December Flowers

Actually have some flowers in Bloom thanks to the moderate weather.
Snow Drops, I had one bunch pop up in December last year as well, the rest will show up in January.

Periwinkle, I expect them in the Spring, but was happy to see this brave soul.

Won't be long before the Witch hazel blooms.

I also have flowers on one of the Coral Bells, a Rose in bloom and had a few Lavender sprigs in color.

Opening gifts a bit late Christmas morning with my foot warmer. An unexpected trip to the Urgent Clinic Christmas morning changed the morning plans a bit, but everything was fine after that.

2012 Tree with the Golden Baked Potato in place of the traditional Santa Hat.

A very festive table.

Birthday Boots

Yeah, the boots I ordered for my birthday showed up.
This is the Official photo.

and these are mine. I ordered them from Russel Moccasin Co. with no pull tabs and Newporter soles with a 1/4 inch heel wedge.

I slid my feet in and they were very comfortable, like they were made just for me. I can be very picky about shoes. The shoes also smell great for now.

I wore them around the house for 2 days and then wore them to the office as their first outing, after a short while I forgot I was wearing new shoes. I'll wait for a dry day to take a walk in the woods, wouldn't want to muddy them up first time out.

For a comparison, these are Bass Clifford boots that I purchased at an outlet for a great price. Very comfortable straight away, but very thin leather, canvas and soles. A lot of seams in the leather outer sole and I'm sure the vamp does not wrap around the foot. My new shoes have a seamless molded outer sole and a wrap around vamp. Plus the pull tabs on these bug the heck out of me, they should probably not extend past the top of the boot. No other complaints about the Bass boot, but they just won't be here as long as my new boots (Thula Thula "PH"). I prefer to keep things for as long as possible, plus I like the routine of maintaining things like shoes, wax jackets and tools.

A pinch of this, a sprig of that, eye of newt and some spam

Lime Aftershave
I ran out my Truefit and Hill West Indian Limes aftershave and now have run out of my Caswell Massey Lime spray so I figured I would try to make my own. Of course I searched the web, then I did my own version of all I had seen.

• peels of 3 limes (no pith)
• 18 allspice berries
• 2 oz. vodka
• 0.5 oz white rum
• may add witch hazel after the limes have given their all

 Almost like Lemoncello sans the simple syrup.

 Sweet Bacon for Christmas

• 955 g pork belly
• 45 g dry cure*
• 32 g brown sugar
• 25 g maple sugar
• 2 tablespoons Crown Royal Maple Finished Whisky

I used to buy my Dad Crown Royal, it came in a blue bag. I had seen a writeup of the Maple Finished on Drink Spirits  and figured I'd give it a try. When I purchased it, it was in a box and I was disappointed that I wasn't going to get a bag. I was wrong, it came with a brown bag, I'll probably use it when I travel to keep my shoes in, I have awfully tiny feet.
In our scientific tasting, 33 and 1/3 of those samples thought it was like firewater while over half of the sampled population liked it. It has a pronounced maple aroma, but is not overpowering upon drinking. A good companion on a cold winter's night of boar hunting with spears.

Savory Bacon, for cooking

• 728 g pork belly
• 40 g dry cure*
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 bay leaves
• crushed black peppercorns

Savory left, sweet right

The bacon will sit in the fridge for 6 or 7 days and I'll smoke them next weekend.
I also rendered some of the extra fat and chucked it in a jar for use in cooking.

Bought the pork belly at the local Pork store, imagine that. It usually is difficult to get it in large slabs if the food stores have any at all.

Bacon recipes from Charcuterie by Ruhlman & Polcyn.
* dry cure 8:4:1 kosher salt: sugar: curing salt

Obligatory Beer Photos
I like Newcastle Brown, especially in the small kegs, this is very nice as well. I like the fir trees on the label.

This Winter Lager is very drinkable, though I am waiting for more Holiday brews to arrive so I can pick my favorite.

Quite looking forward to the Harpoon Winter Warmer and the Samuel Smiths 2012-2013 Winter Welcome Ale.

Thanksgivings

Thanksgivings have a lot in common, there's the turkey and stuffing and autumn colored table cloths, but the number of people change, hair styles change, the sides change and the conversations change. This year everyone had lost power due to Super Storm Sandy and at the top of everyone's list of things to be thankful for was electricity. I know the pilgrims did Thanksgiving without it, but I don't want to try. Three nights were enough.

2012 Table

2010 Table

2009 Table

2011 Carved Turkey

2010 Turkey

2007 Turkey

2005 Scared Puppy

Past Trips

I'm a list maker, things I've done, things I want to do, items I need at the store, my favorite being the liquor store followed up closely by hardware stores.
So here are a list of places we've been on vacation, of which we don't get enough of in this country.
Some trips have links to Past Trip posts, older trips were before we had a digital camera and our scanner is very temperamental and tedious to use. Some trips I have not written up yet. A few years we did day trips or we had a qualified family status change and so I have left those years blank. We are good with saving, we don't need to have every new gadget and we don't do many weekend trips, though that may change in the future and having two people working good paying jobs don't hurt either.

1. 1984 - New England
2. 1984 - St. Thomas, Windward Passage
3. 1985 - First Florida Disney Trip
4. 1986 - Antigua, Hawks Bill Resort, sea view bungalows
5. 1987 - Camping in the wilds of New Jersey
6. 1988 - The Infamous Lake Vanare located in the Lake George Region of New York
7. 1989 - Upstate New York
8. 1990 - St. Lucia, the Eldest's first plane ride, stayed on the Northern tip of the island.
9. 1991 - Last Florida Disney Trip
10. 1992 - 
11. 1993 - England (London, Canterbury, Brighton, Bath, Cambridge and York)
12. 1994 - UK (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, London, Dover, Winchester, Chester) for a Wedding.
13. 1995 -
14. 1996 - Barbados, Divi Southwinds Beach Resort
15. 1997 - Amish Country Pennsylvania
16. 1998 - England (London, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Salisbury, Avebury, Oxford, Northampton, Warick) Land Rover 50th Anniversary
17. 1998 - Alaska Cruise
18. 1999 -
19. 2000 - Cabin on Lake Luzerne, New York
20. 2001 - Switzerland (Zurich, Berne, Lauterbrunnen, Zermatt)
21. 2002 - Cabin on 2nd Connecticut Lake, New Hampshire
22. 2003 - Tokyo, Japan
23. 2004 - Boothbay Harbor, Maine
24. 2005 - Italy (Milan, Florence, Venice and London) January
25. 2006 -
26. 2007 - Trip 1 to see the Eldest in London (February, 3A)
27. 2008 - Trip 2 to see the Eldest in London (February, 3A)
28. 2009 - Trip 3 to see the Eldest in London (February, 3A)
29. 2010 - Trip 4 to see the Eldest in London (March, 2A)
30. 2010 - Trip 5 to see the Eldest in London (October, 1A)
31. 2011 - London, Salzburg and Munich
32. 2012 - Chamonix (trip), Chamonix(alpine plants), France and Montreux and Geneva Switzerland
33. 2013 - Tanzania and briefly in Kenya and a stopover in London
34. 2014 - Aruba, One Happy Island
35. 2015 - Peru, Machu Picchu and the Peruvian Amazon
36. 2016 - Antarctica
37. 2016 - London for a Wedding
38. 2017 - California, LA and San Francisco
39. 2018 - Ice Academy, Driving on frozen lakes in Arjeplog, Sweden
40. 2019 - London
    
41. 2020 - Staten Island North, one Crappy Island
42. 2021 - Keyport, New Jersey. Several Day Trips for take out.
43. 2022 - Munich, Germany.  October to visit family.
44. 2023 - Munich, Germany. June to visit family.
45. 2023 - Munich, Germany, October to visit family.
46. 2024 - Loire Valley France, June, Trek bike trip.
47. 2024 - Munich, Germany, June to visit family.
48. 2024 - San Francisco, August to visit the young one.
49. 2024 - January and June, CIA visit. shhhhh! Top secret.
50. 2024 -
    

Local Sandy Photos

We lost power on Monday evening and had it restored Thursday afternoon.
We had potable water and natural gas for cooking, but no heat, hot water or cell phone service.

This was Monday, just a bit of rain, then the winds started increasing.
Monday night the power went out.

Tuesday: Power still out, no outgoing text messages, house phone dead.
Tuesday we went out trying to get better cell phone coverage and saw some trees down.

Wednesday: Power back at our mothers houses in the late evening.
Thursday: Worked from my mother's, power came back on at our house in the afternoon.

October

Hard to believe October is just about past. Didn't get up to much this month other than

• Drank beer, all Oktoberfest beers, had high hopes for Harpoon Oktoberfest since I really liked their Summer beer, but I didn't love it. Sam Adams was good and Hofbrau was good, but liked Hacker-Pschorr the best. I didn't drink all the beer yet, but I better get to it soon, so I can start on the Holiday brews.

• Planted 75 cloves of garlic on the 6th and they are already growing. I still have about 20 more small cloves to shove into the ground.
• Stopped by a Science Fair on the 13th, it was promoted by New Scientist.
• Mulled some wine on the 14th, thought it was going to be a cold Sunday, but it ended up balmy. Just unmeasured amounts of cinnamon, star anise, cloves and whole all spice simmered in some Beaujolais and added some Ruby Port.
• Had a last minute Dinner party.
• Went to the climbing Gym again and we got belay certified, not as big a deal as it sounds.
• Got immunized for an upcoming trip, still more shots needed.
• shaved 4 lbs. off the weight of my checked luggage for that trip.  I purchased the Sponge Bob lamp for $5 at the local hardware store. He's not coming along.

• Did a test pack for what I think I will carry in my day pack on that trip, just under 10 lbs.

• Planted Eranthis (Winter aconite) on the 20th, it never seems to last more than one year and I really look forward to seeing them show up in the early, early spring.
• Replaced windshield washer jets on the car.
• Cleaned up some rust on our Land Rover which I have been trying to do all Summer long.

Travel? Why Not! Rome, Pizza, Boloney and Salami

Travel

• 8 hours NYC to Rome non-stop.
• 30 minutes Fiumicino Airport (Leonard Da Vinci) to Rome Termini Station
• 3 hours Rome to Pisa via rail.
• 2 hours Rome to Bologna
• 2 hours Pisa to Bologna by rail, change at Florence.
• 1 hour Bologna to Verona Porta Nuova train station.
• 90 minutes Bologna to Venice St. Lucia train station.
• Venice to Marco Polo airport by boat (max 1:15)
• 20 minutes Venice Piazzale Roma square to Marco Polo Airport by bus
• 9 1/2 hours non-stop Venice Marco Polo airport to NYC.

You could either do a loop starting and ending in Rome or have Rome and Venice as your endpoints.

Sights
Rome
Everything you learned about in school and saw in movies; art and history and religion.

• The Vatican
• Roman sights
• Art Museums
• Famous monuments

Pisa
I'm not quite sure about visiting Pisa, but they have the oldest University related Botanical Garden in Europe which might be interesting to visit.

• The Leaning Tower
• Duomo di Pisa
• The Botanical Garden of the University of Pisa (close to the Tower)
• Museum of Human Anatomy, Medical School of Pisa, by appointment

An alternative to Pisa would be
La Cinque Terra
Five villages built on the cliffs of the Mediterranean, only about an hour and a half past Pisa.
The small quaint villages interconnected by regional trains and walking trails are full of Churches, castles (ruins and not), tower houses and narrow medieval streets.

Bologna
A University City with lots of University Museums and fast cars nearby, maybe I'll be able to fit in a track day in a Ferrari.

• Gothic Duomo 
• Covered Arcades
• Palazzo Poggi Museum -University of Bologna Museums
• Wax Anatomy Museum - free
• Ducati Factory Tour and Museum
• Lamborghini Museum - an hour outside Bologna
• Ferrari Museum - outside Bologna

Verona (Day Trip)

• Churches
• Medieval City Center

Venice
A return visit, lots we didn't see and it was such fun just wandering around and finding things.

• Museo Correr, Venitian Civilisation Museum (models, maps, weapons)
• Libreria Nazional Marciana
• Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacre, Romanesque Cloister behind the Doges

Souvineers

• Regional Flags
• Coat of Arms pins
• Interesting liquors

Rain Chain Phase I

We have been  planning to put in a rain chain off the back of the garage roof, but first we have to have somewhere for the water to go. We decided on a small reservoir and the runoff from the reservoir will make its way to a drain that leads to a dry well near the center of the back garden. I don't want any water to go in my neighbor's yard, that would be not be neighborly.

Phase I
Two weeks ago, I dug a foot wide trench seven feet long to a foot square dry-well about three feet deep. I ran a seven foot long, 4 inch diameter black corrugated pipe between the catch basin and the dry-well. I had cut perforations in the bottom of the drain pipe. I wanted some water to be dispersed along the way and some to go to the dry-well. The trench was lined with Landscape fabric with 4 inches of 3/4 gravel poured in before placing the black drain pipe. The Landscape fabric was overlapped over the top of the black drain pipe with another layer of Landscape fabric overlaid before back-filling the trench. The dry well was also lined with Landscape fabric around the added rocks.

This area may be covered with black plastic then gravel and have Alpines in troughs displayed.

Cap on vertical pipe will let me monitor ground water level.

I plan to surround the catch basin drain with a small concrete catchment area. Gravel will go down first, then a piece of hardware cloth and then concrete. I may use green concrete dye.

I placed a 4 inch PVC pipe vertically in the dry-well with a foot of stone at the bottom. I slid a landscape fabric sleeve over the PVC pipe and put about 2 inches of 3/4 inch gravel between the pipe and the sleeve. The PVC pipe terminated in a 4x4 inch of pressure treated wood cut into a pyramid shape and cut round on the opposite end to slip into the pipe. The initial purpose for the pyramid on the pipe was so I could pound the pipe into the ground, but I later changed my plans. I perforated the pipe with 1/4 inch holes on 4 sides.

The top of the drain pipe starts out 2 inches under the ground level and slopes away to where it meets up with the vertical PVC pipe in the dry-well. The top of the drain pipe at the dry well is about 6 inches underground. The trench starts out a foot deep and ends fourteen inches deep.

Phase II will involve putting in the reservoir and a short stream to the catch basin.
Phase III will include putting a gutter on the garage and hanging the rain chain.

The rain chain will drop the water into this reservoir, it is for a 1/2 whiskey barrel planter.

The plan is to put hardware cloth over the grid and put gravel over it so it will look as if the water is just falling to the ground. Flat rocks will cover edges of the reservoir and I may have a larger rock off the back with a waterfall. I have a second water pump which I purchased before I received a free fountain with working pump. I may cut the grate near the outlet so that the water doesn't flow over the grate. If the head of the pump is high enough I may run a tube to the rain chain so we can enjoy the rain chain even if it is not raining. The grate will also prevent animals from falling into the reservoir, depending on how things look, removing the grate and just having a pond is an option.

The water from the outlet will pass through this gargoyle on its way to the catch basin. The outlet needs to be 4 inches above the base of the gargoyle which means less digging for me. After all the ground work is done I will plant Japanese Iris and Hostas along the back of the reservoir and some smaller shade plants along the stream.

Fall Blooms

Still have zucchini coming in, only had one eggplant so far, but there are 2 others which will be ready shortly. The tomatoes were great this year, not a large harvest for the large tomatoes, but they tasted great, red and juicy. The plumbs were more abundant and were used mostly in cooking.

Flowers from around the yard.

These I grew from a promotional packet of seeds that came in the mail. I hope they are perennial, thinking of putting it in the front garden. I can't remember what they are.

I didn't think these were coming up, I cleared away some of the other foliage so the area would get more light and they would be easier to see and they are really popping up now. Usually the Peonies have already died back by now.

A Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), a new addition. I moved the Witch Hazel to the center of the back of the yard and this is to the right of that.

Russian Sage in bloom, next to the Red Twig Dogwood surrounded by the Peonies.

Fall blooming crocus, I have some blue ones in the backyard, but that have not bloomed yet. They get more shade.

Four O'clocks, I had these since I worked at Bell Labs. One of the Techs gave me a jar of seeds, I didn't even have to trade my cow for them. Every year you get different colors. Such fun.