Historic Kayak Trip Stops in Dutchess County May 17, 18.

‘New York’s Spare Seat Kayak Expedition’ stops in Dutchess County.  I Love New York invited world-renowned British kayakers, Richard Harpham and Glenn Charles, to kayak 500 miles from Buffalo’s Erie Canal Harbor to the Statue of Liberty. Journalists from the BBC and the Scottish Sun Newspaper are with them. They’ve paddled the Erie Canal, and now are paddling south on the Hudson River. The month-long expedition highlights the heritage, culture, wildlife, landmarks, and activities along the route. Harpham and Charles paddle the route in double seated kayaks, inviting people to join them along the way. The project is being photographed and filmed for a documentary. Below is from the website:

“An epic journey of over 500 miles across New York State, from the Niagara Falls to the Statue of Liberty, New York, which is starting 1st May 2012. Finally after months of planning let the adventure begin…

The Spare Seat Kayak Expedition is a unique adventure to capture the heritage, wildlife and iconic locations along the route across New York State. The trip will begin in Buffalo, which once served as the western terminus of the Erie Canal. Buffalo, located just south of Niagara Falls, is a city of world-class art, architecture, culture and history. Today, Buffalo’s historic Erie Canal Harbor is developing into a tourist destination. From there it will travel along the Erie Canal to Albany where the team will paddle down the Hudson River to Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

Richard Harpham and Glenn Charles are two experienced adventurers who have covered over 19,500 human powered miles between them by kayak, canoe and bike and have a passion for inspiring young people and communities through their challenges. They will be sharing their experiences by giving talks about their adventures and documenting life and interviewing people they meet on their travels.”

www.thespareseat.com

Rhinebeck Car Show

This past weekend was the annual Rhinebeck Car Show. It is the same weekend as the Kentucky Derby which is high on my bucket list so next year I hopefully wont be here….in Dutchess County that is. I drove the old Ford up and back, about an hour each way and it ran fine although it overheated a little on the hill coming up to the house, a usual occurance.

I got out early and it was freezing, probably high 30s in the open car (third one in – picture above) but by the time I went home at noon it was high 70s. I bought a few things at the flea market, a pair of unused running boards which were very cheap. Now I have another pair of running boards I dont need….yet!.

A neighbor who has a Corvette and a Model A Ford was up there selling parts but I didn’t run into him. So here are a few pictures. One of the VW van must have come over from Woodstock for the day (DK see the Grateful Dead sign). There was a Model A Ford bus from New Jersey but it had modern running gear. In Spite of that it looked great.

Cuckoo On The Plane

As my readers know I love dogs. Having said that on the way back on the plane there was a woman sitting in front of me who had a dog with her. The dog was not your small well behaved dachshund ( hello Karl) in a nice carrier. the dog was loose and wanted to stay that way. It was a dog that looked like a white fox but had a curly tail, I think maybe Japanese because I had seen the breed before somewhere. The woman must had gotten special permission and I think I read or heard somewhere that you can get permission to bring a dog on a plane if you have psychological problems traveling. Well the dog wasn’t well behaved  but much better behaved than the owner who was constantly adjusting her many articles of clothing and bags and was constantly getting up and walking around.

The guy who was sitting next to her should be canonized for having to put up with everything. I did notice that he was drinking and didn’t stop much during the flight.

I won’t give you details other than the woman from time to time would pull the dog up to her lips and you can imagine. I suppose you can imagine also another problem the dog had….they went to the bathroom together several times! The picture quality is poor because the plane was shaky and I didn’t want to get the attention of the owner and you know the old one about sleeping dogs.

Palm Springs

I took a day off and drove out to Palm Springs which is a beautiful place if you don’t mind the heat. From May until November it is HOT. The day I went it was 99 degrees but as they say there  ”very dry.”

I went out to look at a possible future project but what was really interesting was the valley that is between two mountain ranges and has windmills producing energy. I can see where someone might not want to have them in their backyard but I was mightily impressed and for those people who say all this stuff about alternative energy makes no sense should go out to see this:

California Here I Come

As some of my readers know I travel to California from time to time for reasons which are not the subject of this post. Los Angeles, this time of the year is clear and warm and dry. There must be something in the air that affects peoples finances because it seems as though everywhere you go in the city there are advertisements. Some on walls, some on large pilons, some on the backs of bus stop benches, and they are all trying to sell you something either very cheap or on favorable terms.

Here are a few examples:

LASER SURGERY, NO MONEY DOWN, FIRST PAYMENT 24 MONTHS

DIVORCE $399

TOOTH EXTRACTIONS $49 -see picture right. If you click on picture you will see there is no mention of novacaine for the extraction!

BANKRUPTCY $799 (These are all over the place)

I’m not being critical just observing, but it did occur to me if I were in the advertising business I’d combine a few of these ads, maybe:

DIVORCE AND BANKRUPTCY, TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

BANKRUPTCY $499, NO COST FOR TOOTH EXTRACTION

Having said all this I must say I enjoy coming out, and as they say about NYC, nice place to visit but…..

Kentucky Derby- Keane Stud, Amenia NY

Well the results are in and I am pleased to report that Went The Day Well came in fourth out of a large field of 20, not in the money but he was a long shot and gave it a good run. I have a nephew jonathan who loves horse racing and has visited Keane Stud and tells me it is a terrific operation with 50 foals born this Spring.

We also have The Vinery, another breeding operation over in Stormville at Sugar Maple Farm, only a few miles from our farm. We all went over there with Jono this early Spring to check out some of the famous horses. They had an open house and put on a great luncheon spread, I seem to remember that more than the horses!

So it’s on to the Preakness and the field seems so wide open this year a triple crown winner is mighty unlikely. Some of my newer readers may wonder why I have gotten on to horse racing, or at least writing about it. A few years ago my cousin, Joe Hirsch died. He was perhaps the most famous horse racing writer of the last 50 years. He had a column in the Daily Racing Form but also  covered every Kentucky Derby from the 1950s until about 2004. The press center at Churchill Downs is named after him.

He was a rolling stone, Winter at Hialeah or Gulfstream in Florida, Springtime in Kentucky, Summers up at Saratoga. He was one of a kind and my nephew must have inherited his racing gene. I also got a wonderful email recently from Fara, Joe’s good friend who was with him for many years at the Derby. She is a horse racing insurance broker but has many other interests. I’ll post her email under comments about the chicken post below.

Win Stevens DVM

We have a neighbor who lives over in Verbank and is a first rate Equine vet. He sent the below email which is an interesting report on a local horse that is in the Run for the Roses this weekend. Win is in charge of the horses over at Keane Stud, and it being Derby Weekend in Louisville I will have a few other things to report as well as another interesting email. The derivation of the name described below is beautiful and maybe will get him a good finish although he will go off as a long shot

“This year there is a local connection to the Kentucky Derby. Derby contender WENT THE DAY WELL was born at Keane Stud in Amenia, New York, and spent his first eight months of life there. Keane Stud is a 275-acre Thoroughbred breeding farm run by Dr. Winslow Stevens, a Millbrook veterinarian, and Philippe Lasseur, the farm manager.

WENT THE DAY WELL is the offspring of a mating planned by long-time Keane client Austin Delaney, an Irish restauranteur in New York City. In 2008 Mr. Delaney sent his mare, TIZ MAIE’S DAY, to Lexington, Kentucky to be bred to the stallion PROUD CITIZEN. TIZ MAIE’S DAY, named for Delaney’s sister, returned to Keane Stud and delivered a beautiful bay colt on February 21, 2009. Sadly, Mr. Delaney passed away on May 15 of that year and never saw what may become his best foal ever.

The colt was sold as a weanling in November 2009 and went on to begin his racing career in England under the ownership of Mark Ford. It was there that he was named for an epitaph found on many British WW II memorials. (“Went the day well? We died and never knew; But, well or ill, freedom, we died for you.”).

Earlier this year a majority of the colt was bought by Barry Irwin and Team Valor International with Mark Ford remaining as a partner. This group also owned last year’s Kentucky Derby winner ANIMAL KINGDOM. On March 25, 2012 WENT THE DAY WELL won the Grade 3 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park impressively and, as a result, earned a spot in the Kentucky Derby. He is trained by Graham Motion and ridden by John Velazquez WENT THE DAY WELL is the only New-York-bred colt in this year’s Kenturcky Derby.

Keane Stud was recently featured in an article in Bloodhorse magazine. I would be glad to send you a copy of the article if you would like. You may also learn more about the farm at www.keanestud.com.”

The Keane Team – Dr. Winslow Stevens and Phillipe Lasseur make Kean Stud attractive to clients

Ed Cady King of Barns

I found a few pictures in the attic taken about 1985 when Ed Cady rebuilt the old barn at the bottom of Mack Road. the barn was built in the 1840s. A friend, Curt Davis jacked up the barn and Ed went to work rebuilding it. As you may recall Ed put in another barn for me this past fall. Although it was an old frame, everything else was modern, insulation concrete floor and so forth. The picture on the left is Ed is ’85 and the picture on the right is Ed last summer, still going strong.

The old barn frame here is the barn at Mack Road and Clove Road when it was rebuilt in 1985. there isn’t a nail in it, all pegged. I built the two horse stable in the front a few years ago but up to now it hasn’t been used for anything but storage. Anyone have a couple of horses, let me know.

The Third Man

Simply among the greatest movies ever made. It’s on TV tonight and I watch it again and again and it never ceases to amaze and even thrill me.

Everything about it from the dialogue to the music, to the scenes of Vienna after the war.
Alexander Korda the Great Hungarian/English producer’s most famous and successful movie. Directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene and the music of Anton Karas who Reed found as an unknown zither player in Vienna in 1949.

the most famous scene where Joseph cotton and Orson wells are at the top of the giant ferris wheel and Wells as Harry Lime says:

Remember what the fellow said…

“…in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo – Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance…

In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?…The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.”

Anton Karras-Third Man theme

It’s Gravy Not Sauce

There was a guy set up at the Stormville Flea Market that had a large booth with all kinds of shirts, towels, bibs, T shirts, Sweatshirts, all with the Italian flag and the words “IT’S GRAVY NOT SAUCE.”
I didn’t buy but I got his card and website below.

Now for all of you who weren’t fortunate enough to be born Italian. or had Italian relatives, or ever lived in Trenton New Jersey, or had family there- tomato sauce isn’t called sauce, it’s called gravy and pizza isn’t called pizza, it’s called tomato pie.

The old Italian neighborhood in Trenton is called Chambersburg or to the locals, “The Burg.” Sadly there is very little left of the original neighborhood flavor. Twenty years ago it was all Italian with probably 10 great restaurants. The last of the restaurants, Roman Hall closed last year and is now gone but not forgotten. Number 2 son had his college graduation there with his cousin. I don’t remember exactly but I think it was less about $15 a head including wine and more food to take home than a strong person could carry.

www.itsgravynotsauce.com/main.sc