Music I'm Writing: String Quartet No. 5

It's been about a year now since I started writing music in earnest. I've decided I like composing; unlike most other art forms, you don't have to clean up after yourself.

Today I finished my fifth string quartet. If you care to hear it, you can download it from the link below (good until February 20). The file is about 26MB. Note that it's a dumbed down MP3 file and that the music is being played mechanically by a computer and synthesizer. I wonder what it would sound like performed by living musicians? Better, I hope. This is a first revision. There are likely to be more as I tweak it, but it's enough to get an idea of the sort of thing I'm doing.

Colin Talcroft String Quartet No. 5

Rain: Light Rain (February 10, 2010)

It's actually sunny today, although cold again--we had a light frost overnight and frost is expected again tonight; I haven't checked to see if the buds on the Aloe arborescens are intact--but we have had another 0.2 inches of rain since I last reported. That brings our 2009-2010 season precipitation total to 19.15 inches. More rain is predicted for this week. I guess it's better than all the snow that's fallen in places like washington D.C. Then again, when it snows that much, it's kind of fun. Sometimes I miss the snow.

[Update: Since writing the above, we have had another 0.35 inches of rain. That brings our total to 19.50 inches as of the afternoon of February 14. That is right in line with the average, but some local stations are reporting a couple inches more than us. In any case, the reservoirs are full again and we've already had as much rain as we had in the entire season last year, so we're way ahead.]

Wines I'm Drinking: 2005 Cousiño-Macul Maipo Valley Merlot

Grocery Outlet is an interesting place to buy wine. The selection is a bit bizarre--ranging all over the place and including wines that show up nowhere else (around here anyway)--and always changing. Odds and ends. That all makes sense. Grocery Outlet generally picks up leftover lots and older vintages (often a good thing) at deep discounts from wineries and distributors that need to clear storage space for newer products.

The prices can be ridiculous (ridiculously low, that is). I stopped in this morning returning from teaching a printmaking class at my son's school. Grocery Outlet (in Santa Rosa, at 1116 College Avenue, occupying the site of a former Safeway) just happens to be on my way.

My usual strategy is to buy a mix of cheap wines on speculation, try them all quickly, and then go back to stock up on the good values before they disappear. Today I bought 12 bottles, of which six were the 2005 Cousiño-Macul Maipo Valley Merlot (I was pretty confident this would be worth the price). I had intended to buy ten bottles, but the cashier pointed out there was a 10% discount on cases, even mixed cases. I was flabbergasted (I hadn't been aware of the case discount), so I went back for two more bottles. I couldn't help laughing. Not even Trader Joe's gives a 10% case discount on its inexpensive wines, arguing its prices are already heavily discounted, and rightly so--but, I wasn't going to complain.

The wine was a moderately deep garnet red--suggestive of its age. It had a distinctive nose--herbs and leather. After some thought, I was finally able to pin the herbaceous scent down to garden sage. A bit unusual, but the pungency was not at all unpleasant. Tasting the wine, I was immediately impressed. It was surprisingly elegant, with restrained flavors, but a very good balance of delicate, fine-grained tannins; lingering, fruity sweetness (just enough); and delicate acidity. Showing signs of maturity at five years, but still vibrant and fresh. Moderate to good length. With a little time and some air, the bouquet began to gain complexity. The wine became suggestive of black cherries, licorice, and earth. Not great wine, but excellent everyday wine--or better.

So, how much did I pay for it? $2.99 a bottle. Excuse me. It was $2.69 a bottle with the case discount. Needless to say, I'm going back for more. This is likely to become the house wine for the time being (until it's all consumed). Recommended. The 2005 Cousiño-Macul Merlot normally retails for $8.99-$12.99 a bottle--probably about $25 on a restaurant menu.

Food I'm Eating: The Great Yogurt Taste-off: Part III (The Yogurts--Continued)

I tasted four more vanilla yogurts today. If you want to know what prompted all this yogurt tasting, see the Introduction.

Voskos Greek Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt

($1.29 for a 5.3 oz. container, or $0.24 an ounce, 0% milkfat, 17 grams sugars, 45mg sodium)

Pale in color with a slightly runny appearance, but quite thick and creamy when stirred up. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Vanilla specs throughout. Good vanilla scent, but also a sour yogurt scent. Good texture. Not tart but has a noticeable yogurt tang. Comes across as neither sweet nor sour. Moderate vanilla flavor. A compromise between the sweet and sour schools of yogurt making. Sweetened with cane sugar. Comparatively expensive, but among the better yogurts in the tasting, in my view.

Trader Joe's Organic Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt

($0.99 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.17 an ounce, 1.5% milkfat, 22 grams sugars, 75mg sodium)

Pale in color, but rich with vanilla specs. Not especially runny or thick--somewhere in the middle. Rather distant vanilla scent. Hints of yogurt sourness, but not very heavily scented, which doesn't prepare you for the rather full and decadent flavor. Sweet, creamy, rich. Strong vanilla flavor. This is on the sweet side, which usually isn't my preference, but I liked it. At 22 grams of sugar (cane sugar) this had less sugar than some of the yogurts I tasted (as much as 33 grams) but for some reason it tasted sweeter than some of the others. It may have something to do with the sodium levels, which, unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to in the first batch I compared. Sodium has ranged from 45mg to 110mg in the yogurts I have checked, putting this one in the middle of that range. While The Trader Joe's Organic Low-fat Vanilla lacks any discernible yogurt tartness, it was the tastiest of the sweeter examples. At $0.99 for a 6 oz. container, it is also in the middle of the range price-wise (the range of prices has been $0.40 to $2.39 for a 5-6 oz. container).  

Clover Organic Vanilla Bean Lowfat Yogurt

($1.18 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.18 an ounce, 1.5% milkfat, 16 grams sugars, 110mg sodium)

Solid rather than liquid. Pale, with no flecks of vanilla. Scents of both vanilla and yogurt. Thick, slightly cheesy graininess, but nice creamy texture when well stirred. Much less sweet than the others in this group, but not a lot of yogurt tang either and comparatively little vanilla flavor. Somehow this is tasty but doesn't have any especially notable characteristics. Good solid yogurt, but not a standout. Sweetened with cane sugar. 

Weight Watcher's Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt

($0.89 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.15 an ounce, 0% milkfat, 12 grams sugars, 110mg sodium)

This is the only yogurt I left unfinished. It had an odd and persistent saccharine-like aftertaste, although there are no artificial sweeteners in this. It is sweetened with crystalline fructose and inulin. Inulins, I see, are a group of polysaccharides that occur naturally in many plants. The inulin may have been the source of the taste. Otherwise, the WW yogurt was very pale and slightly gelatinous with nothing to stir up from the bottom. There was a pronounced vanilla scent. It was medium-thick when stirred. Very strongly flavored--giving a strong impression of sweetness, despite only 12 grams of sugar, but I suspect the inulin isn't included in that number. Any yogurt flavors there may have been were effectively masked by the sweetness.

[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part IV (More yogurts)]

Places I'm visiting: Carson Falls, Fairfax (Marin County)

I took a walk today to Carson Falls in the hills above Fairfax, California, in Marin County. My father lived in Fairfax for fifteen years and I visited him there often but had no idea this place existed. From the top of the ridges there are grand vistas that take in much of San Francisco Bay, looking out toward San Quentin and the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge. The light was beautiful. It was nice just to be outside without getting rained on for a change. Access is by foot from a parking area off of Bolinas Rd.

Oh, if you're wondering about the falls, I had a very long lens on my camera (for birding). I wasn't able to photograph anything as close as the falls were, so I concentrated on the distant hills instead. As for birds, there were almost none--only a few Turkey Vultures, Crows, Ravens, California Towhees, Bushtits, and Scrub-jays.

Plants I'm growing: First blooms--Rhododendron "Noyo Dream," Higanzakura Flowering Cherry

Our first rhododendron began to bloom today, the bright red one called "Noyo Dream," planted under the bird feeder (it fades to pink). Last year this plant bloomed on February 25--so the flowers opening today seems very early indeed. A year as calculated by this plant was thus only 347 days--the first real deviation from around 365 days of any of the plants I've been tracking. Perhaps it has bloomed early because of all the rain we've had this--or maybe it bloomed late last year, retarded by the drought.

The Japanese Higanzakura (a flowering cherry) appears to have started to bloom on the 5th. That, too is considerably earlier than last year. The plant bloomed in 2009 on February 20; a year according to this plant was therefore 350 days. Both photos are of the plants last year. None of the blossoms are so fully open yet.

Miscellaneous: Interesting San Francisco Houses--Webster and Filbert

Two San Francisco architectural gems. The one with the red domes is about the oddest Queen Anne-style Victorian I've ever encountered. Corner of Webster and Filbert--an old friend; I've always liked this one especially. The section to the right of the picture appears to be a later addition. On the side of the building not pictured there is another tower with castle-like crenellations. Today the building is painted an unfortunate shade of lavender (hard to see in the picture), although that may suit its present use as a temple of some sort.

[Update: in early 2017, the temple was completely repainted and the exterior considerably renovated. It's even more attractive now. See a photo here.]

Found Art: San Francisco Drain Pipe

Another fine example of found art. I saw this stained and paint-spattered copper drainage pipe today at the Fort Mason Center, in San Francisco.

Art I'm Looking At: San Francisco Print Fair 2010

Went to the San Francisco Print Fair today at Fort Mason, an annual event at around this time of year--although often at the end of January (continuing tomorrow, Sunday, February 7, 2010; free admission). It always attracts very high caliber dealers. They come from all over the country--from places like New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Seattle, and, of course, the San Francisco Bay Area, including Santa Rosa (represented by our local fine art print dealers, The Annex Galleries, right here on College Avenue). Inevitably I fell in love with something I couldn't have, something beyond my means--at the moment at least; a mixed-technique piece (etching, aquatint, engraving) by Oakland artist David Kelso, with wonderfully subtle use of layered aquatint and etching. I enjoyed seeing the show nevertheless. I picked up a small contemporary woodcut by American artist Lockwood Dennis. Happily, the show did not coincide with the ZAP zinfandel tasting this year. There was actually a place to park--and no half-drunken wine tasters to deal with (not that I have anything against wine tasters, of course. it's just that there are always too many of them when ZAP and the print fair fall on the same day).

For you lovers of things on paper, the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair is also going on through Sunday, February 7.

Art I'm Looking At: Found Art on the Playground (February 5, 2010)

More found art from the playground of my son's school. Beautiful.

Plants I'm Growing: Daffodils

First blooms today on the yellow daffodils in the garden. Actually, just a single flower has opened. These bloomed on February 6th in 2009, so a year according to the daffodils was 364 days. It's remarkable how close to a calendar year each of the botanical years I've recorded so far has been. Who needs calendars?

Rain: Nearly an Inch Since Last Reporting (February 5, 2010)

Just to report that we have had 0.95 inches of rain since I last noted rainfall, bringing the total at my location to 18.95 inches for the 2009-2010 season. That's above the official average for February 5 in Santa Rosa (18.42 inches), but lower than the 21.59 inches that at least one local station has reported.

[Update as of February 7: We had another 0.65 inches over the weekend. Our total now stands at 19.6 inches.]

Food I'm Eating: The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part II (The Yogurts)

I tasted six vanilla yogurts today to kick off my yogurt comparison project. If you want to know what prompted this, see my previous post on the topic of yogurt--the Introduction.

There were a couple problems from the outset. First, I noticed on careful examination that some of the yogurts I've purchased so far are in fact nonfat yogurts--which underscores the difficulty in choosing yogurts from among the many confusing options. I've decided to include these because the difference in fat content is generally small and, well, the stuff has to be eaten. Second, I had no idea how to do a taste comparison. Do you judge yogurt like wine--using color, aroma, and flavor? I was pretty sure swirling the yogurt containers would be pointless, but decided that, yes, essentially yogurt tasting is like wine tasting. I looked at color, scent, flavor, and texture. Each review also gives information about sugar and milkfat content and price.

Lucerne (Safeway Brand) Low-fat Vanilla Yogurt
($0.40 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.07 an ounce, 1% milkfat, 33 grams sugars)

Very pale whitish color--rather like goat's milk cheese, but semi-transparent. Has a somewhat gelatinous look. Smells like yogurt--a slightly sour scent--and distantly of vanilla. Stirred, it began to look a little creamier. There was nothing to stir up from the bottom. Tastes very sweet with only a moderate vanilla character. Not at all unpleasant, but has no really outstanding characteristics. I did, however, prefer this to what turned out to be the Yoplait yogurt, and it is considerably less expensive. Sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup and sugar. Certainly the best value of any of the yogurts I sampled. This isn't my style, but, if you like it, there doesn't appear to be anything cheaper, and many more expensive yogurts were not necessarily better, in my view.

Siggi's Icelandic Style Non-Fat Vanilla Skyr
($2.49 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.42 an ounce, 0% fat, 10 grams sugars)

A different beast altogether. Skyr is Icelandic for "thick yogurt," according to the label, and that's appropriate. Thick and creamy-looking and heavily flecked with bits of real vanilla bean. Slightly creamy color. Thick enough that you can turn the container upside down and the yogurt doesn't budge. It sticks to the spoon, making it somewhat difficult to stir. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Maintains a rustic, cheesy texture. Not much of a scent, but it has a very distinctive flavor. A real yogurt tang. Not sour like unsweetened plain yogurt, but does not taste sweet either. Thick, sticky texture. Not a lot of vanilla flavor, but distinctive and interesting. Feels authentic. I found myself liking it better and better the more I ate. Probably unappealing if you're used to heavily sweetened yogurts, but delicious if you like real yogurt flavor. Sweetened with agave nectar. Real vanilla beans. On the downside, it's expensive--six times the price of the Lucerne product.

Yoplait Low-fat French Vanilla Yogurt
($0.69 for a 6 oz. container, or about $0.12 an ounce, 1% milkfat, 27 grams sugars)

Noticeably yellowish color (artificially colored with annatto and turmeric extracts; simulated egg yolk to make it French vanilla?). Slightly gelatinous look. Creamier, but still fairly thin after stirring. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Has a strong scent that suggests caramel more than vanilla. The gelatinous texture was a bit unpleasant, but I recognize that there are many styles of yogurt and this may appeal to some people. Very sweet to the taste. Although this has less sugar in it than the Lucerne yogurt, it tastes sweeter for some reason. Flavor a bit suggestive of caramel or something toasty, but not exactly vanilla. Has no real yogurt flavor. Tastes mostly like corn syrup. Sweetened with corn syrup and sugar. I liked this least of the first three.

Wallaby Organic Low-fat Creamy Australian-style yogurt
($0.75 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.13 an ounce, 1.5% milkfat, 20g sugars)

Plain white with a quite liquid look to it, but not at all gelatinous like some brands (see above). Creamier when stirred. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Clean vanilla and yogurt scents with good yogurt flavor. In other words it has tang not overwhelmed by sugar, but it is noticeably sweet. Medium body. Creamy texture, but not especially thick. Not exciting, but good middle-of-the-road yogurt. Wallaby is a brand I often have bought in the past. Moderately priced. Sugar from sugar cane.

Brown Cow Low-fat Vanilla Bean Yogurt 
($0.99 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.17 an ounce, 1% milkfat, 25g sugars)

Firm rather than liquid, but not dry or stiff as in some cases. Smells of cream rather than sour like yogurt. Vanilla on the bottom. Stirring reveals vanilla bean flecks. Very nice creamy texture to this one. Full vanilla flavor, but yogurt tang masked by sugar. Quite sweet. Tastes a little like bananas, although there is no banana in it. Sugar from sugar cane. Excellent for its creamy texture, but doesn't really taste like yogurt because of the excessive sweetness. Overall, though, not bad.   

Stonyfield "Oikos" Organic Greek Vanilla Yogurt

($1.00 for a 5.3 oz. container, or $0.19 an ounce, 0% milkfat, 20g sugars)

Very creamy-looking. Thick and creamy when stirred, not at all dry or cheesy in texture like some Greek-style yogurts (or the Icelandic-style yogurt reviewed above). Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Very nice yogurt tang. Moderate vanilla flavor. Has a distinct cheesy aftertaste balanced by attractive sour yogurt flavors. Tastes like real food. Remarkably rich and creamy despite the 0% fat content. Sweetened with sugar, but not so much that the yogurt flavors are overwhelmed. Excellent balance. Delicious. My favorite so far. 

Continued (see below)--You can eat only so much yogurt at a time.

[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part I--Introduction]
[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part III--The Yogurts, Continued
[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part IV--More Yogurts]

Food I'm Eating: The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part I (Introduction)

About two weeks ago, I put an oyster knife through the fleshy part of the middle finger of my left hand. This was not idle self-destructive behavior. I was trying to open an oyster. The knife slipped and went in deep. I felt the tip of the blade hit the bone, in fact. Needless to say, it was very painful. Although the wound bled a lot, it was comparatively small. I washed it, bound it with a heavy band-aid, and hoped for the best.

In a civilized country, I would have gone to the doctor without hesitation. Here, however, my health insurance co-pay is so high (Kaiser Permanente), that I determined to avoid a visit, if possible. This is exactly the kind of thinking that US health care providers encourage and benefit from. I pay Kaiser lots of money every month and then do my best to never use their services. Two days after the incident, my hand was inflamed and clearly infected--it seems oyster shells harbor nasties better dealt with in the stomach than in a deep puncture wound. I went to see the doctor. One-hundred and twenty-five dollars later, I had a ten-day supply of Augmentin (amoxycillin and clavulanate potassium). The main side-effect of this broad-spectrum antibiotic is lower digestive tract havoc--also known as diarrhea. I won't go into the details.

This is where yogurt comes in. I finished the prescription yesterday, and, having spent the past ten days waging total war on the bacteria in my digestive system, I decided yogurt would help to get the good bacteria going again after the bombing was over. I stopped in at Whole Foods to pick something up, but, as usual when I look for yogurt, I found myself searching the shelves for something simple and getting nowhere fast. There's much too much to choose from. There is yogurt made from cow's milk, from goat's milk, and from soy milk. There's Swiss-style yogurt, Icelandic-style yogurt, Australian-style yogurt, Greek-style yogurt, and yogurt in Eastern European styles. There's whole milk yogurt, lowfat yogurt, nonfat yogurt, and cream-top yogurt. There's plain yogurt and yogurt with all manner of sugary gloop under it, on top of it, or mixed up into it. I should have gone to Safeway--although the situation is only marginally better at the less trendy stores.

How do you choose? I choose wine with confidence, because over the years I've done so many blind tastings and written so many reviews that few wines are a mystery to me. I eat a fair amount of yogurt, but I tend to stick to one or two brands. Suddenly, it dawned on me: I should blind taste all the yogurts in the world and decide what's best, and then scratch the yogurt problem off my list. Well, tasting all the yogurts in the world was slightly impractical, so I decided to taste 10-15 lowfat vanilla yogurts blind, and you, dear reader, will get to read about it. I chose vanilla because most yogurt is flavored, most brands make vanilla, and vanilla is a fairly neutral flavor that should allow the underlying yogurt flavors to show through. I chose lowfat as a compromise between the nonfat and whole milk varieties, but I ended up tasting lowfat and nonfat yogurts (see notes in the following section).

Tomorrow, I begin. Stay tuned. (For the record, I have no financial interest or any other connection with any of the companies producing or selling yogurt mentioned in this series of reviews.)

[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part II--The Yogurts]
[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part III--The Yogurts, Continued]
[Part IV--More Yogurts]

Miscellaneous: Super Bowl XLIV (2010)

I plan to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. It'll be the first football game I've seen all year. I'm not sure who is playing who. I really don't care. My football allegiances, such as they are, appear to be firmly rooted in the world of 1960s football; the first team names that come to my mind are always the Jets, the Eagles, and the Green Bay Packers. They were the big teams when I was a very small boy--and that was about the last time I paid serious attention to football. There was a brief period in the late 70s (in high school) that I followed the Oakland Raiders. Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, and Fred Biletnikoff were something to watch, but then I spent all those years in Japan and lost track altogether. I'm still surprised now and then by team names I've never heard of and franchises in cities that don't sound quite right. I do know that the Bengals almost made it this year. Would that have been a first? I remember when the Bengals were a brand new team. My Boy Scout troop trooped off to an exhibition game (in 1970, maybe?). Who is playing in the Super Bowl matters less to me than how well they play--and the more passing the better. Short-yardage pile-ups followed by long huddles, punctuated by vulgar advertising is not my idea of sports entertainment. I'm hoping for two teams with aggressive passing games. I'm looking forward to a lot of passing followed by long huddles, followed by vulgar advertising.

Pass the chips.

Miscellaneous: What Ever Happened to the Expression "There are?"

I shouldn't let grammar errors bother me, but my mother was a school teacher, one of my grandmothers was a school teacher--in fact, a teacher of English and English literature--and one of my grandfathers was a teacher (of art history). Let's just say it's in my blood.

We all make mistakes. God knows, I make mistakes. I try to correct them when I can, but some mistakes-- for one reason or another--can't be corrected.

But back to grammar errors. One common mistake that baffles me is the use of "there is" or "there's" to mean "there are" or its informal spoken contraction "there're." If people can count, they ought to be able to get this one right. Many who should know better say things like "There's three on the table" or "There's so many reasons to go." I hear this with increasing frequency. It's almost beginning to sound normal. When did saying things like "There're three on the table" go AWOL? And why?

Plants I'm Growing: Manzanitas and Japanese Plums

Blooming in the garden now are Japanese plums and manzanitas (Arctostaphylos sp.). The top two photos are different varieties of flowering Japanese plum, Prunus mume, usually among the first flowers to bloom in the new year. They smell soooo good.

The next photo shows flowers on Acrctostaphylos pajaroensis, a comparatively rare variety that it has taken me several attempts to get established. It's hard to see from this close-up photo, but the plant is striking for its deep (for a manzanita) pink flowers that are set off against blue-green foliage. New leafy growth appears in an orangey-red hue that is particularly pretty.

The bottom photo shows Arctostaphylos densiflora "Sentinel." As its Latin name suggests, it becomes densely covered in blossoms at this time of year. It's one of the primary early nectar sources for the bees.

Books I'm Reading: Strange Maps

I've just finished reading Strange Maps (Viking Studio, 2009), by Frank Jacobs--one of the most pleasurable reads I've had in some time. Strange Maps is subtitled An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities, and that it is--a collection of odd maps (map broadly defined) collected from the many that have been featured on the Strange Maps Blog. It is a choice selection of some of the most interesting and whimsical cartographical creations you're likely to find.

I picked this book up off the counter at Borders just before Christmas, where someone had left it, squashing candy bars or something in front of one of the registers. As I walked by, finally headed for one of the cashiers (after the longest wait in a bookstore I've ever experienced--about 40 minutes) something made me grab it and add it to my stack. My gain. Too bad for the person that abandoned it at the last minute. (If you're out there and have had second thoughts, go back and get a copy.)

The maps are arranged in broad categories such as Cartographic Misconceptions (maps that simply got it wrong); Zoomorphic Maps (as the name implies); Political Parody; and Strange Borders (why are the outlines of so many countries seemingly illogical?), among many others. One section is devoted to unusual maps of Manhattan, one to maps used as propaganda, one to maps as thought experiments (mapping the world of alternative realities--for example, a map of Europe based on the assumption that the Nazis won WWII), another to maps based on the familiar London Underground route map, yet another to maps of places in outer space. If you're not already salivating, this book is probably not up your alley.

Some of my favorites:

• Drawn from Memory: United Shapes of America

A collection of children's drawings of the outline of the United States. They range from fairly accurate to remarkably amorphous. As the commentary points out, a few features seem to lodge themselves fairly easily in the mind--notably the Florida peninsula. Others are almost uniformly mangled--for example, the Great Lakes region. Alaska and Hawai'i get short shrift almost without fail. I found this one amusing as it reminded me of sitting around with friends from the UK in Tokyo, drinking wine, trying to draw maps of each other's countries from memory on the backs of napkins. On the whole, my English friends were better at drawing the US than the kids asked to draw the US for this map were. Of course, my friends are adults. Sadly, I'd venture to guess that my (admittedly, mostly highly educated) English friends can draw a map of the United States better than the average adult US citizen. Lest I seem condescending, I plan to post a map here of the UK that I've drawn from memory--when I get around to it. A sad sight it's likely to be, and you can laugh all you like.

(I have a feeling this blog entry will be way too long when it's finally finished.)

• Scott's Great Snake; or the Anaconda Plan
• The Jesusland Map
• A New Simplified Map of London
• Oklahoma's Stillborn Twin: The State of Sequoyah
• The Circle and the Wedge: Delaware's Curious Border
• May the Sauce be with You: Battle Lines of the Barbecue Wars
• Bubbleland--Not Far from Monkey's Eyebrow: The Kentucky Bend
• Your Antipodes Most Likely Have fins
• From Spuyten Duyvil to Battery Park: A Wordmap of Manhattan

• Itineraries Into Eternity and Back

I think this last may be my favorite of them all. It is a "route map" in the style of the London Underground map we all know and love to paths from birth to death (or rebirth or eternal damnation) as conceived by the world's major religions. Hilarious. I especially like the footnote about the "closed" route from birth directly to Limbo for unbaptized babies, shut down in 2006 by papal decree. The map shows the main routes through the religious life for Muslims, Jews, Christians (Catholics), Buddhists, Hindus, and believers in Shamanism. I don't see any path indicated for us atheists.   

• Turn the Other Cheek: The French Kissing Map
• Super Interesting: The World from a Brazilian Perspective
• One Small Stroll for Man: The First Moonwalk. 

Having picked out favorites, I should say the maps are interesting almost without exception. In an ideal world, I'd be able to describe each of these, but the world is not ideal, as we all know.

Highly recommended. I recommend both the Strange Maps Blog and the book, Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities that collects some of the most interesting maps from the site.

Miscellaneous: Oh, The Irony

Miss Virginia, one Caressa Cameron, became Miss America 2010 today. Didn't you know? I didn't know until I happened across a news story on the subject. The AP press release I read included this wonderfully written and edited one-sentence paragraph:

Cameron is broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, and wants to become an anchor.

Well, I is appalled. I hope the new Miss America does not emulate the writing style of the journalist reporting on her victory. This tidbit reminds me of an English-language essay written by one of my host sisters when I was an exchange student in Japan. She let me read it. Her ambition, according to the essay, was to "become a technical skill." I wonder which is harder--becoming a technical skill or becoming an anchor? My host sister, I should point out, was a teenager, not a journalist, and not a native speaker of English.

Birds I'm Watching: Ellis Creek Water Treatment Ponds

Finally got a good look at a Sora and was even able to get two or three decent photos. These birds so rarely come out of hiding that it's very hard to see them, much less photograph them. Most birders identify them by ear. This appears (from its coloring) to be a youngish bird. Adult birds usually have more black around the bill and on the throat, I believe.

Nothing much else of special interest today, but getting a photo of a Sora made going out worthwhile.

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

Art I'm Looking At: Art is Where You Find It

A fun blog entry came to my attention recently that started me thinking. I was moved to post a comment. Never one to waste a good paragraph, and because, coincidentally, the ideas there were very much in tune with my post of a couple days ago about street art (see below), I append the comment here.

The only definition of "art" I have ever heard that seems complete--that is, that seems to work no matter where you apply it--is that art is "the making special of something." That may seem so vague as to be of only modest usefulness, but it's actually quite powerful. It can help to explain why we are moved by so many things--from a wet flower petal made transparent by rain or the slightly misaligned folds of an envelope to people spontaneously dancing in the street, a framed drawing, sound ringing in the air, or a lone voice crackling over a dramatically lit stage. All that is required is that our attention be called to something special, different, something worth noticing. It need not be intended as art--I would argue that much art is serendipity enshrined. All that is required is that someone has noticed it and pointed it out.

I love to look at the worn paint and re-painting of lines and symbols on the playground at my son's school. Not many people stand around looking at the patches of pigment or photographing them the way I do, but there they are. Art. I remember once in college sitting in the Fine Arts Library (appropriately enough), studying, watching raptly the girl sitting at the table next to me as she one-handedly braided her own hair without ever looking up from her book. Performance Art. Taxi drivers in New York City, stopped, doors open, half out of their cars (noses virtually touching), lunging at each other, gesturing, shouting. This is drama of the best kind. Gallery art, too, is art--often sublime--but we probably miss more art on our way to work every day than is in all the galleries of the world. Art is truly all around us. All that is required is to notice it and then to play a giddy game of show-and-tell. That game, too, is Art.

I made the photo posted here in Tokyo, in 2005. Just a wall, but worthy of a frame.

Tidbits: J. D. Salinger--RIP

I note here the passing of J. D. Salinger today. Makes me want to go back and re-read all the short stories. It's been a while, but they're right here on my bookshelf.

Rain: Yet More Rain (January 26, 2011)

Since last reporting (January 22), another 1.8 inches of rain has accumulated at our location. That brings the 2009-2010 total in my part of Santa Rosa to 17.8 inches, which is 1.6 inches above the level considered normal for January 26th (16.2 inches). Some local stations are reporting as much as 19.78 inches. It's a good thing, but I'm beginning to get a little tired of it. Could we have some sun now?

[Update: It's now January 30th (can you believe it's almost February?). Since last posting about rain (I know, I know, but rain is a big deal around here. We either get too little or too much) we've had an additional 0.2 inches, bringing the total to 18.0 inches, which is almost one inch above normal for this date (17.09 inches). However, some local stations are reporting considerably more than we have had--as much as 20.1 inches.

Music I'm Listening to: Santa Rosa Symphony

Just got back from a good concert by the Santa Rosa Symphony--the best I've heard from this ensemble in quite some time. I hear the musicians like Bruno Ferrandis, but I'm afraid this concert has only confirmed my feeling that he's not getting the best out of them. Setting aside one or two weak entrances from the brass section, the performers today were mostly together, playing crisply, attacking with energy, and apparently with enthusiasm, although the concertmaster looked a bit sour from time to time--surely my imagination.

Guest conductor JoAnn Falleta conducted the players in four works: The Holiday Overture by Elliott Carter, The Red Violin, A Violin Concerto by John Corigliano (originally written for Joshua Bell and based on music first composed for the 1998 film, The Red Violin), Aaron Copland's El Salon Mexico, and Barber's Symphony No. 1 in One Movement. Michael Ludwig was the soloist in the violin concerto. We also got an encore from Ludwig and the orchestra in the form of Kreisler's Caprice Viennois.

I say mostly together because the first piece, the Holiday Overture, seemed a bit disjointed, although I'm really no judge in this case, as it's a piece I don't know (of course, that won't prevent me from offering an opinion about the other unfamiliar piece on the program, The Red Violin, which I enjoyed very much). I confess that I wrote off the Holiday Overture as a warm-up piece, which is, no doubt, unfair to the musicians, the composer and the composition--but few orchestras are always in top form.

With the Corigliano, everything came together. Taut and edgy in some sections, more expansive in others, the conductor seemed to have everything nicely in hand throughout. The orchestra was clearly in tune with her (no pun intended). I enjoyed watching her bouncy yet precise style of wielding the baton. She has a distinctive way of swinging her hips as she works that in some sections gave the impression that she was dancing to the music. I found that disconcerting at first, but there was never any doubt she was in control, despite the playful visual effect.

What an interesting piece of music the Corigliano concerto is. I loved it for it's wide range of unorthodox sounds--including unusual bowings in the strings, heavy use of mutes in the brass section, and diverse percussion. I'd very much like to see the score to get an idea of the notation used for some of the odder effects--notably a strained creaking sound from the strings that was especially effective. Despite these very modern elements, the piece has a rather grand, romantic sweep to it, and some sections sound distinctly 19th century--an interesting juxtaposition. I understand there's a Joshua Bell recording of this music, which I plan to look for. I will also look for more from soloist Michael Ludwig who was excellent throughout--from the more abstract sections of the Corigliano to the Kreisler with its somewhat silly flourishes that kept bringing Bugs Bunny cartoons to mind--all in good fun. The concert was worth it for the Corigliano alone. Now I'm curious to rent the film that spawned the concerto.

El Salon Mexico is one of the first pieces of music that I got to know as a teenager exploring classical music. I feel like I know it well. The performance was competent and enjoyable, although in places it seemed to lack a bit of forward drive. Still, it was fun to see it performed for the first time.

I very much enjoyed the Barber. I don't listen to Barber a lot, but always seem to like what I hear. While I have heard the Symphony No. 1 in One Movement before, I don't own a recording of it, so it was good to hear it again for the first time in many years.

All in all, a pleasurable concert. It was nice to be reminded what the Santa Rosa Symphony is capable of with an inspiring conductor at the helm. I very much look forward to the move to the new Green Music Center--if it ever gets finished. 

(Photo of JoAnne Falleta used with permission, courtesy of the Santa Rosa Symphony.)

Art I'm Looking At: Street Art, San Francisco (January 24, 2010)

I've seen these stenciled Japanese koi in various places around the city. I rather like them. They are assaults on public property, yet they are also art. What I found interesting about these particular ones was that someone had deliberately painted them over existing graffiti, creating a double layer of property destruction/art. On top of that, I have now photographed them and shared the documentation. This, too, is art?

Places I'm Visiting: Bi-Rite market, San Francisco

I imagine this place is well known to the cognoscenti, but I happened upon it yesterday for the first time after a tasty breakfast at Tartine, on Guerrero St.

Bi-Rite Market is at 3639 18th St., between Guerrero and Dolores. It has a very New York feel to it--staffed by quickly moving, rather efficient-looking people. It's clearly run by foodies. I like the store slogan: "Creating community through food." In one of those odd coincidences, the night before I had been reading about cheddars and Stilton in Steven Jenkins's Cheese Primer (slightly outdated now, but still an excellent cheese reference book). I had picked it up off the shelf in the kitchen for no particular reason. It was handy in one of those unfilled moments that seemed to require reading material. Inevitably, though, it piqued my appetite and rekindled my interest in cheese (not that that interest had been in any special danger of petering out).

Following day, there I am in San Francisco, walking in the rain by Bi-Rite Market. I stopped in and was very pleased to find an excellent selection of cheeses--including several I had just been reading about. There is also a good selection of wines (and a fair number of more unusual bottles that are a refreshing change from the same old things you see in so many small grocery shops), fresh produce, and meats. Great little store. I picked up some Sonoma Dry Jack, some authentic cheddar, and a great four-year old Gouda. (Sorry about the hazy flare in the photos. These are just quick iPhone snaps.)

Bird's I'm Watching: San Francisco

In the city on Saturday morning--San Francsico, that is--I spent some time at Lake Merced and then at Golden Gate Park, mostly in the Strybing Arboretum area. Lake Merced was rather disappointing. I'm sure it's a good place for birds from time to time, but yesterday there were few and none of any special interest--mostly coots. Not that I have anything against coots. Actually, I do. A coot is a particularly hard bird to photograph. That's what I have against coots. They're all black except for their all-white bills. Expose one right and the other is inevitably overexposed or underexposed. But, enough about coots.

At Golden Gate Park, there was similarly nothing out of the ordinary, but I ran into an Anna's Hummingbird that was remarkably tame. It allowed me to approach to well within an arm's length. Although I didn't try to touch it, I could have. I got some good photos of it, a couple of which I've posted here. In the second shot, you can even see its little hummingbird tongue. You can enlarge the photos by clicking them.

Wines I'm Making: New Rosé Label

Just finished designing the label for the 2009 Sangiovese rosé and having it printed. Looks good on the bottles. Ready for drinking. Two cases made.

Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake

Took a walk around Lake Ralphine and Spring Lake today in the pouring rain. What was I thinking? Actually, I was thinking I might finally get to see a rail, as people keep telling me they are easy to see when high water levels force them up on to higher ground, but today I didn't even hear a rail.

I did see some birds, though. Several moorhens were close in on the little peninsula that juts out into Spring Lake (it's nearly an island at the moment). There were robins everywhere. There are still many common mergansers on Lake Ralphine. The highlight was probably a varied thrush--not exactly a rare bird, but it's the first one I've seen in a couple of years.

Other birds I saw were: Mallard, double-crested cormorant, Canada goose, bufflehead, pied-billed grebe, ruby-crowned kinglet, hermit thrush, spotted towhee, California towhee (including a partially-leucistic bird normal in all respects except that it had a crescent of white at the nape--as if it had rolled up a towel and flung it around its neck), house finch, dark-eyed junco, Anna's hummingbird, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, scrub jay, Steller's Jay, yellow-rumped warblers (15 or so), California quail (19), golden-crowned sparrow, black phoebe, crow, acorn woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, Northern flicker, bushtits, and chestnut-backed chickadees. These last were in a group (5) picking buds off the willows. I noticed that many of the buds have already broken. The chickadees were imitating the rather annoying habit birds in my backyard have of eating all the buds off the fruit trees and ornamental plums. At home, however, it's mostly the house finches and juncos that do this.... Anyway, despite the rain and absence of rails, I still saw thirty-two bird species.

Plants I'm Growing: Candytuft

First blooms on the Iberis (candytuft) in the garden on Monday, the 19th. The first blooms last year were on the 22nd. A year (corresponding mostly to calendar year 2009) according to this plant was thus 362 days. I've become fond of candytuft as it handles our summer drought well and it blooms in the winter, when comparatively little is in flower. It looks dainty under manzanitas, also blooming at this time of year.