it is logical to assume that this 5,000 acres would have been paved over with a housing development or shopping center built on the site.

The site where some 3200 Federal and Confederate soldiers died, those three days in August of 1862.

Our American Civil War was horrible, as is all war.

It is humbling, though, to realize that the creatures of Mother Nature do not care - the birds do not care - they have their own concerns and do not trouble themselves with ours.

Wednesday Blooms - The Blooms of Late Summer

 Before I get into my Wednesday flowers, I want to let the folks on the Gulf Coast know you are in my thoughts.  Last year, at almost this time, we were overwhelmed by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee here in upstate NY.  Some parts of New York, Vermont, and some other Northern states suffered extensively, especially from Irene.  I know what we went through is only a fraction of what you are going through now, on this the 7th anniversary of Katrina.

Now, to happier things.....

One of my favorite late summer flowers is the Rose of Sharon.

This year, they seemed to have bloomed exceptionally well.  I took these pictures with my iPhone while on an exercise walk through the West Side of Binghamton, New York.

A beautiful lavender-pink.

And white.

Here is a garlic chive flower from my garden, just starting to open.

Finally, my mystery wildflower of the week.  I haven't been concentrating too much on wildflowers this year (unlike last summer) so I wanted to share this and get it ID'd.   I didn't see too many of these last year - maybe they didn't like our wet weather.  This year, they are everywhere.  I took this picture on the Vestal Rail Trail.

Some trees are already starting to turn here in upstate NY and it is only the end of August.  Is it the drought? Or the first manifestation of an early fall?  Only time will tell, and I'll be here to blog about it.