Days of Red and Roses

It's the last hurrah of summer.  All things come to an end. 

My dahlias, earlier in October

The growing season, the season of green, is ending, soon to be replaced by bare trees, snow, and ice.

Where I live in upstate New York, many areas have received frost.  Right where I live, we haven't had our killing frosts yet, but we probably will on Sunday night/Monday morning.

So, it is time to say goodbye to our days of red and roses, with some parting pictures taken recently in the Binghamton/Johnson City/Ithaca area of upstate New York.  Fall beauty is fleeting, to be enjoyed, to be embraced, to be hugged close, and then, let go

At my job, we are already talking about what we call the "s" word - snow.

Can you tell I don't like winter?

But it isn't here yet, as I show you the progression of fall color here.

Red bushes in early morning fog, by an abandoned factory building in Westover, near Johnson City.

Rose hips.

Roses in Ithaca, New York, were still in bloom on Sunday, but for how long? (Their climate, moderated by Cayuga Lake, allows for a longer growing season. But it is still upstate New York.)

Every day, the sunrises are later, and the sunsets are earlier. 

These clouds proved the "red sky in morning, sailor take warning" folk saying - we had heavy rains later that day.  But it was mild.

In another week or less, that mildness will be a memory.

Do you have seasons where you live?  Which is your favorite?

Love Potatoes? Try This

Do you think that cauliflower is bland, white, and boring?

It doesn't have to be any of those. 

It's time to think of cauliflower in a different way.  And, as a bonus, I am going to blog about a recipe I love.

For example, in a purple way. (the only drawback is, when it cooks, it doesn't turn green like many other purple veggies - rather, it turns a blah purplish grey.)

Tried to show the orange and it got too blue

Or an orange way.

Or a green way. (the green cauliflower is on the left and the right, with brocolli in the center.)

We are so fortunate in upstate New York, where cauliflower grows well, and it grows big.

And it is nutritious.

Don't just think white!

Now, I have a recipe for you.  This is a variation my spouse makes on a famous "South Beach Diet Cauliflower Mashed 'Potatoes'"  recipe that was so popular a few years ago.

I interviewed my spouse, the family cook, for this recipe.  He is a "feel" cook, i.e. he doesn't measure, and he can't tell you exactly what he does.  He just does it.  So, you may want to refer to the above link if you need more exact directions.

Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes" a la AM's Spouse

One Head cauliflower, cut up into the florets.  Of the various types, spouse likes the orange best. (I wouldn't use the purple kind.  White works, though.)
Light butter, to taste
Parmesan Cheese, to taste

Method

1. Cook cauliflower in microwave or steam until fork tender.  Microwaving preserves nutrients. Spouse does not use chicken broth - rather, he uses water.

2 Puree in blender until smooth, adding just enough cooking liquid so it will come out as a thick puree. As you puree, add 1 tbsp light butter in to taste, along with 2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Salt to taste. 

4. Warm in microwave before you serve it.

5. And that's it. Enjoy!

I truly like this better than mashed potatoes.

Do you have a favorite "mock food" recipe?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - October Summer

From near frost conditions in my garden near Johnson City, New York on Saturday morning, to mild temperatures yesterday (76 degrees F! - 24.4 C) to rain today - all that is certain that this will be the last outdoor Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in my zone 5b garden until next spring.

Brought to you by May Dreams Gardens, gardeners from all over the world gather on the 15th of each month to show what is blooming inside or outside their homes.

Where do I begin, on this October day full of rain?

This year, I managed to overwinter a scented geranium, so this is the plant's second summer.  These plants are grown for their scented leaves, not their small flowers.  But I like the flowers - so small and dainty.

Not like these ivy geraniums.

In my back yard are Japanese anemones.  This looks so much like the photo from my October, 2013 GBBD but I assure you it isn't. Bought about three years ago at a clearance sale, these have become one of my favorite fall flowers.

I have some newbie flowers to show you.

 I finally bought a toad lily plant - and it is flowering. It did surprise me a little - I thought the flowers would be larger.  But, it has been blooming for over three weeks - a pleasant autumn addition to my shade garden.

I bought this sage in April, at Plantasia in Charleston, South Carolina. We had no idea this event even existed - we visited Charleston in mid-April, saw the signs, and visited this annual plant sale.

I've blogged about my bad habit of buying plants in my travels like souvenirs, taking the gamble that they will survive my upstate New York winter.  The vendor felt this sage might survive.  As usual, the name of this sage plant exists only in the mists of time and my bad memory, as my spouse (yes, I'll blame him) once again got rid of the tag.

My white marigolds are still going strong.

My perilla (the purplish plant to the right of the reddish plant) is blooming, although the picture didn't come out that great.

My pansies are reblooming, but they look a bit eaten - not good enough to show my blog readers.

Please, now that you have seen my beauties, visit the May Dreams Garden website, and click the links to other gardens from all over the world.

What is blooming where you live?

Beauty is Just Around the Corner

Today, I wanted to treat you to some pictures I've taken in the last several days in upstate New York.

Beauty is just around the corner.  All you need to do is look.  And, mid October treats us, not only to fall color, but to special sun angles that just seem to make everything glow.

Maybe it's just a tree in my neighborhood - but peek a boo, do you see the window?  (Hint, the lower right of the photo).

A sunrise near an abandoned factory building in the Westover neighborhood near Johnson City, New York. We have had some amazing sunrises in the past few days.

Outside the Ithaca, New York farmers market, as a tour boat leaves the dock on its way to a cruise around Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.

And finally, roses still in bloom yesterday.  Many places have had their first frost, but many areas around Ithaca, thanks to Cayuga Lake, have been spared. 

Soon enough, though, the remainder of the green trees will start to turn color. And, before month's end, the last of the leaves will be falling.

The chill is already in the air.

Enjoy the beauty just around the corner.

A Place of Their Own?

I haven't blogged about "B", my brother in law with autism, for a while, but that doesn't mean my husband (his guardian) and I have forgotten him.  No, quite the contrary.

All his life, "B" has been cared for by his mother, as my regular blog readers know.   But time has marched on. He is in his 50's. She is in her 80's, with increasing physical issues.

Their lives have always been intertwined but one day, that will no longer be true.

A couple of years ago a relative, seeing them both sit on a park bench, remarked that they "looked like an old couple who had been together many years".

"B" lives in a split level house with his mother, some 150 miles from my spouse and I.  For much of that time, he has lived in a bedroom in a finished basement.  He has access to a TV set and his own bathroom.  He grew up in that house with his sibs. They left, he stayed with his parents.  Some 15 years ago, his father passed away.  Now, it is just he and his mother.

He depends on her, but increasingly, she depends on him.  And, as much as we would love my mother in law to live forever and be with "B" forever, we know that, one day, she will no longer be able to take care of "B".  And, I have a strong suspicion "B" knows this.  It is hard to communicate with him.

You have to ask the right questions.

I am not the greatest verbal communicator, either. 

Several years ago, my brother in law had an opportunity to move into a residence operated by the local ARC (an advocacy group for children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities).  He would have shared the residence with a number of other disabled individuals.  The residence has a good reputation in the community.  He would have a lot of opportunities to participate in various events, including going to ball games and shopping.  He would hopefully find activities he would enjoy.  Group homes are not a housing solution for all individuals in "B"'s situation, but it is an option.

As I've mentioned before, individuals with autism don't adapt well to change.  It is imperative that we find "B" a placement before something happens to my mother in law, to give him time to adjust.

My mother in law turned the placement down - twice.  These openings don't come too often.  Many openings come from - let's be blunt here - death of a resident.


It is difficult to find good housing situations for those with disabilities.  That is a fact, I suspect, everywhere in the United States.


We are investigating housing options up here, miles from where "B" and his mother live, for the future. My mother in law does not want "B" to live apart from her.  She wants him with her as long as possible.  This is her wish.  But, we are finding it difficult to find senior housing that has two bedrooms.  Usually, seniors move into one bedroom apartments.  There just aren't that many units available where we live - an area that is a lot cheaper than where they live.

(Seeing the lack of senior housing in this area makes us think twice about our future in this area, perhaps a post for another time).

My mother in law wants to age with grace with "B" at her side.

What does "B" want?  He wants to be with his brothers (there is another brother in our area besides my spouse).

He wants to be able to eat out.  He loves that activity. He loves to shop.

And he wants his own private room, and his own bathroom.  He wants quiet. He wants control over his life.  He wants his own dignity.

This much we know.

A guardian, incidentally, is not the boss over the person he or she is guardian of.  A guardian is supposed to be an advocate.  But we all know that you can't always get what you want, and "B" must learn this hard lesson, too.

Appropriate housing, once the time comes.  Appropriate, but "B" may not get everything he wants.

Wanting.  Having wishes granted.  If only it was that easy.

My spouse and I are finding out just how non-easy it is.

"To be continued".

Civil War Sunday - Gardening During the Civil War

Studying the United States Civil War isn't just learning about battles.  For me, some of my interest is in the way people used to live in the time period of the war, 1861-1865.

As someone who loves to grow things, married 40 years to a devoted gardener, I've often wondered how people gardened during the Civil War.

For many of us in the modern United States, gardening is not a matter of life and death.  There are stores, there are farmers market, if we run out of food.

For many people in the United States during the war, gardening was a subsistence activity.

The home garden fed the family, and animals.  It provided both food and medicine, through medicinal herbs, and dyes for homespun wool.

Farmer's Museum, Cooperstown, NY

This may have been one example of a mid 19th century garden, perhaps not exactly from the Civil War era.  But you can see sunflowers, amaranth, and corn, among other plants.

Pumpkin Patch, Farmer's Museum

Pumpkins were also grown in the Civil War era garden, along with beets, onions, tomatoes, beans, cabbage and potatoes.  Food from the garden and available livestock was supplemented by hunting.


Especially in the Confederacy, as the war continued and food became both scarce and expensive, growing your own food became more and more a necessity.

I suspect this is a chicken breed that existed at the time of the war

You may have seen a rooster like this one, roaming free.

Next week, I will return to the war itself, possibly blogging about a battle in Kansas - another in my series about the "neglected West" of the Civil War.

Sustainable Saturday - Heirloom Apple Crisp

Early fall in upstate New York.

Many things say "fall" upstate.  For example, trees turning color.  We've had our first flush of color. The second will come now that many areas have had their first frost.

More early fall color for you.

Frost.  We haven't received one yet where I live near Johnson City, New York, but the outlying areas have received their frosts, and the trees will be bare all too soon.

For me, the best part of fall is the food.  So today's topic will be:  apples.

We are in apple growing country, and some of the apples grown here are heirloom varieties.

There is a farm near Ithaca, New York, that specializes in heirloom apples.  At least once a year, we visit their booth at the Ithaca Farmers Market to pick up some unusual varieties. 

But even in our local apple stores in the Binghamton area, we can purchase heirlooms such as 20 Ounce , a native NY variety from the 1800's.

There are many more apple varieties than you can find in your average supermarket.  Many of the older varieties don't ship well, or don't keep well, or don't bear reliably year after year.  But if you can find them, they are worth the effort.

Be sure, also, that you buy the right apple.  You must ask yourself:  How do you intend to use your apple?
Fresh eating? (my favorites are Honey Crisp, Autumn Crisp, and some of the eating heirlooms, especially the russets.)
Baking? (my favorite is Northern Spy, but they are just starting to come in, so I didn't have any on hand yesterday.)  You can also try Rome and Cortland.  And, Honey Crisps can be used in baking.
Tart Eating?  Empire is your pick. It used to be my favorite apple.

I, personally, am not a fan of Red Delicious or MacIntosh, but they have their fans.

At one you pick place in this area, here is today's schedule.
"Saturday 11th - 9 am to 4 pm Empire, Cortland, Red & Golden Delicious, Ida Red, Jonagold, Northern Spy"

Which brings me to one of my favorite desserts, apple crisp.  Last fall, I blogged about a Weight Watchers apple crisp recipe I was using.  This year, I am experimenting with a different Weight Watchers recipe.

Doesn't this look yummy?

I decided to experiment with adding frozen blueberries (which I picked from a U Pick farm in August).  At times, I've also put pears and/or blackberries into my apple crisps.  Yesterday, I decided to make an apple crisp with what I had on hand - 20 ounce apples, and frozen blueberries.

Sorry for my friends outside the United States - you'll have to do your own conversions into metric, oven temperatures, etc.

20 ounce apple and leaves from my yard

Fruit Crisp (9 inch square pan, serves 9)

2 pounds baking apples (I used 20 Ounce)

4 tbsp brown sugar (you can also use 1 tbsp sucralose as an alternative)

2 tsp lemon juice

1 cup frozen blueberries (I didn't thaw them)

Peel and slice cored apples. Mix all ingredients together.  Place in a 9 inch square baking dish that has been oiled or buttered.


Top with topping.  Keep in mind this is an adaptation of a low-cal topping.  It may not suit you.

Topping

1 cup quick oats
4 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp light butter
1/2 tsp freshly ground allspice (since I, amazingly, didn't have cinnamon on hand)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix topping together and top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until the apple slices are the consistency you want.  Let cool, unless you can't wait to eat it.

How did it do? The blueberries dyed the apples nearby purple, but it tasted good.  The topping was "OK" (I'm still experimenting with getting these lower calorie toppings moist.) But next time, I may use Northern Spy apples.  The 20 ounce holds its shape well, but I would prefer a moister apple.


Do you have a favorite apple?  Do you have a favorite apple recipe?

A Thankful Friday and Paw Paw Update

Thank you, readers, for making the daily posts I write an enjoyable experience.  I appreciate each and every one of you when you stop by, and when you comment. Reading each comment is like opening up a little gift.

So, before I launch into a little story on how one of my readers helped me with a problem, I want to ask you all a favor:

What would you like me to write about in the coming weeks?  I like to write about what appeals to me each day.  But, what do YOU want to see? Gardening? More pictures?  How-To's?  Recipes? (I don't cook, but my spouse loves to cook.) More photos of upstate New York?

I will take your suggestions and see what I can do with them.

And now, a shout out to reader Howard Giles.  On Tuesday, I blogged about three paw paw plants we had germinated this spring.  My spouse and I had saved seeds from a paw paw purchased last fall from a locavore store, stratified them, and planted them this spring in pots.

The paw paw grows wild in portions in the United States and I remembered them from living years ago in rural Arkansas.  Their fruit tastes like a cross between a mango and a banana, and, indeed, they are a temperate zone cousin of various tropical fruits.

It was a nice project, but now frost was coming, and I needed to know how to keep the seedlings alive.  I don't have the room to grow them on my property.

Howard Giles to the rescue - he commented and suggested I contact an extension service if we had one.

Cornell Extension is a wonderful resource - one I don't use enough.  (And, dear readers, if you have an extension service in your area - I'm confident yours is just as wonderful.) I kicked myself.


Then, I did what he suggested - I contacted our local Cornell extension service.  And within a few hours, I had my answer from one Linda Swoboda.   I want to pass her advice along:

"I would suggest that you transfer these small trees into a larger pot, 2 or 3 times as big as they are in now, with good soil and sink the pots into the ground in a shaded area outside.  Full sun, even winter sun is hard a young pawpaw trees.  Water them in well. The roots will continue to develop and grow all winter.  The leaves will drop soon, so don't worry too much about what is eating them.  It could be a slug - check under the pots to see if they are hiding there in the daylight hours. [I didn't find any.] In the spring the trees can be transplanted to their permanent location.  However, I have read that in order to get fruit in the future, 2 unrelated pawpaw trees need to cross pollinate.  So these seedling siblings will not be fertile - you will need another tree of a different source."

She even sent me a couple of links, which I read.  Thank you, Linda!

I'm disappointed that these three plants, if they survive, won't be able to cross pollinate.  So, no paw paws are in our future.  But we are going to do what she suggests.

And then, next spring, I need to find a forever home for these trees, because, according to my reading, they need to be planted in their forever home next spring.

So that is the story of my paw paws.  Next spring, I'll see if they made it.

And again, thank you to my readers for making this possible.  And now, I look forward to your suggestions. 

The Continued Odyssey of the Rosemary

Back in 2011, I wrote a post about growing an evergreen herb called rosemary.

This is not an easy undertaking in upstate New York, where rosemary is not hardy.  And, now that my spouse is in his 60's, the ritual of fall lugging plants inside and spring lugging plants outside into our zone 5 garden may be approaching its end in not too many more years. (And, maybe not. My spouse is stubborn.)

Still, although the matriarch of our rosemary family and its oldest child are gone, its other children live on. Right now, we have two rosemary plants - a third died over this past winter.

Here is one of the remaining two plants, safely potted up and waiting for a possible frost.  I tried and tried to get a decent picture and I don't know why it was an issue today.  I think this one is as good as it is going to get.

So here is another picture. 

What is rosemary good for?  Some say memory.  Others say seasoning. I think they are both right.

So here's my story, and I am grateful that, for at least this winter, the odyssey will continue.

The Odyssey of the Rosemary

(Thank you, Gardening-4-Life, for giving me the inspiration for today's post.)

Sometimes I really envy zone 7 and zone 8 gardeners.  They can grow so much that we can't here in upstate NY.  Plants such as camellias, one of my favorite flower.  And, they can grow plants outdoors all year that we have to take in, or plant as annuals.  Things such as paperwhites.  Dahlias. And rosemary.

To grow rosemary in upstate NY you have to have a strong back, and a good sense of weather timing.  Let me explain....

In the late 1980's (I forget the exact year), we went somewhere and saw rosemary plants for sale.  At that time, it was not that common to find herbs for sale, at least around here.  We bought two plants.

Our local neighborhood groundhog quickly took care of one of the plants.  But the other one thrived.

Problem:  we knew the plant wouldn't survive the fall.  So come fall, dear spouse potted up the plant and brought it inside.  Little did he know of the odyssey he was embarking on.

Rosemary is not that easy to grow indoors (it tends to get too dry) so the first quest was to find out how to keep it moist, but not too moist. And, we had to find a sunny place for it.  At that time, we didn't have any nice sunny windows.  So spouse had to rig up a lighting system.  All for one little plant.  But spouse loves to use rosemary in his cooking.

That winter was a type of hopscotch.  If it warmed up, the plant went out.  If it was cooling off the plant went back in.  Out, in.  Out, in.  A lot more in than out, because our winters tend to be very snowy, cold-and long.  But we noticed that the plant looked better if it could spend even a few hours outside.  We knew, though, that it wouldn't survive much of a frost.

The plant made it, and the next year it went back into the ground once danger of frost was past. (For us, that's usually early to mid May.)

Then in the fall, back into a (larger) pot, and back indoors when our first frost threatened to hit in October.

Sometimes, when we brought the plant in, spouse would accidentally knock off a branch.   One time, (this was before the Internet, so we couldn't just run to our computers and look stuff like this up) spouse got the idea to put the sprig in water and see what happened.  To his delight, it grew roots.  He potted it, and now we had two plants. And then three.

Over the years, the original rosemary plant got larger and larger.  It bloomed, beautiful little purple flowers.  Its trunk was like wood, gnarled, like a large bonsai. There were some close calls with cold weather.  Spouse experimented with various types of overwintering.  For some years, he used the basement (with a grow light).  As our son grew older we had the use of a former bedroom, and the plant did better there.

The plant got larger and larger.  Fortunately spouse is very strong and (unlike me) a strong back.  It was no problem to transport the matriarch rosemary plant in and out.

The years passed.  The babies were adults now, in large pots, too.  And the matriarch kept going.

Finally, a couple of years ago, the unthinkable happened.  We left the plants out and it got down to about 28 degrees.  The younger plants were frostbit, but we were able to nurse them back to health.

It was too late for the matriarch.

Almost the entire plant died.  One little branch survived, but it was obvious the plant wasn't going to make it. Spouse finally clipped off the last little branch and put it in water.

The matriarch lived, we think, about 18 years.  The oldest "child" now is about 18 years old, too.

We still have the matriarch in our back yard.  Last year, a volunteer tomato plant sprouted near it and grew up using the dead rosemary as support.  We tied it to the gnarled trunk.  The frost came, the tomato plant died, and we left the pot out for the winter.

This spring, it's still out there.  Spouse has taken a couple of clippings of it still fragrant trunk for special BBQ's. He intends to continue to use it until it's gone.

A fitting end to a special plant.

Fall Fancies - Fall Glow

The sun has risen on a beautiful October day in upstate New York.  I didn't get to see the total lunar eclipse, but look at this sunrise sky!

The "red sky at warning, sailor take warning" saying will come true tonight, but it was a mild, breezy day for an October 8.

At this time of year, it is time to put the garden to bed.

Spouse has been busy in our community garden, clearing it out.  Leeks will be stored, cutting off most of the tops, and putting them in our refrigerator.  Cabbages - well, we don't know yet.

We didn't have that successful a season, but I should blog about that later this month.

We have to have our community garden cleared out by the end of the month, when it closes down.

At home, we have dug and potted up three poinsettias and an orange geranium.

Our rosemary plants are also safely in pots, ready to be brought in when the frosts hit.

Coleus cuttings are taken and are in water, waiting for the cuttings to root.  We are also rooting our Persian Shield.

Soon, we will be harvesting our ginger, again grown in a large pot - we got several hands of the root - not hardy here in upstate New York.

The sun angle makes everything shine with a special light at this time of year.  I will leave you with one more photo - sunrise in downtown Binghamton, New York today.

Were you able to witness the total lunar eclipse last night?

Save My Paw Paw Plants!

It's that dreaded time of year, when it is time to say goodbye to the garden.

Saturday morning, portions of Johnson City, New York (near to where I live) experienced frost.  At my house, it got down to an unexpected  35 degrees F (1.6 Celsius).  We had not expected it to get that cold, never mind cold enough to get a frost.

But my guardian angel was watching over my garden, apparently, and my plants are still alive and not frost damaged - for now.

My spouse and I have been busy doing all our fall preparations and we should be nearly set - except for one thing.

Paw Paws 9-21-14

Our paw paws.

These are two of the three surviving plants we started from seed. 

What are paw paws, anyway?

Paw paws are a native American fruit. They taste like a cross between bananas and mangoes.  They grew wild in Arkansas, where we lived nearly 30 years ago, and that is where I first ate them.  Last year, a Binghamton, NY resident brought some paw paws to Old Barn Hollow, a locavore store in Binghamton - I bought one, ate one for the first time in nearly 30 years, and saved the seeds. 

Of the seeds, we got almost perfect germination although it took a long time - and only three plants are left.

They don't look as good as they did on September 21 - slugs or something else are eating the leaves.  And, with the frost, these trees should go dormant.  We shouldn't be ovewintering these indoors, and we have no where to plant these.  We can't overwinter them in pots outdoors.  They are marginally hardy in this area, and really need to be in the ground.

So, a dilemma.

What should I do to save my paw paws?

Do my gardening friends have any suggestions?

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Pumpkin?

Pumpkins and upstate New York go together like - well, fall color and upstate New York.

Country Wagon Produce, Maine, NY

(and, at this time of year, overcast clouds go together with fall in upstate New York like.... but I digress).

What is a pumpkin?  It is a  Cucurbitaceae, or a squash, related to melons, gourds, and cucumbers.  In the United States, until recent years, orange pumpkins were the most popular. Now, white pumpkins are also gaining in popularity.  And, heirloom pumpkins are making a comeback - green, warted, flattish, and others.  There are miniature pumpkins for tabletops, smallish pumpkins ("sugar" pumpkins) for pies, large pumpkins for carving and huge pumpkins for growing contests  and punkin chunkin.

Pumpkins are used in other parts of the world, too, in various ways from decorations to soup.

I have never grown pumpkins, because they are far from my favorite food (although I love other winter squashes, especially butternut, delicata and acorn), but they are easy enough to grow, especially where I live in upstate New York.

When I grew up, in the New York City of the 1950's and 1960's, pumpkins had three uses:

1.  Jack o'lanterns;
2.  Pumpkin seeds (roasted and sold as snacks; and
3.  Pumpkin pie.
 
Now, in upstate New York, and elsewhere in the United States, everything seems to have pumpkin in it, whether you want it or not.

In our local small supermarket (and I emphasize "small"), I found the following for sale, besides the actual pumpkin fruit (yes, pumpkin is a fruit, but we won't get too technical here):
Pumpkin flavored coffee
Pumpkin pizzelle cookies
Pumpkin quick bread and muffin mix
Pumpkin bar mix
Pumpkin ice cream
Pumpkin spice mix
Sparkling spiced pumpkin cider
Pumpkin spice marshmallows
Pumpkin, canned
Pumpkin cream cheese spread
Frozen pumpkin ravioli
Pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling
Pumpkin flavored coffee creamer

Which leaves people like me who don't like pumpkin, baffled.

How did eating punkin-I mean, pumpkins-get to be so popular?  Yes, I know the flesh is nutritious, and the seeds are nutritional powerhouses. But still?  That taste?

Do you like to eat pumpkin flavored foods?  Or do you hope this is a fad that will go away?  Or, is pumpkin not eaten where you live?

Civil War Sunday - The Refrigerator

Everyone loves nostalgia.

When nostalgia ties into the Civil War, and local history, it becomes perfect nostalgia.

Consider this refrigerator.  Have you ever seen anything like it?

No, it isn't from the United States Civil War (1861-1865).  It is from either the late 1920's or early 1930's.  It is called a Monitor Top refrigerator, and, when it came out, you could buy it from your local utility company.  They used one of two refrigerants, sulfur dioxide or methyl formate, and there are still monitor tops working today, almost 100 years later.  (The way modern refrigerators are made, maybe I should consider buying a monitor top.)

 This model was displayed at Olums back in June. Olums is a local appliance store celebrating its 100th year in business.

The monitor top refrigerator was, I understand, the first affordable refrigerator on the market.  The first ones, in U.S. Dollars, cost $300 - about $4,000. in today's money.  It was a lot of money back then, too, so people paid them off in monthly payments to the utility company.

But what is the link to the Civil War and to local history?

When I was growing up in New York City in the late 1950's and early 1960's, one of the few things I remember about my elementary school studies on the U.S. Civil War was a battle.  It was the Battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia, where, for the first time in history, two ironclad vessels fought each other.  One of these vessels, the U.S.S Monitor, was built partially from wood that came from an area just a couple of miles from where I live.

This refrigerator also reminded me of a small local mystery (mystery to me, anyway) surrounding a missing historical marker. I blogged about it back in 2011.  With some edits, that post follows.

And the refrigerator?  See that refrigeration unit on top of that refrigerator? It reminded so many people of the turret of the U.S.S. Monitor. So it became the "monitor top refrigerator", named after a Civil War vessel.

That vessel, by the way, can be viewed (what is left of it, that is) at a museum in Virginia, where I hope to visit next spring.

Now, today's mystery, which I still haven't solved.

Civil War Sunday-The Mystery of the Monitor Marker

I am trying to solve the mystery of the Missing U.S.S. Monitor Marker.

The 150th anniversary of the battle, off the coast of Virginia of the Union ironclad U.S.S. Monitor vs. the Confederate ironclad Merrimack (not the Merrimac, which was another ship put into service around 1864) won't be until next March.  But I am hoping to solve this mystery before then.

The wood from which the keel of the Monitor was cut came from this area, now occupied partially by a site called Finch Hollow.

The site of the sawmill where the keel of the U.S.S.Monitor was milled is in walking distance of my home near Johnson City, in upstate New York.  The site is, in the present day, occupied by an enclosed shopping mall, the Oakdale Mall.

Apparently, back around 1998, there was a historical marker in the Oakdale Mall commemorating the history of the Monitor.

I have no idea what has happened to the marker.  My spouse, who has a very good memory, doesn't remember ever seeing the marker.  So now I have a little mystery on my hands.

Re Finch Hollow, it still exists.  If you drive north on Oakdale Road (which runs north and south, just to the west of the mall)  from the mall, you will find a  nature center. I haven't been there in many years, but I remember going there with my then young son.  I don't remember any commemoration of its role in the Civil War on the site, however.

The Monitor (what is left of it) was discovered in 1973 and parts have been brought to The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA.  The keel, I am sure, is long gone.  Restorers are in a race against time to preserve the remaining metal parts and guns.  I hope to visit the museum sometime before the end of the Civil War 150th anniversary commemorations.

I could have solved the mystery of the marker (perhaps) last Wednesday, as I was given a brochure inviting people to the opening of a new Civil War exhibition at a local Binghamton museum, Roberson Center.  Broome County historian Gerald Smith was supposed to be there at a small reception.  I wasn't able to make it, although I do hope to get to the museum next weekend for the official grand opening.

Or, I could email Mr. Smith.  But that wouldn't be as much fun as trying to research this out now, would it?

Do you own an appliance from years ago that is still working? (I do - a waffle iron that is older than I am.)

Sustainable Saturday - 167 Pages

I'm looking at 167 pages that try to spell out my neighborhood's future.  Wit flooding becoming more and more of a threat each year worldwide due to changing climate, this plan may be something others want to pay attention to.

What is a neighborhood, anyway?  And what does it have to do with sustainability?

A website defines neighborhood as follows:

The term neighborhood has many meanings and uses. For example, neighborhood can be used to refer to the small group of houses in the immediate vicinity of one's house or to a larger area with similar housing types and market values.
Neighborhood is also used to describe an area surrounding a local institution patronized by residents, such as a church, school, or social agency. It can also be defined by a political ward or precinct. The concept of neighborhood includes both geographic (place-oriented) and social (people-oriented) components.

On September 7 and 8, 2011, my neighborhood of Westover, near Johnson City, flooded due to two tropical storms just a few days apart, dropping a total of 13 inches of rain and capping the rainiest summer on record.   

Many houses were ruined and were abandoned.  Earlier this year, demolition began, finally, of once cherished houses that were now only rotting eyesores. Some 44 houses in Westover will eventually be torn down, if I read this report correctly.  By law, the land those houses sat on must remain undeveloped, or developed into something like a park or other green land.

In a meeting I attended last year, speakers explained that demolition, if not done right, can ruin a neighborhood.  What will be left, after the demolition, is some streets with only a couple of occupied houses, and large gaps in between.  Houses, and neighbors, become isolated.  Ways are being discussed to mitigate that, because a neighborhood is more than just a collection of houses.

One thing I learned from the meeting is that there are ways to handle potential flood damage. Zoning laws where we live, for example, require businesses to have a certain number of parking spaces. Those spaces are paved, and rain can not penetrate conventional paving.  But there is something called permeable paving, which would allow the movement of storm water into the ground. (And, there was discussion of the fact that zoning laws tend to require more spaces than normally needed.)

About a mile from my house, and uphill from it, is a major shopping mall.  Its roof may be replaced (it's under discussion now) by a green roof, and some parking lot rain runoff may be handled by various techniques.  This may help with the problem of flash flood runoff.


A neighborhood must be in harmony with its environment.

Along with the residences, there was damage was a building once occupied by some 1300 workers, a building owned by the Air Force and rented to BAE Systems, Inc.  That building (actually several buildings joined together) is some 600,000. square feet, one of the largest wood framed building in the United States.

For three years now it has awaited its fate after it was announced, in November of 2011, that it could not be repaired.  Without a definite plan, my neighborhood will never be able to move forward into the future. 

Of course, those 1300 workers will never be returning.  Right now, they are in buildings a few miles down the road, but BAE may decide to leave our area all together. We need businesses to return.  We need their tax dollars.  

A neighborhood needs jobs.

Now, the BAE demolition date was just announced. We know now that demolition will begin next spring lasting into the summer.  And the cost? At least 17.3 million dollars.

So what happens after demolition?

That is where the 167 pages comes in.  There are grand plans for those 30 acres- mixed use residential/commercial use, a movie theatre, ball parks.

The drawing even shows a farmers market.

I have mixed feelings about this plan.  Would I, for example, want to live in a place that, just three years ago, was under several feet of water for a couple of days, no matter how many flood control techniques are used in its building? 

Not many of us get to plan the future of our neighborhood - a plan that, for us, must take climate change into account.  

A neighborhood needs vision.  Let's hope this vision is the right one.

The Natural Art of Indecision

Indecision.

Do you think indecision is a failing of yours?  Well, don't judge too quickly.  Let's look at Mother Nature and how she makes up her mind.

 Here in upstate New York, nature is having a hard time making up its mind.  If trees could talk, this might be what they are talking about at this very moment where I live, in the Binghamton, New York area.

Should I turn color like this?

Should I stay green?

Or, maybe I can do both.

Some trees..er, people, just can't make up their minds.  Not right away, anyway.  But Nature gets things done.  (Too bad, as many of us here would like this changing color season to last forever. Or, if it had to end, for Nature to skip right over winter and return to spring.)

So, if you find it hard to decide, you are in good company.

Learn the lessons of Nature.  Everything in its time, and a time for everything.  Express your true nature.  Be true to yourself.  In the end, you will accomplish your purpose.

Don't stress over the process.  Do you think a tree thinks about how it will turn color?  No.  It just does it, having faith that it will work out in the end.

It's Friday. Be happy.

What is making you happy today?

Better Knowledge through Advertising?

As someone who majored in cultural anthropology some 40 years ago while going to college in New York City, I have always been fascinated by methods used to get insights into culture.

One thing my anthropology professors taught me was to step outside my own culture, and try to look at is as an outsider might.  You can't study other cultures, after all, until you understand how your own culture works.

Have you ever wondered at these little parts of American culture?  These were questions posed to me as part of my study of anthropology, and some of them are as true now as they were in my New York City college 40 plus years ago:

-why do doctors in our country traditionally wear white coats?

-why do we prefer square or rectagular rooms to round rooms?

-why do things have to come in three?  We believe that deaths of famous people come in threes.  Our jokes may demand three people involved to make it "feel right". For example, there are many variations of the genie granting three wishes to someone type joke.  Or, the "three people walk into a ____" type joke.  Or, even three legged animal jokes.

(I'll stop at three questions.  Most of you will feel better if I do.)

One of the best ways to learn about culture is through advertising.  I've always enjoyed vintage ads, which combines the study of anthropology with the study of history.  I own some World War II magazines, and my favorite parts are the ads.  They reflect both history and culture.

If you want a fascinating glimpse into what we as a people were like just a few years ago, check out these vintage ads.  An innocent ad for a tie shows a historic role of men and women.  Another ad promotes a product bragging it makes people as fat as pigs.  And still another ad promotes television watching for children. (Warning, at least one of the other vintage ads shown is not what you would call G or PG).

There are some ads in there so offensive to our modern cultural training that I dare not even describe them, especially the one featuring the man trying to get a female employee to try a new postage machine. 

Makes you wonder about some of our modern ads and what they show about our culture.

What do you think today's ads will teach about our world to those of tomorrow?

Fall Fancies - What Season Is It Anyway?

Here in southern upstate New York, the weather says "summer" but the leaves say "fall".

Temperatures in the 70's F (low 20's Celsius) and lots of sunshine - not our typical fall weather.  I pinch myself almost daily, wondering when it will end.

We have had so much early color, I want to share it with you, my valued blog readers, as we begin a new month.  I welcome new readers from the couple of blog challenges I am in this month with a visual treat - I do this every Wednesday, reflecting something about the current season we are in.

This was taken Saturday, near Owego, New York.  The river is the Susquehanna. The trees are further along now.

Nothing says "fall" like bright yellow trees.

This neighborhood tree is "probably" a white ash.  I am not sure, nor is the woman I depend on for some tree and plant identification, the sister of a friend.

This is probably a type of dogwood - Cornus sericea, my friend's sister thinks.  I found this growing in Sapsucker Woods near Ithaca, which is a bird sanctuary run by Cornell University. 

Also at Sapsucker Woods, a beautiful sunny Saturday near a pond.

I can't say enough nice things about Sapsucker Woods, which is a bit more than an hour's drive from where I live.  There are many nature trails, most of them level and easy to walk (important to me, as my right knee isn't in the best shape). The visitors center is fantastic, and so is the birding.  When I go somewhere, the birds hide and mock me with their calls - saying, no doubt, stuff like "hidefromher! hide hide hide" in bird language.  And, best of all, it is free.

If you are a birder, Sapsucker Woods will be a place you can spend most of the day.

Upstate New York - so many people, when they think "New York State", think New York City.  New York City is just a small part of our beautiful state.

What kind of scenery do you have where you live?