Clearly not doing too well with that goal of posting here more than in 2016! The 15 year anniversary of this blog is coming March 1, so I better get busy.

Putting my new pencils (& pad) to good use.

Starting the year out with a post here to say, I'll set a goal to post more than I did in 2016. When I started this blog nearly 15 years ago in 2002, my goal was to write once per week. I easily hit that number in every year besides 2016. Bob came in from the car on Saturday with a set of colored pencils, handed it to me and said, "I bought this for you for Christmas and just found it in the trunk." I saw the sets at Ocean State on Sunday for $2.99, LOL. But I picked up a new sketch pad while there (I think the one I've been using I've had since high school). So that bodes well for Nileston News too.

This is my commentary on why 2016 is the year with the lowest number of posts (since its beginning in 2002) here at Gully Brook Press.

I don't care much for the new business lingo "looping in." Just sayin'.

I received unexpected compliments today. During a village-related meeting with the State, referring to our (unsuccesful) DRI application, one person remarked "I don't know who your grant writer is, but they should be a published writer" and the other said it was the best of the applications they received from smaller municipalities.

I am extremely alarmed by the recent narrative being pushed, that "fake news" on social media somehow influenced the election and so the remedy is censorship. I believe this is the result of regular media being threatened by alt media, and by regular media's inability to explain the election results. The censorship solution is outrageous -- as if outlets such as the New York Times have stellar record on accuracy! Speech is sacrosanct. The answer to offensive speech is not censorship -- it is more speech. It is a little amusing to see how worked up regular media is over everything, though. They grow increasingly more irrelevant and dig themselves in deeper & deeper.

I am considering changing my security settings on Facebook so that people can't post items on my wall.

And in honor (?) of election day, another graphic

Forgot to put up our Halloween picture! First time we've done costumes in years!

November 1 will become a momentous occasion: The one-year anniversary of becoming a vegetarian! It is something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager, and in recent years, I kept thinking it was on my bucket list (a concept I hate, BTW). It had been years since I'd eaten any meat, besides poultry and fish. But for some reason I could not give those up -- even though I felt guilty eating them. Finally, last year, I suddenly went "cold turkey," and it was easier than I'd imagined! I do not miss it at all, and did not, even in the first days. I feel much happier and more aligned with my principles. I was reminded of this today, when I got an email from a local farm about ordering my Thanksgiving turkey. When explaining that they will not know exact weights until the turkeys are "processed," I felt a pang at the euphemism. Not that I think agro-business slaughtering thousands of hormone-injected birds after they lived under inhumane conditions is better, because I certainly don't. But I still was disturbed by the email.

The new lifestyle has some health benefits for me, that I won't go into here in detail (suffice to say that a lifelong problem I had is just about gone). It is probably easier than I'd thought it would be because I am not a vegan. I understand the health benefits and support the philosophical reasons for veganism, but I can't figure out what I would eat. I go to restaurants often, that isn't changing any time soon, and vegetarianism is challenging enough. I might attempt it someday (and may find it easy, who knows) but for now I am pleased and proud to be a vegetarian.

Yesterday I made a vegetable pot pie. I've always loved pot pie and used to occasionally make chicken pot pie, and it occurred to me that it would be a wonderful vegetarian dish for fall. I made up to recipe. First, I made a double crust (2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2/3 cup butter, 5 tablespoons cold water). Then, I made the filling (saute 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 clove garlic, 1 can mushrooms, a handful of carrots, 1 can small white beans, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 bag frozen peas -- I would have used potatoes too, but didn't have any). Then I made white sauce (2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 cup milk, 2 cups stock made from boiling vegetable peels). I poured 2/3 of the white sauce over the vegetable mixture, put it all in the pie crust, baked it for 50 minutes at 400 degrees, and served it with the remaining white sauce. It was awesome.

A few days ago Ted the Cat knocked my Kindle Fire on the floor (from the kitchen table). It was in a case and nothing was obviously broken, but when I used it the next day, it was dim and the color was off. I could fix it by tweaking settings, re-booting didn't help, so I went back to factory default, and that worked. Although having to set up all the accounts again is annoying. First world problem, I know.

The question is, how to handle someone who won't take no (10 times) for an answer, and continues trying to distract, waste time, and hijack?

We are in week 4 of the semester (hard to believe). It's going well -- my reduced schedule is much better. Toleration is majority freshman for the first time in years (and that's great). Two days ago was my birthday, and I turned 55. State retirement age! But of course I'm not retiring. I did something kind of radical and anti-social -- took my birth date off social media, and so did not get 200 Happy Birthday posts this year. I decided to do it not because of anyone on Facebook, but because I was in a crummy mood over village-related issues and I just didn't feel up to clicking all those "Likes" (LOL). It was a good day though. Ate dinner here, which was fabulous, and that's an understatement.

If it's August...it's time for my annual post about the disgusting frenzy in "The Summer Place To Be." I saw a painful story on the local TV news this weekend about the Travers. The interviewed women were so face-lifted and made-up under their gaudy hats that it looked like the freak show it is. My mantra: Not glamorous, not a sport, it's animal abuse. Promoted by the media! Ugly people on the inside & out.

On another note: my classes start tomorrow! (Semester begins today).

The Fall semester begins next week. I did not accomplish the same things I normally do during my long summer bread (gardening, reading, writing). Instead I wrote four grant proposals and did many other things for the Village, along with teaching my usual two classes. Let's hope the proposals pay off in some way and don't work out to be a waste of time that could have been better spent growing green beans, writing here, and reading Mark Twain! I'm pretty much ready to start the semester. I'm sad about the end of my long summer, but it will be good for me to get out of the house. The animals will be sad though!

2016 has turned out to be a deadly season in Saratoga so far.Yet still people think this "sport" is glamourous -- rather than what it is, animal cruelty.

Unrelated: I made the CFA deadline with nearly 3 hours to spare!!

Another story that didn't pass the sniff test for me. Initially when she didn't remember anything I was suspicious. Then when the sketch of Santa came out, I was sure.

Unrelated: caught another plagiarizer yesterday. Essay copied almost verbatim from a cheating site on the web.

According to Kari Spencer, “often... visible outdoor areas are homogeneous, cookie-cutter spaces, where neatly-trimmed grass or a few well-placed flower pots are admired and appreciated by the neighbors. But for some revolutionary gardeners, a feast for the eyes is not enough. They want something edible in return for the hard work, the water and the expense of tending a landscape. These food revolutionaries are maximizing their cultivation area by converting their landscapes, patios, and nearby vacant lots into productive edible gardens. In the quest for more space to grow food, even conventional front lawns are being transformed into maverick, and highly visible, vegetable plots.... the rise of modern vegetable gardeners who are cutting against the grain of current landscape fashion to grow food out in the open once again.”

Are vegetable plants beautiful?  Philosophers have discussed the nature of beauty for centuries, and most come down on the side of subjectivity – that there are no objective standards and it is, as the cliche says, in the eye of the beholder. That said, the connection of beauty to pleasure is something upon which many agree. “Beauty is such an order and construction of parts as, either by the primary constitution of our nature, by custom, or by caprice, is fitted to give a pleasure and satisfaction to the soul” (Hume, 1740). It almost goes without saying that gardens and gardening are good for the soul. Community gardens are known to have some unique benefits for members of the garden. Teig et al. (2009)  found  that  participants  in  community  gardens  chose  to  remain  in  the  garden  because  of  the  social opportunities  they  offered. Vegetable  gardening  also  has  the  potential  to  increase  the  frequency  of  social  interaction.  Lewis  (1990)  argues  that  gardening  provides  gardeners  with an  opportunity  to  socialize  with  others,  since  the action is taking place in publicly visible locations. “Community  gardens  can  increase  the  sense  of community of nearby neighborhoods due to the creation of a mixed - use land, and therefore increase their social capital” (Ozawa, 2010).

 “Creating your own urban farm is as simple as planting your flowerbeds with edibles.  No matter where you are you can grow something to eat. Shift your thinking and you'd be surprised at the places your food can be grown! I believe that virtually everyone has the ability to either grow some food at home, or to find an appropriate location to start a garden. I may sound like a kook who plants my landscape with cucumbers instead of carnations, peppers instead of petunias, and fruit trees rather than ficus, but I am convinced that wherever you go, you can grow food! Now is the time for us to join together and plant the seeds that will transform the places in which we live.  I envision a day when every city and town has front and back yards, community gardens and growing spaces, nurtured into life by neighbors who are no longer strangers, but friends who delight in the edible rewards offered from a garden they discovered together. Imagine small strips of land between apartment buildings that have been turned into vegetable gardens, and urban orchards planted at schools and churches to grow food for our communities. The seeds of the urban farming movement already are growing within our reality” (Peterson, 2009).

 Last night's board meeting really highlighted why the mayor and trustee jobs aren't fun. We immediately started to implement a Community Garden after we were sworn in. Due to the efforts of volunteers and donors (& Bob), the garden is almost finished, and is already producing. The garden chair delivered greens & squash to the food pantry last night. She said the folks there couldn't have been happier. Meanwhile Bob & I were taking heat from four planning and zoning board members, two of whom live across from the garden.

 The garden looks like crap (said by all of them, more than once), like a stockyard, like a gulag, why would we want that as you enter the village, what permits did you get, why didn't we get a letter in the mail (although it was discussed at every board meeting & there are minutes, is on the website, on facebook, and in the village newsletter). It ruins our view when we sit on our porch sipping champagne. "That's your opinion" in response to my protesting that the garden is beautiful. No, it isn't just my opinion. There is scholarly literature supporting my position. Where are their citations? Something from the Journal of Ugly, Mean-Spirited, Elitist, Selfish Commentary perhaps?

Culture change is very, very difficult in this village. But I will not let the naysayers dissuade me.