Woodsmen's Days

We did a fun thing yesterday: went to the "Woodsmen's Days" in Tupper Lake, NY. It's a (very) small town in the heart of the Adirondacks, beautiful to drive to, about 80 miles from here. The weather was gorgeous--you should see my sunburn. Or maybe not.

ANYway. Readers from Wisconsin will recognize this kind of event as one held in Hayward every year; I'm pretty sure Hayward's has been on ESPN. Tupper's is probably smaller but it's still a really big deal to them.

We got there at about 10:30, the time that the newspaper had given for amateur competitions to begin. All that was beginning at that time seemed to be the set-up for the competitions, which IMHO should have been done the day before! So competitions didn't begin until about 12:30. Truly annoying, especially because we never intended to stay all day. As it was we left well before the events I had really wanted to see. What we did watch were chain-saw slicing--three slices as fast as you can from a clamped-down debarked log; log-rolling--40' in one direction until it touches a stake at either end, then 40' back to touch stakes again; ax throwing--double-headed ax thrown at a target; and bucksaw log slicing--a 4' bucksaw to slice 3 slices from the chain-saw log. Impressive. Really. Fairly dangerous, especially in inexperienced hands, I imagine! And there was a chain-saw-carving competition from which the resulting sculptures were auctioned. (I cannot imagine what the liability insurance must cost for an event like this. Got to be godawful!)

The events that we didn't hang around for, which probably didn't take place till 5 or so--grrr, were a springboard chopping contest and a tree-felling contest. The latter was to be done using about a dozen 20-25' poles (basically limbless trees) set into the ground that contestants went about debarking and marking for their cuts. I heard another spectator say that not only would they be battling for the best time but the "tree" was also supposed to smash a watermelon. So it had to be fast and precise tree-felling!

The other event was to take place using a larger-diameter but shorter limbless tree, about 7-8' tall. On the top of this was staked a 2-foot "log" similar to the ones used for the chainsaw competition (but much shorter ;-) ). The contestant had to use an ax to cut a chink into the "tree" and drive in a springboard, then hop onto that and chop the log on top. Apparently this is somewhat equivalent to what loggers actually used to do to top trees in the forests. Sort of like standing on a moving limb, I would guess. Talk about dangerous.

You can see why I did want to see these events, but it just wasn't worth getting caught in the traffic jam that would happen when everyone left. Traffic jams in small towns are more annoying than in big cities, I'm convinced, because they never happen. So we left about mid-afternoon. I didn't bother to take my camera because I knew I wouldn't get good photos of the events.

It was fun. The equipment was impressive, probably the most eye-opening piece being the bucksaw. Four feet of unbelievably sharp steel teeth--teeth about 4" deep--that apparently cost $1500-3000 and $500 to sharpen! The women pairs we saw competing were tough, tough, tough. Wow.

And we ate Italian sausage with peppers and onions, which is standard "fair-fare." Yum. Now my sunburn will tan so I'll look great at the wedding in Wisconsin in a couple of weeks. Cannot wait for that!

Parallel Lives

You know how everyone is supposed to have a doppelganger somewhere on this planet? I actually met someone yesterday who may be mine. There are life parallels that are remarkable.

First, she has a beautiful and somewhat unusual name: Athena. She doesn't look like me but she's very attractive, I think. (Don't you?) It's her background and possible future that are eerily like my life was/is. I have my B.A. in Theatre. Athena has a B.A. in Theatre. I then became a librarian. Athena wants to get her Master's in library science--that's actually how the conversation started, when she found out I was a librarian. Then it turns out that she spent a semester at a famous fashion school as a fashion merchandising major, just like I spent a semester at Stout State University, part of the Wisconsin State system and one of the top home ec schools in the country. Her birthday is in August, as is mine. She's more than 30 years younger than I but that's okay. We got along famously nonetheless.

She's currently working for an Arts Council. I met her at a meeting I had to attend because I'm writing the grant proposal for the Oratorio Society I sing with. (I believe that if you belong to an organization and it gives you something, you need to give back. So you volunteer or run for an office or the like.) We had this very, very nice conversation after the meeting. I'm hopeful that she'll get into the Syracuse University online M.S.L.S. program; she would only have to go to campus a few times for 2-3 weeks and could do the rest from her home in northeastern NY.

I'm really hopeful of seeing Athena again. I'm going to get someone to go down to a production at the theatre her husband manage and will definitely look for her. I just had to share this with the five people who read this!

What else ... my garden

So I was talking on the phone to my sister and I stood at the window of my den, which I'm looking out right now, and named what was in flower currently in my garden. Here's the list:

• penstemon (a.k.a bearded tongue)--purple
  
• astilbe--white and pink
  
• bee balm--red(pink not quite in flower yet)
• ladybells--purple
• marguerites--white (like daisies)
  
• purple salvia (I think it's also called mountain sage)
• heal all--purple
• yarrow--red
• dianthus--fuschia
• candy tuft (almost gone by)--lilac and white
  
• Stella d'Oro mini daylilies--gold
• hybrid daylilies--PINK! (actually kind of salmon)
  
• foxglove--yellow, and pink, which I just planted yesterday, in bloom)
• Jacob's ladder--blue
• Shasta daisies--white
• Asiatic lilies--red-orange, white-w-deep pink, light orange, deep orange-w-cinnamon (and more in bud--different varieties)
  
• gerbera daisies--red and yellow (only annuals in my garden)
• yarrow--white
• nicotinia--deep deep pink
  
• evening primrose--yellow (a.k.a. sundrops)
• veronica--purple
  
• lavender--duh
• daylilies--soft yellow
  
• tickseed coreopsis--yellow
• coral bells--pink (the red-leaf variety)
  
• gallardia (blanket flower)--red and gold (one of my favorites)
  
• rudbeckia (yellow-orange with cinnamon ->brown centers)
  

and two different plants that I don't know the names of!--purples of different shades

Here's a photo from my den, but it REALLY does not do justice to my garden. This year it's a real garden.

See why I like July?

I tried again. Maybe a better shot:



Still to come into flower are more daylilies, blackberry lilies (if anyone wants seeds I'll mail them to you; these are very neat plants), liatris (a.k.a. gayfeather), sedum, ground geranium, perennial chrysanthemums, more veronica (tall variety), and phlox. I think that's it. There are a few plants gone by: centaurea (cornflower), euphorbia, Siberian iris, both purple and white, white bleeding heart, some more candy tuft (white and pink), a new plant I can't remember the name of but it's pink, creeping phlox. Now you have an idea why I obsess over this place; it's worth it!

Coming soon, MY GARDEN--The Movie.

July at Last

I am so happy it's finally July. It means I get to go to my nephew's wedding and see my daughters, granddaughter and siblings. I'm so excited. I'll see most of the rest of the extended family too, because it sounds like most of Marie's grandchildren and great-grandkids will be there. TERRIFIC. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

We've had some nice summer days recently. On Thursday I went walking on my usual 2.5 mile "walk around the block" and it was soooo nice that I did it again! And the endorphins were f a b u l o u s! I actually felt a little buzzed! I never had that happen before and I loved it. Maybe it's something I can catch again. But I did the 5-miler this morning and it didn't happen. Wrong shoes, I'm convinced. In a couple of days I'll try it again; I find that too many of the double trips don't sit well with my hips (pun intended).

I'm busy working for the Readers' Radio, having just started Cold Mountain. It's one of my favorite novels and is fun to read again. I read it myself, then read it aloud to Stan and now am reading it aloud again. The editing of my digital tapes is a pain but it has to be done. Maybe if I really dedicate myself this novel will take less than a year, as most take. (I'm learning perseverance in my old age! Now who would have predicted that for me?)

Happy summer to all--it's almost 90 here today and I love it.

The New Roof

Good Lord, who'd-a-thunk-it. A month to put on a new roof, especially one that didn't require us to take off the old one. But weather intervened. We started in early June with this:
Looks good, I think. But we did need a new roof and it seemed like a metal roof was the way to go. No more Stan up there shoveling off the snow; it slides off! No more Stan up there sweeping off the multitudinous droppings from the trees: chenilles from the oaks, propellers and then stems from the maples. They slide off! What could be better? So we started.

And then the weather changed. So last week (of June) we finished. Intervening weeks were trashed day after day by rain. We're finished now and here's how we look:
Huge difference, no? But it means far fewer trips for Stan up those ladder rungs. And NO maintenance. We do have to build shelters for all our plantings because snow really does slide off. But I think it looks good. Don't you?

North Country Americana

So this is very-tinytown rural Americana, at least in Northern New York: "Old Home Days." I think that's the name of the celebration Stan & I attended last Sunday in Altona, NY. Altona, y'know, is one of the "tri-cities" in these parts, them being "Altoni, Ironi, and Scioti." Actually, they're Altona, Irona and Sciota. Each town has probably 100 residents, if that. And they don't live within a mile of each other, I think. We missed the parade and the bagpipers band we'd wanted to see and hear. But we did see what had to be the highlight of the parade: The Pirate Float.

ANYway.

This photo shows what one family--I'm sure it's an extended family in this part of the universe--created for the parade. We talked to one of the people who'd obviously been on this float: he was in full "pirate" garb--rolled-up pants, boots, kerchief on head, live bird on shoulder--no joke. I'm only sorry I didn't take his picture; I'm sure he'd have loved it. So we asked if they would run the ship in the Plattsburgh July 4th parade and he said it wouldn't make it all that way (probably about 20 miles). But we'll have to make it to the parade in Mooers or Mooers Forks (these are real names; I'm not making them up) because he thought the ship would make it there. It's built on an RV frame, after all.

So we missed the pipers but we caught "The Castaways." They're a duo, two dudes who are either father/son or brothers or uncle/nephew or ... in this part of the country, relatives-of-unexplored-relation. (The West Virginia jokes apply here.) Actually, they were pretty good--oldies and Texas two-steps intermixed. But not really Texas two-steps because up there I'm not sure they've heard of Texas. The songs were the type that Bruce recognized from Cape Breton, but to me, the dancers looked like they were doing the Texas two-step. And one of the women dancing made me think so much of my mom I was almost in tears. Wow.

The Castaways were followed by step-dancers who are clearly working their way up. They were cute and earnest and I loved that. Then "The Strawhatters" came on--a volunteer band that was at one time a marching group. Then a band that played pretty much Dixieland. Now just a band that does marching band tunes but doesn't march. And we ate Italian sausages with peppers and onions--one of Stan's major food groups--and went home. Funny thing was that a good time was had by all.

Been awhile....

Okay, okay, so I'm not the most faithful blogger on the planet. Even on Planet Starla. But my life just ISN'T that interesting! So I wait until I'm in the mood and then I go on and on and on and....

Today it's raining, again. We've been in the process of getting a metal roof put on our house since June 8 and there have been so few days without rain that we're still not finished. One more section to go: the sunroom that Stan insists on calling a porch. I've put some photos here; you be the judge. (I actually had to go take these photos just now; I didn't have any on my computer! I could hardly believe that. But I think maybe we added it on before I had a good digital camera--2002, maybe? Hmmm. I know we remodeled the kitchen in 2001 so I think 2002 is right. ... Maybe.)
Anyway, it's a terrific addition to the house and will probably be what sells it, if ever we/I/Stan do that. Given the rising cost of fuel oil that may actually come to pass. That and the rising taxes. I just found out in a newspaper article that NY's property taxes, on average, are 79% higher than the average for the entire country. No wonder people are leaving in droves. I have to get stronger signals from Stan before I actually start looking into that possibility.
If we do go, it very likely will be to Florida. And not because one of my daughters lives there. It would be for affordability and climate combined.

So back to the porch, or sunroom, ... whatever. I spend a lot of time in it in the morning, reading the paper and drinking my tea. I can start to use it in about March--Stan's daughter gave us a very nice heater to use and it usually is about 20 degrees above the outside temp so it's not quite like sitting outside! (That would be part of my rationale for wanting to call it the sunroom; porches ARE like sitting outside.) And I can keep using it pretty much until it gets seriously cold, as in December. It's great for rainy days like this one, too. I sat and read out there for much of the rainy day yesterday.
We don't have a TV out there and sometimes I agitate to get one moved there (involves getting the cable out there somehow; I should have thought of that before Stan did that wonderful rock wall!) But then I realize that not having TV is what a "porch" is all about. I had the same tardiness with thoughts of getting heat into the room. When we re-did the kitchen we put a floor vent just to the left of the sliding door. And if I'd had half a brain I would have asked for an extension into the porch. But again I didn't think of that until the rock (and cement) wall was all finished. That may not sound so dumb but Stan didn't do that wall for two years! ANYway, that room, whatever it's called, may be my favorite in the house. Although I like the bedroom pretty much too; it was the first one we renovated and it still looks good to me! So today, since what I'd planned to do has been rained out (and I didn't really want to do it anyway--it involves EasyOff Oven Cleaner), I'll probably spend some of the afternoon reading my historical novel again. And only feeling a little guilty. And I know I've been running even more than usual with this post but it's because I wanted the pictures to space out in a vertical column and I had to keep adding text to do that. I know I could've just run them in a textless column below but I wanted to have them embedded. I think that looks okay now; how about you?

The only other thing I wanted to add today is that for unknown reasons my thoughts are running to obituaries. Mine. Stan's. I check them all the time in the local paper; good grief, I've been here long enough now that I actually have known some of the people listed! But I was thinking about how my mom had let us know what she wanted included in hers and how much easier that made it. (Again, I have absolutely no idea why I'm thinking in this vein but I woke up selecting wording!) So I have this nice spiral book that lets you put in one spot all that sort of thing and I've made that my job for this afternoon. It means I'll have to push Stan a bit; he'd rather have it just happen. Especially since he believes he'll go first. (Chances are good; he's 14 years older than I am.) But I'll do my info first and then maybe he won't object too much to answering questions.

Ooooooh! That just reminded me. On Monday I'm going to interview Stan for Story Corps, the national project to record regular peoples' stories about their lives or special incidents in their lives. I asked Stan to talk about the "Monk's Club," the house he and a buddy rented in Cocoa Beach, FL, at the birth of the space program. It's a fascinating story--they rented out rooms to a bunch of guys also working at "the Cape"--and he does a great job telling it. I just hope I can ask the right questions to get it to sound as terrific as it usually does. The recordings are stored at the Library of Congress but I just learned that they're not accessible online. Boo. We will get our own CD, however, so if you're interested in hearing it once we have it, I'll work on getting it to you.

And of course, I cannot NOT post a current garden picture. So here it is on a rainy day. You can't see all the flowers that are already open, but believe me, they're there.