We had a clear November 10 sky in the Southern Tier of New York.
Right now there isn't that much great foliage - trees are either kind of rusty brown or still green. It's so strange, having temperatures in the 50's (around 11 C) and so many trees still with leaves.
But we loved those blue skies. You can't see it but the sun angle was making the trees glow a little.
Joining Yogi and other sky watching bloggers for #SkywatchFriday.
This is the 11th day of the 11th month and, in the United States, we call this day Veterans Day. In other countries, it is called Remembrance Day.
I've written a number of posts about Veterans Day over the years. Here are some of them:
The 11th Hour of the 11th Day.
The War that Didn't End Anything
And, for my Canadian readers:
Repeating a previous post, though, doesn't seem to do the job this year. Afghanistan war veterans, especially, have found this year especially challenging. I used to work with two women whose sons went off to that war, and came back....changed.
There is also my link above titled "The 11th Hour of the 11th Day", about the father of a man my spouse (a non-combat vet) served with in the military and his/his father's PTSD burden.
In their honor, I want to link to a special report on TV the other night on a PTSD boot camp which has helped those who go through the program.
It's only been in recent years that the military has come to address PTSD more openly. Until recent years, a soldier just had to "suck it up", as the saying goes.
War is something you truly can't understand unless you've been through it, either as a civilian, or a soldier. I am fortunate enough not to be in either category.
I want to end this post with one of the several poems I really love, one that may be special to my Canadian readers, who call today Remembrance Day. Let us remember all those touched by wars.
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
In Flanders Fields, the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Leonard Cohen recites the poem here.
The poet, who fought in World War I, did not survive the war.
Will we ever have peace?
I know, fall extends to the third week of December, but our long, extended warm wave (with some cold inbetween) is ending.
We had our first frost November 5.
In the afternoon, we went out and saw one of the colorful trees. Overall, our fall foliage was below average, but still beautiful.
These are blackberry lily seed clusters from my flower bed, also taken November 5. Don't they look like blackberries?
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for #WordlessWednesday
If you are interested in history (and even if you're not), today is the 56th anniversary of the 1965 Northeast Blackout.
Going to the link above, which links to the New York (City) Daily News, I looked at some of the photos with great interest. My father, who was one of thousands who were stranded on the subway and waited on a long line to call home when he finally was able to get out, may have been in one of those photos.
Here's a nine minute peek into a totally different world...or, then again, maybe it's not that different after all. This is part of the broadcast of what would be called the NBC Nightly News now. It came on late (because it broadcast from Manhattan, normally, and that was an impossibility) and you'll see a broadcast done by candlelight.
Frank McGee, the anchor starting about three minutes into the broadcast, said something like "The power failure may indicate the nation's power supply is vulnerable..."
That was in 1965. Here we are, in 2021. Did we learn any lessons from 1965? Are we even more vulnerable now? My answers would be yes (but not enough, perhaps) and yes.
Back in 1965, the fear (per that broadcast) was nuclear attack. Today, we have so many more fears. Fear of hacking may be number one. But that's not the only fear. The electricity where my late mother in law lived seemed to go out for no reason at all. There was the massive power failure in Texas from the February 2021 storm.
Our infrastructure needs a lot of work.
More and more people find it necessary to purchase their own portable generator. Or even a whole house standby generator.
We didn't have the Internet in 1965. We didn't have cell phones in 1965. We didn't need broadband in 1965. In the next few years, more of us are going to have electric cars. If anything, we are more dependent on electricity than we were in 1965.
I am not a technology expert. But I can see where this all could be going.
It's a way different world from 1965.
Were you affected by a recent power failure? Or, have you lived through a major blackout or hack?
It's Monday and it's time for music!
Who are the Music Moves Me 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-meaning at least one music video, please!) First, there is XmasDolly. Her co-hosts are: Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, and me.
We'd
love more music lovers to join us. It's easy! All you have to do is
join the linky above with a music post that contains at least one music
video (there must be a music video). And that's it!
Each month we have a guest conductor. Today, for the month of November, we once more welcome Driller from Driller's Place.
Driller's theme for today is "In a couple of weeks I'll be celebrating my Diamond Jubilee (75th birthday). In honor of that occasion, build a playlist of artists born in November."
We'll start with a musician who passed away shortly before what would have been his 83rd birthday on November 2. Jay Black was the lead singer of Jay and the Americans. I'm picking his cover of "This Magic Moment", originally done by The Drifters in 1960.
The British singer Lulu's birthday is November 3. Let's celebrate her 73rd belated birthday with her hit "To Sir With Love". I chose a live version from 1981.
Ruby Starr, who was perhaps best known for her work with Black Oak Arkansas, died at the age of 45 from lung cancer in 1995. Here's a live performance covering "Maybe I'm Amazed."
Art Garfunkel, one half of Simon and Garfunkel, is also a November born musician who turned 80 last week. Here's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", possibly Garfunkel's signature song.
I'll wrap up with Aldo Nova, born November 13, 1956. His 1982 hit "Fantasy" is a song I love.
And that is a wrap.
Join us again next week, same time, same place, for more Music Moves Me!
When I woke up this morning, I had gained an hour, and lost an operating heating system.
So what do you do, besides calling a repairman?
You bundle up (easy when you live in a cold climate and have lots of sweaters on hand) and decide on something hot to make.
Apples came immediately to mind. When a local stand had closed up at the end of October, they had apples at half price, and we bought some.
Once you can enjoy the bounty of many varieties rarely found in supermarkets, you find out something completely different. Each apple has its own characteristics. Not only that, but it seems that new apple varieties come out every year.
Crispin.
Northern spy, my favorite for baking.
If you are getting ready to purchase apples, I recommend you pay attention to the various apple varieties available to you. Even in the supermarket, you should be able to find what you want.
This made me think of a recipe I seem to remember from the original 1972 Weight Watchers program and cookbook. (I should add, thank heavens for the changes made in the program since then!)
All you do is wash and core a couple of apples. Put in a pan, then pour some diet soda down the core holes. Bake at 350 or 375 degrees, depending on the apple size, for about 45 minutes. Having the oven on will help heat the kitchen area.
If you want some poetry to accompany your apples, I found a wonderful poem (thank you to this blogger) by the late Mary Oliver - just follow this link.
Here's a quick and easy applesauce - so easy that even I can make it.
That should warm us up some more.
When spouse or i make applesauce, we break all the rules - it's a wonderful way to use up excess apples (if I bought too many) no matter what type of apple it is.
Or apples you buy at half price.
Now excuse me, while I wait for the repairman.
I am in mourning today, for a town in Iowa I haven't been to in almost twenty years, for a high school that three of my first cousins went to, and for a teacher I never met.
Last night, we turned on the 6:30 pm national news and one of the headlines was about a murder in Iowa. When I saw a picture of a park entrance I knew exactly where it was.
My heart sank. I used to have family in that city of about 9,700 people. I lived there for a brief time and had walked in that park with my uncle several times, back in the 1970's.
A 66 year old Spanish teacher at the high school in Fairfield, Iowa, had been reported as missing on Wednesday morning. She had taught in that school since 2012. Her body was then found, later that day, in a local park where she loved to walk in the afternoons. Now, two high school students, both 16, are being charged in her death.
Apparently, they had discussed her murder on social media. They are being charged as adults.
A couple posts I've written about Fairfield.
Why I Didn't Become a Librarian
The Fairfield I remember was - how can I put it? Different? Original? I don't remember it as a place where you had to be afraid.
People think of Iowa as a flat place with miles of cornfields and nothing much. That's far from the truth, although there is lots of corn grown in Iowa and some parts are flat. But there are also a lot of surprises in Iowa. And, yes, hidden gems.
In our pandemic times, there is an upsurge of violence, including an upsurge of violence against teachers. So much doesn't get reported, but this tragedy made the national news.
Last night, there was a vigil for this teacher, with hundreds attending.
I can't bring myself to even start to understand.
Last Friday (October 29) spouse and I went down to Otsiningo Park, one of the local parks that had to close earlier in the week due to river flooding. You could call it a Skywatch Friday double header, because there was an abundance of water reflection photos and fall foliage photos, and the sky was not that grim gray that so many November days feature here in the Southern Tier of New York.
Well, part of the time the sky wasn't that grim gray. At this time of year, the sky can change totally within minutes. All of these pictures were taken within an hour of each other.
So I welcome you to sit back and enjoy.
Oh, that blue sky!
Reflections, and a handful of ducks on the far shore. That's a low spot, not a pond.
No one is sitting on the bench. I wonder why.
This is a pond, just a wee bit bigger than it normally is.
Ducks and more ducks.
Joining with Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.
And, for those in the United States with Daylight Saving Time, don't forget to turn your clocks back Sunday!
Twice a year, we do the time switch dance.
This is about the March switch but the Holderness family does a nice song about it. (Except, dear readers, it's Daylight Saving Time). This won an award for Best Use of a Recorder in a Song (umm, no, it didn't).Frankly, I'm tired of blogging about it. Here, you can read one of the many blog posts I have done on the topic.
Yes, it's time once again to have the debate. We who live in the United States get upset about it twice a year, except for those of us who live in Hawaii, or in those parts of Arizona not on the Navajo reservation.
It's time for "should we have daylight saving time" . Here are some of the pros and cons.
How many of us enjoy springing ahead an hour in spring, and then falling back an hour in fall?
And then we forget about it until it's time to switch again.
It makes me grouchy. It makes us all (I think) accident prone.
Apparently (sorry, Canadian readers) the Canadians implemented it first, the Germans made it popular, and someone from New Zealand invented it. A lot of countries (over 70 in 2021) use it, although the dates differ.
Although some 70% of Americans (according to a 2019 poll) oppose the practice, no one can seem to agree on exactly how it should end. We are split over year round daylight saving time or year round standard time. Or, should we go back a half hour so no one is happy?
I remember too well how, on January 6, 1974, we had Emergency Daylight Saving Time implemented. It was supposed to be for 16 months, due to the energy crisis. I don't have fond memories of stumbling to my 8am college class in the dark. Mercifully, the 16 month idea was scrapped.
Right now, in the United States, it is legal for a state to not implement Daylight Saving Time (which is why Hawaii and almost all of Arizona can do it), but that is the only deviation that is permitted.
So around and around we go. As the saying goes, where it stops, nobody knows. Florida has been trying for several years but their efforts are going nowhere.
Whatever happens, I hope I don't have to write too many more of these posts.
Outside, my flowers and tender plants, slept for one last night, even as the chill descended upon them.
There was no frost warning, as the weather bureau has decreed that the growing season is over. I don't understand their logic, but I do know this unusual warm spell is about to end. We'll most probably have our first frost early this morning, but by the time it's light enough to see, I'll be at work.
We may even have a hard freeze tonight.
It's going to be like someone flipped a switch here in the Northeast United States. Last week, warmest October on record. Today: winter begins.
So I said my goodbyes and and good nights to my flowers late yesterday.
Goodnight, golden pineapple sage, my last plant to bloom. I bought you an hour from where I live, and I will cherish the memory of finding you in an Ithaca, New York area greenhouse.
Goodnight, regular pineapple sage, also waiting until the last moments of good weather to bloom. These sages will both go with the frost.
My Alaska nasturtium, proud to the end.
Goodnight, geraniums (if we have the freeze tonight). You struggled through wetter weather than you like but hung on.
Goodnight, finally, to my obedient plant, which may hang on a few more days.
I'll miss you all. It's the price we pay for living in a four season climate. You'll live only in my dreams. It's going to be a long, hard slog until we see this kind of weather again in 2022. By then, every cell in my body will ache for the coming of spring.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
This is a nonpartisan post, and I approve this message.
There is something certain elements in our world are frightened by - their people expressing their free opinion Take this sticker, for example.
I wear this scary sticker proudly.
My message for today is "this may be an off year election for some, but all of us need to pay attention, and VOTE!".
I don't care what your political preferences
are, voting is both a privilege and a duty.
Where I live, a race for family court judge (yes, this is an elected position here in New York where I live) got the bulk of the attention until about two weeks ago. I never realized, until my spouse picked up a pamphlet at the local library explaining this year's ballot, that there were several amendments to our state constitution on the ballot. Not only that, but some impacted the right to vote. On my local ballot, those amendments were on the back.
Then, someone started to run ads pointing out these amendments and asking us to vote a certain way.
I ended up going to the local Board of Elections website to see a copy of the ballot, which is something I should have done to begin with.
This is the scary
part: How many people would have stayed home and not voted their opinion
of these amendments, except for some last minute partisan ads? Shame on me, too, for not educating myself until the day before I exercised my right to vote early. I would have voted anyway, but didn't realize how important this off year (for us) election was.
I take the right to vote seriously, for many reasons, including the fact that when my father was born, women still did not have the right to vote in New York State. My mother wasn't yet born when the first woman to be able to vote in my county voted.
Here is the first time I wrote a voting post on my blog.
I hope you voted this year. If voting was difficult for you (childcare, voting hours, illness, caring for elders, difficulty of some other kind) I salute you if you found a way. If you have stopped caring, though, that's another matter.
Our democracy is at a crossroads. Every vote counts. Every voter counts. If you are registered, I hope you will exercise that right today, if you haven't already.
Welcome!
It's Monday and it's time for music! It's time for Music Moves Me.
Who are the Music Moves Me 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-meaning at least one music video, please!) First, there is XmasDolly. Her co-hosts are: Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, and me.
We'd love more music lovers to join us. It's easy! All you have to do is join the linky above with a music post that contains at least one music video (there must be a music video). And that's it!
Cathy is requesting volunteers for to take on the one month in 2022 (except for January, March and December, which are already taken). If you want to pick themes for a month in 2022, please email Cathy at (substitute @ for the "at" and take out the spaces) cathy at curiousasacathy.com.
It's not as much work as you think! Two Mondays are "you pick" so you only have to pick two (or three, if there are five Mondays in the month) themes. If you don't want to take on an entire month, she would appreciate suggestions for even one theme, too. And just think of how nice it will be when you see people working on your ideas, and what they come up with.
Each month we have a guest conductor. Today, for the month of November, we welcome Driller from Driller's Place.
Driller's theme for today is "You Pick". I'm picking songs that move me in some way.
My first song is by the band Boston. This group came out of nowhere. We were introduced to them by a man who served with my spouse, who was then in the military. It was the same man who introduced us to Van Halen.
Boston is a band I loved, and I wish they could have made more albums than they did. They had an interesting, if complex, history. From their first album, I'm going to pick "Foreplay/Long Time".
"How Did You Love", from Shinedown is, I think, one of the best songs of the last five years. It encourages us to think of our mortality and how we've lived our lives.
"Let It Be" from the Beatles.
I was going to end this set with "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon and Garfunkel. I can't explain what this song does to me; it just hits me on some kind of emotional level that few songs do. Except, perhaps some other Simon and Garfunkel songs.
So why not end with another Simon and Garfunkel song? "So Long Frank Lloyd Wright". The song is really about Art Garfunkel, who had studied to become an architect before he reached musical fame with Paul Simon.
And that is a wrap!
Join me again next week, same time, same place, for another episode of "Music Moves Me"!
Today is Halloween, and I invited my readers to vote on what type of post I would have today. Scary or nice?
America (well, my regular readers) has voted.
The votes were: one scary, one nice, one "either, but with pictures" and I think the others were OK either way.
So, how about a little of both, but more on the nice side?
Today, I have some leftover scarecrow photos from our area's recent sixth annual Scarecrow contest in our Otsiningo Park, so how about I go with them?
This year's contest attracted 45 participants (a record) and gathered some 4,000 votes for the best scarecrow display.
Would you believe I've never read "Alice in Wonderland"?
"Johnny Win This Time".
Hurray for our Extension service.
Now (because I couldn't resist), a touch of the scary with a little fall foliage thrown in.
This entry reminds us of real life, unfortunately.
"I Can Be Changed by What Happens to Me" - Lourdes ACE program. The pumpkin figure, I think, is an angel. At the time I took this picture I didn't know about the program this is honoring. ACE stands for "Adverse Childhood Experiences". It's open (and the program is free) to both children and adults who have experienced trauma/abuse/violence. They receive help from counselors and social workers.
I hope you enjoyed my several scarecrow posts.
Halloween can be spooky, but real life can be downright scary. In fact, I'm still a little undecided on if I should be giving out candy this Halloween. We didn't last year. We bought some this year, but I'm undecided for various reasons.
I'm hoping that by next year, it won't be a scary decision.
Boo! One more day to Halloween (if this is a holiday you participate in).
I've devoted a couple of posts to our county's sixth annual scarecrow contest, held in a popular county park each October. Many of the entries come from non profits, and others from individuals. It's become a fun event.
Several posts from past contests
Yesterday, the winners of the 2021 contest were announced Some of these were included in the previous posts. One I had never taken pictures of, for some reason.
Fifth Place: Girl Scout Selling Cookies, by Girl Scout Troop 60281. I hadn't taken a picture of it until yesterday, so is weatherbeaten. My apologies.
Fourth Place: Opt to Adopt by Lindsey. That one I never took a picture of.
Third Place Akeldama Field of Blood by USS Niagara NCC-75634 (a chapter of STARFLEET, the international Star Trek Fan Association). Akeldama itself has a fascinating biblical history in the traditions of both Jews and Christians.
Second Place - Spread Kindness Like Confetti by Riverside Art Program and Broome Development. What an important lesson this teaches us.
And the winner - Carrie, Carly, and Patty- “BOO!”.
Congratulations go to all participants.
Tomorrow, we close our doors on October. Should I come up with a scary post? Or a nice one?
Maybe I'll let my readers decide.
You can vote in the comments: Scary? Or nice?
If you read my blog post from yesterday, you'll know that our area of upstate New York, along with so many others, were hit by rain (after a record rainfall year) Tuesday, and the rivers had finally had enough. Two of the local parks where I walk closed.
Wednesday morning, the sky looked fierce.
But I stood at the entrance of one of the parks later that day, behind the barriers. I took this picture about 3pm, after the sun finally came out. It looks so peaceful, but that water was covering most of the park.
By yesterday afternoon the park had reopened as the water had mostly receded. We took a short walk and I took this reflection photo. My shadow is on the right side of the photo.
Golden light reflecting on water during the golden hour yesterday.
Joining Skyley and other sky watching bloggers for #SkywatchFriday.
Every second and fourth Thursday of the month, Parul at Happiness and Food hosts a meme called "Thursday Tree Love". A number of her readers live in climes where there is no snow, or, for that matter, trees that turn colors in the fall. They look to bloggers like me to provide pictures of trees.
However, I have something more to offer my readers today. Today, Parul is encouraging us to show a slice of our life.
On Tuesday, our area of the United States experienced a heavy rainfall, on top of an already record (I think) year of rain. Fortunately, because last year was not overly wet, our two area rivers had capacity to absorb the rainfall. That is, up to now.
But, we are at the time of year now where trees are preparing for their winter hibernation and aren't taking up water the way they do when they are actively growing.
The rivers can't hold the water anymore. Various areas in our county are starting to flood, just as the trees are finally turning color.
Parts of our area are prone to flooding, historically.
The two parks we go to for walking are both flooded. Here's one of them. The water you see in this first picture is not normal. The Susquehanna River is out of its banks. To the left, you see a walking path that ends abruptly.
These two pictures were taken yesterday at one of those parks, showing both flooding and fall foliage. The river is out of its bank a lot more than it seems - here, it is up against a nearby flood wall. (How did we get the pictures? By standing on the flood wall that borders the park. Safety first.)
Here's one more picture, taken yesterday at the Vestal Rail Trail, which (mostly) is not prone to flooding. (2011 was an exception).
We had two bad floods, one in 2006 and one in 2011. If you go to my blog posts of September, 2011, you can read about it. Floods nowadays are a lot worse. We've been spared (so far).
Climate change is speaking to us once again.
Will we listen?
Tomorrow, more flood related pictures as part of Skywatch Friday.
I was planning another installment of the 2021 Scarecrow Contest our county held earlier this month (now closed), but I'm going to save it for another day because Nature had something even more scary in store.
Flash floods.
As of right now, our neighborhood isn't threatened by the rains we received yesterday. But, heavy rains always bring me back to two neighborhood floods - one in 2006 and the other in 2011. I don't know yet what I'm waking up to this morning. If it isn't us, it's a different neighborhood.
We've had such a wet summer and fall and we've been under several flash flood watches already. Yesterday, our county was put under a state of emergency. As of last night, we were under a flash flood warning.
After my workday ended, spouse and I went down to a small park that fronts a creek as it flows into the Susquehanna River.
You can see the rapidly moving river, all muddy, with debris floating down the river. What you see as "lines" in the river are trees or pieces of trees.
It's misty which is why you can't see the sky.
Let's leave the park for now, and move on to our local scarecrow contest. Here are more contestants. This one is called the Harvest Goddness (that's the spelling on the contest website, anyway).
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
The winner will be announced October 29.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
