Starlight Starbright

What a treat.  We went out to the wood pile for a few logs to carry us through the evening fire and off to the west was our friend the crescent moon and Venus just above it.  We think Jupiter is  just off to the left and it was quite a treat.
The view from our front room, safe from the wind and cold (we aren't dumb), with a warm fire, some appropriate evening music prompted us to turn off the lights and adjust our seating to watch this little show for a bit.

When we were kids, parents bought telescopes because we were consumed by either the middle 50's War of the Worlds movie which scared us all to death or the Sputnik thrill when we rushed outside to see if we could see this little basketball object that seemed to scare the country as much as invasions from Mars.  Our first telescope arrived in the midst of all that and that first view of the moon is in our minds to this day.  We lived in a rural setting and ambiant light was nowhere to be found so the viewing was great, particularly in the summer when we could rest on the cold cement of the patio during the hot summer nights and peer up.

We saw a lot of things looking up - the moon was always center stage but with a telescope, Venus was as big as a golf ball and the moon filled the viewing lens.  When things wobbled off line we saw black; the black of space and we saw it again last evening viewing up at the moon and its early evening companion.  This blackness is like no other and we talked about how this moon was just hung out there on a string, pulled along against a backdrop of nothing.  So it must have seemed to our ancestors or the folks who were here before we brought "civilization" to the area whatever that was.

We went on about our evening rituals but this morning, at first light and the morning star Venus visible and the moon that ghostly white, we talked again about what the ancients must have thought about all this.  If they could have seen the true blackness of the space around these objects --- well....

Local Lore

Off of Orient Point on the eastern tip of Long Island is a stretch of water called Plum Gut.  It is a channel between the eastern end of Long Island Sound where it meets up with the Atlantic Ocean and Peconic Bay. There is a tough tidal pull through there and it gets plenty rough - but it is where the fish are and a trip to "the Gut" in a late summer evening with a full moon is something to remember.  On the map, so you are oriented,  this stretch of water is on the left side.  The Island is the famous or infamous Plum Island.

Every morning a ferry boat leaves Orient Point full of Plum Island workers and docks near that little man made bay. From there you walk off the dock and onto a waiting bus for the short ride to the main facility (upper left part of the island overlooking the Gut).  It is really the only part of the island still in use. The roads and other distinguishable features are from days and decades gone by when it was at first Fort Terry and then, the chemical warfare facility after the second world war.  The east end of the island (right side of the picture) is the business end of Fort Terry as it was were the great anti-naval howitzers and cannons were located. The howitzers have long since disappeared but their remains and mountings are still there.  They are the round white spots on the spine of the island are perhaps best pictured as "pits" maybe 50 yards in diameter and several stories deep.  Tunnels and roads connect them.

Why this remembrances today?  This date in history was when the USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor and we launched the Spanish American War. About 114 years ago right about now in fact.  "Remember the Maine - to Hell with Spain" was the real slogan of which we remember only the first part.  Fort Terry got green lighted because we were assuming that the Spanish Fleet was going to sail into Long Island Sound up to the East River and level New York so these fortifications were built.

Howitzers are huge weapons of war.  Where cannons have long barrels, howitzers are short and squat and are meant to shoot shells up high and rain down on the enemy targets. They were ideal for knocking out ships of the time as all the armor on a ship was in the sides so if shot directly at it the shells would kinda bounce off. Howitzers shot  high, arcing shots, that came down nearly vertically (in comparison) and went through the decks like a bomb from a bomber. Fort Terry had these and they shot shells about the size of Volkswagen bugs (slight exaggeration).  When Fort Terry was good to go, it could land a shell with precision anywhere in about 20 miles of the place and certain parts of the south shore of Long Island along the deserted parts are marked with huge potholes - 50 feet across to this day - that evidence the "let's get it right" gunnery practice. Unless a ship was carrying howitzers that could come "down" at a target, being in one of these holes was about the safest place on earth in case trouble broke out.

So that is Fort Terry on Plum Island, set in motion to some extent by the sinking of the Maine a long time ago.  We were talking to someone who  spent some time there and got a "cook's tour" on a number of occasions, and the conversations were fascinating. With Homeland Security the way it is, if you wash ashore while fishing in the Gut the fellas with guns will surround you before you hit the beach.  It will be unpleasant to say the least.

Such a little island. An outpost if you will.  It didn't chose its fate. My hunch is that it just wanted to be an island, pristine, gorgeous and out of the way.

Hey there. It's Valentine's Day.

No more fitting piece of music to woo the intended to your side of the stream...(text is underneath - don't worry that you can't understand the words as it is in "Occitan" - a French regional dialect - but the meaning is very clear and the English translation is also below).  You are free to buy chocolate as well.

Pastré, dè dèlaï l'aïo, as gaïré dé boun tèms?

Dio lou baïlèro lèro, lèro, lèro, lèro, baïlèro, lô!
È n'aï pa gaïre, è dio, tu?
Baïlèro lèro, lèro, lèro, lèro, baïlèro, lô!

Pastré, lou prat faï flour, li cal
gorda toun troupel!
Dio lou baïlèro lèro, lèro, lèro, lèro, baïlèro, lô!
L'erb es pu fin' ol prat d'oïci!
Baïlèro lèro, lèro, lèro, lèro, baïlèro, lô!

Pastré, couci foraï, en obal io lou bel riou!
Dio lou baïlèro lèro, lèro, lèro, lèro, baïlèro, lô!
Es pèromè, té baô çirca!
Baïlèro lèro, lèro, lèro, lèro, baïlèro, lô!

in English - (for use over a romantic dinner)

Shepherd across the river, you don't seem to be afraid,

sing the Bailero, etc.
Indeed I'm not, and you too,
sing the Bailero, etc.

Shepherd, the meadow is in bloom,
come over here to
sing the Bailero, etc.
The grass is greener on this side,
you come here, Bailero, etc.

Shepherd, the stream separates us, and I can't cross it,
sing the Bailero, etc.
Then I'll come and get you further down,
Bailero, etc.

Go a little crazy on game day

Martha's Vineyard has the Black Dog Tavern and its menu is filled with local recipes including its pretty famous Quahog Chowder.  Some of us have a dozen or so of these huge round-clams in our freezers where they keep pretty well - also being the equal to a big rock in case of intruders.  One of ours measures in at a cool 1.5 pounds and could be a weapon.

Aside from pelting someone with one or dropping one on one's toe, the next best use is in chowder and we thought that on Super Bowl game night, along with the Wings and Celery, gobs of blue cheese dip, chips and libation that you should go all out and try this. If you don't have a freezer full of quahogs and in particular, don't feel like taking the clam rake out of the garage and wading around in 40 degree water, you can actually get a container of minced clams from the fish monger, using littlenecks or cherrystones - albeit a it expensive and harder to find this time of year, or (and don't think that restaurants don't do this on occasion) resort to canned clams.

We think this is a nifty idea for a mid-winter treat.  Actually it is so good that the TV is optional.

and for those of us who remember Super Bowl I.....