Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Page 26

SoCS: this and that

This post is going to bounce around a lot because it is about this and that.

Someone I know is running for the US Congress! Kim Myers, with whom I served on committees in our school district, is going to run for a seat in the New York 22nd district. She is running for the Democratic nomination; our current Representative is retiring. He is a Republican and considered a moderate – which is what used to be considered very conservative. Kim has served on the school board in our town for 18 years. Recently she has been sitting on the Broome County legislature, where she is the only woman and the minority leader. I’m so hoping Kim will be elected. She is well-known in our part of the district also because she is from the Stack family, who founded Dick’s Sporting Goods. Their original location in Binghamton is still open. She has been involved in philanthropy for years, too.

Unfortunately, this brings to mind presidential election stuff… More primaries and caucuses this weekend. The Republican race has descended further into name-calling and ridicule. At least, the Democratic side talks about issues.

Last night, we got to see a livestream of T’s concert. Her choir, the Hendrick’s Chapel Choir, sang in a choral showcase with all the other Syracuse University choirs. Each group sang a couple of their own pieces and then joined together to sing two spirituals arranged by their guest conductor who had been vising for the week from Temple University. T is a graduate student, not at Syracuse, but at SUNY – Environmental Science and Forestry, which is directly adjacent to Syracuse. ESF students are eligible for courses and extracurricular activities at Syracuse U, so it has meant that T gets to sing in a great choir program, which she loves.

This has been tax prep week. I helped my parents with their taxes earlier in the week and yesterday I plowed through ours and T’s. I am very grateful for TurboTax! I’d hate to have to do them all long-hand, as I used to years ago.

It’s chilly here today, but a big warm-up is in store. By mid-week, it is supposed to get up to 60 F (15 C) which is tremendously warm for early March.

The maple sap has been running early, but there was a maple syrup related tragedy this week. The Holleran family owns a sugarbush in New Milford PA, not that far from here. There is a proposal for a new methane pipeline, the Constitution, that starts in PA, then continues into NY. New York has not yet approved it, but FERC gave permission for tree-felling to begin in PA. The Holleran’s did not want to have their trees cut down; the pipeline route is taking out 90% of their maple trees. The courts allowed the company to take the land by eminent domain, which many of us think is unconstitutional because the land is being taken for private profit rather than public use. At first, the work crews turned away because the trees were tapped and the family and other tree defenders were on the property, which is their land still, even with the court order. The company went to court and then they came back with tree crews accompanied by armed officers and cut down all the trees. The Holleran’s and others had painted American flags on the trees. It was so jarring to see these trees with flags painted on them stacked up. We are all just sick about it. If New York does not approve it, the pipeline will not go in and they will have killed all those trees and taken away part of the family’s farm income for no reason at all.

A happier part of this past week is that I sent in my paperwork and deposit for the Boiler House Poets reunion at Mass MoCA this fall. I am thrilled because one of my poet-friends here is going to come with me. We had a couple of spaces because some of our original group is unable to make the reunion. We are going to be in North Adams for the Fall Foliage Festival and for my birthday. It will be so great!

Well, I could go on writing about this and that for a lot longer, but I think I had better stop before your eyes glaze over. So, that’s that!
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. The prompt this week was “this and that” – a post about this and that, beginning and possibly ending with “this” or “that.” Come join the fun! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-516/

SoCS: food!

It’s Saturday morning and I just now looked at Linda’s prompt. I was so excited that the prompt was “food”! Maybe Linda is psychic, because it is exactly what I would like to write about today.

B and I are on a getaway for a few days and food was a very important part of the plan. On Thursday, we travelled to Deerfield, Massachusetts to stay at the Old Deerfield Inn. We had never stayed there before because it is pretty pricey, but we had discovered that on a weeknight in the off-season, it was affordable.

We had, however, eaten at their restaurant, Champney’s, before, and that was a big factor in deciding to go there. B had chicken piccata , which was a special that night, and I had a steak and ale pot pie, which was made with a local beer and local root vegetables. It was totally amazing. And very hot, because it came baked in its own little iron deep-dish. It took a long time to eat because it stayed very hot.

One of the reasons we love to eat at Champney’s ,though, is that they make an excellent Indian pudding. As people who read Top of JC’s Mind may recall, we have a thing for Indian pudding. It’s a tradition in B’s family and I have even written poetry about it! (Poems here, here, and here with recipe here.) Being pretty full after our main course, B and I savored a serving of Indian pudding together. Amazing!

Like most inns, breakfast in the morning was part of the deal. I had fresh local yogurt with fruit and homemade granola and a half order of French toast with local maple syrup. B had French toast with scrambled eggs. Then, we ambled out for the day.

We were heading to Lenox and went via Northampton, where I attended Smith College. We had some lovely soup in Thorne’s market – potato leek for me and sausage lentil for B – but then moved on to the real place I want to eat – Herrell’s Ice Cream. Herrell’s was new to Northampton when I was at Smith in the late ’70s – early ’80s and makes astonishingly good ice cream, or, as New Englanders are wont to say, wicked good. I chose malted vanilla, which is one of my all-time favorites. I was afraid B, who is lactose intolerant, would have to settle for sorbet, but they had a couple of “no-moo” flavors, so B got to have peanut butter no-moo. Yum!

We proceeded to Lenox to stay at the Cornell Inn, where we have often stayed on getaways. We had made a dinner reservation at Alta, one of our favorite places in Lenox. B and I shared a salad that featured candied pecans and fried Brie and moved on to our main courses. I had trout, which was excellent. B thoroughly enjoyed pork cheeks braised in cider and served over squash and other seasonal vegetables. If it weren’t a Friday in Lent, I would have sampled it. He said it was great. We wondered if they were really pork cheeks, but I think they must have been as Alta is very particular about all of their menu items.

This morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the Cornell Inn. Breakfast is a highlight of any trip here, as there is always a lovely variety of homemade options. Today’s selection included broccoli fritatta, berry crisp pancakes and cinnamon french toast, mixed berry and oatmeal blackberry muffins, and fruit plate with yogurt on the side. So good!

Now, I am writing this post, but, in a bit, we will check out and head up to Williamstown to stay with a high school friend. Her husband is a (mostly) retired chef, so more great food is on the agenda!

Hope I didn’t make anyone hungry. (I also offer apologies to all my vegetarian friends for rhapsodizing over meat-containing dishes.)
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week was “food”! Yum! Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2716/

SoCS: 700!

I’m happy to announce that I now have 700 followers at Top of JC’s Mind!

Of course, the usual caveats apply. Some people get counted twice if they follow my page on Facebook as well as following on WordPress. Or if they follow my twitter. Or also subscribe directly by email.

I also know that there are people who read my posts without being official followers. I am sometimes taken by surprise when a friend will mention something that they read in one of my posts. It’s a reminder that followers and readers are not the same thing. While I know that only a small fraction of my 700 followers read any particular post, there are readers who are not followers who read every post I put out.

Whether you are a follower, a regular reader, or someone visiting Top of JC’s Mind for the first time, thank you so much for sharing in my blog. I couldn’t do it without you!
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Steam of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt was to begin the post with a contraction. Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2016/

Poem: Crowning Glory

I’m pleased to announce that Silver Birch Press has published my poem “Crowning Glory” as part of their MY MANE MEMORIES series.

The link is here: https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/crowning-glory-poem-by-joanne-corey-my-mane-memories-poetry-and-prose-series/

Besides the poem, you can enjoy a photo of me taken this month in our yard, featuring my “mane”!

Enjoy! Feel free to comment here, at Silver Birch Press, or on Facebook.

PS I managed to copy the photo! But please read the poem at Silver Birch Press, too.

PPS I already did a post for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, but this post qualifies, too, so I am adding the pingback here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2016/

SoCS: tired

I am really tired. I got up at 3:45 AM because I have a cold and started coughing.

And I am too tired now, forty-five minutes later, to write much of anything cogent.

I doubt I’m going to catch a nap later, so SoCS is going to be short and sweet.

Not quite as short and sweet as One-Liner Wednesday, but close.

Well, close on the short side. Not on the sweet.

Did I mention I am really tired?

Wishing everyone a good weekend. I hope that no one else has a cold or is tired…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “tire” – alone or as prefix or suffix. Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/12/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-1316/

SoCS: trigger finger

Grandma has developed a trigger finger. It’s a cute name, but not a cute condition. Basically, the tendon rolls over the bones in the knuckle at the base of the finger down where the fingers meet the rest of the hand. This makes the finger bend down and catch so that it can only be straightened by taking the other hand and prying it out of the bent position.

And it hurts!

I brought her to see the orthopedic who had done a prior hand surgery for her – and who had done shoulder/arm surgeries on both my husband and me. He is the best person in our area to see for hand and arm things because he has done advanced fellowships.

He injected cortisone into the tendon sheath and, after a couple of days, the pain was gone. After a couple of more it would occasionally catch, but could be unbent without having to be pried open with the other hand.

In a few days, we have a follow-up with the doctor. I’m not sure what he will recommend. The original finger is still catching once in a while and now another finger is getting in on the act. He can do an in-office surgery, which may be necessary to have a permanent solution to the problem.

Trigger finger – not just a gangster term.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “finger.” Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-616/

I have a menu!

In an attempt to make my new blog theme exploration almost as obnoxious as my poetry publication squealing, here is yet another post on my newest tweak to Top of JC’s Mind.

In my quest to discover what happened to my link to my About page, I found the menu feature of my new theme. I had never done much with menus in my prior themes, but decided to expand my horizons.

Besides the About link and a Posts link to my main page, I added three category links. One is poetry, which will include anything that I have put in that category, so, while links to my poems are there, there are also links to other poets’ work and anything that relates to my writing, groups, workshops, submissions, etc.

The two other category links are to my posts in the two series of Linda’s Life in Progress blog to which I regularly contribute, One-Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

I was pleased to discover that the new menu links appear above the new header image, which has the happy effect of making the blog title and tagline font size more proportional and intentional-looking. They seemed puny and forlorn before.

So, yay! So much progress (that I wasn’t actually planning to make today)!

Comments welcome!
~ JC

SoCS: Animalia

When our older daughter E was in elementary school, there was a wonderful program called PASTtimes. PAST stood for Parents and Students Together. About once a month, there would be an early evening program for families centered around books. It was great because we could bring along our younger daughter T and have a fun evening together.

One of the books to which we were introduced through PASTtimes was Graeme Base’s Animalia. It is an alphabet book featuring fun and complex captions for fantastical paintings. For example, the letter I: “Ingenious Iguanas Improvising an Intricate Impromptu on Impossibly Impractical Instruments”. For V, a sign reading: “Victor V. Vulture The Vaudeville Ventriloquist Versatile Virtuoso of Vociferous Verbosity Vexatiously Vocalizing at the Valhalla Variety Venue”.

How could you not fall in love with such a book?

We went on to purchase Animalia and several other Graeme Base books for our home library. I think my favorite may be The Eleventh Hour, but it is hard to choose.

Even though our daughters are long grown, his books have remained on our shelves in the living room. I did look up the quotes above; my memory is not that good!

Wishing everyone some happy book memories today. Have one to share? I’d love to hear about it in comments.
*****
Linda’s prompt for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “an-“. Join us! Find more information here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/29/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-jan-3016/

This post is also part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. Join us! Visit here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/30/just-jot-it-january-30th-an-socs/

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here.

SoCS: an even keel

It’s hard to be on an even keel when the water is choppy and there are rocks and storms and all manner of unexpected happenings.

There is an old saying/blessing/curse, “May you live in interesting times.”

Times in both the public and private sphere are definitely interesting.

Is it odd to wish that, at least once in a while, things were on an even keel instead?
*****
Join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday! This week’s prompt was odd and/or even. Find out more here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-jan-2316/

It is also part of Linda’s Just Jot It January! Visit here to find out more: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/23/just-jot-it-january-23rd-oddeven-socs/

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today.

SoCS: What?

What might I be doing later today?

Attending a singalong of the Vivaldi Gloria with the Binghamton Madrigal Choir.

I have sung it before, although it has been many years. Fortunately, perfection will not be expected, as some people will be sightreading. Fortunately, the Madrigal Choir will lead and their director, Bruce Borton, who is also the longtime director of the Binghamton University Chorus, with whom I have sung for decades, will be conducting.

The best part is that my younger daughter T is still at home on break from her master’s program and she will be able to come and sing with me. I love the opportunity to sing with my daughters whenever it presents itself. T currently sings with the Hendricks Chapel Choir of Syracuse University, even though she is a student of SUNY-ESF. It’s been a great benefit to her that the two campuses share classes and activities, so that she has a great place to sing. I think it’s neat that she made one of the auditioned choirs, which are mostly filled with music majors from Syracuse.

It would be fun if my older daughter E and her husband L were still here because they also love to sing and are also people who have formal training and multiple degrees in the music field. But Honolulu is a bit too far away to come join us!

Here is a link to Vivaldi Gloria. Enjoy!

You’re welcome.
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. This week’s prompt is to begin with the word “what.” Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/15/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-jan-1616/

It is also part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/16/just-jot-it-january-16th-what-socs/

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today.

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