How I spent my summer vacation

One week from today I will be at work, pumped up and energetic! I’ll be in ELA with the new group of tiny 6th graders, they’re always so little at first. I’ll be longing for this morning, the sun shining, the air sweet, the coffee hot, and me just lounging about in my pajamas. But it will be over again, as it always is, and fall will start to remind us that it has to take its turn in the seasonal dance (seasonal dance? That’s the “metaphor” you were able to come up with? Seriously lame-o and cliché)!!!

So what did I accomplish this summer?

I began summer by heading to the homeland for cousin Dana's birthday. She got a kayak! Birthday presents should be healthy!



As for me? I didn't get a kayak, didn't hike, run, swim, boat, get physical much at all! :( I did manage to not drink a whole lot. There were several completely dry weeks and that felt good, not to mention that my face looked much healthier. I did not, however, work out! Dear god, the old middle aged woman is coming out, and I don’t like her. I keep hearing about the 30 Day Shred. I think I just might have to buy it!

I ate well, mostly vegetarian with the occasional meat. I think that is best for me. I am a true omnivore who likes to mix it up. I am trying to only have meat twice a week, and fish twice, and then on the other days just vegetarian. I became enamoured by the fantastic creations offered in a bento box and am determined to pack bento at least once a week this year.

Which segues into my garden which wasn’t all that exciting. This year I tried my hand at beets. I ate one of them because, unlike potatoes, that is all you get at the end of the leafy mass. I planted some sweet peppers, but they yielded about 4 little bells and a lot of blossoms that are there now in late summer. Umm, excuse me little pepper, but you’re not going to make it before the frost. I also planted some zucchini, but clearly some rodent finds the blossoms delicious. I did get to eat one of them, and yes, it was delicious. (The zucchini, not the blossom). This year I bought tomatoes at the Cornell Cooperative Extension plant sale. At first they were scrawny and deficient, but they caught up. I just plant the cherry kind so I can eat them right off the vine. I had two plants of regular sized tomatoes; they did well.



For the flowers this year it was a good year! The demon rose bloomed healthy and pink! Her little demon child also bloomed and continues to grow at insane rates. Old Rugosa from my mom’s yard made tons of flowers and even blossomed a golden rod plant that normally wouldn’t be growing in Albany. And then there is yellow rose! She was the last of her kind (not really, I’m being dramatic) when I got her tiny 2 foot stalk from my mom’s. she was the offspring of a larger flourishing plant that came from an abandoned lot in the state lands. It’s good to have her present, she’s like a piece of the homeland. I also have two beautiful rose of Sharon bushes that continue to mature and fill out. My lawn never dried out thanks to too much rain in August.



All this garden talk is fine, but the glory this year goes to “Peachy”. My three year old peach tree from Fix Brothers yielded about 3 dozen peaches this summer! They were untreated with chemicals; so some of them had little spots and such, but they were delicious! I was able to make a peach crisp with them and the others I just ate daily for two weeks.



Ellie, lil M and myself went to Fix Brothers to pick peaches. That was on August 12th. Their season had begun the week before, and when we got there it was obvious that the peaches were starting to go past, but we still found plenty. I put 12 containers up in the freezer, and made 2 more crisps! YUMMY!



Travel this year included three times in Massachusetts: Springfield for the Basketball Hall of Fame, Lenox to meet an online friend, and Wahconah Falls in Dalton with Christine, Jahkeem and lil M. I had a fantastic trip to the Great Escape with the Dornburgh family! It was pouring all morning! We got there at 10 AM and the rain stopped, but an hour later the sun was shining, but the weather had scared people off, so we had almost no wait time in the lines! Best ride? The water ride the tornado!!!! Second best? The Sasquatch!



Wow! Finally, the biggest trip this year was flying to Chicago and doing the touristy thing there.

Oh, and we had a hurricane! Being north and inland hurricanes usually mean lots of rain, but this time Irene made landfall in the north. She was a tropical storm of 60 mph winds when she hit NYC and continued north bound. That Sunday was very windy, sheets of rain, etc...! It caused massive creek and river sweeling and flooding. Peaceful Wahconah Falls, four days before Hurricane Irene!



A link to a you tube video of the falls after what became Tropical Storm Irene!

One highlight of my summer was watching lil M every Friday. I looked forward to it and planned out what we’d do each day that would be special. We managed to get to the Lincoln Park pool where she swam like a fish and we laid in the sun on a hot July day! That day was the first time I’d gotten an ice cream from an ice cream truck! We also went on another day to the free State Museum and rode the carousal twice!



But there was no child of my own, and honestly, I’m not lying when I tell you it’s okay. Patience is a big part of the process. It seems that many children are just being cared for in families and not by agencies. There just weren’t new children coming into care. The right thing will happen, of that I am sure. Yesterday I was playing at a park with a 5 year old boy (this story could get really long, so I will condense it) who was all rough around the edges. One minute he was calling the little girls bitches and the next he’d ask me to tie his shoe. He was so trusting and so vulnerable. I wondered where he came from because I saw no parent! Imagine letting your 5 year old walk down the street to a park ALONE! Eventually there was a “dad” (and I use this term lightly) sitting on a picnic table. You’d think he’d come talk to me since I (a complete stranger) was playing soccer with his kid! He didn’t. The point of this tale is that I realized that 5 year olds are still so little and sweet and just want to do right and be cared for. When the boy had called the girls bitches they were really letting him have it. I told him: “You won’t have any friends if you call them names”. He quickly apologized to them. It’s sad though, because where he is now, you know how his story ends.

In my creative life I managed to blog more this summer! Yay! I also completed my story “Acts of Sedition” which I had begun in 2009 and abandoned. So it felt good giving it closure. I still need to scan more photos to archive them digitally. I still need to figure out if this printer is at all usable with my new lap top (yeh, bought a new Toshiba laptop last week), I still need...to do a lot! LOL! That’s the fall list right?

What I did learn was more time management. I worked hard to keep up with house work, made sure al my closets were neat and organized, took old stuff to the Salvation Army, recycled my first computer and printer, organized paperwork and computer files. But there is more to be done.

And that’s my summer!

Computers!

"When I buy a computer, I'm going to get a Mac." Me, 1991.

Guess what? I never did. Seems computer usage wasn't absolute in the early 1990's and my little Brother word processor was adequate to get me through graduate school (1993-1996). I'm pretty sure that we did not have any version of the internet in 1991. Never really thought about it until 1997 or so when I first saw it on my sister-in-law's TV. What was it? WebTV. An interface that allowed users to explore the internet on their TV's. Seemed cool! It appeared around the same time at work, suddenly seeming like the most practical thing ever, but with a screen with a million things on it at once!

So by the time my work place had computers they were rocking to Gateway running early Windows systems. So what happened to the Mac?

Frankly, if you asked me this question in 2001 I would have speculated : "Did they go out of business?" They just simply weren't there at that time. There wasn't a presence that allows you to remember that they are out there. What was there was in 2000 was this great deal that People PC offered for dial up system and a HP desktop. So in 2000 I got the HP computer and went online. Been there happily ever since. On the internet, not the dial up! LOL!

So what happened to Mac? Slowly I became cognizant that they had not disappeared at all, but had grown and chnged over time. By the aughts the Apple company had expanded to include laptops and this new fantastic gadget called the iPod.

The iPod finally caught my attention and let me know that the company that created the Macintosh computer that I so adored in my junior and senior year of college still was in existance and was florishing. Oh the iPod! What a concept, every song you own in one tiny little device! I bought my first in 2006; my second in 2010.

But to buy a Macintosh? 20 years later, the question resurfaces because my current desktop (my second, an HP Pavilion purchased in 2005 and running windows XP) is slowing down and my laptop, an rather deficient example of the horror that was Windows Vista: A compaq purchased in 2006, is totally spazzing out!!! I want to replace both, but am trying to decide which is more important to me and which I will be most likely to be using in 5 years. So many questions.

What does it all mean? The Mac is over priced without ever guarenteeing that it won't spazz out. The Mac will not allow me to use HDMI with my TV (a number one priority of the new laptop I want to buy), and I just don't know how compatible it will be overall.

:( Sorry Mac! You were once the golden child (I remember the Mac labs of the schools I once substituted at....so shiny), but now you have lots of pretty competition.

Yes, I love my iPods, but they work just great with my PC. So Mac, unless I win the lottery and find a buring urge to purchase your over priced system, I guess it'll be me and the PC's.

pss.....ended up buying a Toshiba Satellite laptop with plenty of bells and whistles. 3 months in and i love it!

Cooking with Pearl

I had an old post called "Cooking with Rosalie" in which I thought of my maternal grandmothers as I cooked latkes. Today, I was using apples from a tree my grandmother Pearl planted about 70 years ago. The tree sits on my mom's front lawn, and with rare exception has had many bountiful seasons. The tree continues to grow, it's branches become thicker and covered with flaky bark as the years pass. I gathered up a bunch of apples less than a week ago with the intention of making something I could freeze, since apples don't preserve by freezing like peaches do.

I found this apple oatmeal cookie recipe on Allrecipes.com (actually on the android app on my phone.)


Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup diced apple without peel
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar. Beat in the eggs until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture until well blended. Fold in the walnuts, oats and apples. Drop dough by spoonfuls about 2 inches onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool on wire racks.

I made a few modifications like adding mini chocolate chips and less butter. In fact, I used half a stick of butter and then added about 1/4 cup applesauce. I like to play around with recipes, but I'm sure that the recipe would be good as it is written. And yes, I sampled several of these cookies and I really like them.

they are cake like and not sweet. The fruit wins the flavor contest here.

One caution with the recipe. There is a metric converter, but the measures were in grams rather than decilitres. You might have better luck converting the measures yourself.

Bat Removal Horror

NOT OUR BAT, but they all look like mice with Satan wings!

Frankly, having a bat in the house is right up there with things I DO NOT WANT! And it will continue to rate up there, forever. That said, Christine had a bat at her house, and WTH...you gotta do something about it, right? If not yourself then an expensive professional. Last night, Peter and I bravely entered Christine's dark house, and guided by my Maglite searched for the little bugger. Sure enough it surfaced, well flew right at me! Yuck! I ducked, but I also tried to put the bat net up to get it. Thankfully Christine had bought the bat net at the dollar store! Peter took over the net at that point and I was glad because he had great aim. After a really frustrating time of hide and seek he brought the bat down. I tried really hard to scopp it into the shoe box I had(without touching it at all), but the little sucker got away. We were getting frustrated because those things fly fast. Finally! Finally, we got it down and this time were smarted about getting it into the box. We used a towel to nudge it into the box without touching it (hidesight: wear thick gloves, you never know)and then I taped the lide down so that not a tiny bit of area would be open for the little guy to escape.

But I felt bad, really bad and apologized to him. He didn't ask to be born an animal that nobody likes, and animal that is really useful but that scares the bejesus out of everyone! Poor little guy. I also felt bad because I was going to be responsible for killing him by suffocation. A long time ago I was at a sunday school picnic and a bunch of kids found a frog and were trying to stone it to death. I never valued the lives of animals when I was a child, never thought about it until that day. When the leader, Miss Goodyear saw what was going on she gave us a lecture I have never forgotten, that you never senselessly kill an animal. I think she woke in me that day an understanding that all living things are connected. I do hope that little bat is reborn as something loveable like a kitten or a puppy!

So moral of the tale is that capturing a bat is difficult and you need to be cautious! Working with a partner is also a neccessity! Today I took bat to the NYS Lab where they will test it for rabies (just in case). I hope Christine is done with bats! Please! :)

The last of the Chicago pictures!

Day Three was Monday. I got up early and got my Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and sat in the park. Then I walked over the BP bridge which spans Columbus Ave. It was early morning rush hour and so I finally got to see what real Chicago denizens looked like! Here are two shots of the Hotel Burnham's interior. Ornate and amazing, but alas, it was the last day of the trip and time to check out.





I checked out of my hotel and went to the Art Institute. It does have a complicated and somewhat frustrating floor plan. You have to go down one flight of stairs, but then walk over to another flight to go back up to the same level but a different section. Weird. Well, I got my stairmaster workout there. I saw almost all of the famous stuff you are suppose to see like Hopper, El Greco, and the famous “American Gothic”. Then I found the “Fates Gathering the Stars”. I’ve always liked that piece and had no idea it was at the Institute. I also liked the “Young Spartan Girls Challenging Boys.” I like the subject matter of the taunt, especially when you realize Spartans took their athleticism to an extreme. What Degas was trying to say with this work (BTW, there is a similar version in the National Gallery in London) don’t ask me. I’m no expert on Art History, that’s for sure. I just know what I like and why I like it.

So after my Institute trip I headed back to the orange line and the airport. Again, no difficulties there, smooth lines, no delays. I was home at 8:15! Great trip!!! Don’t have any idea when I’ll be doing something like this again, but I hope to.

Following are just lots of pictures I took on Monday:

Chicago Trip: Day Two with more pictures

Day Two sent me to Hyde Park and the Museum of Science and Industry. First I had to see Lake Michigan, take off my shoes and wade in it! I love the great lakes. Now I have waded in 3 of 5 of them. As I was drying off my feet I noticed a lot of motor cycles passing by on Lake Shore Drive. And then there were more, and then more, and then I noticed that the police had blocked off the road for them. The police were escorting them, and there must have been a couple hundred. It when on like that for quite some time, maybe 20-30 minutes. If you live in Illinois you don’t have to wear a helmet, who knew? Who would choose not to? I googled the affair and discovered it was an annual ride in support of police killed while on duty. The article stated that there were about 1,000 riders! No wonder why they had an escort!



Before the museum I walked to the Osaka Garden.



Honestly, thought it would be bigger and not basically in some secluded section of the park. Some people were there photographing half naked male models in this little waterfall. It was...different. Hmmm, there wasn’t too much to see. The old grounds of the Columbian Exposition retain nothing from that time, not even an echo. There was however, a fairly large quantity of garbage strewn around making me think perhaps there had been a concert there the night before. There was also one or two homeless guys muttering to themselves. The homeless in Chicago are abundant. The ones on Michigan Ave are aggressive in that they will ask you for money. There were also too many in their 20’s! They weren’t even scruffy looking, I thought that was just down right strange.

As for the Columbian Exposition, only the museum of Science and Industry is left of the buildings that were there over one hundred years ago. The museum was interesting, and would be a blast if you were a kid over seven years old. I enjoyed the weather section and the chemistry info.



There’s a real airliner in there. An old 747. The display itself is getting dated. It mentioned how planes soon would be using GPS to navigate. Heck, my phone was already triangulating my position as I was reading that. I bet the display was only from the 1990’s. Technology changes so rapidly. I didn’t go into the sub or the coal mine, but I bet both are really interesting. I did get to see a baby chick hatch! Cool!

After that I was beat. I still hadn’t seen Hyde Park and the Robie House, and quite honestly, I wasn’t all that close to it. Since I had no idea exactly where I would venture there, and how I could get there safely, I decided it would have to wait until another trip to the city.

Heading north on the # 10 bus I consulted my phone for my next move. It was my smart phone that decided to go to Pizzeria Due on Wabash and Ontario. While there, I was talking to a man who was from Illinois, but like 30 miles away. He was there with his friend talking Hungarian. She was from Hungary and spoke little English. She asked me if I were German or Russian. No one has ever asked me if I were Russian before! LOL. I often get Irish, German, Italian, and I’ve even heard Jewish, but not Russian. Seems that Pizzeria Due was recommended to this man by his friend who lives in Chicago! SERENDIPIDY. Man asks me how I knew to come there: I answer, I used my phone.



Let me stop here and say that most of my trip was facilitated by my smart phone. I had constant use of the map and an app that specifically gave the timing for the bus and train routes. Of course, I was also able to go online to find info as needed. I know that years ago I did very well with just a paper map and a lot of preplanning, but the phone just makes it so much easier.

The pizza was excellent!!!!! Such a fine crust that was crisp, yet doughy, and not all rough and hard to chew like NY pizza. The pizza was filled with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese and topped with tomato sauce. I ate every single bite!!!!! After that I needed a walk. I headed back to my hotel which just happened to be across the street from Macy’s. This Macy’s used to be a Marshall Field’s Department Store. It’s old and ornate. There are 9 stories with a balcony that overlooks this open area in the center. At the top of the roof is a dome with colorful mosaic tiles. I spent probably less than an hour there as it was Sunday and closing time was 6 PM.

Being exhausted, I pretty muh called it a day. I did wander the park a bit, but got back to the hotel by 8PM and settled in to read before going to bed early. The only thing my hotel lacked was HBO! It would have been the perfect thing to watch on Sunday night (TrueBlood)!

Below are just a few more of the pictures I took on Sunday:

Chicago Trip Day One

I’ve always wanted to just buy an airline ticket, fly off to some city, and spend the weekend. Guess what? I did it! I just got back Monday from Chicago. While it is a little strange to travel by yourself, I had such a fun time that I would most certainly do this type of random travel again.

Everything about the trip was pure serendipity. I was able to get a flight direct from Albany to Chicago that left early in the morning. When I got to security, there was no line and no hassle! Then, not only was the flight on time, we had no wait for departure and arrived 15 minutes early. Finding the orange L train line was easy and it took off only a minute after I got on. I exited at State and Lake, and this is what I saw:

Later, I would take this picture from my hotel room! So when I exited the train I was only 2 blocks from my hotel. I just didn’t realize it at the time because it was too early to check in. Instead I headed north towards the river. I got some good exercise following the river walk and then over the bridge towards Michigan Ave. I circled around the NBC building and happened upon Marilyn. Mom had told me to look for her, but I hadn’t actually searched for the statue, it just found me. This statue just got erected in mid-July 2011. I made my way back toward the river and my Architecture River Cruise.

The cruise was a good way to see the city and hear its history in buildings. Chicago is famous for its architecture and designers like Frank Lloyd Wright and Daniel Burnham. It’s also birthplace of the skyscraper. So we cruised into view of the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) and some interesting buildings. We also went past what had been the Montgomery Ward distribution center. All I could think was: “This will be Amazon.com in a hundred years.” Our docent did a fantastic job of keeping the story flowing for 90 minutes. If you geek for architecture, take the tour. At the end of the tour the docent mentioned a free concert at Millennium Park that evening. I kept that in mind as I made my way to my hotel.

I stayed at the Hotel Burnham! Best choice I could have made. It’s within an historic building known as the Reliance Building that was designed by Daniel Burnham and erected in 1895. The rooms are clean, well cared for, recently refinished. The staff was good and the hotel was quiet at all times. They actually allow pets! But I never heard a noise, nor was there any odor. This hotel is in the best location. I can’t recommend it enough. I was 2 blocks from Michigan Ave. (the main area in the Loop) and 2 blocks from the train. Several buses ran down State Street (that’s the corner street for the hotel), and then the two parks, Millennium and Grant, were 2 blocks away and maybe 5 blocks was the Art Institute. It was too easy!

I checked in early, got myself reenergized and headed out to Navy Pier. Navy Pier is a tourist stop, but who cares, I was a tourist. There’s a lot to eat and some amusement park level stuff. It made me think of Old Orchard Beach in Maine. There’s a great view of Lake Michigan there, a Stained Glass Museum (it’s free) and a big fat Ferris Wheel. Did you know the first Ferris Wheel debuted in 1893 in Chicago at the Columbian Expedition? The one I went on was only half its height! Still, good view. I capped off my little trip to Navy Pier with a Chicago Hot Dog. Beef dog, on a poppy seed roll, cover with chopped tomatoes and onions, a pickle and mild hot peppers! No condiments, at least no ketchup (I’m not a ketchup fan anyways). It was DELICIOUS!!!!











I finished off Day One with a trip to Millennium Park for the free concert. It was the music of Jean Sibelius, the Finnish composer. It was so stirring to hear the chorus singing the epic sounding Kullervo in Finnish! It’s a long song that went on for over an hour as the sun set, but the city is just as vibrant at night.