31 July 03
I’ll Raise You One Governor
In the chaos of the California recall election it is heartening to learn that some people are making merry over it: trades at the Ireland-based Internet betting site TradeSports.Com are currently placing the odds of Gray Davis still being in office at the end of December at about 40%.
There don’t seem to be any wagers on that site about who would replace him. Maybe there are too many unknowns for anybody to sensibly bet. Will Arnold step in? Will Dianne Feinstein decide she wants to trade her Senate seat for the Capitol? Will the Huffingtons—Arianna and Mike, now divorced—run against each other???
30 July 03
Walnut Ink
I’ve been learning how to dye fabric. Not in a very elaborate way—the kind you throw in the washing machine and keep the poor thing returning to the beginning of its cycle for half an hour, till all your cheesecloth is a tangled shroud. The fun part, though, has been learning how to dip the ends of the cheesecloth in some walnut ink I made last year (I had three quarts left, which was never going to get used on paper—a small bottle can last three years; it’s a full sepia color).
The walnut gunge just seeps up into the cotton—it’s beautiful, a deep rich brown fading into buff. I don’t know quite what to use as a mordant, a chemical that forces the pigment to adhere permanently to the fibre, though alum and tara (whatever that is) appeared in a Google search this morning. For the moment I’m not worrying about the mordant—just enjoying the beauty of the process.
How to make walnut ink:
1) Run around at least five yard sales till you find a pot large enough (4-gallon canning pots are ideal).
2) Gather as many black (not English) walnuts as will fit in the pot, husks, stems, maggots, and all. Late October is best. The husks should be turning black.
3) Cover the walnuts in the pot with water and soak overnight.
4) Bring the pot to a boil and then simmer all day.
5) Turn off heat and allow to sit overnight.
6) Remove nuts and husks from dark murky liquid, being sure to squeeze out every last drop of dark murky liquid. There is no way to do this without making a mess. It’s very like making mudpies, so you might as well dig in and enjoy it.
7) Bring to a boil again and simmer all day till the liquid is the consistency of Turkish coffee.
8) Run through a sieve.
9) Run through a finer sieve.
10) Run through a stocking.
11) Bottle.
12) Label bottle so nobody mistakes it for hibiscus juice!
13) Without toxic preservatives such as formaldehyde, a mold is likely to grow on the ink over time. Just stir it in. Strain again before using.
29 July 03
A Grand Day Out
Bill Mueller, 3rd baseman for the Boston Red Sox, today became the first major player to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a single game, as the Red Sox beat the Rangers 14-7. A 9-RBI day for him, he also hit another solo home run earlier in the game. Mueller is a former Giant, and was well-liked by San Francisco fans. He’s having a great season with the Red Sox, and it’s nice to see him doing well. We root for both the Giants and the Red Sox, Pica being a Red Sox fan from her days in Cambridge, Mass.
28 July 03
Gobbler on Putah Creek
I was pedalling into work this morning-had just completed my one hill, which I attacked not quite like the riders on the Col du Galibier, but definitely went at with gusto-when I noticed, on the south side of the creek, an enormous bird looking up at me. It was so large I thought it might be an escaped emu, but it turned its head and I saw the prominent trailing neck feathers of a tom turkey.
These birds have been increasing rapidly in the foothills, where they terrorize the local dogs. It’s exciting to see one here in the valley. I have mixed feelings about turkeys-they are very good at finding acorns and they aren’t native to the West-but it was a real thrill to see one so close to home.
27 July 03
The Tour Wraps Up
And we get our early mornings back until next July. What a race! Even the last stage, traditionally a procession through Paris, had its drama: Baden Cooke beat his fellow Aussie Robbie McEwen by about two inches to win the green jersey competition for overall best sprinter. Lance Armstrong joins the elite company of Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain to be the only cyclists to win the Tour de France five times. And Tyler Hamilton gets our coeur de lion vote as the most courageous rider, winning one stage, coming in second in the last time trial, and finishing fourth overall despite breaking his collarbone on the second day of the race.
Maybe we aren’t the only critters to be inspired by the Tour: Pica just saw a white-tailed kite drafting a southbound train, the wind of the train helping the kite to hover motionless against the southerly wind.
26 July 03
Seabiscuit and the Great Depression
I feel as though I spent the afternoon in the company of my mother’s parents when they were young… The years before World War I when anything seemed possible, the twenties when everything went crazy and there was no booze to be had to celebrate it, the years following the Crash when a peripatetic lifestyle was cause for resignation and invention, family and focus. When the whole country was waiting for something more, something to lift it out of a self-induced quagmire. This story somehow seems very timely, a warning against complacency: if this happened tomorrow, would we cope? Would we deal?
I don’t know whether my grandparents were remotely interested in horseracing, or if they cared one way or the other about the fortunes of Seabiscuit. I’d like to think, though, that the story I saw on the screen today really did have the effect it was portrayed as having had: to lift the spirits of an entire generation, to raise the possibility of the second chance.
I like these underdog stories. I wish David Millar had not crashed in the Time Trial this morning so he might have beaten Tour de France speed record despite the appalling conditions, for instance. I hope against hope that the Red Sox will be able to edge out the Yankees this year and then not choke. I root for teams in the World Cup that are described as having no chance. I’d root for Seabiscuit.
25 July 03
The Madness Of Crowds
If you should be in a public space such as a train station sometime, and you notice a crowd inexplicably gather, spontaneously burst into applause for no apparent reason, and then disperse, take delight! You may have witnessed a flash mob. (From Slashdot).
24 July 03
Not Ranting About Dentists
I’m not going to rant about dentists, not about how they get you at a pre-pubescent stage and slap braces on you which, for those of us who grew up with un-fluoridated water (or even with it), consigned us to a steady stream of root canals followed by crowns, which despite flossing consultations consigned us to a steady stream of gum problems, which then consigned us to terrifying visits to periodontists, resulting in the loss of said gums and ultimately our teeth on which we’ve already spent thousands and thousands of dollars, which we could have avoided if only they’d given us dentures at age eleven instead of all this trauma. No steaks, granted, but we might have invented the world’s most delectable pap, just think of the wasted culinary opportunities….
Instead, I’ll talk about the rain. It rained this morning, audible rain, rain that made you leap out of bed to go and stand in it and even have fantasies about the green returning. The jackrabbits and magpies were in ecstasy.
23 July 03
A Break From The Heat
It was overcast and humid much of the day, which is unusual weather for summertime Davis. It never got around to raining, but with no direct sun it thankfully wasn’t as hot as it’s been. We went to the Davis Farmers Market, now our Wednesday afternoon habit, and met Fernanda for a picnic. She has family visiting—at our picnic her niece Julia was making these good luck charms from the lawn.
22 July 03
Haiku for a Hot Evening
Barn owl’s love-screeching:
crickets sing to the blackness.
The train bisects night.