Captain's Blog

Trying out some new blogging software for the iPad

2012-02-02T13:33:00.001-08:00

This is a test of the new blogging software, to replace Blogpress which has decided to simply stop working.

Santo Crappo!

A visit with granddaughter Sasha at Paradise Village

2012-01-28T07:29:00.001-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico -- Adm. Fox and I zipped up the highway from Arroyo Seco Friday for a visit to Puerto Vallarta.

We wanted to visit granddaughter Sasha, but also had to pick up a few dozen things to fix hurricane damage and also simply get supplies for the season.

With Sasha on the Paradise Village beach

Until we were on the ground in Arroyo Seco for a day or so, we weren't sure how much time we were likely going to spend, Now it seems we will be there most of the remaining eight or so weeks we expect to be here south of the border.

One of our treasure hunts has been to find replacement toilet seats. Yup, toilet seats. In the hurricane last fall, both were smashed by falling roof tiles and need to be replaced.

In the U.S., simple. In Mexico, not so.

The toilets we bought are fancy, lo-flush units that are environmentally friendly in water usage but a big carbon footprint to try to replace. We checked three likely places in the area, none of which had anything that would fit.

It would seem crazy to have to replace a toilet to get a toilet seat, but, well, it is Mexico.

Beyond that, we need yellow, bug-light light bulbs, hardware for doors and some specialty foods that we can't get in Arroyo Seco, like good refried beans. What? Refried beans not available in Arroyo Seco? Well, some are, but the amount of lard in the cans makes them delicious but less than healthy.

No matter how the treasure hunt turns out today, we head back down the highway this afternoon. Sunday is lunch on the Arroyo Seco beach and perhaps a trip to Playa Chica where the Admiral and I spent a nice afternoon two days ago - the only people on the whole stretch of beach.

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In Arroyo Seco, settling in until the Banderas Bay Regatta

2012-01-26T10:46:00.001-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox and I have been working on getting the Pink Flamingo opened up for several days and are pretty close to getting things in order.

Miraculously, both the Honda quad and my Honda motorscooter turned over on the first try and seem to be running fine.

The telephone is out however, and Tel-Mex says the line is fine... It seems that during the hurricane last fall, all the lines went down and ours probably got connected to another house.

Trying to untangle that is proving to be a challenge.

Because of that, our Internet is being handled at an Internet cafe - brand new to Arroyo Seco this season.

Internet cafe - Arroyo Seco style

The good part is that our iPads work here wireless so we don't even take up space from the villagers who are becoming quite Internet savvy.

We also have made a foray into La Manzanilla for meals at both Fiesta Mexicana and our favorite hangout, Palapa Joes. Manana it will be a fast trip to Puerto Vallarta to pick up supplies some furniture, and see granddaughter Sasha (now three and a half years old).

The beachside restaurant, Fiesta Mexicana

The village remains Arroyo Seco with few changes, a new tienda here, a surf shop opened on the way to Playa Chica.

And as soon as I get the hammocks strung, all will be good for this afternoon.

The beach at La Manzanilla

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On the way back to Mexico, one day out

2012-01-21T22:25:00.001-08:00

ON BOARD Virgin America FLT 27 - We are cruising at 450 mph over Colorado on our way to SF where I intend to get a good night's sleep before finishing this sojourn Sunday in Puerto Vallarta.

Most people reading this already know that I have been in the US since Wednesday attending the wake and funeral of my older brother.

And most know that his death came as an unexpected shock - a crashing heart attack at a medical appointment.

Such events have strange effects on people and it will be some time before I can put words to how I feel and how the trajectory of my life is now changed.

At the moment? Stuck in memories of growing up with flashes of an adult older brother.

My thanks to the many friends who send me messages of support and condolence. All were - and are - greatly appreciated.

In typical writer fashion, I wrote a column about Tony's passing for the newspaper I now work with in my semi-retirement.

It helped, for the moment.

I hope that some time with Sylvia in the sunshine in Mexico works, too.

Below are a couple of weather photos from NY today just as I was leaving. Mexico is definitely the right place for me to be for a lot of reasons, weather included.

In front of my sister Anne's house in Hewlett

The backyard at Anne's

Runways at JFK

On Virgin America Flight

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In Nuevo Vallarta at the Vallarta Yacht Club...aaaaahhhhh

2012-01-15T16:37:00.001-08:00

Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico - We landed early shuffled over to get our wheels and have already checked out our temporary digs aboard a 40-foot Passport sailboat.

Temps in the low 80s, some change in 36 hours.

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First impression of Virgin Air plane - it's a bloody spaceship

2012-01-15T09:16:00.001-08:00

ON THE TARMAC ABOARD VIRGIN FLIGHT - It might just be the weariness of yesterday's US Airways flights, but this plane is like a bloodily spaceship.

I am getting a signal to shut down... More later...

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Flying Virgin Airlines today - not the US Airways experience, I bet

2012-01-15T08:14:00.001-08:00

San Francisco Airport - Adm. Fox and I are having a very civilized breakfast in the Virgin America terminal, from which we will zoom out to PV in about an hour.

Compared to most airport terminals, this place is a tiny slice of heaven.

Even the TSA people were polite as we came thru security.

Very Eco-friendly here - not a plate or cup looks like they are plastic or - gasp - styrofoam.

In about 4-5 hours, I expect to be sitting on the deck of a sailboat in Nuevo Vallarta, planning Monday's adventures.

More on that, if el Internet cooperates...

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Halfway to SF after watching the movie 'Contagion'

2012-01-14T17:23:00.001-08:00

AT 32,000 FEET aboard U.S. Airways - One recommended must-see movie is 'Contagion.'

Matt Damon, Judd Law, Gwyneth Paltow - great acting and a suspenseful script.

But it might not be the best choice for viewing while locked in a plane with several hundred people, many of whom seem to be hacking and wheezing with sounds remarkably like those dying of a nearly unstoppable virus in the movie.

I am wearing a handkerchief over my mouth and nose, wondering if I should inoculate with a vodka tonic or three.

Of course that would likely make the megadoses of Keflex that I am taking less effective. The dermatologist took a chunk out of my shoulder Tuesday but may have let some infection in at the same time. The Keflex 750 mg per dose - is supposed to take care of the swelling. Maybe there will be a little left over to guard against the plague on this airliner.

On second thought, perhaps I should ring for one of the attendants gossiping in the back and get some hydration gong - pronto!!!

Oh madame!

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Location:Halfway to SF after watching the movie 'Contagion'

Scenes from a Philly airport mall

2012-01-14T08:51:00.001-08:00

16,000 feet aboard a de-iced small jet

2012-01-14T08:22:00.001-08:00

NEAR Philadelphia - We sat on the runway for 20 minutes getting the plane de-iced, listening to lots of weather chatter from the other passengers.

My stitches are still achy from the security scan...guess I will be more careful tomorrow in SF as we come back through.

The flight tomorrow is on Virgin America, not quite the space flight that Virgin has planned for this decade, but it is a direct to PV where Captain Bob O'Hara will pick us up in our Toyota Tundra.

Tonight in SF we will celebrate Dylan's birthday - an event we almost always miss because most years we have been in Mexico for a month by now.

More from the ground...my index finger is sore from tapping this screen.

YouTube Video

Heading west to SF, then south to PV

2012-01-14T05:45:00.001-08:00

Elmira, NY - the snow is coming down steady here and security tight as always.

The stitches in my shoulder still hurt from having to put my hands on my head in the body scanner.

But I feel soooo much safer.

More on the odyssey '10 Weeks in Mexico' when we hit the Philly airport and my wireless keyboard is at hand.

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Out of California and into the winter-world of upstate New York

2011-12-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - And just like that, we hopped on a Jet Blue plane Thursday night and Friday arrived in Syracuse, NY where a Hyunda Sonata (no Nissan Cubes this trip) waited as our chariot to take us home.

For me it was slightly more than a 41-year absence. It was August 1970 when I left in a blue VW van, landing in Napa in mid-October after hitting more than 10 states in an odyssey, looking for who-knows-what, even now.

But the trip home was quicker. Our two California vehicles (my vintage Nissan pickup truck) and our Mexico-veteran Isuzu Trooper were loaded onto a car carrier Wednesday afternoon, a car carrier driven by two Russian guys with accents (and haircuts) right out of central casting. They arrived here in Watkins Glen at noon, with six more deliveries here on the East Coast.


The black car is our rental, the other three our NY fleet

Landing here also is the first time since the turn of the 21st Century that Admiral Fox and I have owned a home with virtually everything we own in one place. I say virtually, because the Pink Flamingo in Arroyo Seco still has some of our 'stuff' but not much.

When Dustin and Sylvia drove the Trooper (aka Troupey) out of Mexico last spring, they brought a carload of items, now resting either with Dustin in tony Connecticut or here at North Glen.

Duplicates - make that triplicates - of sooooo many things are popping up.

And at Brother Dan's shop in Big Flats, we have two palettes of boxes and assorted household stuff yet to bring here to look at.

Perhaps we'll bring it all to the house for Christmas to open the boxes then.

Sasha with friend

Last night - barely awake after very little sleep on the plane the night before - we went out for dinner to Maria's, a local joint where I go to talk politics sometimes. There we had a great fish dinner with amigos Gary and Sue and their son Jeff. Then we traveled over to visit amiga Amanda at her house. (Ok, we went there to visit Sasha the dog, too.)

It was a nice entree back to the community. And, not to let any snow accumulate under our boots, tonight we head up to the increasingly famous Hector Wine company (in Hector, of course) for a glass or seven of wine and to listen to the band 'Buford.'

No, that's not a typo... and I hear the group is quite good.

We awoke this morning to a light dusting of snow and all day have watched the flakes coming down. Very little is sticking, so at this point, it's picturesque and not pain-in-the-ass. We're set though - I found all my winter gear and my boots have been waterproofed!

Here's a winter view of the lake from our deck and our winter-covered hot tub which might get pressed into service.

And at the bottom is a short video of this morning's snow... Set to music, of course.

32,000 feet surrounded by snoring people

2011-12-16T03:22:00.001-08:00

SOMEWHERE OVER LAKE MICHIGAN, USA, 5 a.m. -- Admiral Fox and I spent our last day in Sacramento running all those last-minute errands that drive you mad: mailing things, losing things, and trying to stuff 250 lbs. of our possessions into four suitcases for checking.

Yes, each suitcase can only weigh 50 pounds. We had to get creative.

But that was hours back and at this moment we are tearing up the miles crossing the U.S. in a Jet Blue plane with the snoring of sleeping passengers almost as loud as the jet engines.

When I say tearing up the miles I am not kidding. The computer shows us hitting 700 mph in airspeed.

Move over Chuck Yeager, we are coming through.

Our destination now is JFK Airport where we (and we hope our checked bags) will hop a second flight to Syracuse where a rental car awaits to take us to our new Tranquility Base in Watkins Glen. I have high hopes it will not be another Nissan Cube.

This air flight is a little quicker than when I made this trip west in August of 1970 in a VW bus that would only go 50 mph on downhill runs.

Both Adm. Fox and I are now official retirees from our university teaching positions - though I prefer the Spanish word, jubilado. That word comes closer to what we felt when we turned in keys and had our final separation papers stamped and approved.

It felt like a cross between a graduation and getting a presidential pardon.

(Asute readers will note that there isn't a lot of wistful remembrances here about decades of teaching. But come on, it's the middle of the night, I haven't slept and I am typing this on my iPad.)

By the way, for iPad addicts, note that your wireless keyboards won't work on airplanes. They aren't allowed. Instead, you have to use the screen keyboard on which touch typing is almost impossible.

Almost.

And as I type this we have started hitting some dirty air and the plane is bouncing like Dolly Parton in a Christmas special.

More later.

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Fracking is dangerous, and downright ugly

2011-11-07T07:02:00.001-08:00

PENNSYLVANIA, USA - I received this photo this morning, a night shot of a hydrofracking drilling site in Pennsylvania.

These rigs are all over the place, just over the state line from New York.

They pollute night sky with bright lights - and all reports indicate they are noisy, too.

Click on the photo to enlarge to get the full effect.

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In La Manzanilla, ready to check out Arroyo Seco damages

2011-11-04T09:53:00.001-07:00

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox and I took a quick overnight flight south to check out hurricane damage.

OK, it was not quick. And I think I am off red-eye airflights forever. We got on a flight at 12:30 a.m. and arrived in Puerto Vallarta at about 8 a.m.

In Guadalajara, we had to change planes, which was fun, mostly because we went from the main terminal to the commuter terminal, lugging suitcases filled with stuff for granddaughter Sasha and clothes and things for the people of Arroyo Seco.

Arroyo Seco got whacked hard by Hurricane Jova, roofs were lost, some people's home flooded.

More on all that later.

But below are two photos:

One from Cafe Risa, where we had breakfast today, the other of the Guadalajara Aeropuerto, while aboard out puddle jumper...

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Hurricanes in Mexico and fires in classroom buildings on campus

2011-10-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Adm. Fox and I are waiting semi-patiently tonight for word from Arroyo Seco about how the people in the village fared when Hurricane Jova came ashore Tuesday night, about 15 miles north right through the area known as Chamela.

No one has heard much from anyplace along that stretch of coast. In Arroyo Seco, Jim Monaco, who lives right on the beach, reported he was okay in a brief telephone conversation with an amiga. But the phone lines are down, power is out and the whole coastal area waiting for water to recede and/or digging out from mudslides. Full tinacos (water tanks) with 500 gallons of water blew off tops of buildings in the wind. My two RVS (Grey Goose Express and the Grey Goose II) might have taken off like Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz.

South of Arroyo Seco, La Manzanilla seems to have survived ok. But just south of that pueblo, the towns of Melaque and Barra de Navidad are a mess. Bridges are out, roads collapsed and shoreside restaurants partly washed out.


*Highway near Manzanillo*

But life continues, mudslides or not and so while waiting for the constant busy signal to stop today for calls into Mexico, I put together a video with some startling images of propane explosions. In New York, the Department of Environmental Conservation has extended the period of time for comments on the proposed environmental nightmare proposed to be built north of our Watkins Glen house.

It's a 576-acre propane and natural gas storage facilty (using salt caverns as holding tanks) right above Seneca Lake. While the entire project is about as well planned as a kindergarten opera, the potential for what gas experts call a bleve (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion) is enough to scare the crap out of anyone. (Except developers of such projects, I suppose.)

Just one incident like the ones shown in the video could put a serious dent in the tourist traffic.

And just after I finished that video, I headed to the university to find that two buildings on campus had fires going on - one of which was in the hallway outside of my office!

Here's videos relating to the propane project and the university fires:

Quick trip up the mountain to visit Four Headlamps amigos

2011-10-10T11:23:00.001-07:00

SAN ANDREAS, Calif., USA - Adm. Fox and I took a mountain road trip Saturday to visit with amigos Pat and Sanders, the other two members of the music group, The Four Headlamps.

We ended up eating at Pizza Factory restaurant - a local favorite of Pat and Sanders' was closed.

San Andreas is very much a Monday through Friday kind of place.

Still, it was a great reunion time and we had fun doing a little walking tour.

No talk of a musical reunion just yet. And, given that Hurricane Jova is bearing down on La Manzanilla - the site of our group's debut some years back with the hit song, 'Dancin' With A Man' - we're not too sure what we will do in January.

Here's a couple of photos from the trip:

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Occupy Sacramento - a very laid-back, California event so far

2011-10-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The Occupy Sacramento event in downtown Sacramento is within easy walking distance of the Sacramento jail (where a few protesters are likely to end up, eventually), was a laid back, quiet affair Friday afternoon.

There were plenty of signs, more than a few singers, but for the most part, the Farmer's Market on Sunday under the I-80 freeway is as raucous politically.

Still, there was genuine outrage popping out of a few mouths, but tempered by the many young children that were at the park, too. There was talk of marching to the Federal Building (a few blocks away).

All conversations took part while about 20 Sacramento police officers stood around the edges of the park, watching.

At one point, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson walked by across the street, setting off a media frenzy that included a female news producer trying to run in extremely high-heeled shoes.

Below is a short video:

Jon Stewart's tribute to Steve Jobs - a must-watch video

2011-10-07T11:07:00.003-07:00

Whirlwind trip to upstate New York leaves many tales to tell

2011-10-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The trip to upstate New York was planned to be fast and relatively fun-filled.

It was fast, there was some fun, and it was filled. Really filled.

After careening across the United States Monday night, I arrived at the Syracuse NY airport (after a plane change at JFK) Tuesday noon, tired, more than a little grumpy but ready to charge into the Department of Environmental Conservation's hearing on a proposal to build a huge propane and natural gas storage depot three miles from my house.

With Cousin Roger and The Cube

I felt like a foreign correspondent, parachuting in to cover a story, at least until the rental car agency told me the only car they had available for me to take was the one pictured to the right.

The Nissan Cube is not exactly what Robert Redford was driving in the 2001 film, Spy Game, in which he starred with Brad Pitt. But I've lost my claims to bearing any resemblance to either of those guys so I suppose I should be happy that I could bomb around Watkins without much fear of getting a ticket in that blue roller skate.

The propane and natural gas storage project is about as bad an idea as I have heard in years, right on a par with when some bright light got the idea in the 1970s that it would be a good idea to store spent nuclear reactor fuel rods in the same salt caverns.

Jaysus.

Sometimes, I do believe the world is run by greedy idiots.

Here's a link to a video with all the testimony: DEC public hearing in Watkins Glen, NY

The hearing went well (for opponents, not so much for the company) and formed the basis for my Finger Lakes Times column Friday. Writing Wednesday morning, I fell asleep at the keyboard once, revived only by several cups of Earl Grey tea, each brewed with three tea bags.

I was up until about 2 a.m. Wednesday night, of course. Despite two glasses of wine with amiga Amanda at dinner and a hefty double slug of Grey Goose about midnight while writing some screed, I still had the energy of an adolescent.

Inergy's gas man

Perhaps the most interesting thing in the hearing was that it wasn't just that the people who spoke against the project were articulate (most were), prepared (ditto) and passionate (all were). They clearly are beginning to form ideas about what they want to see the area become, not just be in opposition to this disaster-in-waiting.

More than one person made it clear: we don't need or want more smokestack industries.

The balance of the trip - two days and some change - was taken up with domestic chores like running to the bank, dealing with an impressive stack of mail and lots of conversations with the folks who are opposing this project.

Oct. 10 is the last day to comment and there is a flurry of activity going on to ensure that the DEC hears from everyone about the flaws in the environmental impact report filed by the company, Inergy Midstream from Kansas City, Missouri.

Among the many flaws are issues related to earthquakes, lack of a plan for emergencies and the idea of building a 91-million gallon salt water pond with plastic liners (think industrial swimming pool liners). The pond will be perched on a hillside, just 2,500 feet above decidely freshwater Seneca Lake, and very close to the water intakes for the Watkins Glen Village water supply.

That pond, by the way, will contain water up to 12 times saltier than normal sea water, plus, it will likely have a few surprise chemicals lurking it in from being pumped in and out of the salt caverns as part of the propane storage method.

I suppose if the project is approved and the pond is built, when it has a catastrophic breach and the 91 million gallons goes cascading down the hillside to the lake, we could plant some marlin and other saltwater sports fish in the lake and see if they survived. And Watkins Glen homes? Well, perhaps the village can get a federal grant for a desalinization plant - run on propane, of course.

In the meantime, while the follicle-impaired president of Inergy Midstream (above) licks his wounds in Kansas City, Missouri, (after having his testimony contradicted by experts), he is likely remembering that when he testified, nearly 800 people in the audience suggested (some politely, some not so) that he could take his propane tanks, trucks, railroad cars and everything else he has planned for the 576-acre site and return it to, well, just about anyplace but the Town of Reading.

LINKS to stories about hearing:
Elmira Star-Gazette
The Observer newspaper

Coming into JFK, dodging cloud bumps

2011-09-30T13:26:00.001-07:00

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Long lines, tight security at Syracuse airport

2011-09-30T10:52:00.001-07:00

SYRACUSE, New York, USA - The security lines were long - and the machines tweaked really tight - at the airport here today.

But sitting at the gate, I just learned that this same flight was canceled yesterday...

Here's a shot of the security line taken with the iPad.

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Now that the photo function works, it's back to work

2011-09-30T10:19:00.001-07:00

SYRACUSE, New York, USA - It only took a half hour or so to get the photo system sort of working, but now we'll see how much horsepower this little app I downloaded has.

In the last entry, I posted a pix of granddaughter Kami from late August.

The next hurdle is to be able to grab a photo from Flickr, where I store most of my important shots.

Hmm... this is going to take a lot more investigation. In the meantime, here is granddaughter Sami at bat last weekend.

Test of new photo software

2011-09-30T10:11:00.001-07:00

I discovered a new (to me) app that should make it possible to post blogs and photos easily...

Ha!

We'll see.

Wow there she is... Fabulous!

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Test of the iPad to do some blogging

2011-09-26T22:26:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO AIRPORT, Sacramento, Calif., USA - Sitting in the Sacramento Airport, I'm giving the IPad its first real test of mobile blogging.Actually, it is just the first test of blogging, period.So, I might as well throw in a photo of my granddaughter Kami...Ok, the system is pretty balky... Let's see if the text goes up...

Sometimes just a simple sign can say it all

2011-09-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, California, USA - This sign popped up on Facebook today and I thought it was worth passing along.

Kind of says it all, si?

A scary moment - university retirement almost delayed for a year

2011-09-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - For a moment Monday, it appeared the Admiral and I were on a collision course with yet another fall semester of teaching - but next year.

The University published a list of retirees and people like us who were done with their five years of the faculty early retirement program (aka FERP). But our names were not on this list.

Jaysus... that mean we could teach another semester?
Had my math failed us?

Given my history with math in years past, it was possible, so I contacted the appropriate authorities on campus who assured me in the strongest terms that our teaching is over this December. Over, finished, done, terminated, nevermore quoth the vice president in charge of such things.

Though another semester of cashing full salary paychecks would have been nice, Adm. Fox and I both have way too many other things going on to take four months next year to thump on undergraduate heads.

And, our knuckles are too sore after 25+ years of teaching.

I suppose instead of writing this, I should be grading the student work on my desk which in only four weeks has grown from a stack to a hillock to a hill to a mountain to a fire hazard.

Naw, I'm retiring.

Semester's end is in sight, and so is New York and Mexico

2011-09-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Three weeks into the semester the end is already in sight in early December. About 100 students in my four classes are already counting the days until I stop thumping on their undergraduate heads.

So am I.

In the midst of all this, I have continued to pump out my weekly column for the Finger Lakes Times, the high point of my week, really. My column-writing students - whether they appreciate it or not - have been helping me brainstorm with column ideas. They have their own colums to write, so it only seems fair to have them help me, too.

In about a week, I will wing my way via Jet Blue to New York to attend a public hearing on a proposal to build a propane storage facility on the shores of Seneca Lake three miles from my new house in Watkins Glen. The idea is about as bright as the notion of building nuclear power plants on the shore of Japan. (Whoops! They did that, didn't they.)

I will be going as a journalist/observer but perhaps as a participant. This project is so dangerous, so out of whack with sanity with what Seneca Lake has become as a tourist destination, I might have to come out from behind my journalist's shield to speak against it. Greedy idiots don't care what damage it does, as long as their corporation makes profits for its shareholders and the officers of the corporation get their multi-million dollar bonus checks each year.

Brine pond

In addition to storing millions of gallons of propane in salt caverns (risky business at best, industry experts say) the Kansas City, Missouri company wants to build a 91-million gallon uncovered salt brine pond as part of the entire industrial project on the side of a hill, perched over the lake. Jaysus! If that salt water gets loose and lands in the lake, Watkins Glen can kiss its water supply goodbye for months - maybe more... And will it get loose? Well, in the last few weeks the area has had an earthquake and then brushed by a hurricane.

Need I say more?

After NY, it's back to the classroom until Adm. Fox and I got to Mexico for a short hiatus. She and a Seneca Lake amiga Barb Cook will be going down to help with a spay and neuter clinic. Barb and Sylvia will be doing the medical work, my job is to shoot film for a video about the experience with the working title: Salty Dogs in Mexico.

Or maybe we can just call it Woofing Below the Border.

Floods in New York, damn hot in Sacramento, cool in classrooms

2011-09-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - In Sacramento, except for the damnably hot afternoons, the weather is barely a factor in life.

Quite a change from New York. There, you could walk outside in bright sunshine and get splattered with rain before you got your car door open. It happens.

Schenectady is under water

And right now, upstate New York is experiencing wild flooding, apparently from the tail end of yet another hurricane passing by.

Two hurricanes in, oh, a couple of weeks? And others forming out in the Atlantic. No climate change going on at all. Zip.

In the meantime, Adm. Fox and I plug along at our classes with one hand, the other working on getting staged to pull out of California (as legal residents) in December. It's weird making all these arrangements to change health care around, move cars, pack up offices we've had for 20+ years. Weird doesn't really cover it though, I think.

My students are getting an interesting ride this fall, as my patience is, well, maybe a little thinner than normal when it comes to putting up with the B.S. One student skipped the first night session of magazine writing and had the gall yesterday to be upset that I dropped him from the course. There were four people waiting for his seat that first night.

Ironically, I added all four of those students and said, "What the hell, it's my last semester. Hang on tight, amigos."

Tonight it's off to Elk Grove for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Chief Engineer Scott Noble and Counselor Jen Noble - part of a program to get in culinary shape for our return to Arroyo Seco.

Training can be soooooo hard.

Restaurant Las Brisas in Arroyo Seco

7 a.m. writing deadlines are for people who are awake at 7 a.m.

2011-09-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Adm. Fox and I rolled in about midnight last night after three hours of a Taylor Swift concert-extravaganza at Power Balance Pavilion, just north of our temporary digs with amigos Pam and Steve near CSU, Sacramento.

Our earplugs served us well - not because the music was too loud, but because the screaming of the teenage girls, their moms, and more than a scattering of younger sisters was constant and way above OSHA-approved levels for potential ear damage.

Taylor Swift

(You're thinking, what an old fart! Guilty as charged.)

We were on assignment for The Sacramento Bee newspaper to do a review of Swift's 'Speak Now Tour 2011'. But the kicker for this was that the editor needed it turned around and back to her by 7 a.m. (As I write this, it is 6:50 and Adm. Fox is taking her sharp-edged editing hula hoe to my draft before I send it in to the editor who will do likewise.)

The show was more Broadway production than concert, with dancing, acrobatics, Taylor Swift popping up from under the stage and booming fireworks that caught me by surprise twice. The first time the sparks coming down from the rafters and up from the stage, had me searching for the nearest exit instead of focusing on the almost-too-beautiful Taylor.

No, she is too beautiful.

Our seats were great - always a nice spiff when you are a member of the press - but we were also close to the two Jumbotron screens which showed her in excruciatingly close detail through the whole show.

Prior to the concert, I researched this young sensation, whose music hasn't resonated much with me (not surprising there), but I hadn't realized how quickly she had risen and how high. I have to keep up better with pop culture.

Oops, Adm. Fox has returned my review and it's time (past time actually) to dispatch it to the editor.

And another cup of double-strength Earl Grey tea is in order asap, too.

And here is a link to the review in The Bee: Taylor Swift on stage

Taylor Swift floats over the audience in her finale 'Love Song' (foto by Adm. Fox)

Peachy Dandy Party and sailboat race was, well, just dandy

2011-08-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

HECTOR, New York, USA - The umpteenth annual Peachy Dandy Party on Seneca Lake came off without a hitch August 20.

After two disappointing years - one with no wind, the second with too much wind - the weather gods cooperated, providing perfect temperatures and enough breeze to push all boats all the way around a shortened course just off Hazlitt Beach.

As always, the Hazlitt family did a great job throwing the party - and racing their sailboats.

And the Peachy Dandy cocktails? As has been the case at every Peachy Dandy Race I have attended, they were intoxicatingly peachy.

Because the party came sooooo close to our departure date back to California, Adm. Fox and I sat out this year's sailing race. Instead, we were on the race course aboard the Spirit of Louise pontoon boat as what the Hazlitt's call the 'crash boat.'

While ensuring safety is supposedly the goal of the crash boat, we were also in charge of taking hydration supplies to the sailors if their coolers ran low.

At one point, at the request of Mike Schamel the younger, we went back to port and picked up a dozen Peachy Dandy cocktails to distribute, in addition to the mega-cooler full of beer we already carried on the bow of the boat.

Below is a short Fox-Fitzgerald rockumentary of the race and some of the party. It was a difficult event to shoot. One hand for the camera, one hand for the Peachy Dandy cocktail and one hand to steer the Spirit of Louise.

Yes, math has never been my strong suit.

Away all boats (on trailers, anyway) time to head to California

2011-08-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The last few days have been a flurry of activity, all aimed at closing down the waterfront at the Valois Point Yacht Club, closing up the cottage, and readying our Watkins Glen house for four months of non-residency.

This shutdown comes right as the whole Valois-Hector-Watkins scene is in the middle of the end-of-summer parties and other rituals.

Sign is up, but season is over

Today, for example, is the Peachy Dandy Party and Sailboat Regatta, an annual event on Hazlitt Beach. Two years ago we sailed the Red Rocket and the race was called for lack of wind. Last year there was soooo much wind, the race was called because it was too dangerous to be out on the water.

And although the VPYC has two sailboats in its fleet this season, both are safely stored already and won't be participating today.

Next year, next year!

But even though I won't be sailing, the Spirit of Louise pontoon craft will be pressed into service as a 'crash boat' to help anyone who gets into trouble. I'll also be taking along the big video camera. There could be a rockumentary in all this today.

Even with the shutdowns, close ups and assorted packing for our sojourn to California, we've been having a lot of fun.

Thursday, I closed up the dockside bar at the VPYC, but not before Joseph and Yvonne sailed up for one last bit of time there, a few beers, and to enjoy the still-warm water to swim in.

And no doubt there will be at least one more trip to Garcia's the new Mexican restaurant that just opened its doors in Watkins Glen. In very Mexican tradition - because they don't have a liquor license yet - the owners said it's fine to bring in beer and wine to have with meals there. There's a move afoot to expand that to include margaritas, pre-mixed to pour over ice.

!Arriba!


Sailing in to the VPYC

Here's a short video (made up of stills) from the 2009 Peachy Dandy race:

Countdown to shutdown: Closing up the VPYC and away all boats

2011-08-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - Adm. Fox and I have slightly over a week left before we hop a US Airways jet from Elmira, NY to California, back for a our final foray into teaching at California State University, Sacramento.

On the trailer this week

And that flight means starting in on the house shut-down list: put boats on trailers, store solar lights, drain hot tub, put away garden tools, arrange for mail forwarding... The list is two pages single-spaced, so naturally I am writing this piece.

This season we have two houses to consider, the lake cottage and our casa in Watkins Glen. The cottage we have closed down for years now and it's almost routine.

Almost.

We have a few quirks with the new house, especially now that will be our official permanent residence when we fly back in December 15.

Fly back in December? Yup, that's right, we will be coming back to Watkins Glen right as the winter cranks up to full cold & snow. What few possessions we have in storage in Calif. will be shipped east, along with my red Nissan truck (something I could have used here a dozen times this summer hauling cement, lumber...).

Shutting down the Watkins casa is pretty easy: turn the theromstat to 55 degrees, close the storm windows and make sure the lawn furniture is put away under cover. And we will have a new amiga staying in our attached apartment for the winter, so she will ensure the utilities are taken care of, etc.

When we get back in December, all we have to do (I hope) is turn up the thermostat and check the wine cellar to make sure the wine didn't freeze. (It shouldn't, the boiler for the heater system in the basement and seems to be a steady temperature year round.)

Sen. Schumer with Jim Hazlitt

The writing gig with the Finger Lakes Times newspaper will continue however, with my Friday column. I'll be reading the FLT electronic edition and getting the hard copy in the mail, just as I do now in Watkins Glen.

I'll miss some of the news story writing, though. Last week I covered a talk by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and got to chat with half of the politicians and assorted mucky-mucks from the county. Some of those folks expressed interest in having me do some videos for them, too.

Woo-hoo.

But the time will fly in California.

Within a few days of arriving we will be getting together with cruising buddies Dan and Lorraine Olsen, trips are planned to Yosemite and other California landmarks, and, of course, we have granddaughters Samantha and Kami - and their mom Anne - to visit as much as possible. Perhaps even the elusive Dylan Fox will come leave the city limits of Berkeley for a visit - or we will head there.

And teaching?

Oh yes, teaching! We have our final semester of teaching set up. I have my usual four classes, which include a section each of magazine writing and column writing. I am still considering giving only one of two grades for all students: A or F.

They either get it, or don't get it.

But that decision can wait a couple of more weeks.

Time to take down the yacht club sign

Albert Brooks' book '2030' shows a hopeful - and real - future

2011-08-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Adm. Fox and I took a hiatus from Seneca Lake life this past week and spent most of our time at the North Glen Avenue house, catching up on 'city stuff.'

For me, that meant a lot of writing, but also reading several books that I have been wanting to spend some time with. The best was a first novel by actor/director Albert Brooks called 2030.

The fact that the weather was less-than-nice made our in-town chores easier. And reading Brooks novel showed me one vision for what life could be - not quite 20 years from now.

The book contains plenty of angst, action, and enough funny social moments to make it a fast read. It also is a relatively hopeful vision of a future that could come to pass.

After weeks of debt limit shenanigans and outright lies by Tea Party (and other) wing nuts, a hopeful vision was definitely called for.

Parts of the novel might seem as if they were written by a first-time novelist. But the style is excellent, fast-paced and the storyline true right to the last page. Brooks is a scriptwriter, too, and I think 2030 would make a very interesting movie.

If you are anywhere near senior-citizen status, this book is a must read.

Here's a video of Brooks in May talking with Jon Stewart about 2030.

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Hector Fireman's Fair Parade - a festive festival, as always

2011-08-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

HECTOR, New York, USA - We perched on the wall in front of Eric and Tina Hazlitt's house on Route 414 Friday night to watch the annual Hector Fireman's Fair parade. Eric and Tina throw a great party and it's the most comfortable spot along the parade route to watch everything.

There were the usual fire trucks - lots of fire trucks - a few political candidates, tons of children and enough music to keep things lively.

After-the-parade traffic moves slowly

The parade shuts down the section of the highway from the Dandy Mart (to the south) to the Hector Firehouse fields (to the north, where the fair is).

Traffic gets rerouted, though sometimes people don't take the advice and end up following the tail end of the parade when it's nearly over.

This year was no different.

Besides shooting still photos, I pulled out the big-gun Panasonic camera and shot some of the floats and marchers.

A lot of them were very cool.

Adm. Fox and I wandered over to the actual fair after the parade, had some French fries, a couple of beers from the beer tent, and called it a successful evening.

Here's a short video of the parade:

The heat is gone, but the lake days are with us for a few more weeks

2011-07-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The stifling heat of earlier this month has passed, blown out by a cold front (that wasn't that cold) and a few thunderstorms that were incredible in their power.

One storm dropped trees all around us and bounced a four-inch diameter branch off the front window of the cottage.

One damned strong window.

For several hours, we were without electricity (and Internet! Madra Mia!). The lakefront resonated with the sound of chainsaws.

Branches - and whole trees - came down in the storm

Adm. Fox and I took a three-day sojourn to New York City to stay with sister Anne and also to have lunch in the city at Sam's Restaurant in Manhattan with brother Tony and sister-in-law Marion.

Sam's is the restaurant my brother has had lunch at for, oh, maybe 40 years, and everyone knows him and the service he gets, well, it's incredible.

Michael, Anne and Tony Fitzgerald

We had a center-room table which wasn't that hot for conversation but great for seeing people come and go.

Afterwards, Tony and Marion piled into a taxi/limo to head to the ferry for New Jersey (where they live in Shrewsbury). Anne, amigo Father Joe Lynch, Adm. Fox and I headed back to Penn Station were we took the Long Island Railroad back out to Hewlett.

Back at Seneca Lake at the cottage, we are watching July slip into August, and summer is still in full swing, especially at the Valois Point Yacht Club.

Saturday afternoon we had Joseph and Yvonne arrive aboard their fabulous Sabre sailboat and spend an hour or so tied to the dock. We chatted about sailing - and local politics - while they waited to head across the lake to go to the Glenora Point anchorage from which they planned to watch the fireworks from the Hector Fireman's Fair.

Adm. Fox and I hit the fair Friday, first going to Eric and Tina Hazlitt's for a fun parade party, then we hit the beer tent and toured the fair exhibits.

A video of the parade is still in the *subject2change Media video camera... It will show up here another day.

Here's several photos of Joseph and Yvonne's entrance and exit.

From newspaper guy to college classroom to newspaper guy again

2011-07-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

GENEVA, New York, USA - When I returned from Mexico in April, I cranked up the writing machine and started doing freelance work for the weekly Watkins Glen Review, The Elmira Star-Gazette and doing some magazine work. (An article comes out in Dog Fancy in its September issue about Mia, the pooch rescued by Sylvia and Laura McCartney in Arroyo Seco, Mexico.)

And as April ran into May, I contacted the afternoon daily newspaper in Geneva, the Finger Lakes Times, about doing some writing and some coaching of the staff. The paper has just made some management changes, including promoting the news editor to the post of Executive Editor.


FLT Column 'mug shot'

Timing is everything.

Fast forward to today, when my first column appears in the FLT. My assignment: write a column that will appear each Friday in the newspaper, on the topic of my choice.

And I can submit my column from anywhere I happen to be.

Already my file folder (yes, I still use paper file folders) has a dozen column ideas and daily gets several more stuffed into it. And as you might guess, Adm. Fox is contributing heavily to the idea folder. She's also the best in-house editor imaginable.

Last night I attended a Town of Reading planning board meeting - the group that will be making a decision about whether to allow a controversial project by a Kansas City, MO company to move ahead. The company wants to store millions of gallons of liquid propane gas in salt caverns on the shore of Seneca Lake and build a huge salt water pond on a hillside.

Environmentally, it's just short of terrifying.

The planning board elected a new chairman who announced that during the public comment period, the public could not say anything on the topic of the proposed project. And when someone tried to ask a question about the approval process, he said no questions were allowed either.

You don't have to look very far to find column ideas.

Getting the lakefront ready for 100-degree weather

2011-07-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The great summer weather of the last few weeks has given me incentive to have all the water toys ready, all the time. The boats are all working fine, the swim toys are blown up and ready for use. Even the dock cooler is ready for ice and beverages.

And it's a good thing.

The temperatures have started going over 90 degrees Fahrenheit consistently each day and now the forecasters are saying we are going to see 100-degree days - with nearly that high a number for the humidity - for the balance of the week.

It's giving new meaning to working up a sweat. You can do that by reaching in the cooler for another cold beer. (Hmm... good reminder..)

Yoga and bookclub house

Earlier today, I headed a few miles down the lake driving the pontoon boat Spirit of Louise to pick up Admiral Fox from her yoga session which was followed by a book club meeting, all at our amiga Laurie Welliver's lakeside house.

I tied to the end of her dock while I waited for the book club to end, just past Laurie and her husband Scotty's fleet of lake toys: a ski boat, a sailboat, and a pontoon boat.

After that foray, we returned to home base at the Valois Point Yacht Club, took a short respite and then barreled out again down to the water, this time aboard the sailing vessel Panacea. We met up mid-lake with Eric and Tina and their amiga Andrea.

Panacea sails like a charm and might get entered in this year's Peachy Dandy race in August - just a few days before we have to head back to California for our last-ever semester of teaching at CSU, Sacramento.

The checklist is drawn for the next few days: buy three bags of ice, a case of beer, a case of bottled water, a case of beer (oops, mentioned that did I?), snacks and towels to take down to the dock. Add a case of beer to that list. We are talking several days here.

In addition to the air warming up, so has the lake water. I haven't tested it with a thermometer, but Adm. Fox has been diving in for the last five days - and staying in to swim. That means it must be getting close to 80.

Neighbors ready for the hot days ahead

Wild winds rip down Seneca Lake, or is it Seneca Ocean?

2011-07-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - I spent most of the day pounding on this keyboard, catching up on things, writing a story or two and generally not going outside, except to get the mail.

Outside was where it was happening, folks.

Adm. Fox called from Valois at about 5 p.m. to say that our newest sailboat, Panacea, was ok along side the docks, but bucking like a wild horse. I was going to put in the mooring for it today, but it was too rough early in the morning and it rarely improves when the it starts that way.


Sailing vessel True Love pounds into the waves

I went outside after talking to the Admiral and there was 30+ knots of wind - and some of the biggest whitecaps I have ever witnessed on Seneca Lake.

The high winds and waves even found their way well inside the breakwater at the Village Marina, normally a pretty placid place.

The marina staff were running from dock to dock while I was there, retying dock lines from boats that were loose.

I checked on an amigo's boat but saw some others that were in some distress. The marina is usually soooo safe and soooo calm, boat owners get pretty lax and forget to tie up their boats really tight.

Below is a short video of the wind, the marina and some of the boats.

Still photos don't really do it justice.

Three days on the reunion/party/birthday circuit comes to an end

2011-07-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The past weekend was a whirlwind, even by the whirlwind party standards of upstate New York.

First, Adm. Fox and I made our way west to Jamestown, NY (hometown of Lucille Ball, in case that factoid slipped off the radar). We were there for my high school class reunion (No. 45), a prequel to a class reunion of 10-years-worth of grads from Southwestern Central High School the next night, a soiree we passed up, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Unlike other reunions, this affair, arranged by my amigo Randy Carlson, was very low-key, with a barbecue, some wine and beer, and lots and lots of nostalgia about our high school years. What great stories!

But there was also a surprise attendee - a former music teacher and his wife.

The last time I had seen Dalton Berringer (what a great name for a jazz musician, isn't it?), I was about 16 and he was working as a parttime sheriff's deputy on Chautauqua Lake keeping the waters safe. Most teachers in those days worked summer jobs to supplement paltry regular teaching salaries. I am not sure what infraction I had committed - thought I am sure I was guilty - but he let me go with a word of caution to be more careful.

Fast-forwarding to 2011, Dalt is now back in the Lakewood area after living all over the country. He gave up classroom teaching but stayed in education. But he never let loose of the jazz music and I have three recent CDs to prove it. In fact, I hope that if I can ever get my video-making back on track, he can provide some original music for my next production.

The classmates who attended all looked great. Somehow, they don't seem to be getting old.

Hmmm.

Family homestead in Lakewood, NY

Adm. Fox and I also took a side trip out to Lakewood and I stopped by the home I grew up in - 156 1/2 West Summit Ave.. The house has been renovated in and out and the family that took it over has boats everywhere - in the yard, on docks, on buoys out front. My kind of people.

The whole neighborhood looked good and I suspect people's property taxes are, well, higher than when I lived there.

We then rocketed back from Jamestown to Valois for the birthday party for Cheryl Fitch, sister of Jennifer Fitch who is a boat partner with me in two boats. Several years ago we bought the 16-foot Red Rocket sailboat as a training vessel for Jennifer. This year she moved up to a 17-foot Siren class sailboat with the moniker Panacea.

I don't know if Panacea will stick as a name - that's Jennifer's call. But as part of the party celebration for her sister, we took the vessel out for its maiden voyage under our watch and it is a sweet-sailing boat. Jennifer is likely already plotting voyages for next summer when she returns from Arizona.

With Panacea on the trailer

This week I will be installing a permanent mooring in the lake for Panacea, which involves filling a drum with cement, attaching a chain and buoy, and dropping said items in about 15 feet of water off the end of the Valois Point Yacht Club dock. (NOTE TO CAPTAIN: steer clear of the chain when the barrel gets shoved off the bow of the pontoon boat.)

And then as the finale of the three-day fun marathon, we celebrated my birthday Sunday with breakfast at the Hector Volunteer Fire Department, then a day on the lake (including a pontoon boat cruise), a beer or two at the Valois Point Yacht Club and then dinner at home, overlooking the lake which Sunday night was as calm as a pond.

And Monday and today? Surprised you couldn't hear the snoring.

But tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett O'Hara says.

Indeed.

Seneca Lake and a very Phishy July 4th holiday

2011-07-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The July 4th weekend was all Phish, all the time for me.

Well, maybe not every minute. But each day I dutifully showed up at the gates to have my car searched, then the trunk of my car searched, then my camera bag searched, before I entered the inner sanctum of the Watkins Glen International Race Track where the band Phish was holding a three-day festival called Super Ball IX.

The 'welcome' sign at the Phish festival

The promoters said they would hold the number of tickets sold to 60,000 - a number that was still kind of frightening to local residents who remembered a rock festival called Summer Jam in 1973 where 600,000 people showed up and overwhelmed several counties.

The Phish festival drew maybe 30,000 - and that's being generous.

It was fun for me because my job was to find four or five weird things going on and write short news briefs about them for the Elmira Star Gazette.

Weird things? At at rock concert populated largely by people who seemed to only own tie-dyed clothing and speak in a 1970s hip dialect? It was not tough duty.

But in the midst of doing that every day, it was July 4th weekend and the Valois/Hector/Watkins Glen world was rocking.

It started at a fund raiser/party at Village Marina in Watkins, leading to another party at Mike and Karen Schamel's on Saturday. And by July 4th, even the Valois Point Yacht Club was partying with a visit from new yacht club members Joseph Campbell and Yvonne Taylor. Their 30-foot Sabre sailboat is the largest boat ever to dock at the VPYC. Erik and Tina Hazlitt previously held that record.

Monday, while Joseph and Yvonne were visiting, Erik and Tina made a sweep by on their boat to say hello (see photo below), while another amigo, Brad Phillips came by on his ski boat.

The VPYC really needs to expand its docking capacity.

VPYC dock on July 4, 2011

The lake is quiet today with most people headed back to work. And it could be that Adm. Fox and I will not go out to yet another party tonight. We do need to rest up. I have a high school reunion next Friday night and Saturday, there is a huge party set for the Fitch mansion at the bottom of the hill. And Sunday is a doubleheader: the Hector Volunteer Fire Department's pancake breakfast (which I never miss when we are in the NY) and my birthday.

I never miss that either.

Here's a short video from the Village Marina fundraiser held last week for Kathleen Schamel's Team Reckless Abandon, soon to launch on a road rally from Prague to Mongolia to raise money for charity.

A few days at the lake house and summer arrives with a bang

2011-06-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The arrival of summer was heralded this past week by the simultaneous arrival of our amigos Steve and Pam from Sacramento. They came in for a few days visit on their way to Ohio.

Pam and Steve

And even though the visit was short, we packed in a lake trip on the Spirit of Louise, some wine tasting, a Savard's breakfast, several trips to Watkins Glen, hiking around the property and witnessing a couple of whopper thunderstorms.

We also went to Tina and Eric Hazlitt's beachside cabana for a glass (or two) of wine where Steve and Pam posed for the photo on the left, with Tina and Eric's sailboat in the background.

It looks like a postcard to me.

Pam and Steve are used to the more benign weather of Sacramento and the sudden shifts were sort of shocking. As they left this morning, a cold front roared down the lake and dropped the temperature at the lake house by about 10 degrees in about as many minutes.

Yes, there was plenty of rain in those clouds

Tuesday, a thunderstorm rolled in just as I was taking a swim off the end of the dock of the Valois Point Yacht Club.

I waited about five minutes too long to grab my stuff and run up the hill.

Next up this week is a fundraiser for Kathleen Schamel's great motoring adventure across Europe to Mongolia as part of a charity for people in Asia and elsewhere.

She will be traveling as part of a road rally team. The rally cars, are, well, pretty small and the roads are, well, pretty non-existent in some of the places they need to traverse.

Still, she's game and the photos from the trip are going to be collector's items.

Here is the link to her team's website: Kathleen's Excellent Adventure

The fund raiser tomorrow will be at the Village Marina Bar and Grill, which, totally coincidentally, is owned by her parents, Mike and Karen Schamel, and run by her brother Mike. It also is being billed as a pre-game party to the three-day Phish concert that starts Friday at the Watkins Glen race track where about 40,000 Phish fans are expected to descend, en masse, for music, parties and, well, more parties.

And it's likely I will be among that throng, writing some short news articles for a local newspaper.

It won't be Woodstock Redux, but it should be interesting.

Carlos Santana at Woodstock - 1969

Why the weather is always a topic of conversation in New York

2011-06-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - When Adm. Fox and I live in California, we barely ever mention the weather. Oh, maybe in late November or the first week in December, when we have the beginnings of sprinkles of rain, or a cold front (50 degrees, brrr!) blows in.

Ditto for Mexico, where the temperatures are, well, temperate for the months we hang out in Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla.

And that's why we hang out there, among other reasons.

But here in upstate New York, the weather rules. I mean really rules.

Plans for a boat trip? A picnic? Anything outside? Better have alternate plans because the weather will not be what you expect.

Today the plan (Can you hear God laughing?) was to do a few typical Sunday morning things (big breakfast, get a Sunday newspaper...) and then take a boat ride on the Spirit of Louise pontoon craft.

The first half went off without a hitch, but the boat ride has been scuttled - for the moment - as a cold front has been marching down the lake on and off for several hours. If the sun breaks through the cloud cover, it will be glorious.

For now, glorious is not an appropriate descriptor for what it looks like outside our window.

The nice thing about this anything-can-happen weather cycle is that in casual conversation there is never a lack of common ground. Everyone is affected by the weather. And some people really like to complain about it. (Hmm, I would seem to fall into that category today.)

But as the saying goes around here: You don't like the weather? Wait 15 minutes.

And as I write this, it looks like the clouds are parting across the lake and that the sun is about to burst through the layers of gray that have plagued us all day.

I swear I can hear someone singing hallelujah.

A day at the NY Fire Academy: new meaning to the word HOT

2011-06-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

MONTOUR FALLS, New York, USA - Tuesday morning I spent three very hot hours wandering about a fire demonstration area at the New York State Fire Academy. It was a training for 170 firefighters - and others - about how to deal with propane emergencies.

In some cases, the demos were about putting out a fire, in others, it was about how to burn off propane if a tank is leaking. Yup, can't let that stuff just fall on the ground.

And there were lots of demonstrations about the how to safely transfer propane from tank to tank with a minimum of problems.

As part of the demonstrations, the New York State Propane Gas Association (yup, NYPGA and they do play a lot of golf, too, I understand) hired a photo company to take pix of the goings on. They did so from an aerial camera, slung beneath a small blimp.

Very cool.

The temperature was in the 80s, with 95 percent humidity. And when they lit off the propane for the demonstrations? Add 20 degrees. Still, very interesting to see it. And I have a lot more respect for the power contained in that little propane tank I have attached to my barbecue.

The overall result (for me) was a story and photo(s) in the Elmira Star-Gazette this morning. Two photos ran in the print edition, but four more are up online.

LINK: Star-Gazette, Propane Safety class

And I put together a short video:

A cruise up and down Seneca Lake for Father's Day 2011

2011-06-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - Father's Day dawned, well, a little chilly here in upstate New York, but by 2 p.m. it was definitely time to hit the water.

Brad Phillips toured by the Valois Point Yacht Club in his ski boat to give me the final push to put down my rake and other implements of destruction. (The warm, wet weather has turned the Valois property into an close approximation of a far-north rainforest. Thus even on Father's Day there was yard work to be done.)

One detail of fun work that didn't get done was launching the Red Rocket, now sitting on a trailer at the Fitch house. Maybe this week. Maybe.


Brad, sans Arnold the Wonder Dog, but with crew members

One chore was lifted - a gift for Father's Day - when Adm. Fox and Dustin took over the duties of lawn mowing the property. It was a nice present because even with them mowing, I still put in a solid two hours of weed whacking and moving debris around, especially in the area of the newly built hot tub deck.

Once aboard the Spirit of Louise, we headed south, past Cousin Roger Beardslee's dock. He and son Brett were out and about in Roger's sailboat. And just a mile or so past there we watched the Hazlitt clan boarding Eric's sailboat for a father's day cruise, too.

Eric and Tina heeling

There were three generations on Eric's boat: Eric's dad Jim, Eric and Eric's son Jason, who owns/runs the Hector Wine Company with his amigo Justin Boyette.

We saw Eric testing how far over he could get his boat to heel. Looked pretty far from distance.

We also made a stop and Karen and Mike Schamel's house, where Big Mike and son Mike were doing a passable imitation of what Dustin and I had been doing at Valois: working the yard, while the lake beckoned.

Their draft beer dispenser was working, too. Quite nicely, actually.

And we stopped at Sue and Gary Wolf's, too, where their dog didn't try to eat us for lunch (it was late) for the first time in any dock stop at their lakeside home. But now that I think about it, it was the first time we didn't have a dog with us, either.

This week is expected to be a blur with writing projects, the arrival Friday of Dr. Pam and her husband Steve and the construction of a new deck on the front of our N. Glen house in Watkins.

Home Depot is slated to arrive Wednesday and drop off enough cement and boards to build an entire casa in Mexico. Here, it's just enough for deck, thanks to the building codes.

The hot tub is in, the lake is warming up, a Father's Day sail maybe?

2011-06-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - Eric and Tina Hazlitt's sailboat was launched Wednesday a sure sign that summer is here. The Red Rocket might make a splash this week, if the weather gods permit.

One of last year's boats

And then Saturday there will be the annual Cardboard Boat Race in the Village Marina Harbor. No entry this year from *subject2change media but perhaps next year we will get up the courage to get some cardboard and a half-dozen rolls of duct tape and make a vessel.

But I will be there filming, for sure. And it is always a great time.

After two years of putting it off, I finally build a real deck for the Valois house hot tub. Three years running, I used a combination of plywood, shale and wood chips as the base.

Hot tub atop its new home

The combination was hard to keep level (READ: impossible). Plus, spiders, ants, and a variety of insects of totally indeterminate genus and specie would somehow find their way under the cover and be found doing the backstroke when Adm. Fox and I would uncover the softub for use.

During the day, it was just annoying. At night, it was occasionally a stinging experience.

The deck is made of a pressure treated wood that is supposed to last, well, for a long time. All I know is the tub is a good six inches off the ground and while spiders, ants, and that variety of insects of totally indeterminate genus and specie might still want to see the soothing warm waters of the hot tub, they will have to work a little harder to do so.

Here's a video of last year's cardboard boat races in Watkins Glen.

A quiet night in Hector? Not at the Rasta Ranch Winery

2011-06-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

HECTOR, New York, USA - Monday nights have traditionally been quiet in Valois and Hector, even in the summer.

Long summer weekends (that seem to start on Thursday evenings), can wear people out by Mondays.

But at the Rasta Ranch Winery, it seemed like a good idea to throw the doors open in the evenings for some music, wine and socializing.

And so it is that there are now Blues Mondays every week from 5-8 p.m. The time stretches a little longer if regular performer Brett Beardslee feels like winding up for a little longer.

Tonight Brett was on a roll, playing a lot of his own songs and keeping the crowd moving its feet.

Special guest Delta Mike Shaw was there, too, sitting in for a couple of songs.

Here's a brief video of tonight's music.

Awash in the news business - but the boats are launched for summer

2011-06-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Admiral Fox and I arrived home safely from our Erie Canal jaunt, leaving the 72-foot motoryacht Ziggy in son Dustin and amiga Elizabeth's good hands at the port of Oswego, right at the outlet of the canal/river into the chilly waters of Lake Ontario.

That dynamic duo, plus a new captain hired by the boat's owner, took Ziggy the rest of the way to Michigan where the ship nows rests with its happy owner.

Almost the minute we returned, I had to complete a number of writing/video assignments for local newspapers, including a one-hour video shoot (and print version) about U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-NY) visit to a local middle school to check on how well the federal dollars are being spent on a project to help children get access to wireless devices.

You might think the feds would be offering incentives to get kids off digital media, but that's another issue.

Here's the video:

I've also been chasing a local political/environmental struggle. A major propane supply and transit company, Inergy (of Kansas City, MO) wants to store 2 million gallons of liquid propane gas in salt caverns a few miles north of town. The critics of the project have a litany of potential safety and economic issues they believe disqualify Inergy from moving forward, even an inch.

Inergy is hanging tough and fighting back - it's a very lucrative deal/project if they can get past the state Department of Environmental Conservation (which deals with environmental issues) and the Town of Reading Planning Board, the ruling authority.

But here's the bummer. A pivotal meeting about the topic - by the very Town of Reading Planning Board - is the same night as a major brewfest here. And the brewfest is being held to raise money for the legal fund for the people fighting against the project. So, Brewfest or a community meeting?

Gawd.

Here's a link to the group opposing the project: GasFreeSeneca website.

The best news off all is that the Spirit of Louise pontoon craft is in the water and is sitting at the Valois Point Yacht Club ready for service. The blue rowboat/launch is on shore and ready, too. The Red Rocket sailboat should hit the water this week, in plenty of time for my boat-partner Jennifer Fitch's arrival in a couple of weeks.

After launching the Spirit of Louise last week at Village Marina, we motored from Watkins Glen to the VPYC, taking a couple of hours to do so and making two stops along the shoreline: Mike & Karen Schamel's and Eric & Tina Hazlitt's. It was long, hot trip (temperatures in the 90s) but thanks to plenty of hydrating fluids (largely Labatt's Blue) we made the trip in fine shape.

I even jumped in the lake at the VPYC dock that day to celebrate the beginning of summer. Water temperature - 64 degrees, according to Eric Hazlitt.

It felt a little colder, but still, ahhhh.

That size lighthouse would look great on the shore at the VPYC

Heading north to Oswego and the blue waters of Lake Ontario

2011-05-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

PHOENIXVILLE, New York, USA - The motoryacht Ziggy just transited lock No. 1 on the Oswego-Lake Ontario canal, with the goal of getting into Lake Ontario Wednesday morning.

The canal system is similar to the main channel of the Erie Canal, but the debris (big logs, brush, old docks) have all but disappeared.

In fact, this canal seems to be mostly dotted with expensive homes, fine boats and big expanses of forest.

Looking for some waterside property?

Perhaps the most amazing part so far has been the weather. It's gorgeous. The temperatures are in the 80s, very light winds, and about as nice as it ever gets in New York in the summer. And the water temperature in the canal is in the 70s - not that it looks particularly inviting for a swim.

Tonight's goal is to be at a marina within easy reach of Lake Ontario. Then Wednesday we will make a jump through Lake Ontario to the Welland Canal so we can get into Lake Erie.

Tiki Bar on the canal

Brother Dan Schwartz - who drove us to St. Johnsville where Admiral Fox and I jumped aboard the boat - did another trip Monday to bring us our passports. Part of this journey takes us through Canadian waters and we were going to have to hide in the engine room if we didn't have our papers.

That didn't sound very inviting, though the engine room on this yacht is the size of my office in Watkins Glen.

Adm. Fox and Captain Elizabeth went provisioning this morning and came back with sufficient supplies to get us to Bay City, Michigan (the end of our journey). In fact, the hard part is staying away from the goodies.

Five more locks to before Oswego... Hmmm... How many more chocolate-chip and oatmeal raisin cookies will be eaten by then?

Scenic spot to watch the boats go by

Aboard the motoryacht Ziggy in the Erie Canal

2011-05-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

ST. JOHNSVILLE, New York, USA - Admiral Fox and I jumped aboard the motoryacht Ziggy this afternoon. We are crew and will help move the vessel from here in Central New York to Bay City, Michigan.

It might be called Brrr City, Michigan, too.

It's our first trip on the canal, and on this rig, we have air conditioning, a full refrigerator, and Internet access. Yup, we have Internet access, which is how this is being posted.

We arrived an hour or so before Ziggy made it here - thanks to Brother Dan's assistance driving us from Valois.

Dan drove his Prius as we chased along the canal until we landed here in St. Johnsville, a wide spot in the canal, but with a very nice sidetie for the boat.

A few hours later - and one injector repair completed - we are ready to rock 'n roll tomorrow morning for a run to Brewerton, where we have reservations for the night and Captain Elizabeth takes control.

The Ziggy is a 72-foot Hatteras and is quite well appointed. It's one of bigger boats to arrive here in awhile, the harbormaster told us.

And the cost for overnight here? $1 per foot... which includes power and water.

Valois Point Yacht Club opens, can summer be far behind?

2011-05-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, Hector Township, New York, USA - The answer to that headline is yes, it can be far behind, as June sometimes can be a frosty time here at Latitude 42.

But at least for this past Saturday, and parts of today (Monday) it seems like there will be a summer, the lake water will recede far enough to launch all my various vessels and we will be able to swim off the end of the VPYC dock and float around in inner tubes.

That last one might be a little while coming. The lake temperature has barely crested 50 degrees, I'm told.

Erik and Tina Hazlitt cruise into the VPYC

The reopening of the VPYC became official Saturday at about 7 p.m. with the arrival - by boat - of Eric and Tina Hazlitt in their Feathercraft aluminum skiff. The boat is a sistership to the Feathercraft I had when I was 10-years-old.

Their vessel is a little more upscale than the boat I piloted: they have a steering wheel and remote controls.

But still, it was amazing to see a circa 1957 aluminum boat still out there on the waterways. Maybe I should be looking for one of those instead of a Glaspar G-3 to add to our powerboat fleet.

Last week, Admiral Fox and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary with a trip to nearby Canandaigua, where she played her fiddle with a group of musicians. We stayed at the Miami Motel. The only thing particularly Miami about it was the name, and perhaps the in-room jacuzzi tub in the corner.

Captain and Admiral at Two Goats Brewery

We did have dinner in town at a waterfront pub before the music started. I had a 22-ounce Brooklyn ale - a damn fine beer, with, of course, an equally fine name.

The Miami Motel trip was actually the day before our anniversary. The day of, we made our way to Two Goats Brewery in Hector (a few miles south of the Valois Point Yacht Club) where Cousin Brett Beardslee was playing.

After two tall glasses of Blue Point, I was about ready to do some singing myself. Probably just as good my ukulele was home safe in its case. Otherwise, there might have been a reprise of Rodney Carrington's 'Dancing With A Man,' a standard played by The Four Headlamps when we can get the band together. (LINK: The Four Headlamps sing "Dancin With a Man'

Rasta Ranch on NY State Highway 414

Brett's tunes at Two Goats were much easier to listen to.

Late this afternoon, Brett will be playing again, this time at Rasta Ranch Vineyards and Winery, perched partway between the VPYC and Two Goats Brewery.

(Is there a theme going on here?)

Brett and his wife Jesse decided that Monday nights needed some livening up in this slice of upstate New York, and so they talked Jesse's parents into opening the winery from 5-8 p.m. for music and wine.

Adm. Fox and are will likely head up there and check things out.

Here's a short promo video I posted on Facebook today, to shake out some of the locals to come hear Brett tonight.

You Google, I Google - but why are the results sooooo different?

2011-05-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - The chatter around Facebook and in various publications for the past few weeks has been about how the Internet might not be connecting us all (remember the Global Village?), but in fact might be isolating.

This TED talk (Technology, Entertainment & Design) gets at that point very well.

And for those people concerned about privacy issues, the impact of media, and, well, the big D - democracy, you should watch this piece all the way through.

Then go buy a newspaper out a newspaper rack.

This video reminds that Mexico has a bureaucracy to behold

2011-05-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - An amiga in Mexico sent along the video below, a showdown between someone trying to file papers and a Mexican bureaucrat intent on not letting that happen.

It's called various things in Mexico. I used to call it the Mexican Merry Go Round. But if it was you trying to renew a visa, pay your taxes, pay a traffic fine, or simply even send money somewhere, it wasn't a fun ride.

Unfortunately, it's a little too common - especially in the Mexican court system.

But that rant will come at another time.

Just enjoy this piece.

With all the rain, comes near-record lake levels - hoo-boy!!!!

2011-05-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

SENECA LAKE, New York, USA - The sun finally came out yesterday, but the creeks are still sending water into Seneca Lake at alarming levels.

And all the neighboring lakes and rivers are filled to overflowing, too.

But maybe it means we will have a better boating season.

Maybe.

Here's a short video with pix of the high water around Hector and in Watkins Glen.

Plenty of water in Seneca Lake for boating this year - plenty

2011-05-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

VALOIS, New York, USA - The daily rains (even if only for an hour or two) have been adding up since I arrived April 2.

The creeks and streams have kept flowing (great for trout fishing, of course) and even the secondary springs are pouring out enough water to give most California water officials wet dreams.

The Valois Point YC rowboats are safe, unless it keeps raining

But a by-product of all of this precipitation has been that the level of Seneca Lake has been inching up - higher for this time of the year than normal. Way higher, it seems. When I arrived, I thought the lake was out-of-control high. It was six inches lower then.

Lots of water is a good thing, in one way. It means our waterfront might be really clean, as the high water could be carrying off all the debris and sending it to some other person's lakefront. Or, I suppose, it could be dumping it squarely on our little stretch of the lake where I will have to rake it up and burn it - if it ever dries out.

All of the lakes in Central New York are filled to overflowing. Nearby Cayuga Lake (which has the city of Ithaca at its southern end) actually has a flood warning all along the shore. Many of the lake house there are built closer than Seneca.

And the rivers?

Well, the kayaking right now would be whitewater work in many places. Hmmm, whitewater might not be the right term. Brownwater rafting would be closer, given that the streams and rivers are as muddy as an upstate New York kindergartener's boots.


*Lots of dock repairs when the water recedes - if the docks are still there*

Rain or shine, boaters are getting their rigs ready for the water, no matter how high the lake level is. At the marina in Watkins Glen, dozens of sailboats are already uncovered, masts rigged for sailing and probably in the next few weeks, the slips will fill up.

So when is the first sailboat race?

This morning a well-maintained old woodie was being launched by Guy Schamel at the marina. The water in the launch channel was so high it could have almost been slid off a trailer.

It didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the owner though.


*No sailing today, but soon*

Valois Point Yacht Club dock

In 15 minutes, expect a dramatic weather change, unless it's earlier...

2011-04-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - The old joke (which isn't really a joke at all) is that if you don't like the weather around here, just wait 15 minutes for it to change.

Fifteen minutes might be an understatement.

Saturday, the day started with torrential downpours on and off for the entire morning, then cleared off with gusty 25-knot southerly winds by 1 p.m., and at about 3 p.m. the wind dropped to zero and the temperatures shot up to the mid 70s. By sunset we had rain again, of course.

Unwelcome Easter guest

Despite the wacky weather shifts (at least wacky from a California and Mexican perspective) the living is great here and spring is everywhere. I can almost hear the grass growing outside the window.

The other sign of spring has been the return of the songbirds, who are soooo cute, I put out several bird feeders to draw them closer to the casa. Or at least I thought I was putting out bird feeders. They apparently double as squirrel feeders, too, though I have started mounting an offense to keep the feeders for the birds and not lunch counters for rodents.

At the lake house in Valois, we stopped feeding the squirrels corn last summer. The little buggers started coming up on porch and attempted to chew their way through the screens into the house to get at the corn I had stored there.

Squirrel stew, anyone?

Jason Hazlitt

That almost-in-jest comment would not have been particularly welcome at the Humane Society benefit Adm. Fox and I attended two nights ago at The Hector Wine Company, owned by Jason Hazlitt (LINK: Hector Wine Company website). The winery opened its doors for a huge party that filled the new winery to overflowing.

Cousin Brett Beardslee, just back from a long winter's vacation wrestling alligators in Florida, provided the musical entertainment and ended up calling the numbers for raffle winners. He was sporting a skin color that is pretty rare around this part of New York in April, unless people frequent the tanning salons around town.

A lot of excellent Hector Wine Company wine was consumed that night by a lively crowd during a four-hour event that raised about $3,000.

Here's a short video of the benefit:

The church bells have been ringing here all morning, signaling the start of Easter services at the many churches just down the hill from our house on North Glen Avenue.

Many of our neighbors could be seen hustling out the door and into their cars today, obvious from their attire that they were heading for some religious services somewhere. Adm. Fox and I didn't go to any formal services today - my late mother's comments about 'Christmas and Easter Catholics' ringing through my head quite loudly from when I was a teenager. The only time our Catholic Church in Lakewood, New York was filled were those two holy days.

Mary Sullivan Crouch's resting place

But Adm. Fox and I did take a fairly major hike from our new house, up alongside the creek known as 'Watkins Glen' to St. Mary's Cemetery near the top of the ridge. Our late friend Mary Sullivan Crouch was buried there last August. Two years ago Mary took us up to the cemetery to show us the plot where she would be buried. She and I were distantly related (my maternal grandmother was a Sullivan from Geneva) and Mary suggested that I might want to start looking into getting a plot near the family.

I thought about that today, as I was standing in front of her tombstone. I just got my AARP card in the mail, though. Let's not rush things.

Adm. Fox and I are actually living in the house where Mary resided the last few years of her life. It was owned by her brother Bill (who passed away two years before Mary). When Mary died last summer, the estate put it up for sale and after some deliberations this fall, we decided to make the house (and Watkins Glen) our new home base.

It has a one-bedroom apartment attached where Mary lived, which has been taken over by Adm. Fox as an office and music room. When Adm. Fox heads to her office/music room, she says, "I'm going to Mary's."

It made sense to buy the house, plus, I had already bought Mary's 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis from her when she gave up driving a few months before she passed away.

Casa Fitz/Fox in Watkins Glen, New York

We affectionately refer to the car as The Merc which, the other day, I got going just a little over 110 mph on a back country road, trying to blow the carbon out of the exhaust system.

That's my story, officer, and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, and yes, I was playing 'Hot Rod Lincoln' by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen on the radio when I 'hit top end...'

LINK: Hot Rod Lincoln video

A new movie on the top of the must-see list: GasHole

2011-04-18T14:35:00.001-07:00

"GasHole" Trailer

GasHole | Myspace Video

A rainy Saturday with the movie, The Magnificent Seven

2011-04-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - The movie The Magnificent Seven, with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, James Coburn and raft of other stars, was the perfect film for a rainy Saturday.

Released in 1960, the movie holds up as well as any western, and better than most.

Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner

Based on the Japanese movie, The Seven Samuri, it tells the tale of six American gunslingers (and one young Mexican gunhand) hired by poor farmers to go to a Mexican village to rid the village of a bandit named Calvera (played by Eli Wallach) who rides in from time to time with his 40 Mexican gunmen.

It's a classic tale of a bully getting a much deserved drubbing at the hands of a band of avengers.

In one scene, Eli Wallach tells Yul Brynner that he can rob the village at will because "if God didn't want them to be sheared, he would not have made them sheep."

Indeed.

The story underscores the timeless lesson that anyone who pays attention to history knows - men with guns rule. And if one group happens to be better with guns, well, they get to rule, it seems.

Of course, it isn't easy for the Magnificent Seven to rid the village of Calvera.

Charles Bronson guards the village

After an initial skirmish, Calvera and his men come back - when Yul Brynner and his crew have left the village to do some reconnaisance. Calvera sneaks in takes over the village with the help of some villagers more afraid of the Mexican bandit than anything. When Brynner and crew return they are held at gunpoint. But instead of killing Yul and crew, Calvera let's them go.

Big mistake on Calvera's part, but necessary for the plot.

And the denouement?

After being forced to leave, the Magnificent Seven are left miles from the Mexican village, their guns tossed on the ground, with the smart thing to do to ride on and let the villagers suffer the consequences of their betrayal.

But these seven aren't smart, just principled - and proud - like James Coburn's character Britt.

Indeed.

Rainy day of not, The Magnificent Seven is well worth watching again if you have viewed this classic. Maybe I'll take a look at it for a second time today, actually.

The Magnificent Seven

Back in the USSA; getting ready for summer at Seneca Lake

2011-04-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, NY, USA - It was a shorter-than-normal season in Mexico this year, prompted in part by the domestic situation of son Dustin, but also because Admiral Fox and I in December purchased a home here, just a few blocks from Seneca Lake and within walking distance of town.

The pier at Watkins Glen on Seneca Lake

Watkins Glen - yes, that Watkins Glen with the NASCAR race track - has grown up in the last decade and has excellent restaurants, a nice marina and waterfront area, good shopping, all kinds of medical services and several good bars.

Several.

And, perhaps as a sign the place has come of age, this July there will be a Phish concert held at the racetrack that has the entire area buzzing, mostly about the commercial possibilities brought into town by the arrival of probably 75,000 people.

Go Phish, right?

The house has a good view of Seneca Lake

Our new house is a rock-solid brick place with one of those huge, East Coast basements that is as large as the rest of the house.

Adm. Fox has already claimed part of the basement for a music studio. I'm lobbying for making it into a den for videos, too. There's enough space for both and to build a bar in one portion.

A bar? Hmmmm....

I already commandeered one of the bedrooms for an office, where I am decorating it in early 'Chuck' decor (LINK: TV Series Chuck). Does anyone know where I can get an original poster of the movie TRON?

I arrived a few days before Adm. Fox and had a chance to equip the house. It came fully furnished (gracias Dios!) but without normal accoutrements like dishes and linens and all the other items you need to live in a house.

One of the flock

I discovered that nearby Montour Falls (home of the Harvest Cafe, another great place to eat LINK: Harvest Cafe) has a Dollar Store ensconced on the edge of town where the prices put the Watkins' WalMart to shame.

Oh! And no pink flamingos came with the house either. I remedied that immediately and we now have a growing flock. Whether the birds will go south with us next winter when we return to Arroyo Seco in Mexico is in question.

The early arrival here in the north means that, well, we are freezing are butts off (it was 85 degrees when I left Mexico, 35 when I arrived at the Syracuse, NY airport). But more importantly, we will be able to open up the lake house in Valois earlier and do projects that are best completed before the growing season.

I have at least a half dozen trees that need to be trimmed, the path to the lake needs to be rebuilt (again...) and the raspberry vines need to be trimmed back to near the ground .

Most summers, by the time we have arrived, everything has been growing for months and we are confronted with a jungle of new growth, high grass and, of course, poison ivy creeping around.

LINK: The Coasters sing 'Poison Ivy...'

The lake house in Valois - sans foliage

This fall we will return to California for our last semester of teaching at California State University, Sacramento. It's been a great run in California, but after December, perhaps, we will be splitting our time between Seneca Lake (and Watkins Glen) and Arroyo Seco.

Or some other place, I suppose. We are subject-to-change, after all.

But for today (so far), I am holed up in my office (dubbed a 'man cave' by amiga Tina Hazlitt), organizing the place, searching online for Tron posters, and cruising Craigslist for a skiboat so we can zip from here up the lake to Valois quickly.

Summer is just around the corner after all. Really...

To Barra de Navidad for a croissant - and to find the miracle store

2011-03-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

BARRA DE NAVIDAD, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox, amiga Kathleen Schamel and I left our outpost in Arroyo Seco (and the hotel on the beach) to roar into Barra de Navidad Saturday for a look at the city. We also wanted to pick up a few things to take back to the USSA when we return later this spring.

Kathleen's last visit to Barra was about 6 years go when she was crewing aboard our sailboat Sabbatical and we were cruising the coast from Puerto Vallarta to Zihuatenjeo.

Of course, on Saturday we stopped at the French Baker on the street next to the bay first, for a croissant or two and some hot tea.

Inside the Milagro store

There were not a lot of tourists in town - or at least up early (11 a.m.). There were quite a few spring break folks about town though, obvious by their bathing attire (or lack of it) and the sweating bottles of Corona they clutched so close.

One stop for me was the Milagro Store - yes, a store that sells various religious items as well as other stuff. I bought a couple of things for our new house in New York and hope that the milagro will be that we get to see our granddaughter here in Mexico sometime soon.

In our travels, we also picked up amiga Laura McCartney who walks with her pooch Mia around Barra every day. At least every day when she isn't out in Arroyo Seco staying at the hotel.

She, the Admiral and Kathleen were checking out the Bob Marley store when I caught up with them, aprés my croissant. A Bob Marley store? I am not kidding. It's a store that seems devoted to all things hippie and equally devoted to Bob Marley.

Three amigas

Fifteen minutes inside of it, and I was considering getting some dreadlocks. Considering.

Barra is a great place to do such browsing but when lunchtime arrived, we were near crisis. Should we eat at Mexico Lindo (our favorite in Barra) or trek back over the mountain to La Manzanilla for lunch at Palapa Joe's.

Palapa Joe's won out fairly easily and we had a great lunch there, sitting at the new bar (new this season). Adm. Fox and I had hamburguesas de pollo, of course. It was a bean and cheese burrito for Kathleen.

When we parked in La Manzanilla, we noticed that a pickup truck was parked nearly in front of Palapa Joe's, advertising a competitor's restaurant on the jardin. The sign wasn't enough to tempt us to divert from our path, however.

And as a bonus for our good choice of luncheon spot, we were able to have key lime pie for dessert - the last slice of piece.

Palapa Joe's never disappoints.

Outside Palapa Joe's in La Manzanilla

Irish music, Irish food and then Mexican pesos all - for an ambulance

2011-03-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - A fund raiser the day before St. Patrick's Day in La Manzanilla brought out a good-sized crowd to eat Irish stew, soda bread, drink Guinness - and listen to some fine Irish music.

The money raised is to go towards the ambulance and emergency services in La Manzanilla.

Mike and Myranda

The event was held in the rooftop palapa of Richard and Nansee, a wonderful setting for, well, just about anything. The last time I was on that rooftop, I was trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to learn the tango.

Wednesday night, I didn't give the Irish Jig a try, though my feet were tapping all through it.

The music was provided by Myranda and Mike (the Celtic Duo) with Admiral Fox joining in on her fiddle.

Myranda did a fine job playing and singing (barely a dry eye in the palapa when she finished singing "Oh Danny Boy..."). She also gave a demonstration of just how the Irish Jig is done - and then got a half dozen people up on their feet to try it out. The video below highlights some of that action.

How much money was raised?

Ask Dan tonight at Palapa Joes if he shows up with his harmonica to play some music with the Lizards.

Two sailboat races and one tsunami - what a week!

2011-03-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - The Banderas Bay Regatta is always an exciting time and this year was almost indescribable by the tsunami generated by the horrific earthquake that devastated Japan.

While the world watched events in Japan unfolding, anyone living along the west coast of North and South America made quick plans to deal with serious tidal surges.

Here in Banderas Bay, many boats scrambled out of marinas and took to sea - and deep water - where surges from tidal waves generally pass almost unnoticed.

At Paradise Village Marina, the surge inside the marina was not bad, but the narrow channel entrance roared like a river for an entire day, with the current reversing every 10-15 minutes.

Most of the boats that left the marina ended up spending the night out at anchor or simply staying in motion until the all clear was given the next day to return to port.

Here is a brief video of Paradise Village:

But tsunami or not, the regatta pushed on, canceling one day of racing (of a planned three).

And again this year, Admiral Fox and I were aboard the sailing vessel Lotus, owned by Capt. Clarence and his wife Sheron.


Laura and Joe

With 60 boats in the regatta, we were placed in a division with 13 others, ending up in 10th place overall. But in the second day of racing, everything clicked (almost everything) and we beat a number of boats that had finished well ahead of us in the first race.

We had a number of other crew members aboard, including Joe and Laura. Joe took some fabulous photos (including the one below) I was steering a lot of the time and did not snap a single photo.

Our proudest moment probably came when we beat a sailboat named Bolero.

Last year, Bolero was the boat to beat and so for this regatta, Captain Clarence made it a goal to stick close to Bolero in both races.

In the first race, Bolero came in ahead of us - but just barely. Then Saturday, in the finale, we beat them quite handily.

Bolero, the boat to beat

Yes, it's true that in the photo here, we are obviously behind Bolero. But by the time we crossed the finish line, we were well ahead of the ship.

Captain Clarence has already declared that the 2012 Banderas Bay Regatta is the Year of the Lotus and, if possible, we will put the band back together for another series of races.

A day-trip to San Pancho and the beach; calm before the Regatta...

2011-03-06T15:31:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO, Nayarit, Mexico - Just a few kilometers north of the famous surfing (and now very touristy and congested) city of Sayulita is pueblo San Pancho, a little Mexican town that gives visitors a glimpse of what Sayulita was probably like before it was discovered in the last, oh, I guess 10 years or so.

San Pancho sunbather, almost alone on the beach

San Pancho is being discovered slowly, but instead of fighting traffic to drive in, struggling to get parking, or fending off Rastafarians trying to sell beads, Admiral Fox and I parked 100 yards from the water and ate a late lunch at a small seafood restaurant.

Very civilized.

The Sunday crowd at the beach and in town was split evenly between Mexican families (enjoying the one day per week when they don't have to work) and gringos out to enjoy the day.

San Pancho isn't a good place to surf, but a dozen or so local kids enjoyed the waves on boogie boards, anyway...

The afternoon visit to San Pancho was a prelude to what will likely be a fast-paced week of fun, with a lot of sailboat racing in the middle.

Captain Clarence is expected to bring the good ship Lotus into Paradise Village Marina Monday to do final race preparations for our three races.

Tuesday the Banderas Bay Regatta starts with - of course - a late afternoon party. Then Wednesday, the captains all meet to go over the course and argue why their boats should have bigger handicaps. Thursday the racing starts, but is preceded by a parade in which all the participating boats put on some kind of show as they motor out past a reviewing standing.

Last year, Admiral Fox played her violin while Laura Warner and I danced some kind of weird jig on the foredeck. No word yet on what we will do this year, but I am tuning my ukulele just in case...

Click on the text below to link to the website for the regatta:
Banderas Bay Regatta website

3rd Annual La Manzanilla Cup - a fun race to watch and to film

2011-02-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - While my sailboat steering hand was twitching at the outset of the 3rd Annual La Manzanilla Cup sailboat race in Tenacatita Bay Tuesday, is was equally fun to watch the event from the race deck in front of Restaurant Raul, knowing that later I would be putting together a short video of the event.

Richard (right) accepts the Cup from last year's winner

The race is put on annually just for fun. And this year will be a real counter-point to an arguably serious yacht race this Saturday sponsored by the municipality of La Huerta. The Saturday race is serious enough that none of the boats that raced Tuesday are large enough to even enter. And in the villages, sounds trucks are driving around touting Saturday's event, encouraging people to come and watch.

It's doubtful that the people of these small pueblos will turn out in force to watch expensive yachts - some of which are worth 100 times the annual income of the villagers.

The winner of Tuesday's La Manzanilla Cup was Richard, best known as Richard of Richard and Nansee who have a house in La Manzanilla where they hold a variety of events each season.

Several years ago, I was there New Year's Eve and got a lesson in how to dance the tango from some professional instructors.

Six boats competed in the Cup race, which was a quick round-the-bay event with good winds and very light seas. The starting flag was a red tablecloth from Raul's Restaurant that did as fine a job as any America's Cup banners. Alaska Barb handled the start and finish line duties.

When not filming, I sat at the press table with La Manzanilla's Lois Lane (aka Jane Gorby) who has written an account of the event for her newspaper, the Guadalajara Reporter. Jane was nattily attired with a very professional-looking hat that held her press credentials.

Here's a short video of the race:

All eyes on the Banderas Bay Regatta in a few weeks...

2011-02-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - Mike and Karen Schamel zoomed off on a Friendly Skies flight to Chicago this afternoon after two weeks of Mexico, staying both here and in Arroyo Seco. From the Windy City, they have another flight that takes them into Rochester, NY, tomorrow, then home to Hector and back to, well, chilly winter weather.

We capped off their last night in town with a dinner and drinks at Victor's in Marina Vallarta, joined by Laura and her amiga Wendy. Wendy was headed out today on a flight to Canada. Too early to go north, amigos. Months early!

Victor's restaurant is, well, an area icon. The food is good, the margaritas dangerous and Victor himself, a real character.

(L-R) Karen and Mike, Adm. Fox, Wendy, the Captain, Dustin and Laura

Just remember this Golden Rule: Do Not order a second margarita if you go to Victor's.

But the wheels were barely up on Mike and Karen's flight today when I realized that the good ship, Lotus, driven by Captain Clarence, is back in Banderas Bay and ready for the Banderas Bay Regatta in a few weeks.

We are putting the crew from last year together again, this year vowing to make sure we fill the beer cooler at least an hour before each race to ensure proper temperatures for our hydration supplies

We have other goals, too, I am sure, but they escape me at this moment.

Before the race, Adm. Fox and I expect to get back down to Arroyo Seco and spend a lot of time out on the beach at the hotel where we have rented a room. Mike and Karen stayed there last week and we all ate at both of the beach restaurants several times.

And, of course, we will go into training so we are in good shape for the Regatta.

Maybe we will run back and forth between the restaurants to build up our cardiovascular systems.

Photo of the hotel taken from two miles out in the ocean

Quick sailing trip from Tenacatita Bay to Nuevo Vallarta

2011-02-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - Hector NY amigo Mike Schamel and I jumped aboard Roger Frizzelle's boat Di's Dream Tuesday afternoon for a quick delivery north to Nuevo Vallarta.

Roger had two issues going on - an ailing mother in California and a brand-new granddaughter in the Cayman Islands - and so he needed to park his 47-foot Catalina sailboat in a safe harbor while he attended to things.

Admiral Fox transported Mike and I Tuesday afternoon to the beach at the southeast end of La Veina in Tenacatita Bay (where most cruising boats anchor). We hitched a ride out to Roger's vessel aboard a dinghy owned by another cruiser in the anchorage.

Afte a few pre-voyage tasks, we pulled up anchor and were on our way north. And just 19 hours later, tied up snugly on B Dock at Paradise Village Marina.

It was one of the smoothest and fastest trips I have taken. Even Cabo Corrientes - noted for being a really nasty place - was like a lake.

Whales at play in Banderas Bay

We saw whales everywhere on the voyage, had one close encounter with another sailboat in the dark (which was not showing proper lights) and saw some of the ugliest red tides ever (video at the end of this blog).

But we also saw a fabulous (if weird) sunset, and then a spectacular sunrise as we enterered Banderas Bay. It was a largely uneventful trip, though the temperature differential between Arroyo Seco and Puerto Vallarta has to be 10 degrees F. We were damned cold in the pre-dawn hours in Banderas Bay.

As part of the trip, we also grabbed the headsail off Roger's boat and drove it today to Barra de Navidad for repairs. Bob Hogin (of Bob Hogin Sails) says it will be ready for Roger when he gets back from his various sojourns.

Red sunset off Mexico coast

Warm weather returns to Arroyo Seco - and we buy a house

2011-02-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - With amigos Karen and Mike Schamel from Hector, NY in tow, we arrived in Arroyo Seco Sunday, greeted by much warmer days and the normal Mexican winter that brings us south.

Mike and Karen are ensconced at the hotel on the beach, an 11-room manse where Adm. Fox and I have rented a room for a couple of months so we have a beach place when we leave the Pink Flamingo. It's opulence, Mexican style.

While we were gone for just a week, our neighbors Chena and Chon - along with most of their extended family - opened a beach restaurant just 200 yards from the hotel. We had dinner there last night - a celebratory event for finally closing on our new house.

Mike, Karen, Adm. Fox and el capitan

Um, new house?

Yes, Adm. Fox and I just purchased a three-bedroom, two-bath casa in beautiful Watkins Glen, New York.

Watkins Glen, NY?

Yup.

The house became available at the end of last summer and after some machinations this fall, we flew into Watkins in December, checked it out, and decided that when we fully retire (Dec. 10 of this year), it would be our base camp. We will have a two-way split that way - Seneca Lake and Mexico, instead of the Seneca Lake-California-Mexico trifecta we have done for four years.

We will wait out the upstate New York winter before flying in to take possession this spring. Given the severity of this year's weather there, it's very had to predict when we will see our new house on North Glen Avenue.

But while we wait, our Mexican adventures remain steady at warp 10. Each day takes us to the beach for a long walk (a video of surfers is at the bottom of this entry).

And this afternoon I will go to Tenacatita Bay to hop aboard the sailing vessel Di's Dream to help Captain Roger Frizzelle pilot the ship to Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. It probably means a bus ride back to Arroyo Seco in a few days after a an 18-24 hour voyage.

That means I can get motion sickness in both directions.

Hoo-boy!

A quick trip to the second biggest city in Mexico - Guadalajara

2011-02-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

GUADALAJARA, Jalisco, Mexico - The planned sojourn was a fairly quick one, just a couple of days in Guadalajara, a city Admiral Fox has been pining to visit for years. Each year, we plan a trip, and then events in Arroyo Seco or in Nuevo Vallarta take precedence.

But in this case, this was just a business trip, which included paying a visit to our Guadalajara-based attorney, Santiago Gonzalez Luna. Santiago represents us in our Tenacatita land battle.

Soooo, much to her chagrin, Adm. Fox decided to stay in Nuevo Vallarta with Hector, N.Y. amigos Karen and Mike Schamel. From the sound of things, the food was a lot better here. I ate dinner at an Applebee's Restaurant in Guadalajara.

I am not kidding.

Michael and Santiago

Santiago's law firm has been helping us try to recover our beachfront Tenacatita lot, taken by the Rodenas Corporation August 4, 2010. Since then, we haven't been able to even return to the area to check it out. Former property owners are stopped at the gates on the state highway, which is being guarded by Rodenas special police.

And Santiago's news? Well, things move slowly in the Mexican judicial system, a problem exacerbated by the fact that official documents travel by snail mail. Mexican snail mail.

So the good news is, the case is still in process. The bad news is, for how long, only the snails carrying the official legal documents can guess.

This was my first visit to Guadalajara and its reputation as being huge and somewhat complicated to get around in very well-deserved. Still, thanks to helpful taxi drivers, I was able to zip hither and yon (more hither than yon) without getting gouged in taxi fares.

At least I don't think I was gouged.

One surprising thing about the city was the high number of English speakers. (Note the sentence structure here. I did not say, the number of high English speakers. I did stay overnight close to a university campus, though, so that's difficult to assess.)

So where are my photos? In my head, I am afraid. I barely pulled my camera out as I zipped about.

Next trip, when the Admiral goes, too, lots of photos. Maybe even a rockumentary.

Fresh tuna, racing sailboats and frozen pipes...frozen pipes?

2011-02-01T06:14:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarity, Mexico - Since coming back from Arroyo Seco late last week, Adm. Fox and I have been on a Mexican roller coaster (now that is a scary thought...) of fun and not-always-fun.

Actually, 90 percent has been fun. Make that 95 percent.

Saturday night, son Dustin hosted a party and the guests (and Adm. Fox) did the cooking. Fresh tuna, chorizo, a rice dish that I am lobbying for again, and, of course, industrial strength margaritas were all served. It was a great fiesta all around though the small kitchen area was put to the test with all the platters of food and drink.

Mike and Karen Schamel

Among the folks attending were Mike and Karen Schamel, our amigos from Hector, New York, here in Mexico for a few weeks to escape the near-Artic weather that has been choking the northeastern U.S.

About the same time as the party was going on, an email was making its way through the chronosynclasticinfindibulum (apologies to Kurt Vonnegut) with the frosty news that a pipe had burst in a house we have an interest in New York.

Coincidence? Perhaps. We're still waiting to see how much damage was done, but it seems, well, sort of distant. And it's an issue for insurance companies.

The day after the tuna soiree, we piled aboard a sailboat named Cupcake for a daysail in Banderas Bay. The boat was formerly known as Tomatillo and last year was a force to be reckoned with in the Banderas Bay Regatta. The new owner, Captain David, said he is unsure if he will be racing or not. He took the batch of us out for the afternoon and got back in time for us to watch some French acrobats put on a show in Paradise Village Marina.

Admiral Fox, Laura Warner and I have already signed up for a return engagement in the Banderas Bay Regatta aboard Lotus for this year's race. No acrobatics there, we hope.

Here is a brief video of our Sunday sailing adventures with some footage of the acrobats at the end.

On the trail of sea turtles and roof tiles in Arroyo Seco

2011-01-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - It was a doubly monumental day today for Admiral Fox and I in Arroyo Seco today.

First, we found four baby sea turtles struggling to get to the sea - and helped them reach their goal.

Second, we sold our heavy roof tiles from our palapa to the owner of Las Brisas Restaurant, a doubly good thing itself because it also means that the scorpion condominum (the stacked tiles) is off the property.

The baby turtle adventure started out as a simple walk on the beach and ended up with helping the wayward turtles to escape into the surf. We hesitated to do anything, until our amigo, Surfer Dude Martine, told us that the last hatch he saw was eaten entirely by a flock of free-wheeling frigate birds.

Tiles ready to be moved

After hearing his tale, he and Adm. Fox gave four little creatures a slight assist. And at last viewing, the baby turtles were on their way out into the sea, where other predators probably await. But at least they made it off the beach.

The great moving-the-tiles-project ended a long saga at the Pink Flamingo.

When the palapa was originally built three years ago, the tiles were used for the roof. But the fellow who built it didn't realize how heavy the tejas were and for two years, we watched the beams sag and our neighbor Chon told us when it rained heavily, he feared the entire structure might collapse.

Last summer, Chon and a work crew removed the old roof tiles and replaced them with relatively lightweight plastic laminate tiles. The new plastic tiles look great, by the way.

Tiles in the trailer on the way to the beach

And so today, the rest of the story is that local restaurateur Luis wanted the tiles and so we worked a deal - he could have the tiles, but instead of paying me, I would take my payment in food.

And his food is excellent!

He's happy, the Admiral is happy (scorpion condo gone) and I am really happy.

Having a tab at seafood restaurant that serves fabulous shrimp meals is pretty amazing, even in a land of amazing things.

Below is a brief video of the sea turtle adventure.

Arroyo Seco beach coming of age: hotel, restaurant, RV park...

2011-01-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Having dinner last night at Luis' (Restaurante Las Brisas) on Playa Grande in Arroyo Seco - in the company of 14 people staying at the Hotel across the street - it occured to me that suddenly Arroyo Seco might be coming of age for tourists.

The single biggest drawback for out-of-town visitors in our few years living here has been that there is no commercial establishment for people to spend the night. So anyone interested in coming in and spending time wandering (or surfing or swimming) could only come in for day trips.

And the restaurant scene mostly consisted of small family run taco stands on the main street, which opened well after dark, long after most day-trippers were headed back to La Manzanilla or Careyes or Melaque.

View from the lower patio area of the hotel

Then the hotel - really an 11-bedroom home with a large central kitchen - came available for people to rent. It's not the Four Seasons, yet. And the owner would prefer to sell it and make it someone else's responsiblilty. But for now, Jim Monaco, owner/operator of the Monaco PV real estate company, has taken the place over for the owner and is renting out rooms.

He is also working like crazy, fixing the place up.

And there is an RV park now, too, that had guests about a week ago from the state of Washington.

Last night, the gringo population swelled as most of the rooms were taken by visitors from Barra and Melaque - a group of friends and people from as far away as the Mexican state of Michocan. And in addition to spending the afternoon and evening (and this morning) enjoying the beach scene and the small heart-shaped pool at the hotel, the entire assemblage walked across the street to Luis' restaurant, where a special meal had been prepared.

Luis and his wife Nena put on quite a spread, and most of the items we ate are available on the normal menu for the restaurant, open nearly every day.

Their son Luis and two young amigos acted as the waiters and kept all the diners happy.

Group from the hotel at Restaurante Las Brisas

Three years ago, when Adm. Fox and I bought the lot on which we now live in the winter and spring (aka, the Pink Flamingo), it was partly because we thought someday someone might want to open a restaurant or school or ? in the center of town.

Maybe that time is getting closer.

Perhaps a subsidiary of of Palapa Joe's?

Here's a brief video of from last night...

In Arroyo Seco, catching some rays on the beach - sun rays, that is

2011-01-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox and I decided to come down to Arroyo Seco for a week to check on things and decompress from life in the big city of Puerto Vallarta.

It's been, well, great... We are spending days at the beach, afternoons at Luis' restaurant eating shrimp filadelphia and evenings (after puesto del sol) usually reading before turning in. Yes, I am still reading the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1. And I will be, into the summer.

View from hotel deck

Our amigos Jim and Vickie are helping the owner of an 11-bedroom house/hotel on the beach rent out some rooms this season. The place is for sale, if you have a spare $350,000 U.S.

Did I mention that the place comes with a heart-shaped swimming pool?

This is the first time in our years in Arroyo Seco that there has been actual overnight accommodations for out-of-town folks.

Adm. Fox and a I grabbed a room on the second story right away and will keep renting it for the season. It has a fabulous view of the entire beach.

In about a week or so, we will move all of our surf and beach gear down there. The place has a big kitchen downstairs and a new refrigerator to keep my hydration supplies cold.

When we have guests in the coming weeks and months, we will put them up down there, instead of having them stay in the Gray Goose Express II here in El Centro.

Over the weekend, Chief Education Officer Laura McCartney Warner dropped off her pooch Mia to spend a few days here in Mia's old stomping grounds. Mia was rescued last year by Sylvia and Laura and eventually went to Canada to live with Laura.

Vickie, Sylvia and Mia

Today, she and several of her former compadre dogs in the village went with us to the beach where they ran, jumped, and, of course, rolled in whatever dead things they could find. A short video of the huge surf - and Mia playing with her amigo pooches - is at the end of this blog.

And the sunsets! Madre mia! In the last few nights, the sun and moon have been putting on spectacular light shows. The first photo below was taken in La Manzanilla, the other here on Playa Grande.


*Sunset in La Manzanilla*

Arroyo Seco, Playa Grande

Daysailing on Banderas Bay aboard the famous ship, Profligate

2011-01-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

LA CRUZ, Nayarit, Mexico - Admiral Fox, son Dustin and I jumped about Richard Spindler's catamaran Profligate Sunday for a three-hour cruise across Banderas Bay from La Cruz to Paradise Village marina (just a mile or so from our casa).

We pulled away from the dock about 1:30 p.m. (after a short shore break) with about 20+ people aboard for the trip.

It was a classic, beautiful day on the bay. And it was a little cooler than normal, which made the temperatures just about right for the entire trip.

Richard is the publisher of Latitude 38 magazine in San Francisco, a magazine soooo revered by sailboaters and cruisers that old editions (from 10 years ago or more) get passed around like rare books at swap meets. He and his partner, Doña de Mallora, will be keeping Profligate at Paradise for the next few months.

Here's a short video of the trip. I was too busy most of the time enjoying the ride to get my video camera out.

Baby it's cold here in Mexico - at least for this time of the year

2011-01-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - Along the Costalegre (which stretches from here past La Manzanilla to the south) today the emails and message boards were buzzing about how 'cold' it was.

In La Manz, some people said it was 52 degrees Fahrenheit this morning - with a high of 82 still predicted.

Brrr, brrr and, well, brrr.

I know such temperatures have people in northern climes laughing. (It is 21 degrees in Hector, NY as I write this). But when you live in the tropics, anything that is not, well, tropical, can be a shock, and maybe a problem.

For Admiral Fox and I, safely ensconsed this week in our condo in Puerto Vallarta with son Dustin, cool evening temps are no big deal. Close the doors and throw a blanket on the bed. But were we in Arroyo Seco, in the Gray Goose II Express trailer, it would not be as comfortable.

We'll hope for a spike in temperatures before we head back south at the end of the week to Arroyo Seco.

Coming home from school

Admiral Fox is ending up a three-week language class on Friday, a class she has really enjoyed and believes has helped her ability to be able to gossip, er, I mean talk, with the Mexican women in Arroyo Seco.

I do notice already that when I fire smart-ass Spanish frases in her direction, she understands a lot more now.

No more telling store clerks that the woman in line with me is my mother. (I really only did that a few times, because the store clerks usually looked at me and said that they thought I was her father.)

When we go back to Arroyo Seco, we will also get to see how much progress has been made on a house being built on Playa Grande by our amigo Jim Monaco.

Jim bought our two beach lots earlier this year - the lots that are bordered by a short, dead-end street. A local fellow two years ago fenced it off and claimed it was not a street at all - that in fact, it was his land. Total bull, of course, but Admiral Fox and I never could resolve it, and we wanted to build two small houses on the lots, a plan that required the street as access for the back lot.

Police stand by while fence is taken down

So we sold and said 'adios' to that idea.

To make a long story into a short anecdote, the fellow made the mistake of placing part of his fence on our land and last week Jim was able to get the muncipality of La Huerta - and a judge - to order the fence (on Jim's land) removed. A few posts blocking access to the street remain in place. But I hope to see the street opened this spring.

Fence is down, and the posts hauled away

The name of the street? I have dubbed it Calle Libre (free street). I hope it sticks. Hell, I'll buy the street sign and put it up myself, when it is open.

The day the fence was taken down, officials from La Huerta, eight police officers, at least a dozen townspeople (in one official capacity or another) and numerous onlookers came out to see the fence removed.

It wasn't quite as dramatic as the fall of the Berlin Wall, but it was still pretty interesting to see some action take place after two years of endless debate in the village.


*Sasha and Sylvia last spring*

Admiral Fox did some writing herself today, putting up a very poignant piece about the travails of divorce and what it's like for us not to be able to see our granddaughter - when she lives only minutes from where I am writing this.

You can check out her blog at this LINK: Why we will never get divorced

Restaurant Las Brisas in Arroyo Seco - the new beach hangout

2011-01-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The new location for Las Brisas Restaurant in Arroyo Seco, on Playa Grande, suits it well. Very well.

Under a large shady palapa roof, the restaurant has space for maybe fifty people in a crunch (or who might not be crunched, there's plenty of chairs and tables...). The entire interior of the former house seems to have been given over to a huge kitchen with plenty of room for the fresh fish and shrimp that are the house specialties.


Las Brisas Restaurant in Arroyo Seco

In fact, don't go looking for a hamburger there, just yet. It's a seafood place - and everything is fresh, sometimes caught from the freshwater laguna out back, sometimes the ocean in front.

The place is operated by Luis and Nena, longtime Arroyo Seco residents who ran the restaurant in a much smaller facility across the street for several years. But that restaurant was really open only on weekends (and Semana Santa, of course). Luis and Nena's son, Luis Jr., along with some of his pre-teen amigos, act as the waiters and are close to professionally attentive.

Sometimes they might be wet after just getting out of the pool when they walk up, but they won't make you wait for your food.

The new place is serving meals every day and has become my new Arroyo Seco hangout.

Luis (standing) taking an order

So, um, where is it?

The Arroyo Seco turnoff is a left from Highway 200, a few kilometers north of Agua Caliente and the turnoff for El Tecuan.

The Arroyo Seco signs put up last year seem to have weathered the summer nicely.

Once in Arroyo Seco proper, the turn to Playa Grande is at the end of the main street. If you turn right, you go to Playa Chica, where there are no services, but frequently plenty of surfers.

Playa Grande is about two kilometers from town and Las Brisas is near the south of the beach. It's very close to the new RV park, too.

My favorite dish - so far - has been camarones filadelfia. Yup, they mix some Philadelphia cream cheese in while cooking the shrimp and peppers. It can be a little picante, too. (I have been getting the half order - plenty of of food - for 50 pesos...)

On a recent outing with amigos from La Manzanilla, the shrimp diablo got rave reviews as did the fresh fish filet, cooked in garlic.

All this writing about the restaurant is pushing me out the door to my quad for a quick spin to Las Brisas for some camarones filadelfia and a cold Tecate.

Oh, and a swim in the pool, too, if it's hot. I haven't seen any adults in the small pool, but, hey, it's Mexico. Jump in...

I will try to remember to take some photos of the food this next trip, too. The last few visits it disappeared before I could get my camera out of my bag.

Quick trip to Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla - too quick, indeed

2011-01-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox, son Dustin and I - along with amigas Laura, Christina and Pat from Canada - all shot out of Puerto Vallarta Thursday for a trip to the southland.

Laura, Christina and Pat were bound for a condo in Barra de Navidad rented for a few months. Adm. Fox, Dustin and I were headed a few days of R&R in Arroyo Seco. (R&R, I know, I know...)

It was great homecoming (the second in as many weeks) in Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla.

Anna - the quinceanera

In Arroyo Seco, we visited with amigos Jim and Vickie, as well as Julien and, of course, our neighbors Chena and Chon who take care of our property when we are not there. (And frequently even when we are there.)

And we stopped in at a coming-of-age 'quinceanera' party in the main square last night. It was a wild affair with great music and food.

You really haven't lived until you have heard Achy Breaky Heart done in Spanish - and watched a group of gorgeous young Mexican women doing a line dance while wearing prom dresses.

In our travels we also managed to eat at three different La Manzanilla Restaurants: Cafe Risa, Palapa Joe's and Fiesta Mexicana.

Fiesta Mexicana? But isn't that in Tenacatita?

Same sign, even better food

Well, it was - along with a lot of other nice restaurants, unceremoniously evicted by a Guadalajara developer who wants to build a resort and golf course. What is it with the golf course fetish these developers all have?

Anyway, Fiesta Mexicana opened a new restaurant just up the beach from downtown La Manzanilla and I am happy to report the setting - and food - I think is even better than before.

And the evictees from Tenacatita beach and the oceanfront (Adm. Fox and I included) continue to battle in court to get our property back.

In Arroyo Seco, the palm trees around the property have grown so much it's like walking into a jungle-themed park when you go in through the front gate.

In coming weeks, we will be pulling the place together. This trip, we ate, played on the beach and drove the quad around.

And it was great.

Pink Flamingo from the front gate

Palapa with new lamina tile roof

As I write this, we are back in Puerto Vallarta and have a full week planned, including a mid-week visit from Beth and Roy, who are coming from La Manzanilla Wednesday to pick up Beth's son (and our nephew) Nate at the airport.

Nate will get a quick Mexico baptism with a whale-watching panga tour set for 9 a.m. Thursday morning. Quite a difference in scenery (and temperature) from Ithaca, New York where he lives and goes to college.

Admiral Fox and I plan on going along on the panga expedition, too. After seeing whales on one trip with Di and Roger Frizzelle about their sailing vessell Di's Dream, followed by a panga ride where we motored behind a manta ray for a half-hour, I'm hoping for a post-Christmas glimpse of a mermaid.

For you skeptics, I would like to report that I've seen many mermaids on beaches here in Puerto Vallarta and in La Manzanilla.... The quest to find on in the water begins Thursday.

A fast panga ride, whales and visit to a palapa, in Yelapa

2010-12-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

YELAPA, Jalisco, Mexico - A ride across Banderas Bay in a fast panga is always fun, more so when the destination is the seaside village of Yelapa, south of Puerto Vallarta.

The area is accessible almost exclusively by boat. There is a road, of sorts, but it is only for the truly brave, driving a vehicle with an excellent suspension.

The trip was to check in with Adm. Fox's cousin Lynn, who is there with her amiga Suzanne for a few weeks before they head south to La Manzanilla. Along for the adventure with us was Laura (with the pooch, Princessa Mia, of course) and Christina.

Sylvia's cousin and Suzanne are vacationing in a cliff-side home that is drop-dead gorgeous and has only one drawback that I know of: scorpions.

Scorpions where they belong - in a case

Last season, the couple killed about 23 of the little buggers during a short stay in Yelapa - that's 20 more than I killed in our five-months in Arroyo Seco. And I think the three I killed is waaaaay too many.

Nasty stinging things aside, Yelapa is still as magical a place as it was when I first saw it in 2000 when Admiral Fox and I chartered a panga to take us there for the day.

It's changed a lot - more houses, more tourists, even some upscale development, it seems. But the water is just as nice. And it has a couple of restaurants, too - besides the tourist traps that the tour boats frequent.

Some years back, with Karson Swedberg in tow, we sat on the beach there sipping Pacifico beer and postulated that what Yelapa needed was a good local brewery. The fresh water there, we thought, would make excellent brews.

And the motto for the beer? Yelapa - ya love it.

OK, but it seemed sooooo clever at the time.

The Yacht Club in Yelapa

The trip out and back was fabulous, too, with many whale sightings on the way south, then a close - and I mean very close - encounter with a manta ray on the way home.

Our driver, Gus, knew exactly how to pull the boat close to the action without being too intrusive.

Here's a few photos of the expedition - and a short video of a Manta named Ray...

Laura, Princessa Mia, Gus, and Christina
on the way to Yelapa

How close is that whale?

San Francisco sailboat
anchored in Yelapa

Settled in Nuevo Vallarta home, but Arroyo Seco beckons

2010-12-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - Life in Nuevo Vallarta has become as close to routine as life allows here, with most mornings dedicated to exercise (swimming), some writing (blogs and other screeds), planning out of the day (where should we eat lunch?), followed by, well, more exercise, more writing and more planning.

In the past few weeks, we have made a foray south to Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla, gone whale watching with Roger and Di Frizzelle on their 47-foot yacht, Di's Dream, ran enough errands to run through $100 in gasoline - and helped Dustin get his new home set up here, a home in which we live, too.

How many 30-year-olds do you know whose parents move in with them?

The turnabout is fair play, however, as Adm. Fox and I are helping Dustin find his footing amid the domestic upheaval of separation that too many people reading this have gone through. Divorce is not any prettier among the palm trees.

Still, times are good and getting better day by day.

Di and Sylvia on whale watch patrol

Infinity pool at resort north of La Cruz

Last week we went to a fabulous resort north of La Cruz for the afternoon, where I sipped the best Pina Colada I ever had. And yes, the second one was as good as the first. The place has three infinity pools, each spilling over into the next one.

We only got as far as pool number two for swimming, though Dustin said that ocean waves out front were fine for swimming and/or boogie boarding.

On Christmas Day, we had breakfast with the Frizzelles and Dustin at nearby Paradise Village, then retired to the beach for a family tradition - an Christmas afternoon of boogie boarding and margaritas on the sand.

Sylvia and Dustin at breakfast, Christmas 2010

I opted for a Pina Colada during the course of the afternoon, instead of a margarita. Perhaps that will be a new family tradition, too.

How was the boogie boarding? Fabuloso... Just fabuloso.

Towards midafternoon, Santa Claus arrived on the beach, too - in great style - landing via parasailer. Very classy.

Santa Claus on Paradise Village Beach

Life at the beach

Our next adventure will be to head back to Arroyo Seco in a few days with amigas Laura and Christina from Canada. They are staying at Casa Dustin right now and will be spending the winter in Barra de Navidad.

We will also be checking out the situation at Tenacatita, the site of a beachside 'picnic' today that was put together to draw attention of the seizure of the property August 4 - and the eviction of nearly 800 residents. It's a mess. Here's a recent blog on the situation: Beach picnic/protest

New Year's Eve looks like it will be in Arroyo Seco or La Manzanilla at Palapa Joes for Admiral Fox and I.

Hoo-boy! Can you say, Cuba Libre?

Online, offline, Internet here, there and everywhere

2010-12-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, NAYARIT, Mexico - The on-again, off-again, Finnegan of Internet service has been wreaking havoc on posting here and on the Tenacatita Bay Bugle (Tenacatita Bay Bugle link).

On the other hand, it has made it possible to ignore the keyboard, swim and generally enjoy the balmy weather that is Mexico this time of the year.

Admiral Fox and I made a quick foray to Arroyo Seco, where we opened up the place, which had been spit shined by our village amigos Chena and Chon. Somehow in our brief stay of a few days (which included runs to La Manzanilla and Melaque for food, gasoline and more dinero) we neglected to take any photos of the Pink Flamingo, though I did take a short video out on Playa Chica.

Arroyo Seco express to Dustin's

The trip was short because we went through various lockers in both trailers and the bodega to pull out items Dustin (and us) want/need in his new poolside casa.

Last night we barbecued steaks - only the third time our barbecue has been pressed into service since Arroyo Seco friends Jim and Vickie dragged it all the way from Texas for us.

What also came north was about six huge bags of dirty laundry, currently simmering in six washing machines in the laundromat here at Paradise Village.

Actually there are two more sacks sitting on the floor, too, but after dragging it all in, running back to the truck for the soap, buying the tokens for the machine, et al, I decided to take a break and head to the Vallarta Yacht Club for hydration.

Back at the house, Adm. Fox is patiently waiting for TelMex to arrive to hook up the telephone so we have reliable (?) internet service at Casa Dustin. He has been waiting for two weeks, with postponement after postponement.

And so it should come as no surprise that Sunday - when we left for four hours - someone showed up to install the phone. A Sunday. In Mexico.

Good grief.

But now, it's back to the washers. Arriba!

Sunset in La Manzanilla (at Figaro's restaurant) Friday night

In Mexico for the winter: Swimming pool, cerveza, beaches ahead

2010-12-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - It took two days of travel, but Admiral Fox and I are safely ensconced at son Dustin's new casa, looking at the pool and plotting a day that includes a trip to the beach and a potluck dinner at the Vallarta Yacht Club.

Ah, Mexico!

Pool at Dustin's new casa in Nuevo Vallarta

The trip began with a US Airways farble at 6 a.m. A lightbulb was out over one of the emergency doors and because there was no replacement bulb in the airport, the flight was delayed until about 10 a.m.

And so that meant instead of a 6:30 a.m. flight to Phoenix, followed by a 10 a.m. flight to Vallarta and arrival at 1:30 p.m., we spent a leisurely morning in the Sacramento airport - and eventually an overnight at a Courtyard Hotel on the edge of Phoenix's Sky Harbor.

As part of this trip south, we had to purchase one additional suitcase to carry all the assorted paraphernalia, clothes, and gifts we wanted to bring. But another black suitcase seemed, well, soooooo pedestrian.

Pink suitcase ready for loading in Sacramento

And so two days before liftoff, Admiral Fox went on the search and found a shocking pink suitcase at a Marshal's store that is bright enough that you might consider wearing sunglasses when you look at it.

The suitcase did yeoman service for the entire trip, each time popping off the conveyor belt, signaling the arrival of the three checked bags.

We knew the suitcase was going to make it to Phoenix, because we saw it being loaded in Sacramento.

Today we are already set to do some serious pool time, (serious pool time?), maybe head to the beach to make sure the sand is still there, and later tonight, we will go to the Vallarta Yacht Club for a potluck dinner.

The yacht club should be humming with cruisers and folks we know from other seasons down here.

And Arroyo Seco? That's on tap for later in the week after we sort out all the details of telephones, internet modems and various other details that make life in Mexico muy divertido...

A view of the coast north of Puerto Vallarta

Back in the air, heading back to Sacramento from snow country

2010-12-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK, New York, USA - The Admiral and I are sitting in JFK International Airport, getting ready for the third leg of our travels today, a cross-country Jet Blue flight that will get us home to Sacramento late this evening - and to our warm casa with Pam and Steve.

The day started with swirling snow in Ithaca, New York where we stayed overnight with brother David's special amiga, Caren. I was a little groggy as we departed after a great dinner party the night before, but not so groggy that I didn't notice it was snowing pretty hard while David drove us to the Syracuse Airport, an hour and a half from Ithaca.

In Ithaca, NY, Dec. 5, 2010 - brrrrrrrrrrr

We breezed in without issue, however, until the Admiral got held up at the security gate and was given the choice of either one of those new TSA pat downs, or taking some other form of transit to Sacramento.

The Admiral was not amused and will likely vent her wrath on how ludicrousness of what passes for security when she writes in her own blog.

The overall trip was a success, however, on several levels (pat downs aside).

And among the things accomplished was getting some video broadcast on WENY, Elmira, New York. I braved the cold and shot the Christmas parade for the station, which used some clips in their evening newscast the same night.

More on what the other levels of success were will show up in another blog.

Below are two videos.

One is of our trip to Syracuse, and the airport snowplows busy at work. The second is a TSA ukulele video. It's pretty fun, but for now, I am not sharing it with the Admiral.

End-of-the-semester shuffle starts for this year's Mexico adventures

2010-12-02T06:31:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The last term papers and projects have been turned in, graded and returned, leaving only the avalanche of portfolios from my students, compilations of their work from the entire semester - kind of an academic legal brief as to why the student should get a good grade.

When those portfolios all show up early next week, it's time for me to dig through the pile and assign grades - a process that usually takes me right up until the day we leave for Mexico.

With four full classes, it looks about the same this year, too.

What is different about this year is that because we have been the guests of Steve and Pam, the packing up transition is less problematic - and less traumatic. When we get close to departure day, we live within two miles of our storage unit.

And even at that, we have very little to even stick into storage, thanks to Pam and Steve's letting us stay in their nicely furnished guest quarters.

I think I will be able to get everything in a single pickup truck load - and that's using my Nissan with a camper shell.

As the temperatures in Sacramento have started dropping down to the freezing level at night - and warming up into the high 40s during the day - those warm days at the beaches in Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla are the stuff that dreams are made of.

And in this case, dreams set to come true.

Just a 100 or so portfolios stand in my way.

La Manzanilla beach

Thanksgiving weekend ends, diet starts tomorrow (or Tuesday, or...)

2010-11-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, California, USA - The wonderfully long Thanksgiving weekend is almost over. Adm. Fox and I just finished a dinner of leftovers with Dr. Pam and Steve. And tomorrow night, we might actually have to cook a complete, fresh meal.

Son Dylan helps with T-day dessert

It was fun time, with children and friends coming and going in and out of the house faster than characters in a Harold Pinter play. At times, it seemed like it was a Harold Pinter play.

Thanksgiving Day itself, we went to Steve's sister's house in Loomis where we joined with probably 40 members of the extended family for a big dinner that included pasta with a meat sauce (and venison in the pasta).

Friday, the house and yard were taken over by Christmas decorating - serious Christmas decorating. Like a general commanding her troops, Dr. Pam had various children, nephews, other relatives and friends all setting up Christmas items on the front lawn.

The pre-teenage boys especially liked hanging out of second story windows - and climbing on the roof.

Dad and Jason

By Friday afternoon, the house was decorated with the finishing touches. Electric lights went on today (Sunday).

It turned out also to be an all-family weekend for the Fox-Fitzgeralds, too. Son Dylan arrived Tuesday to help with the baking of many pies for the festivities.

Wednesday, son Jason arrived to have breakfast and fill us in on his adventures as a coach in Michigan - with snowboarding adventures to start next week in Vail, Colorado.

Sami, Grandpa Michael and Kami

And today we were able to catch up with daughter Anne at her Rancho Cordova house with husband Steve and granddaughters Sami and Kami. Sami is now slightly taller than her mother - and probably two inches taller than Adm. Fox.

At one point, three-year-old Kami asked me to read her a third book, and when I said I was too tired, she grabbed the bag of Doritos we were munching together and said, 'No reading, no chips, Grandpa.'

She probably has a future as a hostage negotiator.

Below are three photos of the Lovotti house - one sans decor, the other with. And at the bottomw, a photo of the house all lit up. (Like a Christmas tree?)

At the top - the house at 10 a.m. then at 2 p.m and below - all lit up

The day starts with a footrace/walk - and ends in the recliner

2010-11-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

LOOMIS, Calif., USA - Thanksgiving 2010 started in Sacramento with an early morning rollout (for a holiday) to attend and participate in the Run to Feed the Hungry.

The annual event draws thousands of people - maybe as many as a Glenn Beck Rally - and the streets all around the fabulous 40s area of Sacramento were teeming with people running (a 5K or 10K) or just walking to show their support.

Along the course there were thousands of supporters cheering the walkers and runners on. And there were live bands playing, too.

After days of cold (and strong) north winds, the Run to Feed the Hungry crowd only had to deal with some high 30s (F) temperatures. There wasn't a hint of a breeze during the race itself.

The entire Lovotti-DiTomasso-Fox-Fitzgerald entourage is about to head up the mountain to Loomis for a 3 p.m. Thanksgiving Day dinner at Steve's sister's house with the entire extended family. So far, we are pretty sure there will be 40 people having dinner.

So did I walk or run in the Run to Feed the Hungry?

I walked. But along that walk I took a half-hour of video, with some snippets of the race in the movie below.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No Internet! Man the lifeboats, scan the horizon for some WiFi

2010-11-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The day dawned kind of gray and bleak, with a long list of things that needed to be done - nearly all on the computer and sent via the Internet to their appointed destinations in New York, Southern California and even parts of the great white north - Canada.

But the faithful ATT WiFi box at the house had died during the night. Quietly and with dignity probably, but even when prodded, poked and banged gently, refused to reanimate this morning as the heater in the house was slowly getting the temperature up to normal.

Calling Dr. Frankenstein. We have an emergency.

The immediate crisis passed by calling into action Adm. Fox's new IPad which has its own 3G internet connection. Some expected emails hadn't shown up yet for me, so there was some breathing room for the day.

But the emails that needed to go out right away couldn't because the IPad and Gmail are not on the best of terms.

That's a little glitch that needs fixing before I head to the Apple Store to buy one.

So instead of a leisurely, tea-sipping morning at our casa, Adm. Fox and a I barreled out of the house to the nearby Crepe Escape restaurant (a favorite breakfast spot near the university) where we had a great breakfast and luxuriated in the free (and very fast) WiFi signal. All emails got handled nicely, other Internet matters taken care of, too. And Adm. Fox went online (where else?) to look for a replacement modem for the late ATT WiFi box at the house.

It was an interesting (if momentarily uncomfortable) reminder of how dependent we are on the Internet for, well, practically everything but cooking the western scramble breakfast I ate this morning.

But a new modem for the house will be installed today.

How could we have the Thanksgiving holiday without it?

Getting out of the U.S. to Mexico, just ahead of the snow season

2010-11-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

CAMP CONNELL, Calif., USA - The news from amigo Sanders Lamont this morning was that he already has 3.5 feet of snow on the ground at his house - and more falling all the time.

Welcome to the Northern California mountains, the place where surfboards are replaced by snowboards every fall about this time.

Sander's house in Camp Connell

This whopper of a winter storm dropped plenty of rain on the Sacramento Valley floor over the last few days, brought in gusty winds and generally reminded Adm. Fox and I why we head to Mexico every December.

Brrr.... Donde esta mi flip-flops?

In anticipation of that sojourn south, we spent part of Saturday at our down-sized storage unit, shifting clothes and getting ready for several upcoming trips.

But the storm also suggested that we should not try to drive up into the mountains to the town of Arnold, where a fiesta will be held Monday night for amigos Randy and Karin. They sold their mountain home and are headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We will also see them in Mexico this winter - they own a prime lot in Arroyo Seco, two blocks from the Pink Flamingo.

And there will not be any snow on the ground there. Dust? Of course.

California being California, the rain seems to have passed and the sun is out bright this morning, a harbinger of a sunny day perhaps. The thermometer is not having none of that, however. It seems to be stuck at just above 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Here, that seems damn cold. In Hector, New York, it would close to balmy.

Somewhere else, though (like Mexico) the surf's up and ready.

Me, too.

World's biggest surfboard

The ukulele on its way to La Manzanilla for winter and spring

2010-11-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

Captain on the uke

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - My ukulele - which hasn't had a workout in weeks - is now safely in the back of the Nissan Pathfinder being driven south by amigos Beth and Roy.

The couple stopped by last night, had dinner and spent the night, then catapulted off this morning with stops planned in Yosemite, San Francisco and many parts between here and La Manzanilla.

They are carrying my uke as well as a couple of boogie-boards given to us by Dan and Lorraine Olsen, currently cruising on their sailboat somewhere in the Caribbean.

How to get the ukulele to Mexico became a minor crisis because of my new video camera. No way that piece of electronic gear is going into checked luggage. Ditto for the ukulele. It would arrive in three pieces, maybe four.

As it is, Admiral Fox and I are heading out to storage Friday (or Saturday) to check out what we need to pack to take to Mexico. All of the relatively cold-weather clothes we are wearing now need to be packed up and boxed in favor of the shorts, T-shirts, sandals and flip-flops that are the uniform of the day in La Manzanilla and Arroyo Seco.

I can see the ocean from my window right now. Or at least I wish I could.

In searching for the photo of the uke above, I ran across this classic ukulele video - one of my favorites.

Countdown to Mexico continues - while the projects pile up, too

2010-11-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The list of things to do before going to Mexico in December never seems to get shorter, no matter how many items we check off.

Check off 'get car insurance' and you have to add, 'stash insurance docs into suitcase'.

Arrrrgggghhhh.

But some progress has been made.

The new Panasonic video camera is proving to be all that it was advertised as. A new, khaki-colored photographer's vest arrived (so I can look official). It will now be part of my general Mexico attire when filming this winter and spring. The video from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear is finally downloaded and packaged into a short video. (The brief YouTube entry is below.) And the Tenacatita Bay Bugle website has been redesigned to make it more user friendly (and visually appealing) for this season.

Now if I can just get those 50 student projects graded in the next four or five days...

Arrrggghhhh redux.