Dryden Is Home

So...a man walks into a blog

Maude and Gary
Originally uploaded by dmakar

A long while ago a man (guy from NH) walks into my blog (via comments and direct emails). He's thinking about moving from NH to NY and he's been poking around the Internet and found my blog. He likes the Ithaca area and reads about my adventures in Dryden and Ithaca.

A little while later he packs up everything and he and his wife head west (manifest destiny with clay) and land in Dryden's hamlet of Etna. He lets me know and after months of emailing, we meet in person.

About a year later or so he attends my wedding with his wife. In between he puts up many signs for me and my democratic party friends running for local office.

Today we met at the Chapter House (during a brief reprieve from my office work) for a happy hour beer, popcorn, and some silly pictures.

Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157618837360624/ (one is NSFW*)

*Not Safe For Work

Food: Pile of Tamales

Pile of Tamales
Originally uploaded by dmakar

This afternoon I joined Dirk in making a batch (14!) of turkey mole tamales at his house. He made the mole with at least two kinds of hot peppers on Saturday and I helped him with the corn meal (and lard!) mixture. We then took turns wrapping the filling in either corn husks or banana leaves.

The corn husks are more traditional (at least that I've had in the past), but the banana leaves seemed to add more flavor (or moisture) to the meal.

Our next adventure will either be making another recipe from the Mexican cook book that we both own (the same one) or making fire from sticks. Perhaps we'll make fire and then cook!

Stay tuned!

Full photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157612120334333/ 

Fillet Skillet

Arjan and I use the internet often to find recipes that match the food that is in our house. Last night we had grilled lamb chops with spicy chili-cilantro sauce for dinner. I found the recipe on epicurious (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/5434) after a google search for two ingredients we had (cilantro and lamb chops: http://www.google.com/search?q=cilantro+lamb+chops).

Tonight we had dinner of fish from a recipe site called "recipezaar" featuring (as you guessed) fish and cilantro: http://www.recipezaar.com/60418.

Both meals were very yummy and we were able to make them because we had the main ingredients: cilantro and some kind of meat. With Google we can find recipes for many combinations of food we have in the house.

On Monday, Arjan started to look for the fish recipe and found one called fillet skillet. Of course, we practiced pronouncing it a few different ways.

Phill-a, skill-a

Fill-ette, skill-ette

Phill-a, skill-ette

What a fun and funny name for a recipe!

Hunting and Gathering

One resolution next year, for a number of reasons, is to take up deer hunting. My good friend Arthur is a hunter and we grew up practicing to shoot with bow and arrow, rifle, and shotgun. I haven't owned a gun and haven't had one in the house I lived in since I lived with my parents. My neighbor and friend Kyle hunts every year and in 2008 I plan to be prepared to join him.

On Friday there was an interesting Steven Ringella article in the NY Times about hunting for the local-tarians - that someone forwarded to me today.

EVERY year, 15 million licensed hunters head into America’s forests and fields in search of wild game. In New York State alone, roughly half a million hunters harvest around 190,000 deer in the fall deer hunting season — that’s close to eight million pounds of venison. In the traditional vernacular, we’d call that “game meat.” But, in keeping with the times, it might be better to relabel it as free-range, grass-fed, organic, locally produced, locally harvested, sustainable, native, low-stress, low-impact, humanely slaughtered meat.

...

There’s an obvious place to start: Even most nonhunters are aware of the deer overabundance in suburban areas. Annually, whitetail deer cause $250 million in residential landscaping damage; deer-vehicle collisions injure 29,000 people and kill 1.5 million deer; and 13,000 Americans contract Lyme disease.

State and federal wildlife management agencies contend that public hunting is the only cost-effective long-term management strategy. Yet they are forced to experiment with costly deer-control measures like high-wire fencing (it can cost $10,000 to $15,000 per mile), infertility drugs ($550 per deer), police sharpshooters ($100 to $250 per deer)and trap-and-euthanize operations ($150 to $500 per deer).

...

While many people will never give up their opposition to killing Bambi, others may change their minds when they realize that destroying a deer’s reproductive abilities or relying on the automobile for population control is really no less wasteful than tossing fresh produce into a landfill.

...

Hunters need to push a new public image based on deeper traditions: we are stewards of the land, hunting on ground that we know and love, collecting indigenous, environmentally sustainable food for ourselves and our families.

Full Text Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/opinion/14rinella.html

Let's be stewards of the land, hunt on the ground we know and love, and be more sustainable at home.

A weekend of Driving and Flying

When you are 5 and you go on a trip to New Hampshire the world seems huge. You remember just enough to be able to say you remember. Maybe a sign or a tree or a person, but probably not a conversation in detail.

When you are 9 and you return to the place you remember it for the week away from home. A week at camp in a tent. A hike in a lightning storm and singing songs with your best friend.

When you are 14 and you show up to work at camp a crazy man with a condiment name glares and listens and teaches. You meet some people that will be the bridge to friends that you will keep for the rest of you life. You make mistakes, you learn, you have fun.

When you are 18 and you are in charge of a small camp department you answer a lot of questions. You teach a little and learn more about yourself than the subjects you are teaching. You find your strengths and your weaknesses. You hide and search. You get up early and swim. You get to know a few people better.

When you are 22 and return as a staff member of another camp you battle on the ballfield and you find that the home team is the one you are on. The people that have replaced you are different. The people who have stayed behind are stronger and have learned to delegate.

When you are 30 and return as a guest you find that the people that were campers are now in charge. The people that taught you almost everything are long gone. The few in between, John and Dan, bridge a gap between generations. You wonder if there is a way to do it all - and then you drive home realizing that the world is still a huge place and there are a lot of things to do.

A couple days ago I showed up on the doorstep of Camp Wanocksett and relived a few moments of my camp days - tonight I will be attending the Dryden Democratic Caucus where I will be nominated for a four year term on the Dryden Town Board. Everything I've learned so far prepares me for what I will do next.

(The guy floating above is now in charge)

Alash at ABC Cafe

Alash at ABC Cafe
Originally uploaded by dmakar.

My cell phone's tiny crappy camera works!

Last night Arjan and I had dessert (Toffee Bar for me, Chocolate Pie for her) and a drink (coffee for me, red wine for her) at the ABC Cafe. We finished up our dessert just a few minutes before Alash performed.

Alash is a throat singing band from Tuva, a republic in the southern reaches of Russian Siberia. It had been mongolian or russian or both. There's a bit of a history on Wikipedia. Throat singing is a method of singing where the singer controls the air from the lungs to the mouth and lips using the throat like an instrument - mostly sounding like a flute. At the same time the singer is singing or humming through the throat . There's a Wikipedia article on overtone singing which is the same thing.

There's a lot of magical harmony and the four performers worked well together making it sound as though there were 8 or 12 people performing.

My friend Steve from Small World Music (and Ithaca Blog) described Tuva as a place where the people are mostly cowboys. These cowboys raise and oversee horses and yaks. When they bed down at camp for the night they sing. They've done this for generations and it is a style learned from a young age. Steve mentioned a movie called "Genghis Blues" about an aging blues singer from San Francisco who stumbles onto Tuvan music and goes to Tuva to learn and sing, "The Story of a Blind Blues Musician's Journey To The Lost Land of Tuva".

I'm sure the Tuvans don't think they are lost. It was amazing to see them sing and to think that they came from so very far away and from a time that was all but forgotten. If noone would have visited Tuva their tradition would have stayed hidden forever perhaps. We are lucky here in Tompkins County to be able to have such visitors in our towns.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat_singing
http://www.alashensemble.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alash_Ensemble
http://ithaca-blog.blogspot.com
http://www.genghisblues.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loxosceles/460332345/

Friends, Neighbors and People I Met Online who once lived in my house

On June 6th I recieved an email from a nurse in Tennesee. The subject and first line:

Subject: 1960 Slaterville Road

Message: Was the house my parents built.   I left a post on your blog but I don't see it.

Thus began an e-mail friendship that spans three months in realtime, but over 50 years in the life of my house. I first posted about it on July 23rd: "The Home at 1960 Slaterville Road". I followed up with a post after Beth sent me photos from the house from 1959 to 1975 called "1960 Then and Now" and pictures of then and now at "1960 Slaterville Road - Then and Now".

Beth (her blog here) and I have been emailing and leaving comments on each other's blogs all summer. In late August she nominated my post on Women Swimmin' for a "Perfect Post" award for August of 2006.

On July 25th she sent me a long email discussing problems I had with my septic tank (when I bought the house) and the memories she had from when she lived here and her mom owned the hosue. At the end of her email she mentioned that the entire back yard used to be an open field and that before she left the house and Dryden in the middle of the 1980's an apple tree and peach tree were growing strong. Her sentences:

The land was cleared way back compared to now, where you see the fencing in back of the house in one of the old pics, beyond that was a hugh vegetable garden, I planted a peach tree and an apple tree that were still growing strong when they sold the house.   Mom had rubarb patch.

I looked out into the woods and saw nothing but towering trees. I figured if there were any fruit tree they were out deep in the woods and weren't producing any fruit. I didn't think much else of those lines in that email.

Yesterday as I spent a few hours doing lawn work - trimming and mowing and moving yard signs around. At one point I looked up from the push mower and saw a woman looking at me from about 40 feet away. I went over to talk to her - she's my new neighbor W. who just moved in next door. She's a professor in town and her husband works at one of the bookstores downtown. They've lived in Ithaca for a couple of years and before coming to Ithaca they lived in Cambridge and Somerville! Of course, her husband has a blog - so counting Melissa that makes three out of four people on my side of the street bloggers (Dryden is the capital of upstate bloggers, I'm certain!).

So I was telling W. about the yard and garden and history and the conversation turned to the thick forest in the back yard. I mentioned the growth in just the last 50 years and Beth's mention of peach trees. W. looked up and said - - "There's a peach tree right there!"

And there it was! A giant 40+ foot tall peach tree full of orange orbs! Really! Here are the pictures from dusk last night. Tomorrow I will bring out a ladder and a tool to cut and catch some peaches!

From the presidents of the united states of america, peaches (1995):

Movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches
Im movin to the country Im gonna eat me a lot of peaches
Im movin to the country Im gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin to the country Im gonna eat a lot of peaches
Peaches come from a can they were put there by a man
In a factory downtown
If I had my little way Id eat peaches everyday
Sun soakin bulges in the shade

Movin to the country Im gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin to the country Im gonna eat a lot of peaches
Im movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches

I took a little nap where the roots all twist
Squished a rotten peach in my fist
And dreamed about you woman
I poked my finger down inside makin a little room for a ant to hide
Natures candy in my hand or can or a pie

Millions of peaches peaches for me
Millions of peaches peaches for free
Millions of peaches peaches for me
Millions of peaches peaches for free

And the YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7IxqnOwdt0

That's for the Sunday long post. Check out http://www.davidmakar.com for campaign happenings!

Strawberries and Lettuce

Two weeks and two days ago I made the first real harvest of the season from the garden in my yard. I spent an hour or two on a Saturday afternoon doing some weeding and cultivating. I also spent some time picking mustard greens (in the plastic bag), spinach (in the white strainer), arugula (in the metal strainer) and buttercrunch lettuce (in the pile). I made up a few salads including the big mixed greens salad (I also included fresh basil) I brought to T&D's house that weekend's Sunday night.

Also in the picture from June 24th is a tiny bowl of strawberries. I ate the rest of them, but photoblogged my first ever strawberry picking at Hilker's Haven U-pick strawberry farm. The farm is three miles from my house on Burns Road and is 100% hydroponic*. When you arrive they will give you a plastic bag lined bucket and a pair of scissors to let you do your work. You don't have to bend over or get dirty or muddy. The strawberries are $3.00 a pound and the farm also sells honey and hydroponic lettuce. Rumor has it they are only open on Tuesday and Saturday, plan accordingly. They sell a variety of strawberries that grows and is pickable and for sale until September. How about that? Strawberries locally grown in August and September!

My pictures: http://www.544productions.com/2006/HilkerHaven/

*Main Entry: hy·dro·pon·ics
Pronunciation: "hI-dr&-'pä-niks
Function: noun plural but singular in construction
Etymology: hydr- + -ponics (as in geoponics agriculture)
: the growing of plants in nutrient solutions with or without an inert medium (as soil) to provide mechanical support
- hy·dro·pon·ic /-nik/ adjective
- hy·dro·pon·i·cal·ly /-ni-k(&-)lE/ adverb

Getting Outdoors

The Hosts of the party
Originally uploaded by dmakar.

It is really finally summer here in Ithaca. Today it was about 80 degrees or so outside. I'm not really sure, as I spent most of the day inside working on projects. Around 1:30 I got the morning newspaper, around 5:30 I went and got the mail. I wandered over to the garden and pulled weeds for about 10 minutes. I didn't even look at how the corn and sunzilla patch was going (flooded out three days after planting).

The peas continue to grow and the arugula, spinach, lettuce and mustard greens should start to provide for salads in about two weeks. The tomatoes are strong, but are months from producing fruit. The pumpkins are starting to get their second and third sets of leaves. It is all very exciting to see.

After my quick outdoor jaunt I answered a few emails, updated a few websites and then dug through the box room. I found about a half dozen good boxes to let D & B borrow for their big move from West Hill to Slaterville Road (not my house, but to a house they bought up near pine tree).

I headed out for a compensation dinner at my friend's C&K's house (also on Slaterville Road). The dinner is compensation for helping them paint their house. When did I have time to paint their house? Tomorrow! Well today, Saturday. Kyle figures it'll be about 6 hours or work. For that they grilled up some venison, marinated portobela mushrooms, whipped up a chick pea and greens salad, built bruchetta and tossed a fruit salad together.

After a great dinner, a few beers and glasses of wine on the back deck, we discussed strange books and the war. We relaxed from all of the serious talk with a boys vs. girls game of Cranium inside with the family cats and doggy. Of course, the boys won.

I need to get to bed, lots of painting tomorrow!

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Florida Recap

I got back last night from my trip to Florida. I left last Tuesday morning from Ithaca, drove to Binghamton for a meeting and then to Blackstone, Massachusetts (near Providence, RI) to my sister's and then grandmother's house. Wednesday my sister dropped my grandmother (Baba or Babca) off at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island (Providence Airport) and we traveled on an 8:30am flight to Fort Myers. It was probably about my 100th or 200th flight (who keeps track?) and it was my grandmother's first time on an airplane (she's 86!).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/tags/floridatrip/

All kinds of pictures are on the flickr pages, here's a few notes (I hope to add more later):

• We watched movies just about every night: Pirates of the Carribean, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Incredibles and King Kong
• My dad and my mom's cousin Frank and I went to the Devil Rays / Orioles game Monday night in Tampa
• I went boating three times
• I went fishing two of those three times
• I caught six fish (and tossed them back)
• We went to a Ukrainian Bazaar, Polish Deli and European Deli
• We (mom, dad and me) played three complete rounds of Disc Golf (frisbee golf)
• I wrote a couple business proposals
• I took about 700MB of pictures with my camera
• My mom and grandmother made about 140 perogies!
• I attended a BNI meeting in Venice, Florida
• I went for a bike ride

We had a busy and restful week and I look forward to returning next winter!