Summer Marches Out- Garden Bloggers Bloom Day September 2019

On this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, September 2019 edition, fall is closing in on the Northern Hemisphere.

Trees are starting to turn color where I live in zone 5b in the Southern Tier of New York State.  Summer is marching out, although the weather is still warm.  We've had a chill in the air at times.

One day, perhaps in February, I will look at this post and wonder, did summer every happen?  And will it ever return?

My flower gardens still have plenty to look at.

Starting with several collages.  First, nasturtium.

My cosmos garden amazed me - I have pink ones but no white ones but look what I found yesterday (on the left).

Asters.

Lantana.

I still have two varieties of yellow daylily.  I think I am setting a record for my garden here.

Nothing says fall like asters, and I have a wild aster plant (gift from a nursery specializing in native plants in Ithaca, New York) in my back yard.

Sedum is coloring up nice.

Turtlehead, a cultivated wild plant found in this area, is still blooming.

My two marigolds (yes, the one on the left is white).

Ageratum.

Begonia.

Garlic chives with a bee.

Some more collages. Geraniums...

Zinnias from our community garden (for some reason, we have trouble growing them at our house.)

The first Japanese anemone decided to open this morning, just in time for GBBD.

Last but not least, my indoor flowers - African Violets and moth orchids.

For me, the first frost breaks my heart, because I know the growing season is over.  But one day, I know it will return.  Hopefully we won't get the first frost before October 15. 

Join the garden fairies who live at Carol of May Dream Gardens and gardeners all over the world for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day each 15th of the month.

Not So Local Saturday - Presidential Butterflies

September 11, 2019, at the Sarah Roosevelt garden on the estate in Hyde Park, New York where President Franklin Roosevelt grew up and spent part of his adult life.

Walking through the garden, I saw monarchs on the zinnias, perhaps getting ready to migrate to Mexico.  It's another sign that fall is coming soon.

And then there was this butterfly whose name I forget (and I know someone will remind me) nearby.

While we as a country grieved, nature went on doing what it does every day.  The cares of a butterfly are not our cares.

And they sure are beautiful to watch.

Are You Prepared?

Are you ready for a natural disaster?  Or your death?
You've drawn up your will, made your wishes known to family.

But, have you thought about your pets?

They are part of your family.  They deserve and have earned your care even after your death.  Or after a natural disaster.

We in the Southern Tier of upstate NY learned this the hard way last September.

A local pet shop (I will not mention their name within this post, but it is part of a chain) flooded in our September 8, 2011 floods in Johnson City caused by Tropical Storm Lee.  The site had flooded at least once, before the shop opened.  The owners of the chain would have had access to this knowledge.

I will not get into the controversy over who was responsible - the village of Johnson City, management....but the sad and sorry fact was that some 100 animals died in the flooded store, scared and alone, because they were not evacuated.  Another 100 or so animals were saved and brought to a location about an hour away.

In all these months of me blogging about the flood recovery, I have never spoken until now about the Pet Shop of Death.  But I can tell you that in the days and weeks after the flood, so many people discussed, debated, cared about what had happened in that store on Harry L. Drive.  In the swirl of people dealing with flooded basements and homes, not having clean water to drink or a place to wash their clothes, finding the roads they normally used closed and damaged, coping with their displacement or the displacement of their workplaces, and everything else that accompanies this type of disaster, people cared about those animals.

It hurt.  It still hurts.

Or, as tragically happened to a relative - she lived alone, and died instantly in a car accident.  She had two cats, both rescue cats.  She volunteered time in an animal shelter.  She had a will.  But she had not made a provision for her cats. This can happen, too.

So, I would like to ask each of my readers this question, because a weather disaster can happen anywhere, at any time.

-Have you thought about, if there is a disaster, who will care for your pets?  Your chosen people might not be able to when that day comes, but at least you have tried.

-Have you made it known, if you live alone and pass away suddenly, who will take in and care for your pets?  Not just hoped, but spoken to the person(s) and gotten their agreement?

If you haven't, please do so today.  Or, at the latest, tomorrow.  Your pets love you, look to you, depend on you.  Don't let them down.

I was petless during the flood, and am still petless.  But this may change in the future, and I will make these arrangements before ever being honored by the company of a pet, ever again. 

Skies on the Bridge #SkywatchFriday

Today is Friday the 13th, but it is also your lucky day.

You are about to see some sky pictures I took on Sunday while attending the Blues on the Bridge festival in Binghamton, New York.

Puffy clouds are coming our way.

Near Confluence Park where two rivers, the Susquehanna and the Chenango, meet.  Note the reflections in the left part of the little waterfall.

Doesn't the river look peaceful?

The river is pretty low, too.  The day I took these pictures was the eighth anniversary of our floods of September 8, 2011.  You wouldn't have been allowed to take a picture at the same site.

Speaking of that flood, perhaps living at this corner isn't the best idea.

And finally, a lamppost.

Join Yogi and the other skywatchers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

The Portrait #ThursdayTreeLove

I had a lot of choices for Thursday Tree Love today. I am choosing a memory from this June, when we visited various gardens on a garden tour in Maine, New York.

This tree fascinated me.

Another view (a portrait of the tree is leaning up against it!)

And a close up.

I have no idea what type of tree it is, but I don't think I've ever met a tree with its own portrait.

Join Parul and other bloggers for #ThursdayTreeLove each second and fourth Thursday.

September 11, 2019 #WordlessWednesday

Eighteen years ago today, starting at 8:46 AM on a beautiful near-fall morning in New York City, Northern Virginia and rural Pennsylvania,our world changed forever.

I took these pictures last December at the Brooklyn Tribute Walk at Coney Island.  I walked this path with my spouse and a woman (my cousin) who lost her next door neighbor.  Her husband lost his best friend, who worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.  Many firemen and policemen live in her neighborhood.  Not all of them came home.

An inlaw worked at a suburban New York City newspaper, and remembers the almost empty roads as she drove home that night, passing commuter lots filled with cars that should not have been full.

Wall of Remembrance at Coney Island.

I remember that day.

Christian Regenhard went to my high school.  He was the youngest firefighter to die on 9/11.  He served on Ladder 131, Red Hook (Brooklyn).

Today, I will pause to remember them all, the first responders, a co worker's son who worked in the North Tower, the alumni of my high school who died, and all those who never came home.  And the children, including Gabriel Dick (born to an alumnus who died on 9/11) who never knew their mothers or fathers.

May the innocents who died that day rest in peace.
 
Joining Esha and Natasha for #Wordless Wednesday.

Will They Remember?

Tomorrow is September 11.

In the United States, that means an anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which changed all of our lives.  We live with the fallout (in some cases, literal) every day of our lives.

Several years ago, in 2012 and updated later, I wrote a post "One Day We Will Forget".

In that post, I said this:

"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 (although he was no longer with us on that day.)  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.  Other people I know lost loved ones.  11 people who went to my high school died that day.  Two of them left pregnant spouses."

Today and tomorrow, I will think of 9/11, but I ask you to consider this:

Tomorrow, all of the children born on September 11, 2001 will turn 18.  In the state of New York, where I live, and where most of the deaths took place, that means they enter adulthood.

In the next nine months, children will turn 18 who have lived their entire lives, every moment, in a post - 9/11 world.

What will they think of what we have made this world into?

And oh yes, as they turn 18 they gain the right to vote.

Will they use that right?  I wonder.

I ended my post with this:

"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. Keep in mind that the children born on September 11, 2001, will turn 18 on September 11, 2019, and will be granted the right to vote.

I hope they will use that power of the vote well."

Working Songs - #MusicMovesMe

t's Monday and it's time for #MusicMovesMe.  

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only on this music train, please!)   First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-hostess is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-hostesses are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me. 

For the month of September our guest hostess is Mary of Jingle Jangle Jungle. 

For today Mary has chosen as the theme "You Pick".

Last week I got a complaint that my selection of music to spell out LABOR DAY didn't really include music about working, and this faithful reader was right - the theme was to have songs whose first letters, put together, spelled out LABOR DAY. Unfortunately, most songs about laboring begin with the letter W.

Like Devo's Working in a Coal Mine.

There's "S", as in Sixteen Tons, a song from 1946 that, covered in 1955 by Tennessee Ernie Ford, became a hit.

Or "F", as in a favorite song from my early ten years, the Vogues and "Five O'Clock World".  I had the chance to see The Vogues several years ago but never made it there.  Sigh....

And what doesn't the working person have enough of?  "Money, Money, Money" by ABBA, that's what.

I'll wrap this up with Harry Belafonte's 1956 cover of the folk classic "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" which, come to think of it, I could have used last week.  Oh well!

So, faithful reader - did I make it up to you?

And it's a musical wrap!  Next week, same time, same place - more music!

P.S. I may be late in visiting your musical blog this week but I will get there eventually - promise.

Blues on the Bridge 2019

Come with me on a brief visit to a music festival in downtown Binghamton, New York today.

The festival used to be held on this historic bridge, but outgrew it years ago.  It's still held on a nearby bridge.

Let's take a walk over the bridge, which spans the Susquehanna River.  Here, you can see still another bridge.  Two rivers run through Binghamton, the Susquehanna and the Chenango.

Before we get to the festival, let's visit a native pollinator garden planted by the Sierra Club.

Here's the bridge the festival is held on now.

And now, we're here.

What a beautiful day for a music festival this was.  The music ranges from blues, to classic rock, to Southern rock, to hard rock.

Nothing free is free.  This year, I got to meet the festival organizer, Tom Darpino.  We ended up buying three T-shirts and when he saw that, and the T-shirts spouse and I were wearing from previous Blues we have attended, he was so happy.  He explained he only gets about $2.75 out of each T-Shirt sale.  Free really isn't free, and I'm happy to say the T-shirt tent was busy all afternoon. (There is also a lot of support from local businesses.

So hard to think that in another month, the leaves will be falling and it may not be so pleasant outside.  But so it goes.

Do you have any free music festivals where you live?

Sobering Thoughts

Sometimes, it seems there is no time to appreciate what is around me.

The variegated lantana blooms.

I don't have enough time to appreciate my flowering basil...

No time to make the potpourri I planned to make

Or to watch this little drama on a basil leaf.

Thinking today of the Bahamas, Northern California, the Carolinas, and Nova Scotia, all sharing the wrath of Hurricane Dorian.  They don't have any time, either, because they are trying to survive.

I shouldn't complain so much.

I did find this article in Forbes magazine interesting - what we can do to help the Bahamas.  One of those things is to visit one of the islands that was not hit by Dorian, given that the Bahamas depend so much on tourism. (Note, I have not verified any of the charities listed at the end of the article.

As always, watch out for scams.

Tomorrow is the seventh anniversary of floods that hit my neighborhood and other neighborhoods in the Southern Tier of New York. 

It's sobering to think of the forces of nature, and more sobering to think that our changing climate has become a political fighting ground.

Meanwhile, thousands suffer.

LUMA Skies - #SkywatchFriday

What's a LUMA sky?

Tonight begins the two day/night festival of LUMA, held the first Friday and the following day in the small upstate New York city of Binghamton, population about 45,000.

The first year it was held, they expected about 3,000. people.  Between 20,000 and 30,000 (I would well believe the 30,000 - I was one of them) people showed up.

You can see various You Tube videos of previous installations, including on my blog post yesterday, but there is nothing like being there.

But that's not what I want to blog about today, because we are supposed to watch the sky.

We've had varying skies in the last couple of days, as LUMA started to set up. The buildings with white over their windows are the buildings where the installations will be projected.   The objects under tarp are the projectors.  Lots of road closings.

 This was our library years ago.  It is being renovated into a culinary arts college center for the local community college.

Stormy skies filled Binghamton on September 4.

The tall red building used to house the Binghamton Press newspaper, then offices until an extensive fire around 2010.  Now it's student housing.

Taken on a foggy morning, this used to be a bank and then it was a restaurant.

The old City Hall, which became a hotel.

Projectors for the big event.

And a reflection.

Join Yogi and the other bloggers of #SkywatchFriday each Friday to see what is happening all over the world.

LUMA 2019

Its name is LUMA (or, the LUMA Projection Arts festival and it's the festival that may put Binghamton on the map of art events that attract people from all over the world.

Both my link above and this video (and the one below) may give you a taste of what is in store for those who attend.   LUMA is the outgrowth of something that happened in the small upstate New York city of Binghamton, New York in 2015. 

Artistss envisioned a festival and hoped 3,000 people would show up.

Instead, between 20,000 and 30,000 people (including spouse and I) came.  No one was expecting the crowds but we waited patiently for the show to begin.  The projections held just enough promise for a sequel.  Each year, it gets better.

Quoting from their website:
" Using powerful projectors and 3D animation, we create the illusion that enormous structures are transforming as if by magic. City hall turns into a gingerbread house. The courthouse becomes Stonehenge. The light overpowers the surface and the effect seems real."

This is what the festival has grown into.  Most of the events are outdoors and free (funded by corporate sponsors now, and a kickstarter).  A couple are paid and you have to buy tickets.  It's a two day festival now - September 6 and 7th this year.

The top video is projections from 2018 onto the old First National Bank building.

The second, the Broome County courthouse.

LUMA isn't a joy to everyone.  It runs from around 9pm to midnight on the first Friday and Saturday night of Binghamton and it is very, very crowded - very noisy and full of the type of  noise that (I read this in an op ed written by a war veteran in our local paper)can terrify war vets suffering from PTSD.  Some are so bothered that they find it necessary to relocate during the festival, and these people are far from wealthy.)

But, I am fortunate enough to be able to enjoy it.  The art and storytelling are wonderful.  If you enjoy a venue like this, I suggest you block out your calendar and visit Binghamton, New York next September.

Will I go this year? (I skipped last year as I had hurt my back the night before and didn't want to try to maneuver through throngs of people in the dark)   If I do, I'll blog about it.

Tomorrow, though, is Skywatch Friday, and I'll be watching the natural skies.

The Onset of Fall

The calendar may say "September 4" but nature (and florists) are saying "fall".

A hurricane, a monster storm that tore up Bermuda, is threatening the Southeast coast of the United States.

Meanwhile, in upstate, New York, fall is coming.

Asters in my yard (purchased from a wildflower nursery).

Turtlehead (a wildflower that has been cultivated) in my yard  The bees love them, but I guess they had decided it was too late in the day when I took this picture.

Finally, a fall display where I work in downtown Binghamton, New York.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Binghamton, preparations are being made for our major fall...I mean late summer...festival, LUMA.

But we are thinking of our fellow citizens down south, and the dangers they are facing.

Climate change has arrived.

Thoughts on Aging and a Dump Cake

I guess it comes with age.

Either spouse or I have had three phone conversations in the past week with senior relatives or friends.  And everyone is struggling: struggling with health issues, or struggling with caregiving issues, or both.  One, in her 80's, recently was hospitalized with pneumonia.  Another has been trying to provide day care for grandchildren while trying to be a caregiver for someone who recently had to be put into a nursing home.  Another, a world traveler, can no longer travel due to her health issues.

These stories make me count my blessings, but it also wonders what my senior years will turn into.

At least yesterday, for Labor Day, I was able to spend some time with my son and one of his friends, someone I've known for years.  For dessert, I made a dump cake.

Dump cakes are well named - you take the ingredients, dump them (one by one) into a pan, add a liquid and bake.  So, I decided to make one, with Cheerwine (a nonalcoholic cherry soda beloved in parts of the Southern United States), blueberries we had picked during the picking season in August, and a new flavor of cake mix I had never seen before in the stores - strawberry.

There was a time when I would never have come within a mile of a cake mix. Only scratch for me, thank you. And I would have turned my nose up at the thought of RV camping.  Now, I use cake mixes 95% of the time, and I am seriously thinking of buying an RV.  Aging did that to me - it made me realize my limitations, made me treasure time that is left, and it also sharpened my sweet tooth (making weight loss a necessity).

So, the dump cake is a simple one, because I am on Weight Watchers and I have to remain at my goal weight (well, within a narrow range).  Cut up fruit is a great dessert but sometimes you just want more.

I dumped 2 1/2 cups blueberries into a 9 x 13 pan, dumped the cake mix ovre the blueberries and poured a can of diet Cheerwine over all, baked for about 50 min at 350 degrees, and served it to end our Labor Day cookout of hamburgers, a point free variation of cowboy caviar and an ear of corn.  My son and his friends both enjoyed it.  The strawberry cake mix was so delicious (and no, I am not receiving any compensation for this shoutout.)

Today I am back to work, looking forward to a interesting September.  Do I fear the future?  Perhaps a little, but I also want to enjoy life as long as I can.

Laboring on Labor Day #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for #MusicMovesMe.  

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only on this music train, please!)   First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-hostess is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-hostesses are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me. 

For the month of September our guest hostess is Mary of Jingle Jangle Jungle.  Give her a hand!

For today Mary has chosen " In honor of Labor Day, build a playlist to spell ‘LABOR DAY'.



I tried to find songs that had working as a theme, but so many of them start with "W" that I gave up, although a couple of these are work related  - sort of.  And, again, I had trouble with the playlist.  To play it, click on the three bars at the upper right.

L is for Livin' for the Weekend  - The O'Jays

A is for A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

B is for Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel

O is for One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head.  It's 80's, baby!

R is for Radioactive by Kraftwerk.  Kraftwerk may not be everyone's cup of tea (or coffee) but I happen to like several of their songs.

D is for Diamond Eyes, by one of my favorite modern groups, Shinedown.  In finding the video, I discovered that many cancer patients use the song as their "fighting song" to encourage them during treatment.

A is for Another Brick in the Wall Parts 1, 2 and 3 by Pink Floyd.  This is a long one so you are excused if you leave early.

Y (last but not least)  is for You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by The Righteous Brothers.

And...it's a wrap!

Come back again next week, same time same place!

Rock and Roar and Renew

Normally, near my home in the village of Johnson City, New York, we would have been in the midst of its traditional Johnson City Field Days and tomorrow would have been the traditional Labor Day fireworks, to celebrate the end of its annual Field Days. 

Ironic in a way, as back in 2000, Johnson City voted on whether to dissolve (it didn't).  In 2011, right after that year's Field Days, floods came to the site of the Field Days and my neighborhood, among others.  We lived through it and, in a way, we had a new beginning.

In 2011 the action was on the Gulf Coast, as Hurricane Lee made landfall on the Louisiana coast.

But this year, the Field Days were discontinued.

Now, the action is in the Bahamas, with Hurricane Dorian, a catagory 5, bearing down on Florida - or maybe Georgia or maybe South Carolina.  Or maybe all three. It's a killer storm, and will probably be one of the worst on recent record.

Meanwhile, in nearby Binghamton,New York, the Ross Park Zoo (one of the oldest in the United States) held its fourth Rock and Roar Music Festival, and I'd like to bring you some of it.

We listened to a group called Triple Down.  Here's a couple of short clips from their performance.

This is a local jazz and funk group.

Unfortunately,  I only recognized one of their covers, which was an instrumental called "Green Onions" (I didn't video it.)

My iPhone is low on space so I have to delete a lot of stuff, else I won't be able to download the next operating system. 

It's nice to have new traditions, even as the old ones disappear.  Another new beginning for what hopefully will be a new cherished tradition.

Next Sunday is another cherished music tradition in Binghamton - Blues on the Bridge.  Hopefully I'll be able to bring you some of that.

Tomorrow is Music Moves Me, and a Labor Day post.