Wednesday, September 18. 2013
A Sherwood family Bible (ancestors from Greenwich, CT). Congregationalists, like almost everybody in New England at the time. Somebody scribbled comments on some of the NT verses.
Tuesday, September 17. 2013
I agree with everything Scott Johnson says here.
The real destination of our trip was the Dolomites. We just threw in Lake Garda and Verona for fun.
Hiking (plus rock-climbing and mountain-climbing) in the Dolomites is the local summer sport. People don't walk - they hike and cover a lot of ground. Most people use hiking poles or hiking staffs, for good reason. You are always going up or going down. There is some mountain biking too. In winter, it's all skiing.
The Italian province is the Trentino/Alta Aldige/Sudtirol , on the Austrian border. Of the ten or so Dolomite valleys where people can stay, Mrs. BD picked the Val Gardena.
We drove from Lake Garda up on the scenic route and watched the agriculture change from olives, palms, and lemons to vast apple orchards and vinegards, and finally to Alpine hay fields. ...caught the autostrade in Trent (Trentino) and drove up it to Bolzano (where the Ice Man resides) to exit before the Brenner Pass to drive up windy roads to our classic Alpine Hotel in the tiny hamlet of Bulla on a hillside up above Ortesei.
Here's one of the high Alpine meadows above Ortesei - the highest Alpine meadow that exists. Alpe di Siusi.
As I have said, there is no one Italy - it is many places. Observations, suggestions, and lotsa scenic pics below the fold.
Continue reading "Northern Italy 2013, #4: Hiking in the Dolomites"
Monday, September 16. 2013
Took the BD daughter with her special friend to birthday brunch near her new place in Hell's Kitchen. We brought her cookies from Verona, and she brought us condiments from Tokyo from which she had just returned.
It's not hell anymore. Hopping neighborhood. We went to 44X10 (corner of 10th Ave. and W. 44th). Did Alicia Keys really grow up there?
The wait staff wore t-shirts saying "Heaven in Hell." Rule of thumb: Always make reservations.
I can remember when this area was Irish and black gangland, creepy. When you see this many gay fellows, you know it is gentrifying. I had scrambled eggs, grits, and sausages. The others had better stuff: Eggs Benedict with Crab Cakes, etc.
Sunday, September 15. 2013
Italian Food Before Columbus: History of Italian Food (h/t reader). A good piece (would I link it if it were not?)
Dear Readers: It takes me a bit of time and effort to size and post travelogue pics. Please given them a glance. No need to comment, but I would not post them if I did not think they might be interesting...
We have spent time on the Italian lakes (both Maggiore and Como) in the past but Lake Garda was sort-of on our route up into the Italian Alps and the Dolomites, so we stopped by to stay for a couple of days at a superb B&B about halfway up the western side of the lake in Gardone Riviera at (Thanks again, Karen Brown and Trip Advisor) - Dimora Balsone.
Our gracious host Rafael, a semi-retired lawyer, rebuilt a dilapidated 500 year-old farmhouse and is gradually rebuilding the farm - mostly olive groves with some fig trees and Peach trees. You can tell he loves the place and is investing a lot into it.
View from our tiny rooftop balcony:
More pics of food, the Lake, and side trips to Sola and Sirmione below the fold -
Continue reading "Northern Italy 2013, #3: Gardone Riviera on Lake Garda"
Psalm 14
14:1 Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.
14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
14:3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
14:4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?
14:5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.
14:6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
14:7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
Saturday, September 14. 2013
River-Mates
I'll be an otter, and I'll let you swim
A mate beside me; we will venture down
A deep, dark river, when the sky above
Is shut of the sun; spoilers are we,
Thick-coated; no dog's tooth can bite at our veins
With eyes and ears of poachers; deep-earthed ones
Turned hunters; let him slip past
The little vole; my teeth are on an edge
For the King-fish of the River!
I hold him up
The glittering salmon that smells of the sea;
I hold him high and whistle!
Now we go
Back to our earths; we will tear and eat
Sea-smelling salmon; you will tell the cubs
I am the Booty-bringer, I am the Lord
Of the River; the deep, dark, full and flowing River.
You can read about Irish writer Colum (aka Patrick Collumb) here.
View from our balcony in the hamlet of Bulla, outside Ortesei (down there in the valley) in the Val Gardena. Before I get to talking about the Alps, though, I need to complete my Lake Garda post (maybe tomorrow). Add to this pic the tinkling of sheep bells and the bongs of the tiny local Roman Catholic Church with its burial ground in front.
Up here, German is the dominant language. Road signs are in German, Italian, and Ladin. Food a mix of German and Italian. Best veal I've ever eaten in my life, but spaetzl is something I can live without.
Serious German hikers and mountain bikers all over the mountains. A few died climbing while we were there, but risk is what adds the zest to rock climbing. We called these vigorous Germans the Hitler Youth, and the Aryan gals the Rhine Maidens. It's only a few hours south of Munich, through the Brenner Pass. Europe is small.
Up in these mountains, one can barely imagine the rigorous WW 1 winter Alpine fighting that occurred here. Mark Helprin's masterpiece (I think) included a lot of that. Read it, if you haven't. The outcome, of course, was that this part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ended up as part of Italy.
Friday, September 13. 2013
A reader found this: About a Boy - Transgender surgery at sixteen.
McArdle on Harvard's Gender Bender
AFL-CIO Looks to Turn All of America Into Detroit
Democratic Strategist: Syria 'One of the Most Humiliating Episodes in Presidential History'
Does America's Shrinking Private Sector Signal Capitalism's Unmaking?
NYC: Cost of Living Blues
The Obama Doctrine has officially collapsed -- Putin is now in charge
"So far this year there have been 848,000 new jobs. Of those, 813,000 are part time jobs...."
Time Notices That Warmist Hurricane Hysteria Has Failed
Vatican Official Opens Door to New Debate Over Celibacy for Priests
...the California coastal corridor still resembles Germany, while much of the interior is becoming Greece.
Medicare recipents get $3 back for every $1 they put in
The Gun Control Moment Passes
US Companies: You Must Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform So We
Have the Workers to Fill the Jobs Whose Former Holders We Laid Off
Emails show IRS’ Lois Lerner specifically targeted tea party
Obama Wants Your Sexual History
Wisconsin’s third-largest school district says no thanks to union representation
"... there are those who will never forgive Mr. Bush for not losing a war they had all declared unwinnable.”
Pope Francis Praises Jews for Having ‘Kept Their Faith in God
Child Abuse Changes the Brain
One
reason that many Americans believe Medicare does not contribute to the
deficit is that the majority thinks Medicare recipients pay or have
prepaid the cost of their health care. Medicare beneficiaries on average
pay about $1 for every $3 in benefits they receive…However, about
two-thirds of the public believe that most Medicare recipients get
benefits worth about the same (27%) or less (41%) than what they have
paid in payroll taxes during their working lives and in premiums for
their current coverage. - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/09/the-problem-2.html#sthash.4KIgRJ0U.dpuf
Medicare
beneficiaries on average pay about $1 for every $3 in benefits they
receive - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/09/the-problem-2.html#sthash.4KIgRJ0U.dpuf
Thursday, September 12. 2013
 What would Italian cooking be like without their foods from the Americas?
Eg: tomatoes, potatoes, squash, baccala, corn (for polenta), bell pepper, chocolate, etc.
If you drive east from Milan on A-4, all you see are cornfields. It almost looks like Massachusetts, except for the Alps in the distance and the stone barns and farm houses.
Thanks, Columbus. Polenta is good stuff.
A new book about one of Maggie's heroes: G.K. Chesterton
Set up for breakfast at our B&B overlooking Lake Garda last week.
What's for breakfast? (At 9 am, when most Americans have been working for a couple of hours)
See below, and note the cheese on the far left end of the table. It's 12-month Parmesan, still soft enough to eat with a knife and fork. Never had 12-month Parmesan before. Great stuff, maybe my favorite cheese right now. (Parmesan for grating is aged 18-36 months.)
Continue reading "Northern Italy, 2013, #2: Breakfast time on Lake Garda"
Wednesday, September 11. 2013
Tuesday, September 10. 2013
 RFK’s sex diary: His secret journal of affairs
After the Addition of Bike Lanes and Plazas, Manhattan Traffic Moves Faster
Obama's Successful Foreign Failure - The president may look incompetent on Syria. But his behavior fits his strategy to weaken America abroad.
AFL-CIO Wants to Form League of Extraordinary Liberals
Madonna’s Diet Is the Hardest I Have Ever Tried
The History Of Coffee In The Military
A book: Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
Wealthy NYC Voters Call De Blasio Mayoral Tax Plan Offensive
Via Gwynnie:
Interesting viewpoint I researched after a tip from a highly-placed Wall Streeter
- Qatar wants to build a gas pipeline thru Turkey to Austria.
-It also has to go thru Syria
-Assad in Syria has said no, it will hurt Russia (Gazprom’s gas monopoly in the EU)
-Putin has accumulated a large share of Gazprom
-France wants the gas, but must first overthrow Assad
Catch the drift?
What tangled webs we weave…
|
On September 11, Another Pilot Died in His Seat