Could Alexa Even Handle the Decorations?

Folks who know me well know I sometimes question the value of all our modern technology. For example, here's an old post where I designed my own robot, one that would actually do meaningful and helpful things, rather than stuff like turning on the oven I'm standing in front of... I remember my now sister-in-law once said that I was like the Unabomber. 

She meant it in the nicest possible way, of course, but I'm still not so much a joiner in some of the tech stuff.  I'm known for chuckling at the ridiculous 'smart' things and the ads trying to convince me I can't live without these devices. This is my current favorite. Not for nothing, but unless there's a robot coming out of the woodwork to get the bowl out of the sink and onto the floor, well... As all pet owners know, the only thing worse than an empty dish is a full one your pet can't reach.

Another sis-in-law, who shares similar feelings about commercials (don't get us started on the perfume ones!), tagged me in a Facebook post (that's it to the right), and while we both laughed, I started thinking about what that would look like at our house - or anyone's house, for that matter. 

I can't imagine just telling her to "take down the Christmas decorations" without any additional instructions. I mean, how would she possibly know what's involved?

Would she know that the cute little boxes stacked so festively on the front stairs are nesting boxes? Would she know she has to take the lids off all of them except the smallest box, then put the smallest one inside the next smallest one, and then put that lid on, and put those two boxes inside the next biggest one, and then put that lid on, and then put those three boxes inside the last box, the biggest one, and put that lid on? And then put the box of boxes into the tote labelled Boxes and Pictures, which is downstairs in the Christmas room? 

Would she know to get to the Christmas room by going from the foyer to the dining room to the kitchen to the back door (not to be confused with the back porch door), and down the stairs, then cross the basement heading towards the front of the house, and if she runs into the bikes hanging on the rack, she's gone just a step or two too far? 

And that before she puts anything in the Christmas room, she's going to have to take out a bunch of trees and decorations that we didn't put up this COVID Christmas?

Would she know the framed pieces of some of our favorite wrapping paper hanging on the wall need to come down? And that they, too, go in the Boxes and Pictures tote in the Christmas room?  And that there's a difference between a framed piece of wrapping paper and the picture of me and My Sweet Baboo?

And the Santas? OMG, my Santas! 

Does she know the difference between cast iron, glass, ceramic, resin, metal, wood, and felt? Which need to be on the bottom of the tote, and which on top? Would she know that the tall skinny wooden Santas need to have rubber bands put on them, before being wrapped in bubble wrap and tied with ribbon, so their arms don't flail about and possibly break off? Does she know those don't go in a tote, but instead are placed gently on a shelf? That all of the motion-Santa bases get wrapped together, to make it easier for me to find them next year?

The cast iron ones? They get wrapped in newspaper and put in a tote, sure - but would she know that it doesn't go in the Christmas room, it goes in the closet under the stairs? 

Or that the smallest of the Santas, and the flattest of them, get wrapped (unless they don't need to be) and they go in a separate box that goes inside one of the Santa totes? 

And if you put the Santa's away 'wrong' you could end up with way too much space, or not enough, in the totes? And if it's too much space, would she try to fill it with other decorations, co-mingling them with the Santas and messing up the system? I did that (once) - is she smart enough not to?

Would she be even remotely curious about the newspapers everything gets wrapped in, some of which are more than a decade old? Would she even look at the articles, or no? And will she know whether to replace the least viable newspapers, or if they'll make it one more Christmas before being recycled? 

And what about the memories? 

Will she smile at each Santa as she gently puts them to bed until next year, remembering which came from where, or who, and why? 

Will she know which of the cast iron ones I got years ago in one of the first booths we visited at a massive antique show, and carried in a knapsack for hours as we wandered around a field of 1,000 dealers? Will she hear My Sweet Baboo cursing my foolishness that day?  

How could she possibly know which was the very first one he gave me, or the most recent? Whether it was from our first Christmas, or our second? The tenth? Twelfth? Does she even know this is our 18th Christmas this year? Could she actually put the decorations away without knowing our history, our Christmas history?

And, will she do this? Is she able to do this, the real work of De-Christmasing? 

As I put things away, I find myself pulling out the decorations that never left the tubs, the ones that didn't make the cut. Could I have put this ornament on the tree? Could I have put this stocking somewhere? Could the candy cane candles have gone on the sideboard? I spend almost as much time thinking about the ones that didn't get used, and how I had used them last, as I do remembering how much we enjoyed the ones that did.

Thanks, Alexa, but I think I'll take them down myself. Although, if you want, you can take care of the lights...

Trump in Transition (v18)

An excerpt  or two from president Trump's remarks at the Coast Guard commencement last month.

...I want to take this opportunity to give you some advice. Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair. You will find that things happen to you that you do not deserve and that are not always warranted. But you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight. Never, ever, ever give up. Things will work out just fine.  

Look at the way I’ve been treated lately --  especially by the media. No politician in history -- and I say this with great surety -- has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can’t let them get you down. You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. I guess that’s why I --  I guess that’s why we won.  

Adversity makes you stronger. Don’t give in. Don’t back down. And never stop doing what you know is right. Nothing worth doing ever, ever, ever came easy. And the more righteous you're right, the more opposition that you will face.  

I’ve accomplished a tremendous amount in a very short time as President. Jobs pouring back into our country. A brand-new Supreme Court justice -- who’s going to be fantastic for 45 years --  a historic investment in our military. Border crossings -- thank you to our General -- are down more than 70 percent in just a short period of time -- a total record, by the way, by a lot. We’ve saved the Second Amendment, expanded service for our veterans -- we are going to take care of our veterans like they’ve never been taken care of before.

I’ve loosened up the strangling environmental chains wrapped around our country and our economy, chains so tight that you couldn’t do anything -- that jobs were going down. We were losing business. We’re loosening it up. We’ve begun plans and preparations for the border wall, which is going along very, very well. We’re working on major tax cuts for all. We are going to give you the largest tax cut in the history of our country if we get it the way we want it, and we’re going to give you major tax reform. And we’re also getting closer and closer, day by day, to great health care for our citizens.

And we are setting the stage right now for many, many more things to come.  And the people understand what I’m doing, and that’s the most important thing.  I didn’t get elected to serve the Washington media or special interests. I got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country, and that’s what I’m doing. I will never stop fighting for you, and I will never stop fighting for the American people.

As you leave this academy to embark on your exciting new voyage, I am heading on a very crucial journey as well. In a few days, I will make my first trip abroad as President. With the safety, security, and interests of the American people as my priority, I will strengthen old friendships and will seek new partners -- but partners who also help us. Not partners who take and take and take, partners who help, and partners who help pay for whatever we are doing and all of the good we’re doing for them -- which is something that a lot of people have not gotten used to and they just can’t get used to it. I say, get used to it, folks. I’ll ask them to unite for a future of peace and opposition opportunity for our peoples and the peoples of the world. 

First, in Saudi Arabia, where I'll speak with Muslim leaders and challenge them to fight hatred and extremism, and embrace a peaceful future for their faith. And they’re looking very much forward to hearing what we -- as your representative -- we have to say. We have to stop radical Islamic terrorism. 

Then in Israel, I'll reaffirm our unbreakable alliance with the Jewish state. In Rome, I will talk with Pope Francis about the contributions of Christian teachings to the world. Finally, I’ll attend the NATO Summit in Brussels and the G7 in Sicily -- to promote security, prosperity and peace all over the world.

I’ll meet scores of leaders, and honor the holiest sites of these three great religions.  And everywhere I go, I will carry the inspiration I take from you each day, from your courage and determination to do whatever is required save and protect American lives. Save and protect American lives. We want security. You're going to give us security...

To every new officer, and to every new Coast Guard member here today, or out protecting life around the world on some of the roughest waters anywhere, you truly are doing God’s work.  What a grateful heart you must all have.  Because it is with my very grateful heart, and America’s cheers for the Coast Guard -- and America cheers for you often -- but we wish you good luck.

As your commander in chief, I salute you.... Great honor. Good luck.  Enjoy your life.

Declaring My Independence

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've sat down and started to blog in the past week or ten days.

Right now, I have eight draft posts, ranging from a bulleted list to post that's 95% complete, and I haven't been able to bring myself to finish them. I've done the research, I've got bookmarks and downloads and, for a few posts, newspaper articles here on the table next to my 'writing chair', everything at the ready, just waiting for me.

And yet, they sit.

They sit, waiting for me to ditch the bad vibe that underlies all of these messages. For they are all about politics, and they are all frustrating topics, and they're all ones where I'll be preaching to the choir, I suspect, and not influencing anyone's impressions or changing the world or anything like that. Which is frustrating.

What do the drafts cover?

Albany: the end of session, failing to do anything meaningful on ethics. The ridiculous economic development packages and programs and gimmicks, and how 'successful' they've been (yes, that's sarcasm). And the local tie-in to the Preet Bharara investigations, with one of our most favored development companies caught up in the mess.

Washington: some good news coming out of the end of term SCOTUS decisions, but so much else is lacking in so many ways. And that doesn't even count the Presidential candidates, from Trump to Clinton to Sanders, the Forrest Gump of the race, the man who simply won't stop running.

Worse, the 'promised' posts. You know - the ones where someone asks for something, and I know I can give them what they want, easy peasy. Or suggestions from people on  something that would be an interesting topic, and again, the commitment: sure, thanks, I agree, I'll get something out soon... Or, the ones where, in the course of one post, I promise more info in a future one. Ugh.

So much going on, so much material, and I'm stymied. If I had a nickel for every time I started and stopped, started and stopped, started and stopped, I'd have enough for an ice cream at the place down the street, I swear.

I'm hoping that officially taking a break and declaring my independence will help me clear my head and find a helpful, hopeful path forward.

Talk to you in a day or two.

Quick Takes (v10): America's De-transitioning

Quick Takes

Have you seen this one yet, about Caitlyn Jenner?

She's thrilled she has raised awareness about how transgender people have long been discriminated against but I think there's a chance she'll de-transition in the next couple years. I don't think it would surprise anybody in her inner circle. It has been much harder than she anticipated. My heart goes out to her and I know her true friends will be there to support her on whatever path she chooses.

Now, right off the bat I want to say that this post really isn't about Caitlyn.

She has a right to live her life how she chooses, and if that in fact entails de-transitioning back into Bruce, so be it.  I can't begin to imagine the journey she's been on, particularly playing it out on the world's stage. I get that doing it that way was her choice, but I don't know if, at the end of the day, curling up in a fancy house on a bed of dollars is going to provide any real comfort. Or maybe it does, I don't know.

And speaking of real comfort, here's the real reason for this post:  the quote above comes from a new book titled Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America's First Family.

I kid you not.

The book, a biography of the K-Klan, was written by Canadian investigative journalist Ian Halperin, who apparently had a best seller with a book about Michael Jackson, and a movie as well; he's also written about supermodels, the death Kurt Cobain, Brangelina, and the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  But this post isn't about Halperin, either.

It's about us.

It's about the possibility, regardless of how remote, that anyone other than Halperin's editor or publisher or whoever dreamed up the book title,  could possibly consider the Kardashians to be America's First Family.

Seriously? America's First Family is the Kardashians?  Dear lord.

This post is about us.

It's not about reality TV shows such as the Real Housewives of Anywhere, an oxymoron if there ever was one, and of kourse, it's not about Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kocktails with Khloe and Kiss Me I'm Kylie and Kickball with Kendall and Kavorting at KMart with Kourtney and K'Mon, Be My $23K-a-month Boyfriend starring Kris, and all the rest.

It's not about the millions and millions and millions and millions of Instagram followers hanging on every word these reality stars don't speak. It's not even about people the billions we spend on plastic surgery trying to look like the people we see on these TV shows.

It's about an altered state of reality, where we lose sight of 'real' people and 'real' issues and 'real' problems and 'real' successes.

It's about celebrity, and Celebrity Apprentice, which brought us a celebrity candidate for Leader of the Free World.

It's about us.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v45)

I've been looking for my father lately, as I do particularly around this time of year. Today marks nine years that he's been gone, and his birthday is next month.

Actually, what I was trying to find were copies of some articles he wrote when he was at Hamilton College. We had gotten them from a kind gentleman in the Alumni Office who was gave us the generous gift of Dad's alumni magazine obituary. Odd as that sounds - an obituary being a generous gift? - that's what it was, and I re-read the post every 'today' or as the mood strikes.

Hard as I've looked, I haven't been able to find the copies, which frustrates me, and in fact brings out the Dad in me. Patience with himself not being one of his virtues, he had a litany of mostly under-his-breath mutterings that I find myself repeating when I'm kicking myself for some minor failing or another - losing something being a prime example - about which, in reality, only I have any concern.

While I wasn't able to locate the particular collection of writing I was looking for, I did another set of family papers that has me wondering, this Wednesday.

Here's a sample of what was in the packet:

Dear Miss Oldring:

You suggested in your last letter that I send you my next story before I labored over it too much.  Well - here it is.

Notwithstanding your kindness, I feel that I have taken a terrible liberty. This is only the first typing and even a casual reading reveals so many glaring inadequacies that my conscience bothers me.

To plunge simultaneously into the light touch and more plot is quite an undertaking for a dour person whose temperament and training is so exclusively for clear exposition as against baloney.

So, I realize that I have got to do a lot of work on this. The dialog needs sharpening up and a cross-check with young folks. There's too much dialog. What plot there is needs more punch. Damn it all, the whole thing's lousy. Maybe it will show that I'm teachable. 

I hope business brings me to New York soon. You've been so kind to me; I want to buy you a lunch.  

Oh boy. Talk about muttering!

Miss Oldring worked for a New York literary agent, then called Harold Ober, Inc. still in existence today, and at one point, home to many famous authors. The letter was written not by my Dad, but by his father --  R. W. Drummond, the grandfather I never met.

A man who had a day job with Oneida Ltd., but who wanted to be more, wanted to tell stories and share them with the world. The man who, as president of the Board of Education, offered up words of wisdom to graduating seniors, encouraging them to be all they could be, even as he lived his 'double life' of executive by day, frustrated, self-conscious, highly self-critical writer by night and weekend.

My Dad had so much of his father in him, it seems.

He wrote, too: daily, on the countless essays and tests he marked in his career as a teacher, constantly offering feedback and encouragement, and of course, sometimes just the dreaded note that a student had completely missed the mark.

Stoking his passion - he had always wanted to be a reporter - he wrote articles for the community newspaper that served the little village of Jordan and the other western reaches of Onondaga County, while he had his day job and his volunteer jobs within the community. After he retired from teaching, he wrote for the school district newsletter, tracking down alumni in various professions years after graduation, getting them to talk about the value of the education they received at Jordan-Elbridge, and encouraging others through the stories. There was also his foray into poetry; given the observance of Martin Luther King Day this week, it seems appropriate to share his effort.

So - my grandfather. My dad. And now, there's me: a third generation 'keep-the-day-job, try-to-be-a-writer' person, full of self-doubt, a mutterer and sputterer, apparently from way back. I'm wondering, this Wednesday, what Dad would tell me about his father, and his father's writing, and his own writing, and mine.

And I'm wondering, is this nature or nurture? Writer begat writer begat writer? Or, frustrated writer nurtured a frustrated writer nurtured a frustrated writer? Maybe a person can be born with a nibbled-on pen or pencil in their hand, just as easily as with a silver spoon (or, famously, with a silver foot  in their mouth? Or do they pick up the pen, with awe or reverence, or at some point simply coming to the realization that a pen is not just for jabbing a sibling?

I'm not sure. Intrigued, but not sure.

There is one thing that regular readers may pick up on, and that's the obvious divergence of my branch of the family writing tree from by grandfather's.  It's my obvious appreciation for 'baloney' -- which I attribute to my father, with great love. In that regard, and others, this apple surely did not fall far.

I'll find the articles I was looking for, or I'll go to Hamilton College and read them myself, one of these days. We have an open invitation to do that, with some advance notice.

In the meantime?  I have some short stories to read.

Quick Takes (v1) : Housekeeping

Quick Takes

I figured since I've resolved to not start my personal New Year's resolutions until Sunday, I'd take the opportunity to do a little housekeeping on the blog today. I've made a few changes that I hope will help with readability and engagement.

The most obvious changes are the template and font. The page is a lot brighter and, I hope, easier to read. Somewhere, my Dad is smiling, I'm sure. As I was making the changes,  I recalled how he once told me he hated reading white print on a dark background.  Better late than never, eh, Pops? The bookshelf background is also a nod in his direction; as I noted in one of my early posts, I inherited Dad's books, which provide a colorful and comforting reminder of him each day. 

Several changes were made in the sidebar, and include:

• a new feature called Top Five, Past Thirty, where you'll be able to check out the five most popular posts of the past thirty days; 
• a tag cloud replaces the tag list;
• there's a new widget allowing you to easily subscribe to posts via email; and
• I've replaced my Twitter feed with a Newsreel feature, where you can see updates on Politics and Editorial content from Google's searches.  

Finally, I added an Election Day Countdown ticker, so we can all keep our eyes on the prize.

Hopefully you'll find the changes helpful, or at least not distracting. Your comments are always welcomed.

My Apologies

Regular readers may have noticed that I've not been posting frequently these past couple of weeks.

It's not because I don't care about His Hairness any more. It's not because I stopped being concerned about Hillary's baggage, or about Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and all the rest of them. I certainly am interested in the papal visit, and of course now we understand why Crying John Boehner was blubbering so much when he was with Pope Francis.

There's a new TV season starting, and that's always fun to talk about; and that pesky Kim Davis, well, she's still milking her 15 minutes of fame, as are so many others.

All of that going on, and I've not been posting?

Yep.  Because, while that's been going on, I've been focusing on today, September 26, 2015.  Because today is the day I marry My Sweet Baboo.

We met on a winery bus tour thirteen years ago next month, and we've been together ever since.  And finally, thousands of laughs and significantly fewer tears later, we're getting married.

I'll start posting again in the next few days, and I'm sure there'll be lots of fun stuff to catch up on.  But today, it's all about that dress, and those flowers, and our families and friends, and great food and perfect weather and hearts filled with love and joy.

See you soon.

Hodgepodge: Fun with Headlines

Scrolling through one of my news apps today, and found a couple of fun headlines, take a look:

I have a suspicion that George Foreman would be very pleased with that headline - even though Jenna and her husband Henry named their first daughter Mila.

The second headline that caught my eye ?

Never in a million years would I have guessed that the answer was "in Utah." I would have gone with the old standby "in a hospital?" or maybe, if I was feeling crazy, I might have suggested "at home?"

Apparently, this all started with a tweet from Bloomberg Business yesterday; a review of census data showed that three Utah cities made the top five of places where the highest number of births per thousand were recorded as of a year ago. 

Any guesses on how many of these kids are named Poppy Louise? 

The Hotel Syracuse: Looking Back, Looking Forward

There are times that it pays to pay attention.

Lobby ceiling detail

Back in December I got an email from the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) letting me know there were still tickets available for a 'Ghostwalk' at the Hotel Syracuse. As many of you know, the Hotel Syracuse was a gem in Syracuse, dating back to the 1920s. Built by the firm that went on to do the Waldorf, she's getting ready to be restored to as much of her former glory as can be saved, and she should reopen, we learned today, on March 16, 2016.

The opportunity to get inside before the renovations kick in was too much to pass by, and I managed to get our tickets just in the nick of time.

The OHA doesn't look for ghosts on tours like this - it's not a seance or anything like that. Instead, they have actors portraying people who would have been around back in the day. Today it was folks who would have worked at the Hotel, including the concierge, the hotel detective, a bell captain, and a maid.  We also were thoroughly entertained by a singer who did a pretty good Al Jolson, Ole Blue Eyes and John Lennon.

Hotel Syracuse Lobby

Back in the 1980's I worked the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce; at the time, the offices were on the street level of the Hotel on the Onondaga Street side. There were several Chamber events held in the Hotel itself.  Between those meetings, and holidays parties, and the piano bar, 'prom-watching' from the MONY Plaza, I have lots of fond memories of the hotel, but my personal history of her pales in comparison to what we learned on yesterday's trip.

According to the concierge, the Edward Joy Company (the same one you drive by on I-690 heading east out of the city) did all of the electrical work, including the sprinkler system, and there was some Stickley furniture too. All of the furnishings, including the Stickley pieces, were supplied by the E. W. Edwards department store on Salina Street. Bedding and other linens, miles of carpeting, all of the china (locally sourced from the Iroquois and Onondaga pottery companies, which eventually became our beloved Syracuse China), silverware and furniture and chandeliers and sconces (like the one in the Persian Terrace pictured here), and pretty much everything else you could see or touch in a grand hotel was delivered from just up the block.

If you're interested, there's a store directory from Edwards on the Department Store Museum blog, as well as some additional history from folks who remember it. It notes that 'our' Edwards dated to 1889, with expansion into other upstate cities (Rochester, Buffalo, Camillus and Dewitt!) happening later.

We learned from the entertainer ghost that the hotel was wired so that music played anywhere - in the ballrooms or the clubs - could be heard everywhere: the 1920's version of whole-house audio. The room he performed in eventually became the Library disco (one of only four in the country), the home for Wise Guys comedy club (recently closed in its third or fourth location) and then Viva Debris (comedy and magic).

Persian Terrace

I think the most fascinating part of the trip for me was the time we spent in the Persian Ballroom. I had no idea that there were fashion shows broadcast live from that beautiful room, while the fashionable ladies of Syracuse lunched. We learned this from two delightful performers, one the host of the show, and one the fashion director who fabulously ad-libbed as tour members modeled hats of the day.

The drapes and paint (a peach/pink/salmon color scheme), the crystal chandeliers and sconces, beautiful stone columns and white-veined black marble under the giant windows, the soaring ceiling, and the faded carpet, are as they were when the hotel closed for good back in 2004. So too is the obligatory parquet floor on which thousands of couples danced.

And now, it's the hint of what's to come for the Hotel Syracuse that has me excited.  We've previously been made aware that the original entrance, on Onondaga Street, will become the primary entrance once again.

Original lobby ceiling

And today, we learned that some of the giant arched windows that have long been covered up or painted over will become functional windows once again; that the lobby will be returned to her original glory, including the gorgeous mural that was recently uncovered, and removing a wall to give us back a balcony. We were told that the ceiling will be restored to its darker, more luxurious hue.

We learned that, underneath the paint in the Persian Terrace, there's a mural that hopefully can be restored. A small section of it is visible, including what someone said was part of an elephant's trunk.

There's so much to look back at, and so much to look forward to, as our grand Hotel Syracuse is restored. She may have a new name then and fewer rooms then she did in the 1920's, but we'll still have her history, thanks to the OHA, and hopefully there will be decades more history to be made there.  I know that I'm not the only one who will be following the progress of her restoration/renovation - and that we're not the only ones already planning on spending the night there come 2016 when she opens once again.

College Football: Bowls to Spare

In the year that the NCAA proved once and for all that they're not in this for the money but are in fact are only concerned for the welfare and education of their student athletes, we're finally going to have a college football playoff. 

When I was a kid, the college football season ended on New Year's Day, when the big bowl games were played - Orange, Cotton, Sugar, and the 'granddaddy of them all,' the Rose Bowl. For the most part, if you were still playing football on mid-December or on New Year's Day, you were generally accepted as a good team and you had a pretty good record.  

These days, the good record is not quite so necessary. As a sort-of-at-least-a-little-bit-interested SU fan, I grow tired of hearing (starting with the first game) how important it is to win six games to secure 'bowl-eligibility' each year.  And every time they say it, I think to myself, "Six games is all it takes to be bowl-eligible?" "Six wins gets you into the money round?"  

Well, yes it does. SU didn't make it this year, having battled though a gazillion key injuries, some coaching changes, and what some will argue was a bad offensive plan from the start, but there actually are several teams with only six wins that made it into the post-season, including five with losing records:

• South Alabama (6-7), lost the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
• Fresno State (6-8), lost the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
• Illinois (6-7), lost the Zaxby's Heart of Texas Bowl
• North Carolina (6-7) lost the Quick Lane Bowl
• Miami (6-7), lost the Duck Commander Independence Bowl
• Arkansas and Texas (both 6-6) will play tomorrow in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl
• Pitt (6-6) will play on January 2nd in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
• Tennessee (6-6) will play January 2nd in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
• Oklahoma State (6-6) will play January 2nd in the TicketCity Cactus Bowl
• Florida (6-5) will play January 3rd in the Birmingham Bowl

There are also fifteen teams with only seven wins playing in bowl games.

Now, I know that 'true fans', the ones that bleed their school colors, will be confident in making the case that their team should be in a bowl game, even with a less than stellar record of six-and-something or seven-and-something. There's that whole strength of schedule/quality win thing, and perhaps more than that, there are those teams that travel well and will send people and money to the different bowl venues, which is an important consideration when it comes to picking teams.  A 6-6 team that'll send 10,000 people is better than an 8-4 team that will send 2,000 fans.  

And when you have 39 bowl games to fill (including the two semi-final games), I guess you  need a whole lot of teams and you can go deep to find them.  For context, here's how the bowl picture has expanded over the years:

• 2014: 39 games, plus the national championship
• 2004: 28 games
• 1994: 19 games
• 1984: 18 games
• 1974: 11 games
• 1964: 9 games

This year the season started on August 27, 2014 with a game between Georgia State (who finished 1-11) and Abilene Christian (6-6), and will likely end with the crowning of the national champion sometime on Tuesday January 13, 2015 (given the late start of final game on the 12th).

At least, in the end, we'll have a winner with no more than one loss on the year, which is as it should be. But sending Fresno State to Hawaii for Christmas?  Not so much. 

Wondering, on Wednesday (v5)

I was going to stay away from this one, I really was.

I was going to just step away from the conversation, but sometimes I just can't help myself. Yep - that darn Styrofoam salute. Tonight, I'm wondering, on Wednesday, what it is exactly that defines disrespect.

I'm sure you saw the video, stupidly posted on the White House Instagram page, of the President leaving his helicopter with a Styrofoam cup in his right hand, tossing out a quick salute with that same hand, as he was just about past the Marines at the bottom of the stairs.

sodahead.com photo

This can only be a sign of the apocalypse, right?

President Obama is not good at protocol, sometimes. George W. Bush, who saluted his Marines with a dog in his arms, wasn't always good at protocol either.  I mean really, does this look respectful? Or does it look like he got caught almost forgetting to salute, and did the best he could under the circumstances?

And for both Obama and Bush, isn't there someone who can make sure they don't have anything in their hands when they're in a saluting situation?  And really, you'd post that if you worked at the White House?

Really?

Here are some other questions that come to mind when I think about this:

Did Sarah Palin and all the rest of them apologize to all of our soldiers current and former, living and dead, for the countless thousands of lost opportunities for saluting that occurred before 1981 when Ronald Reagan decided to salute everyone he saw? Of course not.

Is everyone who is so up in arms about the Styrofoam Salute equally up in arms about the disrespect shown our country because a shockingly significant portion of Americans don't bother to vote in local, state or national elections?

Is anyone who is so up in arms about the Styrofoam Salute clamoring for an end to the disrespect that is the violence committed against Americans by Americans, such as the sexual harassment and abuse of our soldiers by other soldiers on military bases, or of citizens by law enforcement officers?

Are the politicians who are so up in arms about the Styrofoam Salute appreciating the disrespect shown to Americans through the gross amount of money and the influence of special interests that has been encouraged to infest our political system?

Are the people who are so up in arms about the Styrofoam Salute blind to the disrespect shown daily to gay Americans? Muslim Americans? Female Americans? Non-white Americans? Native Americans? Poor Americans? Older Americans? Veterans?

Do the people who are so up in arms about the Styrofoam Salute really think that this was even in the top ten most disrespectful things that happened in our country at the exact moment the half-hearted salute occurred?

Please  -- we have so many more important things to worry about to restore respect within our country and for our country.  If you're not as worried about those as you are about this, you're not worried about the right things 

Good Teachers: Leaving a Lasting Impression

A little over a year ago, President Obama came to Syracuse, visiting one of our high schools to promote his plan to make college more affordable, and talking about the power of education.  As I noted in a post that day, I was a bit surprised that he barely mentioned teachers in his speech; I can't imagine anyone talking about the value and power of education without mentioning the folks who make it possible for someone to realize that value and power -- the dedicated teachers who give it their all to open the hearts and minds of kids to the world of possibility that awaits them.

I thought of Obama's visit Friday night, when I saw again the power of a teacher, the impact a teacher can have on a student.

My mother, who's been retired for 28 years, still lives in Jordan, a small community west of Syracuse, where she spent the bulk of her career teaching elementary school.  Friday night, we were strolling the grounds at the Jordan Fall Festival when all of the sudden we heard someone yell "Mrs. Drummond!" and then a young woman ran over to my mom and wrapped her in a bear hug.  Before long they both were smiling through tears, having a very animated conversation, while the woman's husband stood by, smiling along with them.

My Sweet Baboo and I walked away for a bit, bought our grand prize tickets, and sort of stood back and watched the conversation. Turns out, the woman was in Mom's next-to-last class, back in 1985. Her husband (also a child of a teacher), said that the only teacher his wife ever mentions, the one she remembers, is my mom.

When I see the teacher-bashing which seems so prevalent here, where the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) is undergoing more than its share of struggles,

• I wish that students and parents would stand up - boldly, loudly, proudly - and support the great teachers that have impacted their families
• I wish that administrators, and yes, the President, would stand up in support of the power of a good teacher, not just in the power of education.
• I wish that people understood that a long teaching career is not necessarily a bad thing, any more than it is in most other professions

I wish these things because in the last year or so, I've seen the impact my mom had on students from her first class, and a generation or so later, from a class at the end of her career. And because I know she's not alone.

There are thousands of great teachers out there, who have made a similar lasting impression on their students. They're here in the SCSD, they are in your district, they're everywhere.

They deserve our support, not our disdain.

All the News that Fits

Pop Quiz:

(1) The NBC Nightly News is on from 6:30 - 7:00 PM in my neck of the woods. How long is the actual news portion of the broadcast (rounded up to the next full minute)?
a. 22 minutes
b. 16 minutes
c. 24 minutes
d. 19 minutes

(2) Which of these stories led the broadcast Friday night?
a. President Obama's plan to deal with ISIL
b. Roger Goodell, the NFL, and domestic violence
c. Immigration
d. George Zimmerman is in trouble again

(3) Which of these stories was not on the broadcast?
a. Israel investigates its own army for Gaza misfires
b. The US Economy
c. Endoscopy clinic medical director removed
d. Protests in Ferguson, MO


In case you missed it, here's the full list of all the news that fit on Friday:

• Roger Goodell
• ISIS
• Oscar Pistorius verdict
• School killer escapes prison in Ohio
• Crews fighting wildfires in California
• Endoscopy clinic medical director removed
• Ian Paisley died
• New Jersey songwriter died
• Toronto mayor drops out of race
• Solar flares and colorful skies

Anyone else wish for a less dumbed-down broadcast?

Wondering, on Wednesday

If you're the loved ones of Lauren Bacall (or, similarly, Farrah Fawcett), do you welcome the opportunity to grieve out of the limelight, while everyone else is focused on the death of someone more fascinating?

What the heck is going in in Ferguson MO?

What do you think Andrew Cuomo, Sheldon Silver, Jeff Klein and  Dean Skelos talked about on their trip to Israel?  The next phase of Albany-style ethics reform, maybe?

Will we ever get to the point where the assumption is that there will be debates between candidates in primaries, rather than that there won't be? Or will incumbents continue to get away with not engaging their opponents?

After Sandy Hook, we were going to "do something" about mental illness. After Robin Williams, will we?

Did you get your Board of Elections mailing this week, telling you where to vote in the primary and general election?  And did your polling place change this year?

How does Rush Limbaugh stay on the air?

Legal marijuana or lottery games: which is the better (least objectionable?) way to fund education?

When was the last time you were required to show ID, for anything?

Seriously: A Parade of Homes in Syracuse

I've written in the past on how wonderful it would be if we were to have a Parade of Homes in Syracuse, in one of our city neighborhoods.

The first time was when the 2012 Parade was getting underway.  That year, the event was held in a new waterfront development in the Town of Clay. In 2013, the Parade was at a new development on the Jamesville Reservoir, in the town of Lafayette.

This year's Parade, sponsored as always by the great folks at the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of CNY (HBRCNY) is going on now, and again it's not in Syracuse -- again it's in the Town of Clay.  Other sites for the Parade over the past several years include Brewerton (2004), Manlius (2005 and 2010), Cicero (2006), Onondaga (2007, 2009), Liverpool (2011), and Clay again (2008).

In 2015, the Parade is returning to another favorite location, Manlius, when they'll put up new homes right near Mallard's Landing.

Some perspective:

• Mallard's Landing is a community where, in one section, the lots alone start at $168,000, according to their website; most of the available lots are listed at well over $200K. And, as as they used to say on Seinfeld, "not that there's anything wrong with that".  I don't begrudge people living in communities like that if they can afford to, and if it's what they want. 

• The average price of the 1400 homes sold in Onondaga County this year (through June 10th) is $169,100, or basically just pennies more than the starting price of one of those Mallard's Landing building lots. 

• The House of the Week in today's Post-Standard is one of this year's twelve Parade homes, five of which have already been sold. It has four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a home theater, and a screened porch, complete with ceiling fan.. (I don't feel so bad now about putting ceiling fans on my new screened porch last year). At over 3100 square feet, it's priced at $449,950. With 20% down, that's a mortgage payment of over $1700 a month; the estimated taxes are over $15,000.  There's also nothing at all wrong with this as a housing choice.

• In contrast, the average sale price of a home in the city of Syracuse this year is $94,300, or about one-fifth the price of the house of the week.  

So. Here I am, armed with the information above, and I wonder, do I just keep writing posts on why I think it's a good idea to have a Parade of Homes in Syracuse and expect everyone else to try and come up with where and how?  Nope - not this year. This year, I'll commit:

Let's have Parade of Homes in the city -- Skunk City, that is. 

Skunk City is a neighborhood on the West side. Picture the area stretching from Geddes Street on the east, Grand Ave to the north, Velasko Road to the west, and Bellevue Avenue as the southern border. Delaware School and Fowler. The Mundy Branch library. A few minutes away from a Wegmans and a PriceChopper, and from Upper Onondaga Park. Very close to downtown. And in need of help.

As of its most current listing, if my count is right, the Greater Syracuse Land Bank has 50 properties in inventory located in Skunk City: an apartment building, five two-family homes, 12 single-family homes, and 32 vacant parcels.

Folks, this is simply not how you sustain a city.  You sustain a city by having homes on the tax rolls, by having thriving neighborhoods with all the nearby conveniences that people who live out where we have the Parades of Homes have to drive to, often through significant traffic nightmares. I mean, how interested are you in the Lyndon Corners, Route 92 or Route 31 treks to the store?

You sustain cities by having committed people staking a claim to their home, their block, their corner, their neighborhood.  People who keep an eye on each other, who help each other out. Who plant community gardens, and daffodils, and put up birdhouses.

Tax-free economic development zones for businesses, and SAIL-OPTs (my new acronym:  Service   Agreements In Lieu Of Property Taxes) with our over-abundance of not-for-profit parcels, and nice signage and Connective Corridors, help some, but they won't sustain a city.

No, what's happening in the once-proud Skunk City is not sustainable, nor are the things that are happening in our other once-proud city neighborhoods. So again, I ask you to imagine a Parade of Homes, right in Skunk City:

• What if the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA), and the Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY), could provide context for what Skunk City used to look like, and help architects and builders and interior designers come up with a plan for the Parade homes so they'd be scaled and in character for a city neighborhood? That could include both single family homes and two family homes, for multi-generational living or so that homeowners can get some help towards their payments. 
• Wasn't our city architecture mapped back during the Driscoll administration? Does anyone know what happened with that project, and if they got around to Skunk City?
• And what if our local colleges, who have just proved they can collaborate on a grand scale, also got involved in helping to plan additional development in the rest of the neighborhood, small businesses and traffic patterns and greenspace design and public art and all of that? 
• And if the local governmental agencies could make sure that any zoning, code enforcement concerns, environmental issues and the like were all smoothed out as the project was in the development stage so there were no surprises or delays once things got started, wouldn't that be time well spent? 

And then what if  the Homebuilders Association, seeing all of the synergy and energy around the project, joined the collaboration and loaned their considerable talents and recruited their members and regular partners to tackle at least some of the vacant properties in the Land Bank's inventory, and rebuilt the neighborhood?

Of course, there's more to this than just the nuts and bolts. There's people:

• How about the Tomorrow's Neighborhoods Today (TNT) group goes out into Skunk City to make the pitch to current neighbors, to make sure that they are informed, kept abreast of what's going on, and to provide reassurances that it will still be Skunk City when it's done? 
• And what about grants to the current neighborhood residents, so they could take care of some their 'honey-do' lists on their own houses? 
• And let's get the Syracuse City School District folks out in the field too. Delaware and Fowler have issues, as we know, but let's not run from them. Let's make sure the 'neighborhood schools' are truly of the neighborhood, with a whole new constituency paying attention, being involved, keeping tabs on things, offering ideas. 
• Local banks and credit unions, some of whom offer education and assistance for potential home buyers, could be brought into the fold, along with local Realtors, and collectively come up with great packages for buyers to get them into the homes. 

What else can we do?

• Well, let's provide incentives for city employees (teachers, police, fire, DPW, etc.) to live here, whether it's a break on the price of the home, or a short-term break on their property taxes, or a even a bonus each year that they truly live in the city. There are already some programs like this but let's make sure we've got all bases covered and that folks are aware the programs are out there. 
• Maybe all of the families that move into the new Skunk City get memberships to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, or other community incentives, to welcome them to the neighborhood?
• Let's think seriously about providing incentives to families who enroll their kids in city schools, rather then provide incentives to people who take their kids out of city schools. 
• Let's make sure we give breaks for the builders on materials and sales tax and other upfront charges, just like we do on commercial developments; if this can't happen for residential construction under existing city ordinances, fix the rules so it can. We need to start looking at residential growth, at neighborhood reclamation, as an economic development engine for the city. 
• And let's think seriously about what else we can do to make reclaiming and renewing a neighborhood as interesting a proposition as is living downtown, where we have an occupancy rate above 99%.

Maybe people are already working on something like this; maybe they're not.  But can we afford to sit around waiting for something to happen, waiting to see if we can get a Parade of Homes in Syracuse in 2016, the next open date on the HBRCNY calendar?  Can Skunk City wait that long?

I vote we try to do something now. What about you?

And the Horse You Rode In On

I admit right from the start that I was not looking forward to California Chrome winning the Triple Crown. In fact, I'm not looking forward to anyone winning it, until the 40th anniversary year in 2018.  Not for any particular reason, really - I just think it's pretty darn cool that it's so hard for breeders, horses, trainers and jockeys to pull it together and win all three races.  I like that it's not something that happens every year or every couple of dozen or three years.

When the whole Chromie thing started up around the California horse who was name was drawn from a hat, who cost less than a used car,  the whole blue-collar working man's David against the horse establishment Goliaths, I took some interest but still was rooting for Wicked Strong, the horse with local ties.  By the time the Belmont pre-race show was on and we had the owner rallying the troops in their matching T-shirts and blathering on about Chrome being "America's Horse" I was prepared to actively root against him, as I did against the Dallas Cowboys when they were "America's Team" back in the day.

We were at Taste of Syracuse and had just finished our pulled pork sliders from Limp Lizard, and when I checked my phone to find the breaking news that Tonalist had won the Belmont, and the Triple Crown was safe for another year, there were high fives all around. 

I doubt anyone is high-fiving now after having listened to the whining coming out of Chrome's camp. According to co-owner Steve Coburn

I'm 61 years old and I'll never see another Triple Crown winner. 

It's not fair to the horses that have been in it since Day 1 (meaning, those who like Chrome ran in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness). It's all or nothing...This is not fair to the horses that have been running their guts out for these people who believe in them.

This is the coward's way out, in my opinion. If you've got a horse, run him.

I look at it this way: if you can't make enough points to get into the Kentucky Derby, you can't win the other two races.

Sunday morning came, and the bad attitude continued, with Coburn telling ESPN that, in effect, the Belmont should have been a three-horse race, with Chrome, Ride on Curlin and General a Rod, because they were the only horses that had run in the first two legs.  Perhaps his horse would have had a better chance then; if nothing else a third place finish would have been the worst  possible showing, instead of the fourth place tie.

And he also compared the rested Tonalist vs. the tired Chrome to Coburn at 6'2" playing hoops against a kid in a wheelchair, something he reiterated on Good Morning America.  According to reports, he also gave out his phone number so those who thought he was acting like a sore loser could  call him directly.

(I get the sense that, had Chrome lost to a horse that had run in the other two races, we would have been hearing some other sorry complaint or excuse, instead of acknowledgement that on this Saturday in June, his horse just didn't have what it takes to win.)

So what's going on here?  Well, someone who thought he had the real deal in fact has a pretty darn good deal: a hugely successful three year old racehorse who, like many before him, tried to win three races over three distances on three tracks in five weeks, but ended up winning only two.  That's happened to some pretty powerful owners in the past, and will likely happen to some pretty powerful owners in the future.  Lots of famous trainers have thought they had a Triple Crown horse, only to find out the didn't.  Most of them were gracious in defeat or at the very least knew to keep their woes-are-me thoughts to themselves.

The 'rules' such as they are, are fine: nothing says you have to enter all three races, and only those who think they have a chance enter all three. Nothing should force someone to enter their horse in all three races. The Triple Crown 'happens' when the same horse wins all three, but does it even exist otherwise?

• if the same horse that won the Derby doesn't win the Preakness, should they cancel the Belmont? I mean, if you can't have a Triple Crown when the same horse doesn't win the first two races, the third race is silly, and meaningless, and why even bother, right?  
• Or if you're an owner, and your horse doesn't win the Kentucky Derby, you would immediately take yourself out of contention for the Preakness, right? Because if you can't win the Triple Crown, why even bother, right?  

Of course not.  The races are linked in our hearts, and our minds, and in our past, and one day (again, rooting for 2018) in the future, they will be linked again when a truly great horse comes along -- maybe not a Secretariat, but an Affirmed, or a Citation, or a Seattle Slew, and we'll go nuts again at the wonder of a horse that can win at three different lengths, on three different tracks, over five weeks of a glorious spring.

But for all practical intents and purposes, they are three separate races, without requirements that if you're in for one, you're in for all. And that's as it should be.

And if, like California Chrome, your horse doesn't win all three, you bite your tongue, you turn your head away from the camera, and if someone shoves a microphone in your face, you mumble something like "it was a great run and I wish the outcome had been different..." and then you go back to the barn and thank your lucky stars for all that the horse has brought you thus far.

You thank your horse, and make sure he (or she) is OK, and you think for a moment about what might have been.

And then you start thinking about the next race...

Forecasting the Weather in the Business World

Some of us were talking the other day about the occasional glaring inaccuracy of weather reports, and the lack of consequences resulting from them.  I think what prompted us was the ad for one of our local television stations that they are 'the most accurate' in our market, and we all chuckled at that.  

First, let me say this:  there are lots of meteorologists and weather readers that are good and who forecast accurately, and who do a good job making us smarter and set reasonable weather expectations and meet them most of the time.  

With weather front and center on the local and national news -- we now hear about how many millions of people are 'in the path of' some weather event or other on a fairly regular basis on at least one nightly news broadcasts - there's an awful lot of opportunity for these folks to put themselves out there with a forecast, and for that forecast to miss the mark. And when it happens, those of us who work in different professions, where our name and face and 'work product' aren't front and center for all to see, well, I admit we can be a little brutal to those who are out there front and center.  

My favorite part about the forecasts are the models - as in, one model shows this is going to happen, and another model shows something else is going to happen.  I thought it would be fun to apply that to my position and to anticipate my boss's reaction if I tried that at work. Here's a possible scenario of me forecasting my ability to get work done:

Hi -- got a sec? The auditors have asked us to provide ten years worth of records related to the Doomaflatchey case, and they've given us five business days to provide the information.  I've reviewed the most reliable model on this and my forecast is that we don't have a snowball's chance in hell of producing the information in that time frame.  

I get a strange look from my boss, but boldly continue with my forecast:

I did review a different model, and there may be some good news: it appears that we won't be in hell this week, it's going to be colder than normal for the next few days, and so we might actually be able to provide the information they need, but not within the time frame they've specified...

She sort of presses herself into the back of her chair, hands beginning to form a death grip on the arms.

...because I'm forecasting difficulty in gathering the information based on the patterns of the past several days. The models show we may have maxed out our ability to produce anything else this week, unless we work into the overnight when the models predict it'll be quiet. The drawback is we'll be working at reduced capacity due to the overcast sleepiness that will occur.  It's all right here in the hour by hour forecast, see? I'm going to stick with my original prediction that we won't make the deadline.

Now beginning to rise up out of the chair, my boss clearly has a cloudy outlook on my forecast, and comes back with her own:

Well, I've been reviewing the data myself, and I'm predicting a significant change in the atmospheric pressure in this office. I do believe there's a storm brewing and you'll be smack dab in the middle of it according to the models I've seen. I've also reviewed historical data and I believe that if you work at your record high pace for this week, you should have no problem gathering the data, getting it into the cumulus format, and turning it over on time.  Your weekend will be a washout of course, but I see brighter days ahead.

Unless, of course, my forecast is wrong.

Hmm. How about that? Seems a cold, rainy weekend is just what I'll need to get the work done on the Doomaflatchey case. I sure hope the models are right.

When the Death Penalty is the Wrong Answer

Passions were running almost hotter than the temperature today in Central New York with the announcement that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will not be seeking the death penalty in the case of a local car jacking-rape-murder case.

The case, very well known in our area and beyond, involved a man awaiting trial for child pornography charges who managed to remove his monitoring bracelet multiple times and allegedly stalk folks leaving a gymnastics class. Fate put a woman and a child in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both were terrorized; the woman lost her life, the child was brutally assaulted.

The monster who did this pleaded guilty on state charges, saving the child from having to testify.  Had the DOJ opted to prosecute on federal car-jacking charges, with a potential death penalty, the guilty plea could have been withdrawn, the state charges reopened, and the child forced to testify not only in the state case but in the federal case as well.

All of that has been taken off the table with the decision today. The defendant will serve life without parole on the state charges, and 30 'additional' years on federal child pornography charges, both sentences having been announced previously. No trial, no testimony from the child, and no light of day for the guilty party. Formal sentencing is set for later this week.

To everyone out there, be they radio DJs or anonymous commenters on social media, the most insightful comments are the ones below, the first from US Attorney Richard Hartunian:

No sentence that could ever be imposed in this case will undo the tragic death...or the pain inflicted on the young victim, or adequately account for the depravity of the crimes committed. The mandatory life sentence in state court and the imposition of an additional 30 years federal consecutive sentence will insure that (the perpetrator) can do no further harm. 

The second noteworthy comment is from a relative of the two victims. The family was opposed to the death penalty and is pleased that, regardless of why, the DOJ has decided not to pursue the case:

It had absolutely nothing to do with any philosophical opposition to the death penalty or any concern about that person's life. It had 100 percent to do with protecting the interests of Jane Doe.

The family member also noted that he was surprised by the decision; apparently, there was enough waffling on the issue of the federal charge to cause concern:

Whenever I had asked what about this case would encourage them (prosecutors) to supersede the wishes of the family, they repeatedly talked about how this was such a heinous crime, how this was one of the worst crimes that anyone could remember.  I simply said I would imagine that any family that had gone through a homicide would probably be able to say the same thing. 

The outrage that we feel, as individuals and as a community, can't begin to compare to the outrage that must have been felt by this family, now clearly focused on protecting the little girl, on helping her heal, on doing everything in their power to give her some sense of self that doesn't include the word 'victim'.  Our anger at what happened, and grief over the loss of the woman, a beloved and respected community member, cannot hold a candle to the emotions felt by this family.

The desire to see the perpetrator face trial with his very life hanging in the balance seems like justice --but who are we to define justice for this family? Commenters who think that what the family wants should have no bearing on this case are wrong -- they, more than anyone, are entitled to speak out on this.  Here's one more comment from a family member:

...I know this was the outcome I wanted for the situation as it is. I could not think about the stress and pain a trial would put on the little girl or my family, or the men who tried to save my sweet and loving cousin...

I applaud the courage of this family, and their position in this case, and the dignity with which they have handled everything from the very beginning of this tragedy. We can all learn something from them.

On the other hand, those who choose to see this as a 'failure of the Obama administration', who see this as the government being 'soft on crime', and who try to make political hay out of this?

We can learn nothing from you.

Big Water Vacations

After our trip to Virginia's Hampton Roads area, the long ride home and unpacking, spending time with our six four-legged friends who missed us terribly, and downloading the last bunch of pictures, I had some time to reflect on why I so enjoy 'big water' vacations.

Before anyone gets angry at me,  I love mountain lakes and rivers and waterfalls; we've spent countless weekends and week-long vacations taking in all that those kinds of places have to offer. 'Little water' has a certain sensibility about it, a finite sensibility if you will, that can't compare the the vastness of pounding surf crashing on the seawall a few yards outside your door. 

Little water changes things slowly, and the changes are noticeable over time. When we were kids, our family used to rent a cottage on Tuscarora Lake, in Madison County.  I remember there was a tree that leaned out over the water at an angle, and there were little pools that would collect in the exposed roots.

Each August when we got there, my oldest brother and I would run over to check out the pools to see if they had gotten any bigger; they were great places to 'store' the turtles we caught, even if only for a short time. By our last year going to the cottage, it had gotten almost dangerously eroded under the tree, to the point where Dad was a little nervous about me getting too close if no one was with me. While we were at our cottage for a couple of weeks, nothing changed in any noticeable way; some 40-odd years later, though, that cottage might not even still be there. 

Now, big water, that's a different story -- the changes Mother Nature brings happen right in front of your eyes. A walk on the beach in one direction shows one thing; the walk back shows something completely different. The wind is different, the sand is different, the sky is different, the sound is different. 

We spent exactly zero minutes engaged in the age-old vacation activity of laying on the beach, but we spent hours on various beaches, bird-watching, shell-collecting, dune-gazing, picture-taking, contemplating. We were in state parks, wildlife refuges, and nature preserves that had seemingly endless (and practically empty) beaches, walking for miles in breezes ranging from sort-of-warm to pretty-darn-cold.

We were up for the sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay every morning, watching for the very second that the sun fully left the water and officially started the day. We managed to be in the right place at the right time to catch a sunset on a very quiet town beach on the Eastern Shore, after a fantastic dinner at an unassuming seafood restaurant. 

We saw  kayaks and canoes, sailboats and crab boats, 'guys hanging out fishing' and big commercial fishing boats, giant shipping boats and US Navy hovercraft.  We didn't see or hear a single jet-ski, and I couldn't have been happier about that. And even better, every beach we were on was 'tampon-free', another thing that made me very happy. (I simply can't get my head around people leaving feminine hygiene products on the beach, sorry).

This summer, we'll make good use of our Empire Passport and visit as many NYS parks as we can fit in. This fall, we'll head to the Adirondacks, and spend time seeking out those little lakes, rivers, streams and waterfalls that we enjoy so much. In the meantime, I'll bask in the new memories we created this past week on big water, hoping they'll stretch as far in my mind as the reaches of the sun over the big water.

(Larger versions of these and other photos from the trip can be found here, in my Chesapeake Bay Vacation album.) 

Be Right Back

We are getting ready to head out on our last real day of vacation; tomorrow's the drive home, and then I'll dive back into the blog.

In the meantime, please feel free to check out older posts from the 'Talking About' sidebar.

Thanks for your patience -- and let me know if there was anything exciting happening out there in the real world while I've been hiding out!