Miscellaneous: Still Raining

It continued to rain overnight and it is still sprinkling this morning. The rain gauge read 0.75 inches as I took my son off to school this morning, but it will have risen since then. As of this writing, however, our 2009-2010 total stands at 14.25 inches, which is still somewhat below average, although other areas nearby are reporting rain higher than normal--for the first time in four years. Good news.

[Update: Rain finally abated today--the afternoon of the 22nd. The rain gauge shows 1.75 inches. That brings us to total of 16.0 inches as of 6:00PM today. 15.34 inches is the official average for this day in Santa Rosa, so we are a little less than three-quarters of an inch above average at our location, although some places nearby are reporting about an inch more than that. Anyway, being above the average is a good thing.]

2009 Sangiovese Rosé Bottled Today

Finally got around to bottling the 2009 Sangiovese rosé today. It's paler than last year and a quick taste suggests it's lighter on the palate as well. We'll see tonight. I plan to open a bottle with dinner. I sulfited the wine very lightly (to about 38ppm--three Campden tablets in a five-gallon carboy). The vessel threw a crusty deposit, as usual, which made racking the wine easy (for some reason, this wine always deposits a hard layer of tartaric acid crystals on top of the more easily disturbed sediment). Now it's time to design a new label.

[Update:] Opened a bottle with dinner tonight. Made a lemon prawn pasta (lots of butter and garlic) and a side of fingerling potatoes with broccoli and shiitake in a simple sauce of butter and soy sauce. Very relieved to find the wine is lighter, cleaner, and more delicate than it has been in the past, but not at all without character. Good length and depth of flavor. Perhaps the best I've made so far. The long, cool fermentation appears to have helped. I was a bit apprehensive when bottling the wine as it looked quite pale--paler than I expected it to be, but it has turned out to be very tasty indeed. "Opened a bottle" is a bit odd, I suppose. I just pulled out the cork I had pushed in a few hours earlier. Probably should have left one bottle uncorked.... Anyway, cheers!

Plants I'm growing: Daphne Odorata, Prunus Mume

The first Daphne odorata blossoms are open in the garden today. They appear to have opened yesterday, January 18. Last year the Daphne bloomed on January 20, so a year (corresponding mostly to calendar year 2009) was 363 days, according to this plant. Buds on Prunus mume, the fragrant Japanese flowering plum behind the house, are swollen and ready to burst. The first one opened today, January 19. The first blossom last year opened on January 21, so a year, as calculated by this plant, was also 363 days.

Miscellaneous: Stormy Weather

While away over the long weekend (skiing at Lake Tahoe), we got another 1.3 inches of rain, and it's still coming down. It's supposed to be stormy all week. So far Santa Rosa has had 10.5 inches of rain in the 2009-2010 rainy season (as of 7:00PM Monday, January 18).

[Update: It's rained more or less steadily through the early part of the week. The rain gauge now shows 4.3 inches since we left for Lake Tahoe, that's an additional 3.0 inches since the numbers above. Thus, the total now at our location as of 10:30AM on Wednesday the 20th is 13.5 inches, which is getting close to normal for this date (about 14.9 inches), according to the site I monitor for data on normal rainfall. Usually my numbers are quite close to those reported on the site, but in the past two weeks the totals have gradually diverged. The weather site is currently showing a total of 15.53 inches, which is more than half an inch above the average. I'm a bit surprised by the difference now of more than two inches (the location of the site's rain gauge is only a few miles away), but more rain is good thing.]

Tidbits: David Levine--RIP

Sad to hear today that David Levine recently died. I used to love his caricatures for The New York Review of Books. They were always one of the highlights of reading the reviews. Coincidentally, I decided to renew my subscription after a hiatus of several years. It used to cost an arm and a leg when I lived in Japan, but it turns out to be ridiculously cheap here--about the price of a decent bottle of wine for two years--and the writing is so good. Having just decided to cancel all English-language TV in the house, I'm hoping I'll have the time to read it all each month.

Rain: Nearly Half an Inch overnight (January 12, 2010 )

We got another 0.45 inches of rain overnight. More rain is expected today and tonight. Currently our 2009-2010 season total is at 8.95 inches. That's about 4 inches below average for January 12. Go rain!

[Update: On the night of the 12th, we got another 0.25 inches, bringing the total to 9.2 inches for the season. Better than nothing, but not the inch and a half of rain that had been forecast.]

Books I'm Reading: A Perfect Red

I Just finished reading Amy Butler Greenfield's A Perfect Red (Harper Perennial, 2006), which is a history of cochineal, the insect-derived dye that is still considered the best natural red dye--for everything from textiles to food (although the book doesn't mention it, I believe cochineal is the only insect matter approved by the FDA as a food additive). It's always a pleasure to read popular history that's well written. Engaging and taut throughout. A brief history of the world from the perspective of a single commodity. Recommended.

Birds I'm Watching: Nagasawa Park, Santa Rosa

Having heard of it only yesterday for the first time, I took a quick drive today to Nagasawa Park, in Fountain Grove, Santa Rosa (a new Santa Rosa city park--formerly known to locals as Fountain Grove Park, entrance off Fountain Grove Parkway). There is quite a diversity of habitat. There is a substantial lake with a central island. Some of the edges are deep with reeds. Around the lake are some dense patches of oaks and there is a lot of open area with grasses, coyote bush, and other brush--good sparrow habitat. One edge of the lake has a stand of small deciduous trees with reeds below that turned out to have a particularly large number of birds. There is ample parking.

The downside is that you can walk only about a third of the way along the lake shore in one direction and even less in the other. If you take the trail that heads out to the left from the parking lot, you eventually come to a fence that has been neatly cut and tied back, so it's easy enough to get through, but to complete a circuit of the lake, you have to follow golf cart paths through the golf course on the far side of the lake, and I had to exit by scaling the fence at the far side, but there there is an obliging tree that someone has propped a big limb against to form a sort of ladder. I hadn't intended to trespass. It's a shame that you can't walk all the way around without doing so, but I ran into some Santa Rosa city workers who said they were negotiating to eventually make a complete walk possible without going onto private property. Anyway, this seems to be a well-kept secret (or maybe it's just me). It's like a scaled down Spring Lake. Well worth a visit.

On my walk (about 45 minutes), I saw 29 species: California towhee, spotted towhee, golden-crowned sparrow, song sparrow, lincoln's sparrow (top photo), Western bluebird (bottom photo), scrub jay, turkey vulture, American goldfinch, house finch, Oregon junco, robins, great egret, snowy egret, black phoebe, ruby-crowned kinglet, downy woodpecker, nuttal's woodpecker, acorn wodpecker, yellow-rumped warbler, oak titmouse, double-crested cormorant, pied-billed grebe (10), common goldeneye (8), hooded merganser (4), coots, (6), American wigeon, common moorhen, and mallards.

For more information about Nagasawa Park and bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Birds I'm Watching: Sacramento Area

Just to report a chilly but rewarding trip to the Sacramento area with some local birders yesterday. Saw an amazing 72 species during the day and saw six species for the first time in my life--not to mention two others that I had seen before but never well enough that I felt I should consider them real sightings. The route was up I-80 to Highway 160 through Isleton, Walnut Grove, and Thornton, and then to the Cosumnes River Preserve. On the way back, we passed a spot known recently for mountain plovers and a burrowing owl. We found the burrowing owl, but not the plovers.

First-time sightings for me were: Ross's goose, Lincoln's sparrow, loggerhead shrike, borrowing owl, lark sparrow, and horned lark. I added the sandhill crane and ferruginous hawk, to my list as well, because I got to see these birds well for the first time.

Other birds observed were: Downy woodpecker, Nuttal's woodpecker, belted kingfisher, Say's phoebe, black phoebe, mallard, black-necked stilt, yellow-rumped warbler, ruddy duck, ring-necked duck, violet-green swallow, bufflehead, marsh wren, snow goose, yellow-billed magpie, turkey vulture, ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet, kestrel, red-tailed hawk, canvasback, Brewer's blackbird, red-winged blackbird, house finch, California towhee, northern shoveler, killdeer, coots, tree swallow, least sandpiper, Wilson's snipe, dunlin, northern harrier, European starling, robins, Anna's hummingbird, bushtits, cinnamon teal, green-winged teal, golden-crowned sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, American pipit, spotted towhee, tundra swan (thousands), Canada goose, cackling goose (the leucoparia and Aleutian races), northern pintail, wood duck, greater white-fronted goose, American wigeon, gadwall, common goldeneye, great blue heron, long-billed dowitcher, and greater yellowlegs. Other group members saw about six species I missed, including a golden eagle.

The whether was dark and dreary--heavy overcast. As a result, I didn't get any good pictures. Posted here is the shot I was able to get of one of the lark sparrows. This photo does not do justice to so pretty a bird.

Birds I'm Watching: Spring Lake/Lake Ralphine

I just got back from a walk around the two lakes in Santa Rosa (near Howarth Park). Nothing unusual, but got a very good look at the spotted sandpiper that's been on the right side of Lake Ralphine (with the boathouse behind you; top photo). Also saw the bittern at Spring Lake, the osprey there (watched him land and rise up again with a huge blue gill), and saw three moorhens, and a red-shouldered hawk. There are still about a dozen common mergansers on Lake Ralphine and buffleheads on both lakes. Saw a noisy flock of bushtits along Spring Creek earlier in the day (bottom photo).


For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Places I'm Visiting: Highway 12, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

Took a drive up Highway 12 today, to pick up wine at one of my favorite Sonoma County wineries, Wellington Vineyards, on Dunbar Rd. Along the way, I stopped to photograph some of the old vines near Kenwood (circa 1921) and later went up to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park for the first time.

I was surprised to find whole slopes (under dense tree cover) clothed with a maidenhair fern growing wild. I looked it up. I hadn't known there was a native California Adiantum, Adiantum jordanii (California maidenhair). The photo above shows that plant along with Polypodium californica (California polypody, the big frond in the foreground), and Pentagramma triangularis (gold-backed fern, the small frond in the middle of the photo).

Gold-backed fern always reminds me of my childhood years in California (1967-1970). I used to love to press the fronds against my skin to leave a fern-shaped tattoo in gold dust on the back of one hand or on a forearm. My associations with maidenhair ferns go back to Glen Helen, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, but there we always saw the northern maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum), a rather different plant, with compound fronds resembling a hand with fingers outspread.

Plants I'm Growing: Cyclamen Coum

I tardily note here that the first Cyclamen coum blossoms in the garden opened on January 1st. That's seven days earlier than last year. Like last year, it was the first plant to bloom here in the new year. See last year's note on this plant for details. Cyclamen coum.

Thus, the duration of a year--according to this plant--was 358 days (in this case, corresponding mostly to calendar year 2009). As 2010 progresses, I plan to calculate the passage of a year as reckoned by the space between the first blossoms of various plants in the garden this year and last. It will be interesting to see how long each of the botanical years turns out to be. Will they average 365 days? More likely, the year for each species will average to 365 days over many years with significant annual variations. We'll see.

Movies I'm Watching: Biopics--Julie and Julia and Me and Orson Welles

In the last couple of weeks I've seen two (or should I say three?) entertaining films based on biographies, Me and Orson Welles and Julie & Julia, although the latter was something of a disappointment.

Me and Orson Welles (2009, directed by Richard Linklater) is based loosely on fact, going behind the scenes at the Mercury Theater, newly established in New York in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman, and telling an embellished version of the story of its famous production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in that year, which Welles chose to set in fascist Italy. (If what we see is accurate, the film gives us a fascinating glimpse of what the original production might have looked like). How much is true to life is immaterial, however. The story is mostly a vehicle for a portrait of the young Orson Welles that becomes intertwined with a coming-of-age story centered on the Zac Efron character, a dreamy high school student that bluffs his way into the production, falls in love with Sonja Jones, Welles's assistant (played engagingly by Claire Danes), and then suffers a grand disillusionment. Although this is the New York theater, I was reminded of the silly lyrics to Hooray for Hollywood (Richard Whiting/Johnny Mercer) from the 1937 film Hollywood Hotel "Where any shop girl can be a top girl...." "Where any office boy or young mechanic can be a panic...." Oddly, that satirical song, making fun of Hollywood, has become its anthem. Whether that makes sense or not, I've always liked the original version sung by Johnnie Davis and Frances Langford backed by Benny Goodman and his orchestra (click the link above). But I digress.

Back to Me and Orson Welles. Christian McKay, in the role of Welles, is utterly convincing. The movie was worth seeing just for his performance. It is rare to be able to watch an historical character come to life on screen without constantly having to tell oneself that the actor is the person he's supposed to be. One wonders if the Mercury Theater was as chaotic as the film suggests, and I can't say whether the film really tells us anything new about Welles (is it simply rehashing a stale view of the man?), but there is no need to take things too seriously. Me and Orson Welles is good, light entertainment.

Julie & Julia (2009, directed by Nora Ephron) was fun to watch. That said, it left me full but unsatisfied. To paraphrase Mark Twain, Julie & Julia is a film about Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams) and her now-famous cooking blog with a film about Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and her long-famous cookbook struggling to get out. I couldn't help feeling that this would have been better as two films--although it's easy to understand the attempt to draw parallels between the efforts of the two women to master the art of French cooking, each in her own way, each in her own period of history--Julia Child by spending years in France cooking and researching recipes, Julie Powell by attempting to make all 524 recipes in Julia Child's classic cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Knopf, originally published 1961) in the course of a year.

Meryl Streep is delightful as Julia Child. Some of the funniest scenes in the movie draw on the sheer force of Child's indomitable personality (we see her tackle dozens of onions in an effort to get her chopping skills up to snuff; her flustered apprehension ahead of the appearance of her sister at the train station is hilarious). During the contemporary scenes (the Julie storyline), however, I found myself longing to see more of Julia, less of Julie and friends. Paul Child, Julia's husband, was an interesting man in his own right. It was frustrating to see him appear only in brief supporting scenes. The film barely suggests his career as an artist and photographer and it fails to make clear his role in producing illustrations and photos for his wife's book. (His life is tangential, I suppose, but had this been a film about Julia (without Julie), there would have been some room to flesh things out.) That said, the Julia story is the best part of the movie.

Even so, Julie Powell's project deserved a fuller treatment. I was left with the impression that all the good stuff was in the blog and that we never got to read it. There was something unconvincing about the supporting cast, too. I never got the impression that these people were much interested in food or that Julie's cooking (and by extension Julia's) really moved them much. I would have liked to have seen this as a true foodie movie, conveying a sense of reverence for great food. We know that Julia Child had such a reverence. We don't know from the movie really what Julie felt about the food she was making. She comes across as shallow. Julia Child's reported remark at the end of the movie to the effect that Julie's attempt is frivolous is therefore hard to dismiss.

Having never seen the original blog, I can't say whether the impression given of Julie Powell is fair or not, but it doesn't help to hear Julie's husband simply tell her that Julia Child has misunderstood her. If that were really true (and it may be), shouldn't I (the audience) already know that by that stage of the film? I wanted to believe that cooking the classic cookbook cover to cover was more than a stunt to Julie, but the movie makes it hard to know. That seems a shame, because blogging with a purpose is an attractive idea and Julia Child's original dream of making Americans better cooks is as relevant today as it was then. Perhaps the only real value of Powell's cooking and blogging was personal--that it kept her sane (setting aside the effects of the fame it has brought her); perhaps Julie Powell finished her year feeling little different about cooking than when she began; perhaps getting through a truly important cookbook and absorbing such a cookbook are two different things. It's a shame that at the end of the movie we don't really know what Julie Powell accomplished. Maybe I'll read her book. Maybe I'll blog about it. Maybe I'll blog about reading every page of her book in 24 hours, maybe I'll...oh, never mind.

Birds I'm Watching: Oakland

Visiting friends in Oakland at the start of the new year, I found myself looking out at a pretty Townsend's Warbler in the trees visible from the dining table of my hosts. I got a good shot of the bird, although it's very difficult to focus on these fellows. They move incessantly and love to hide behind branches.

Books I'm Reading: Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten 20th Century

Just finished reading Tony Judt's Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century (Penguin, 2008). I can't remember where I picked this up, but I know Tony Judt's writing from The New York Review of Books, and this turned out to be a collection of his essays/reviews mostly from that publication, some of which I read years ago when they first appeared. I wasn't disappointed because of that. In fact, I was rather pleased that it contained Judt's extended essay on Kennedy, Krushchev, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is among the the New York Review pieces that have always stood out in my mind. It was a pleasure to go through it again. Coincidentally, my reading of it coincides with the 40th anniversary of the start of Kennedy's presidential election campaign, in early 1960. The essay makes one very glad that we had Kennedy in the White House at the time. It's remarkable how level-headed and restrained Kennedy was in the face of much advice aimed at encouraging the most belligerent and provocative of routes through the crisis. I shudder to think what would have happened if a man like George W. Bush had been our president then.

The essays in the collection have been chosen not because each addresses a common theme, but because, taken together, they make the case obliquely that we have already forgotten (to our peril) many of the lessons the bellicose 20th century has given us--although the point is here and there made explicitly as well. Excellent writing throughout. Recommended.

Miscellaneous: Cancelled my TV Service Today

Cancelled my TV service today.

Rain: More Rain Overnight (December 27, 2009)

It rained again last night. We got an additional 0.45 inches. That brings our 2009–2010 season total to 7.90 inches, which is 2.58 inches below normal for this date (10.48 inches).

[Update: had another 0.2 inches overnight on the 29th. Total now 8.1 inches as of December 30th.]

[Further update: Another 0.4 inches on the 31st and 1st of January puts our total at 8.5 inches as of January 2, 2010.]

Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake

Took a walk around lake Ralphine and Spring Lake today, in Santa Rosa. Saw 40 bird species: Downy woodpecker, Nuttal's woodpecker, acorn woodpecker, turkey vulture, crows, lesser goldfinch, house finch, ruby-crowned kinglet, northern flicker, robin, Western meadowlark, ring-billed gull, coots (22), common moorhen (2), scrub jay, oak titmouse, chestnut-backed chickadee, yellow-rumped warbler, great egret, snowy egret, spotted towhee, California towhee, fox sparrow, golden-crowned sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, song sparrow, marsh wren, Bewick's wren, belted kingfisher, Great blue heron, Canada geese, mallards, buffleheads (10), greater scaup (6), common merganser (27 on Lake Ralphine), pied-billed grebe, a spotted sandpiper, a red-shouldered hawk, an Osprey eating a fish up in a tree, and a pair of common goldeneyes.

The photos are of a male (top) and female common merganser. These birds show striking sexual dimorphism--strictly speaking, sexual dichromatism.

Rain: Some Clear Skies Finally (December 13, 2009)

It finally stopped raining this morning. I can see clear skies off to the west, over Sebastopol. That usually means it will be clear here within an hour or so. Checking the rain gauge, we have had 1.75 inches since it began raining on Friday (the 11th). That brings our 2009-2o10 season total to 6.65 inches, which is almost 1.7 inches below normal for this date, but another storm is on the way, or so they say.

[Update] Got another 0.55 inches Monday and Tuesday (the 14th and 15th), which brings our total to 7.2 inches as of today (Wednesday, the 16th). Normal precipitation for this date is 8.89 inches, so we are 1.69 inches below normal at present.

[Update] Got an additional 0.25 inches on the 19th and 20th, putting us at 7.45 inches as of December 21. That's about 1.9 inches below normal for this date.

Miscellaneous: Rain and Manzanitas

More rain today, which is very nice. For one thing, it's a lot warmer following two days of very hard frost. Took a short walk in the rain today and came across this natural work of art--a gnarled manzanita.

The rain has been pretty steady since Friday afternoon. By 4:30 on Saturday afternoon, we had had another 1.4 inches, bringing the total so far in the 2009-2010 season to 6.3 inches. That's somewhat below normal for this date--but it's still raining.

Birds I'm Watching: Ellis Creek/Shollenberger Park

Good day today out at the Ellis Creek water treatment ponds and Shollenberger Park, in Petaluma. They are draining the ponds and refilling them--something to do with bullfrog eradication--, which has left a lot of mud exposed, drawing in many birds. I got a really good look at the swamp sparrow again. There were two of them, along with many song sparrows and common yellowthroats in the wet area between the two eucalyptus trees and the big pond--in the same spot others have reported seeing these species. In the drained pond were scores of snipe. There was a lesser yellowlegs along with about five greater yellowlegs. Obligingly they poked around together close to the path, allowing for some decent photos (pictured; the bird with its bill in the water is the lesser yellowlegs). Also saw a great-tailed grackle, which is unusual here. Good day for birds.

Other birds I saw today at Ellis Creek were: Great egret, crows, killdeer, northern shovelers, black-necked stilts, Say's phoebe, black phoebe, Mute swans, bufflehead, gadwalls, many cinnamon teals, a couple of blue-winged teals, coots, long-billed dowitchers, least sandpipers, mallards, Canada geese, robins, California towhees, American pipits, and brewer's blackbird. Over at Shollenberger, saw many of the same birds, but also savannah sparrow, Western gulls, black-bellied plovers, a Pacific golden plover (yet another comparatively rare sighting), a long-billed curlew, avocets, ruddy ducks, and a harrier harassing a red-tailed hawk.

With the California quails, spotted towhee, golden-crowned sparrows, house finches, oak titmouses, lesser goldfinches, chesnut-backed chickadees, flicker, acorn woodpecker, and Nuttal's woodpecker I saw at home (northeast Santa Rosa) before heading out, it was a fairly bird-filled day. It was a very COLD bird-filled day. It got down to 23 degrees overnight at home, the coldest it's ever been here in my experience.

Miscellaneous: Rain

Just to report that we had 0.5 inches of rain overnight here in Santa Rosa--well, my part of Santa Rosa anyway. It snowed at higher elevations. That brings the total for the 2009–2010 season to 4.90 inches, which is below normal. Normal for this date is just under 7.5 inches. We were supposed to have had a big storm over the weekend, but it missed us.

Birds I'm Watching: Place to Play Park, Santa Rosa

While waiting for my son at his Clarinet lesson today, I took a walk around the small pond at Place to Play Park, in Santa Rosa. Saw quite a few birds, including about 300 Canada Geese. Among them was what I'm pretty sure was a Snow Goose--which would be an unusual sighting for the middle of Santa Rosa--but the bird lacked the black primaries a snow goose should have--so, not entirely sure about this one. One expert I consulted has said it may be a partial blue morph snow goose.

Also saw a Say's Phoebe, Greater Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Mallards, a pair of Shovelers, a single male Bufflehead, a single female Common Merganser, Crows, American Pipit, Long-billed Dowitchers (pictured), Black-necked Stilts, Double-crested Cormorants, gulls I didn't take the time to identify, three White Pelicans, and a few Scrub-jays.

For more about birding in Sonoma County, see my website: Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Miscellaneous: A Visit to the Theater

Went on a field trip with my son's class at the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts today. The class saw a dance performance by students at Santa Rosa High School and then visited the set for the Santa Rosa Junior College's production of The Wizard of Oz. Set designer Peter Compton gave us a behind-the-scenes look--literally. The kids got to walk on stage and see how the backdrops and turntables work and then they had a look at the scenery shop where the sets are built and props created. Not a bad way to spend a morning.

Books I'm Reading: How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (And Why You Should Care)

I just finished a slim volume--I needed something short after reading a giant Andrew Carnegie biography-- called How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (And Why You Should Care), by Ross W. Duffin (W. W. Norton, 2007). Clear, concise, well written, and well argued, this book sets out to do two things: First, show that equal temperament in many instances simply doesn't sound as good as alternative tuning systems; and second, that "before the standardization of equal temperament became so overwhelming that nobody got to hear anything else when they were growing up, musicians knew about equal temperament and in many cases chose not to use it." Here the author is attempting to refute the notion implicit in much modern thinking about music that equal temperament was an unmitigated improvement that in some sense saved music from chaos (instead of the truth, which is that ET is simply a convenience that accommodates fixed-tone instruments such as the piano when accompanying stringed instruments, for example, and that it has both advantages and disadvantages--the main disadvantage being that it often forces unpleasant-sounding harmonies). He argues convincingly that ET was viewed as a compromise grudgingly accepted by vocalists and string players when they had to accommodate keyboard instruments (which can't differentiate between what are today considered enharmonic notes--such as g-sharp and a-flat--unless specially built with extra keys). I suspect the audience for this book is limited, but a good argument is a good argument, whatever the subject. Very enjoyable. Recommended.

What to read next?

Tidbits: Abaloney and Krab

I was wondering: If fake crab is called "krab," is fake abalone called "abaloney?"

Books I'm Reading: Andrew Carnegie

I'm just finishing a colossal (800-page) biography of Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw (Penguin, 2006). While it would be hard not to know the name Andrew Carnegie, or to consider oneself educated without knowing something about the man--about his great wealth and his philanthropy, particularly his creation of libraries across the United States and in many other countries (when I drove across the country this past summer, one of the things that impressed me was the startling number of Carnegie libraries I happened to see along the way)--I must admit there was a great deal about him I didn't know. I didn't fully understand Carnegie's connection with the Homestead riot, I hadn't been aware of his close association with Frick, whose name I knew mostly in association with the great art museum in New York that houses possibly my favorite portrait of all time (Holbein's 1527 painting of Sir Thomas More), and I hadn't been aware of Carnegie's extraordinary access to a string of American presidents (Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson), not to mention an important group of politicians in England.

Likewise, I hadn't know about his efforts to establish such things as international arbitration treaties (with the aim of abolishing war as a means of settling disputes among nations), a precursor to the League of Nations, a world court, and an international police--although his efforts bore little fruit in his lifetime, and, as an older man, his meddling in politics and foreign affairs appear to have annoyed many of the people he was trying to influence. Carnegie seems to have been ahead of his time in these peace-related matters. He failed spectacularly--his efforts were followed immediately by WWI and then by WWII--but they were noble ideas, nevertheless.

Long, but very well written and edited. It never drags. Highly recommended.

Miscellaneous: Beautiful Clear Day After Rain

It's a beautiful clear day today--the air cleansed by rain last night. We got 0.3 inches, bringing the total for the 2009-2010 season to 4.25 inches so far. That's only very slightly below normal, and very good relative to the past few years.

[Update: Another 0.60 inches of rain today, Friday the 20th. Total for the season at our location is now 4.85 inches.]

Tidbits: Car Insurance Explained

I think I've got it now: I move to Progressive, next switch to Geico, then go to Allstate--and my car insurance is free, right?

Wines I'm Drinking: Gevrey Chambertin

I had an opportunity yesterday to buy some of the 2006 premier cru Gevrey Chambertin wines from Rene Leclerc at a reasonable price ($35-$39 a bottle; I've seen them for more than $80 each). Haven't tasted these for years, but I have fond memories of Clos St. Jacques--both driving by the vineyard in France (a rather modest-looking patch beside the highway) and drinking the wine. I've always found the Clos St. Jacques a relatively inexpensive over-achiever. Also got some of the Les Champeaux, and the Combe aux Moines. Looking forward to these in a few years.