The Real Story about Ground Hog Day!

A sleeping bear, courtesy of LaggedOnUser

Over the last week, I have been reading Alf Evers’ magisterial history, The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock.  His well-written book is filled with surprises, reading it is like coming around a corner on a hike and finding something surprising. 

A surprise that a hiker or angler does not wish to have is to come around a corner meet a bear.  Evers, who died in 2004, has a chapter on bears near the halfway point in his book.  Some of the stories concern unexpected people/bear encounters in the woods; did you know that poorly sung hymns can be useful when meeting a bear?

But the most amazing thing in this chapter is the real story of Ground Hog Day.

In popular culture, February Second is celebrated as Ground Hog Day.  Depending on whether the ground hog sees a shadow, winter will drag on or end mercifully soon.

According to Evers, however, the ground hog is a late arrival to this tradition.

In the Catskills, Evers writes, February second was celebrated “until well into the twentiethĵ century . . . as “Bear’s Day.”  He goes on to quote an account of this holiday from the Reverend Charles Rockwell’s 1867 book, The Catskill Mountains.

On February second, Rockwell wrote, “bears wake from winter sleep, come forth from their dens, take a knowing observation of the weather for a few minutes and then retire to their nests . . . “  “It is further claimed,” he wrote, “that if the sky is clear . . . and the weather is cold . . . they sleep quietly on until the first of April, thinking the cold weather will continue thus long. . . if the weather is mild and cloudy, they look for an early spring.”

When I mentioned Bear’s Day to several friends, they all had a similar reaction. “If it’s Bear’s Day,” one wag said, “you can’t reach into the den and pull the bear out can you?  Ha Ha Ha.” 

Reverend Rockwell had an answer to this one.  It was possible to learn what the bear saw from seeing tracks entering and leaving the bears den.  It was also based on observing tame bears that Colonel Lawrence kept at his tavern in Kiskatom. 

Why do we celebrate February second with an allegedly cute and rolly poly rodent?  Evers suggests bears became scarce in the nineteenth century as Catskill wilderness was rolled back by farms and loggers and hunters killed them. 

Ground hogs typically must live in sunny meadows and fields.  The farmer and hunter set up the conditions for the bear to fade away and for the ground hog to capture the holiday. 

If we went back to Bear’s Day, ground hogs - - and people - - might be happier.  A bear’s large size commands respect and emphatically tells people to keep a distance. 

By contrast, ground hogs can be unpredictable; in New York City, the Staten Island Zoo celebrates the day with a ground hog named Staten Island Chuck.  In 2009, Chuck bit former Mayor Bloomberg.  In 2014, Mayor De Blasio dropped Chuck’s stand-in, Staten Island Charlotte.  In 2015, Jimmy the ground hog bit Mayor Jonathan Freund on the ear at the Sun Prairie, Wisconsin celebration. 

After these stories, remind me again.  Why I think people will be less inept around bears than ground hogs?

Best of 2015

We had a great year in 2015, from the time the ball fell in Times Square to this New Year’s Eve. 

Here are some favorites from along the way:

 

Rosemary in Claremont, California

1.      In the Northeast, rosemary doesn’t survive outside in winter and is a struggle to grow inside. 

 

But when its spring, summer or fall, having a rosemary plant outside the kitchen door allows the cook to brighten up many dishes with a last minute trip to snip a few sprigs of this herb.

 

In southern California, rosemary grows outside all year ‘round!  In May, Dorothy and I joined the congenial folks at Get Walking Claremont for a Thursday walk.  Within five minutes, we found a shrub-sized rosemary bush between a sidewalk and the road.  When I returned recently, the bush had lots of violet flowers and a swarm of tiny butterflies with black spots on the back of the wings and a blush of a blue/violet on the top.

 

My friend Seymour has rosemary in front of his house in downtown LA and it’s a fixture in public landscaping work.  I don’t like rosemary as a seasoning for lamb because I can’t warm up to lamb.  But when I walk past these fragrant shrubs, I think of rosemary bread or olive oil infused with the herb!

A farmer's market in southern California

 

2.      Farmers Markets are having a great resurgence on all of the coasts.  In the northeast and Midwest, the weather requires them to move inside as happens with the Green Market in Schenectady, New York or the Farmer’s Market in Troy, New York

In California, the weather stays mild enough that the markets can stay outdoors into January - - or later.  Some markets start out cold and require a warming cup of coffee, tea or cocoa.  But things warm as the morning progresses and the variety of produce, cheeses and naturally raised beef or chicken calls like a siren’s song.

 

This is the back of the original building in the Albright - Knox complex.  Next to it is a modern addition.

3.      The Albright-Knox Art Museum in Buffalo, New York has one of the best collections of Abstract Expressionist art in the United States.  We visited there in the summer, when many of the main paintings were in a traveling exhibit.  But a trip to the Albright-Knox when it’s missing its signature artwork is better than visiting many other museums when they have their complete collection.  Look for a post devoted to the Albright Knox soon!

 

4.      The Barnsider Restaurant in Albany is back on the Best of list because . . . it is the best of.  This restaurant serves all different types of steak and beef dishes with a good variety of chicken and seafood for people who do not care for red meat.  The salad bar and the martinis are a perfect complement to whatever entrée you order.  And if a person is not in the mood for a big meal, a martini and the Barnsider’s shrimp cocktail are an unbeatable combination!

 

5.      LAXon Lark is a new restaurant on Lark Street, in downtown Albany.  The owners are from LA and are looking to share a fusion menu with Albanians.  We dined there on Christmas Eve.  The service was excellent, the menu varied and reasonably-priced and everyone enjoyed their entrees, which ranged from vegetarian delights to fusion tacos with beef and Korean barbecue sauce.

 

6.      When we first started college hunting in 2007, our friend Frank hosted us in his home on the edge of LA and San Bernadino Counties.  One evening he took us to El Ranchero on Foothill Boulevard, which used to be Route 66, in Claremont, California.  We enjoyed that dinner but did not make it back until I was in Claremont this November.  The food remains as tasty and attractively served as it was nearly 10 years ago.  The wait-staff offers very capable, welcoming service and the menu offers a great variety of dinners.

 

7.      In ‘n Out Burger: This California chain offers one of the best burgers in the world.  The meat is fresh and well-cooked but not to the consistency of shoe leather.  Shakes and fries are a perfect accompaniment.  For fair weather diners, some restaurants have only outside tables; if it’s too cold, too hot or too wet other branches have an bright cheery inside dining room.

 

8.      ZPizza is a chain, with a store in Claremont, that advertises organic ingredients.  But what I like best is that their pizza is not greasy and does not taste as if it is loaded with salt.  Diners order at the counter, whether they want to take-out or eat in.  The staff are capable and congenial.

 

9.      Handel’sIce Cream started in Youngstown, Ohio - - an hour or so south of Lake Erie on America’s North Coast.  Since then, the chain has expanded east and west.  It is truly amazing to see a Youngstown business in California, allowing a person to enjoy one of the most flavorful ice cream recipes there is in a balmy climate.

 

10.  The movie Spotlight is about the editorial and reporting team at the Boston Globe that broke open the scandal about priests who abused children in Boston.  The abuse is very sad and the damage from it continues for some people today.  But the movie is excellent because it shows how good old-fashion journalism with persistent research and working the streets scan illuminate social conditions, can comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

 

11.  This blog is only possible because of family and friends.  Lots of the places and experiences in the blog come from traveling with my wife Dorothy and my daughter Lily, as well as visiting or traveling with friends.  Thanks to all of you!

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

Late Fall Gardening

Carrots from my Garden

On the East Coast, we have been having a mild fall so far.

When I went over to the garden on Sunday to clean up, I found there were still a lot of carrots.  Yes, they were small.  But yes, they are also so tasty.

After pulling the carrots, I went to check four Brussels Sprouts stalks.  When I last saw them in early November, the sprouts were small.

On this trip, they are large - - almost as large as those in the supermarket.  Dorothy baked them and put balsamic vinegar on them.  The big ones had a creepy texture but the smaller ones were great. 

My mother will be amazed to know that I finally ate a Brussels Sprout.

The Brussels Sprouts that Ate Guilderland!

Yellow is Mellow - - and Effective Too

photograph courtesy of Lotfi Sayahi

This time of year is often called the “dog days of summer,” because of the sultry, heavy weather.

Popular wisdom is that fishing is mediocre at this time of month.  If you fish a pond or stream that dries up, this is certainly the case.  But on many lakes and ponds, the fishing can defy the dog days.

Low light is always an angler’s friend.  Since June, low light has become more of a friend, with the loss about 45 minutes in the morning, and in the evening.

Over the last two weeks, Adel, Lotfi, Allen and I have been investigating summer angling with great results.

Our biggest successes have come with metal jigs with yellow plastic bodies, and worms fished on standard hooks.  Adel discovered that allowing the jig to sink and then retrieving it slowly drives the crappie crazy. 

Using this technique, he and his brother Lotfi boated 17 fish on an early summer morning.  They hooked even more fish but they either were too small or slipped the hook.  For a brief period, the angling duo had a streak that rivaled the action on those morning fishing shows.  First one brother would get a fish.  By the time we had that fish released or in the cooler, the other brother would have a fish bulling into the deep and putting up an awesome fight.

The technique works on other fish, such as pickerel and bass.  On this trip, the pickerel and bass gave a spirited fight but we released them as they were under the legal minimum.

Pickerel caught on a jig with yellow coloring
Photo courtesy of Lotfi  Sayahi

This past weekend, Allen and I returned to the same lake, but later in the morning.  Despite the later hour, we had a lot of fun.  We replicated the success with the yellow jigs.  Allen caught large bluegills on worms.  It was impressive to watch Allen fishing; usually with worms, the smaller panfish come in a clean off the hook.  Somehow, he was able to attract the larger fish.  In the spirit of experimentation, I trolled and casted a Flat Fish, which yielded a good bluegill while trolling.

On both days, the fishing was made even better by the setting and the company.  As you can see from the photo below, our lake is sometimes so calm that it’s hard to tell which end is up and which is down.  This past Sunday, the cloudy water from previous trips had settled out and it was possible to see dozens of feet below.

Which side is the real lake and which is the reflection?
Photograph courtesy of Lotfi Sayahi

Labor Day is coming up sooner than most of us would like.  But don’t despair.  The summer fishing is great.  Then as September progresses, we can enjoy autumn fishing.

 

Gardens and Streams

The garden: Good things keep coming out of the garden.  This year has been particularly wonderful for tomatoes, corn and carrots.  The beans and eggplant are not doing as well as last year, but maybe they will make a late-inning move that will compensate for the quiet progress thus far.

Even with the desirable plants being well-established, it is still amazing how many weeds there are.  It would be nice if there was more rain, as daily watering has been required this week.  But hearing about California, we will just keep watering and take our lumps here in the Northeast.

A harvest from earlier in the week!

 

The streams:  Stream levels are down considerably.  Perhaps some forecasted rain will perk things up.

On a New York trout stream Sunday night, I hooked a small rainbow trout on a Light Cahill wet fly.  This fly was one of three on a cast that included a Woolly Bugger and a Lead Wing Coachman. 

Later on the trip, I tied on a number 20 Elk-Hair Caddis (with a peacock herl body) that my friend Dennis tied.  The fly took a short hit and perhaps will do even better the next time there is more and cooler water. 

The great thing about fishing with this fly was that I found a six and a half feet long 6x leader in the fly vest, a leftover from a Trout Unlimited flea market long ago.  Having a short leader made casting on a small stream, with lots of inconveniently located brush and, a much easier experience.

A small rainbow trout, caught on the Little Hoosic, that
is similar in size and coloring to the one caught Sunday night

A Tricoastal Summer

Summer meadows are full of wildflowers!

It’s been a great summer so far.  Here is a random selection of experiences that are making this such a noteworthy time.

On the East Coast: The Garden

We have lots of rain followed by warm sunny days.  The community garden and plants in the yard are all doing very well up to this point.  In the garden, the seeds from last year’s cherry tomatoes and sunflowers are growing into large and healthy plants.  Being more alert with weed control and regular meals of nitrogen fertilizer has the corn growing well, too. 

The cornstalks now have ears of corn, with tassels on them.  We have picked over 20 tomatoes in the last week and made two containers of sauce! and the tomatoes.  The carrots have come in like gangbusters.  When you pick a dozen or so, they weigh a pound and their weight and length is like those found at a farm stand or in a supermarket. 

Fresh carrots and a baguette are a great road food snack.  They are filling without being weighty, as happens with deli sandwiches or fast food.

On the North Coast: The Senate Restaurant, Livonia, Michigan

We went to Michigan for our nephew’s wedding and enjoyed seeing family.  We stayed in a Courtyard in Livonia and one morning, we got to the hotel lobby about 90 seconds too late for breakfast.  Unlike other Courtyards, the staff was not in the mood to put out two more meals.  At first that seemed to be poor hospitality.

But after looking online, we found a restaurant about five minutes away, called George’s Senate Restaurant and Coney Island.  The Senate, which serves breakfast all day, is on the edge of a golf course.  The breakfast menu has a good mix of traditional dishes and healthy choices.

The Senate’s menu says they have the best rice pudding there is and we got two orders to go.  When George Dimpoulos says he makes the best rice pudding, he is absolutely right.  The rice pudding was custardy with the just the right balance of rice, sweetness, vanilla and cinnamon.

On the West and North Coasts: Handel’s Ice Cream

 My friend, Seymour, who lives in Los Angeles, has in-laws who live in metropolitan Detroit.  On a lark, I mentioned the Senate to Seymour and asked him if his father-in-law had ever eaten there. The answer was “yes” and both the food and the golf course got good marks. 

When we went to southern California for our daughter’s graduation from graduate school, we were driving around and learning about the communities.  Going down one street, we saw an ice cream place called Handel's

Dorothy grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and there was a Handel’s that was the ice cream powerhouse of this steel city.  After looking online, we learned that the California Handel’s is in fact owned by the same family as the one in Youngstown.

Handel’s ice cream tastes just as good in California as it does in Ohio.  It has a creamier and custard-ier flavor than typical ice cream.  It was a riot to be able to eat a Handel’s cone at 8 in the evening and know that a flight to Cleveland and an hour drive the next day would allow you to have a second cone in a different place.

This idea of flying between coasts for Handel’s ice cream may not be as far fetched as you might think.  Some people in Youngstown, Ohio, which is the home of the DeBartolo family owners of the San Francisco 49ers, claim that when the team was in Youngstown for a visit, they liked Handel’s ice cream so much that the team had it packed in dry ice and flown to San Francisco.

On the North Coast: Buffalo in summer

On the way to the wedding, we stopped in Buffalo.  If you have experienced the stereotype of Buffalo as a snow bound citadel of depressing weather, you need to go there and in the summer.   The downtown and the adjoining Arts District are supremely walkable. 

The Arts District has lots of
restored old homes like this one

This sycamore tree in the Arts District is
reputedly the oldest tree in Buffalo

This was important because I ate too large a dinner at D’Arcy McGee’s Irish Pub in the City’s Theater District and needed to walk it off.

 

Fish of Dreams

High waters on upstate trout streams

It's been raining big time in upstate New York.

The rain was so bad in one area that my friends had a flood in their basement.  And their basement rarely floods.

Despite all the rain, I was starting to twitch in frustration from not fishing.  It was time to end the excuses for not going fishing.

I found myself standing on the bank of a small stream near Syracuse.  The conditions looked grim.  The water was high, fast and the color of café au lait.

Standing on the same stream bank was a young father and his daughter, who appeared to be three or four years old.  They were having fun enjoying the day and the water.  The dad was also trying to figure out what was happening on the trout stream.  He enlisted his daughter in lifting and turning over rocks, to see what kinds of aquatic insects are active in the stream.

All of a sudden, in the middle of this unfriendly water, I saw a large, thick brown trout rocket skyward.  It was pursuing a mystery insect.  The suddenness of this and seeing the entire fish out of the water, was surprising and galvanizing.  The fish was violating the conventional wisdom that trout are inactive in high water.  Later, it rolled on the surface to take some other bugs.

Despite a winter of inaction, I was able to cast flies to where the trout had been working the water.  But none of my fly choices interested the fish.  As the waders filled with water, it was time to go.

Nevertheless, it was great to take home the memory of this fish, even if I did not have the chance to play it and land it.

Spring Constants

The Village of Lake Placid and Adirondack High Peaks

So far this spring, I have experienced two constants.

Since trout season opened on April 1^st, I have been fishless on some of the best streams in New York:

·         Spring Creek, south of Rochester and one of the first streams in America stocked with brown trout?  No fish.

·         The West Branch of the Ausable, a trophy trout stream flowing from the Adirondack High Peaks past Lake Placid? No fish.

·         Ten Mile Creek, a small stream in southern Albany County said to have inspired Roy Ovington’s Tactics on Trout?  No fish.

·         And so on for several other streams within a stone’s throw of Albany.

The positive constant has been L. L. Bean, which has a store in Colonie Center, in suburban Albany.

Last fall, I bought an Angler II rod and reel package at Bean.  The package includes an eight foot rod and a reel loaded with backing, a six-weight line and a 3x leader, costing less than $80.

The reel is set up for right-handers.  For several months, I fished the rod with an Orvis reel that was a family gift.  But then, I wanted to see how the Angler reel and rod worked together.

Yesterday, I went back to the store, hoping for help in reversing the reel.  Readers of this blog may recall the mess I made when I tried to reverse a right-handed saltwater reel that my friend Seymour gave me, so it was unsettling to face this situation again.

There was no need to worry.  Bean has a strong customer service guarantee and knowledgeable staff - - even though they are a big store with a varied product inventory.

Bill, a store salesman who specializes in tackle and enjoys fishing himself, congenially and capably reversed the reel.  With the skill of a surgeon, he took the reel apart and flipped over a part that reversed the drag.  Then, he used a machine to remove the backing, fly line and tippet and replace it in the direction needed for a left hander.

When I took the line and backing off the saltwater reel, it took a week to untangle and I had to cut a large clot of backing that was hopelessly tangled.  Bill got the entire job done in under 15 minutes.  If the store was not close by, Bean offers an angler help line at 800-347-4552, which the website said would help a person reverse the reel.

Whether or not the fishing improves is anyone’s guess.  Even though New York does not have the problems that California has, it’s been dry and there has already been a big forest fire in the Shawangunk Mountains south of the Catskills.

Until - - or if - - the fishing improves, I’ve got the confidence to fish well, thanks to the product quality and service at L. L. Bean!

Having your Cake and Eating it Too: Jake Hafner's in North Syracuse, New York

Jake Hafner's in many seasons, courtesy of Hafner's Restaurant

When riding the Interstates, Americans like to have their cake and eat it too.

            We want the convenience and safety of a modern, high speed highway.  But often, we do not want to settle for the corporate franchises found at the on/off ramps.  We want unique experiences.

            If you are traveling on Interstate 81 through the Syracuse area, a stop at Jake Hafner’s allows you to have your cake - - and your salad, and your steak, and your chicken - - and eat it too.

            Hafner’s is a comfortable restaurant with a rustic ambiance in North Syracuse, a straight, five minute ride from the East Taft Road interchange on I-81.  On the Syracuse Convention and Visitor’s Bureau website, Hafner’s cuisine is classified as “American Mixed.”  The heart of its menu are wonderful steaks.  However, the comprehensive menu includes a great selection of: dinner and appetizer salads; seafood; and chicken.

            On a recent Wednesday evening, we had dinner at Hafner’s.  The place has a large dining room on one side and a big bar area with lots of flat screen televisions and sports programs. 

            My friend Mark made a reservation for the restaurant so everyone could talk and not have to compete with the high spirits in the bar.  We were seated in an intimate corner of the dining room.  The table was amazingly cozy for a large party; the acoustics were such that it was easy to have a conversation - - even with the liveliness of the bar nearby.

            After a large lunch, I chose a steak frites dinner salad.  It had sliced filet mignon, fresh field greens, blue cheese and an Everest-sized mound of frites, small crispy French Fries that were thinner than the shoestring potatoes found in burger places such as In ‘n Out. 

            While this was a great dinner, all around me were other dinners equally delightful: a chicken Marsala dish with thinly sliced chicken breasts, a solid-sized Delmonico and a pasta Alfredo dish.

            As dinner wound down, trivia night started and we could easily hear the questions announced in the bar.  By the time we got to the final question, our team had a respectable 75 points.  We bet it all on the last question, which turned out to be a one of the geekiest and hardest questions about Star Wars you could imagine. 

            We may have lost all our trivia points, but we still won big, with excellent food and capable, congenial service.

There is always something happening at Hafner's regardless of the holiday
Thanks to Seymour Singer for his help taking the blue of this photo!

 

A Superior Novel: Peter Geyes' "The Lighthouse Road"

 

Peter Geye uses Lake Superior, about as far north as you can go on America’s North Coast, as a vivid backdrop for his second novel, The Lighthouse Road. 

The Lighthouse Road, named after the main street in fictional Gunflint, Minnesota, chronicles the lives of two generations in Gunflint.  The present day in the book is the 1920’s, with flashbacks to the 1890’s to explain how history shaped the book’s present day.

The arrival of Thea Eide puts the story in motion.  Thea, a young Norwegian immigrant, comes to America to work on her aunt and uncles farm.  But two days before she arrives, Thea’s aunt commits suicide and her uncle is mad with grief.

Her new family in shambles, Thea is compelled to work as a cook in a lumberjack’s camp near Gunflint.

Thea has a son named Odd, a family name, and he is the main character in the present day of the book.  Odd is a herring fisherman, a boat builder and a smuggler.  He works for Hosea Grimm, an older man who runs the village’s apothecary and bordello.

Hosea and his daughter Rebekah have been his surrogate parents; Thea died shortly after Odd was born.  A key part of The Lighthouse Road is how Odd discovers his mother’s past and tries to find his independence from Hosea and Rebekah.

Searching for identity is also key to Thea’s and Rebekah’s stories.  Although this book is set well over a 100 years ago, its chronicle of the struggles of immigrants and women could have been written this year.

This literary novel is also a thriller.  At the book’s beginning, the reader has a certain view of the characters and their village.  As the story progresses, Geye reveals surprises and plot twists.

The Lake provides Odd’s occupation, first as an apprentice herring fisherman, then as a master boat builder and then as a smuggler.

Geye’s Lake Superior is calm and bright on a moonlit night.  It offers a week of unseasonably mild weather before a severe winter.  In that winter it is locked in thick ice that allows people to walk a mile out and ice fish.

One of my favorite parts of the book concerns Thea’s travels from Chicago to Gunflint by steamer and schooner.  The distance that Thea travels and the power of the Lakes eloquently underscores the big changes Thea is experiencing in her life.

Geye describes the last morning on the schooner, The Opportunity, as follows:

“In the morning, they awoke to more heavy fog.  The lake was now coming in slow undulations . . . They waited for two hours, the fog more blown away than burned, and raised sails under a southwesterly breeze that brought as much warmth as it did smooth sailing.”

 

Thea, Odd, Hosea and Rebekah are fully developed people.  Geye persuades readers to care for them, even when they fall short.  He has written a book as strong and well constructed as Odd’s fishing boat, with a story with as many moods as Lake Superior itself.