Berries

While Western New York strawberry season is long over for this year WOBs has had the pleasure of 3 different kinds of berries this week.

On the way to and from Buffalo I am fortunate enough to pass Thorpe's Organic Family Farm where I get to practice exercising self-restraint. This week Tuesday I found Black Velvet Gooseberries . These were new to me - I'm not quite sure if I enjoyed their name and appearance more than the taste. Maybe I'll find something to bake with them over the weekend.


Wednesday I got my hands on a quart of blueberries that were splendid in every way: look, smell and taste. These beauties won't last long enough to be baked with!


The trifecta was completed at the Belmont Farmer's Market on Thursday with raspberries .


So what if these equally delicious apricots (Thorpe's on Wednesday) don't start with the letter B? I'm giving them equal billing!


Bon appetit!

Batavia Baseball

That's two Bs in case you hadn't noticed.

Drove to Batavia up and down hills on beautiful country roads, through a wind farm, to take in our first (and last) Muckdogs game of the season. They are the single A affiliate of St. Louis, in the New York-Penn League and their "short season" didn't start until mid-June, just in time for all of our recent rain.







But tonight was a lovely rain-free summer evening and what was pure delight it was to sit in the front row directly across from third base, listen to the third base coach, peek into the dugout and watch the Muckdogs beat the Mahoning Valley Scrappers while the day turned to evening and the lights went on over the field.





The good subs from the Northside Deli didn't hurt either.

Ballot Box

WOBs and Mr. WOBS voted today in the annual Rushford Lake Recreation District election. The RLRD is not the same as the Rushford Lake Landowners' Association. That one is a homeowners' association. The RLRD is a Special District, kinda like a school district, that can and does levy taxes and owns and regulates the Lake our cabin in "on" as well as land surrounding the lake up to a line of 1450' elevation. With me so far? I didn't think so.

Point is, this is a very small municipality, sort of a Monaco of the Southern Tier of New York State. The actions and inactions taken by the Board of Commissioners can have a huge effect on the use and enjoyment (sound like a lawyer, don't I?) of our lakefront home.

Three commissioners are to be elected today. They and the two others, appointed by the towns in which the RLRD is located are truly a local government. And when the total number of people who voted in 2008 were something like 267, WOBs thinks her vote really means something.

There's even a real voting machine - the good kind that New York State is getting rid of.



Don't know the outcome yet. The results won't be on TV but then again, WOBs doesn't have TV here. Just the use and enjoyment of a Lake.

Bunny, Book and Bookclub

I know, it's been over a month. What has WOBs been doing instead of posting? Who knows

It's sort of embarrassing to do one now but I'm trying anyway.

So here's the bunny I knit for our landlady's new baby.

I hope he uses it when he sucks his thumb.

And here's what my book club read this month:

It was just wonderful. I heard the author speak at Politics and Prose earlier ithis year; I've read and enjoyed My Own Country and The Tennis Partner, his previous works non-fiction and this book just overwhelmed me. Wish I was still reading it.

Here's how they both came together:

All of my extra balls of yarn are in DC, including the black yarn used for faces on my earlier bunnies. You can see from this one that they don't take much. Since I didn't have the right yarn initially I bought a skein for the first bunny and will finish it up maybe if I make about a 1,000 of them. Also a large bag of fiberfill; ditto for its current location and amount needed. I sure didn't want to buy more of both to finish the bunny when I have an lifetime overload waiting in DC for me. Noreen to the rescue!

Noreen is in my bookclub and an awesome knitter. I just had a feeling that she'd have just what the bunny needed in her stash (Note to non -knitters: You should be ashamed of yourselves - in knitting context "Stash" refers to yarn and knitting supplies). I e-mailed her the night before book club and she brought just what was needed.

Thanks Noreen from me and my bunny - and maybe even from Lori's baby!