From My Studio Window

Mid and late September, everything, I mean everything is going through our yard. We live on a high ridgetop, and are blessed by hilltopping birds and butterflies who follow the ridges on their way north and south. I have yet to become blase about this fact; about my ability to take ten steps out on the deck or fifty up to the tower and be in Migration Paradise. These photos were all taken from my drafting stool where I sit to paint. Through a window, through the black diamond-mesh crop netting stretched on a PVC frame that, in the year it's been up, has saved all but one bird from death or injury when they've flown at the window. Sure, the photos would be a bit sharper without the netting, but Job One is to do no harm to the birds.

Just on September 28, the kind of misty, overcast day that lures birds to their deaths on highly reflective windows, I had four birds bounce hard off that netting, and I've little doubt that all would be dead or injured without it. What a blessing. All they lose is a few feathers and some dignity, and they go on their merry way to Central America. The lone bird that has died hitting the netting was a young mourning dove who was traveling too fast and was too heavy for it to break her impact. That beats the heck out of 2-3 birds a day dying in fall migration. I had it put up in memory of  Ruby, a red-bellied woodpecker I loved very much.

Red-breasted nuthatches toot their little tin horns all through September and October.

 

Rose-breasted grosbeaks voice an "Eek!" that sounds just like the sole of  a Chuck Taylor on a gymnasium floor.

The easy ones come through, like this pretty black-throated green warbler.

 We get gobs of them, even though there's not a hemlock to be found for miles around. They're happy in the birches, looking for aphids and scale and spiders.  All the warblers love our birch trees, almost as much as I do.

The BTGR retains enough of its spring coloration to be instantly identifiable in fall. He's got a trace of his black throat and sides, and he keeps the big yellow face patch and brilliant green back.

   

Not so some of his compatriots.

 This is a common fall migrant in southeast Ohio who looks completely different than he does in 

 spring.

 

 There's just a hint of spring glory on his underside: bright lemon-yellow, with thick streaks that in spring would be heavy and black. His best hint's on his tail, which looks from beneath like it's been dipped in ink. Give up?

Magnolia warbler, fall immature. If you're lucky you'll see a lovely yellow rump when his wings droop. Other than that, he's incognito. More of those little stinkers anon.

My Matchday - 266 Bridge Road

Histon 1v3 Gateshead
Blue sq. Bet Premier
Tuesday 28th September 2010

A midweek trip to Histon FC, who are based approximately 3 miles north of Cambridge in the twin villages of Histon and Impington. The journey down to Cambridgeshire was made courtesy of Torchey Travel’s executive car (est.2008) the most comfortable and reliable way to see the Heed Army on the road.

Histon Institute F.C. formed in 1904, originating from the Chivers jam company, the major employer in the area, whose Chairman John Chivers helped to form the Histon Institute in 1903. The company donated a rose covered field for the team to play on, which is commemorated in the rose on club’s crest. They played their formative years in the Cambridgeshire Football League, dropping the Institute tag from their name in 1952.

In 1960 the club joined the Delphian League for three years until the league disbanded with the affiliated clubs joined the Athenian League. A switch to the Eastern Counties League in 1965 saw “the Stutes” play in the ECL leagues for the next 35 years, as the competition switched to a two tier format in 1988.

The club have made rapid strides since the turn of the millennium, beginning with winning the ECL Premier Division title in1999–2000. Histon went on to win promotion from the Southern League East Division in their third season and followed up this achievement by becoming Southern League Premier Champions at the first attempt.
In their first Conference South season in 2005-06 they finished in 5th place, but missed out in the play-offs, losing the final 2-0 to St Albans City, however the following season the club were league champions, clinching their fourth promotion in 7 years.
The club finished off a remarkable decade by finishing 7th in their first Conference season, with the club’s biggest home attendance of 3,721 seeing Histon beat local rivals Cambridge United 1-0 on New Years Day.
They finished third in their second season, qualifying for the play-offs, where they were defeated 2–1 on aggregate by Football League bound Torquay United in the semi-final. However the highlight of that season was reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup for the first time, after beating both Swindon Town and Leeds United 1–0 at home they succumbing to Swansea City, 2-1 at home in the 3rd round. The Leeds United cup tie saw a new record crowd of 4,103 as well as a national TV audience on the Beeb witnessing the most memorable day in the club’s history.

Bridge Road is now know as The Glassworld Stadium and has a capacity of 3,800 with approximately 1,700 covered seats
The original Recreation Ground was repositioned due to road works in early 1960’s,with the B1049 road built across the old ground. The pitch was re-laid and an elevated stand was built in 1964. Floodlights were added in December 1984 before a match with Arsenal.
The stadium has undergone major redevelopment in recent years, bringing the facilities up to the required standard to host Conference football and eligible to host League Two if the club should ever progress.

The Main Stand has a capacity of approximately 400. The clubhouse is at the top of the stand which looks directly out towards the pitch, with access gained via a staircase at the front, situated behind each dugout. The stand has been extended with an extra 500 seats added when the Cambridgeshire FA set up their headquarters at the ground in 2007.
The stand at the far side runs pitch length with five rows of red flip seats with a capacity of 800, which was completed in April 2008.
There has full cover behind each goal. The away supporters are giving the Bridge Road end, while opposite is the Rec End which was completed with extra cover added in 2008.
These three sides are similar in size and have been linked together by an advertising fascia board which runs around the top of the roof and finishes off the ground to give it a much smarter appearance.
The Glassworks Stadium is now owned by Histon Football Club Holdings trust, who guarantee the use of the facility for sports purposes, with the football club able to use the ground rent free.

Craig “Nelly” Nelthorpe scored twice as Gateshead’s good run of form continued with a comfortable win in Cambridgeshire.
Gateshead took an early lead when Gary Mulligan got on the end of a Jon Shaw header to poke the ball home from close range.
The Tynesiders went close with headers by Curtis and Shaw, until Nelthorpe doubled the lead with a goal of the season contender.
The winger ran on to a flicked header from Shaw to unleash a 30-yard volley with the outside of his left foot, to leave home keeper Joe Welch clutching fresh air.
The hosts offered little threat in the second half, with boss David Livermore reluctant to make any changes, only making one substitution with just ten minutes remaining.
The Heed wrapped up victory in the dying minutes with a second goal from Nelthorpe, getting on the end of a good run and cross from Fisher to produce a tidy finish.
There was still time for Omar Riza to pull one back from the penalty spot in injury time, after a trip on substitute Adjei, which made the score line look a bit more respectable as overall Gateshead dominated the match throughout against a very poor Histon side.

Torchey Travel departed Gateshead at 1.15pm, the journey went pretty smoothly, arriving in Histon by 5pm. The car was taking up by Squad#51 John Young (aka Torchey) Simon Heedgroundsman and co-driver Kav, who produced an impressive performance behind the wheel to get us there and back in good time.
Since my last trip with Mr Young he has developed a love of Gaelic Scottish Mouth Music, which myself and the other two passengers had to reluctantly listen to, meaning at times we felt like our ears were bleeding as he blasted it out through the car’s CD system.
On departure I requested if possible, to arrive at the ground while it was still light, so I could get some decent pictures before nightfall. Luckily on arrival there was an open door into the stadium, so I was free to walk the perimeter of the ground and get the photographs I wanted. (it was as if someone was expecting me and left the door off the latch)
We stopped off for drinks at the Rose and Crown and bait at the Railway View. It was here that Kav, who is well known within the Heed Army to be quite frugle with his money, mentioned that he should have came into the ground with me earlier and stayed there until kick-off, hence saving fourteen quid! The thought of a big lad like Kav trying to hide behind a seat for two hours to save some money would have been a sight to behold, and knowing him, he would have probably gotten away with it.
You may remember earlier in the season I came straight from my holidays and within hours I was off to see Gateshead play at Forest Green. Well John was doing the same thing but in reverse, as he was off to Magaluff when he got back home, having to be at Newcastle Airport for 4am, because of this we were back on the road straight after the full time whistle.
After disappointing away day Tuesday’s last season, how great it was to endure the long journey home with three points in the bag and a great performance from the lads. Having slept most of the way home I arrived back at 1.30am, content with not just the win, but the first class service provided by Torchey Travel, all for the value for money fare of just seventeen English pounds.

Matchday stats

HFC 1 (Riza 90+1pen) GFC 3 (Mulligan 7 Nelthorpe 35,89)

att.285

Admission (PP) £14

Programme £2.50

Ground no.266 Bridge Road - Matchday Web album (17 pictures)

Waiting for the Bus

 We live in Paradise. Never is that more apparent than in September, when everything is ripe and full and the meadows haven't been mowed for awhile. Oh, I hate to see them mow right before fall, because then it stays barren all winter, no butterflies, no beautiful weeds sticking up out of the snow, no frost-rimed Queen Anne's lace. But the new guy who's tending our elderly neighbor's fields did come and mow it all down. These photos were taken before he came.

There's a little pair of eyes looking back at you in this first photo. You can see them better in this one:

It's been a very dry late summer. We're finally getting a slow soaking rain today. Chet and I ran anyway, and we both got a hot bath when we got home. Bad weather looks worse from inside a window. Once you're out in it, it feels kind of good. After the first mile.

 

When the bus comes, it trails a rooster-tail of dust behind it. On this day there was a sundog, too, a little strip of rainbow catching the 7:45 AM sunshine.

There is another little sundog who waits for the bus, too.

He guards Liam's pack, sits patiently and listens for the roar of the bus. He always knows when it's coming. He can hear it before we can.

        He checks for squirrelts in the huge pin oak overhead. He's never found one there, but he keeps checking anyway.

 

He's never more beautiful than in the morning sun, waiting for the bus, his satin coat gleaming. 

Here on Indigo Hill, where bluebirds sing the morning in.

Liam's Cape

My son wears a cape to school. On the first day of the 2010 school year I gently discouraged him from wearing it, this remnant of a Superman costume he had when he was seven, but after a week my resistance wore down. I told him kids might tug on it and tear it, and we didn't want that to happen. He seemed unfazed. So, with some trepidation, I let him wear it. And he came home still caped, chattering like a parakeet as he always does, telling me the remains of his day, and it was fine.

He looks good in it, I think, and because he's in fifth grade, near the top of the elementary heap, and well-liked by the other kids in his tiny rural school, he wears it proudly and without a hitch. He says he thinks he gets more respect when he wears it. He says even the bullies say, "Nice cape!"  He says the teachers all love it. No wonder: Bill and I do, too.

                                           

He wore it on Picture Day, too. What is a school photo if not a record of who your boy is on the day it was taken? Why pretend he's someone else? Why want him to look like someone else? We don't. We love him as he is: creative, hilarious, quirky and unpredictable.  Caped.

I zhuzzed up his hair on Picture Day, making a perfect, fragrant flaxstack of its white-blond fibers.
And hid behind him, as parents will do when they've been eclipsed by their children's beauty.


                                         

And, having blessed his cape, it was only natural to answer the call when he came up behind me with a plastic sword in his hand. We were shopping in JoAnn Fabrics, his favorite store, fomenting spot for his creativity with its aisles of felt and balsa, styrofoam and paint.  He'd found the sword in the Halloween section, his favorite part of all, and it was just the thing to set off the cape.

I gave him two rules--that it never go to school, and that it never be applied to human flesh. And it never has.

       

                                               
                                                        photo by Bill Thompson III

But he swipes at imaginary foes, makes vicious whooshing sounds in the air, gives the coup de grace and then, in reverence for the life he has just taken, bows his head like any good knight.

My Matchday - 265 Sixfields Stadium

Northampton Town 2v0 Bradford City
League Two
Saturday 25th September 2010

I made use of a weekend break, visiting relations in Lincolnshire to travel down to the large market town of Northampton in the East Midlands.
Northamptonshire’s county town lies on the River Nene and is well known as a major centre of shoemaking and leather industries. Many of the town’s old shoe factories remain, most of which have been converted into office space or accommodation, with some still surrounded by terraced houses which were built for the factory workers.

Northampton Town were founded in 1897. The county’s schools were keen on schoolboy football so meetings between schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell took place with plans to form a town team instead of playing inter-school friendlies.
The club officially formed on 6th March 1897, at the Princess Royal Inn on Wellingborough Road, with the club agreeing to ground share with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club.
Before a ball was kicked the town’s rugby club objected to the club’s name of Northampton FC, so the Town suffix was added to their name and they began playing competitive football in the Northants League, becoming league champions in their second season.
The Cobblers played home matches at the County Ground for the next 97 years, joining the Midlands League in their third season and the Southern League in 1901-02 season, before becoming a Football League club after World War II.
The Cobblers football statto claim to fame is their record for the shortest time taken to be promoted from the bottom tier to the top tier and back down again in the space of nine years.
They played their only season in the top division in 1965-66, having been promoted from the Fourth Divison in the space of five seasons but were then relegated back to the Fourth Division by 1969–70.

Sixfields Stadium was built and designed by Dutch contractors Bellast Nedham, with the aid of Tyneside based architects Taylor, Tulip and Hunter (I’m their postman..Morning!) and structural engineers Hutter Jennings and Titchmarsh.
After the 65 acre site was cleared, building work on the council owned facility started in January 1994. The 7,653 capacity all seated stadium on the outskirts of town was built at a cost of £5.25 million, made up from a £4.25m contribution from the council and a further £1m from the Football Trust.
The stadium had been scheduled to open for the start of the 1994-95 season, but due to delays the first game took place on 15th October. Barnet provided the opposition for a Division Three clash with the honour of the first goal going to Martin Aldridge in a 1-1 draw in front a near full house of 7,461.

The stadium is made up of four separate stands. Behind each goal are The David Bowen Stand which is named after the ex-Northampton Town player and manager, and opposite is the South Stand for away supporters which both have a capacity of approximately 900 seats.
The Alwyn Hargrave East Stand is of a similar height, but with a large gangway at the rear for disabled supporters. The stand runs pitch length and is also used as the Family Enclosure with a capacity of 1,800.
The West Stand is twice the size of the other stands with a capacity of 4,000. The stand also has the club offices and main reception, ticket office, changing rooms and supporters bar, as well as a club shop on the south west corner.
The stadium is decked out in claret seats with NTFC picked out in white lettering on the East Stand, there’s also a small scoreboard on the back of the building in the south-west corner.
The best feature of the ground is the view from the large hill which overlooks the stadium, which meant I could get some good pictures of the ground before I had even set foot in the place. During the first half there were a couple of passers by who stopped and watched the game for nowt through the opening in the north-west corner, but they weren’t lucky enough to see any goal action.
The atmosphere around Sixfields Stadium was buzzing after the midweek victory at Anfield in the League Cup. Their reward for knocking out Liverpool was a 4th round draw away to Ipswich Town, which was met with a shade of disappointment although I heard the phrase “We’ll DO them as well” mentioned by a few of the Town fans.
Because of this fantastic result, coupled with Newcastle’s equally astonishing win at Chelsea, meant I headed off from Lincolnshire to Northampton, not sure whether or not my final destination was Sixfields, just in case both clubs met in the next round.
The odds of Northampton drawing Newcastle were pretty remote, but I still got my mate Zippy to text me the outcome of the draw, as I’d rather tick off Northampton while watching United play there, than go as a neutral. I also had a Plan B lined up (Stewarts & Lloyds Corby in the FA Cup) just in case, but obviously the draw panned out as we all expected, the reward for beating Chelsea is - Arsenal. (and people wonder why NUFC haven’t won anything for a long time…Eddy)
Northampton showed no cup hangover as they overcame a stubborn Bradford defence with two goals in the second half.
The opening period was a scrappy affair, the hosts best efforts coming directly from free-kicks from Kevin Thornton, while City came closest to scoring when a Moult effort produced a fine save from Dunn.
The Cobblers improved as the game progressed and were patient enough to break down Bradford’s resistance with a goal just after the hour. A Tozer free kick from the half way line was nodding over by Holt into the path of McKay, who turned the ball in from ten yards.
The win was guaranteed with just under ten minutes remaining, a deep cross was headed back into the centre by McKay for Newcastle loanee Ben Tozer to open his account on his Northampton league debut.
This win rounded off a fantastic week in the history of Northampton Town. I had this fixture picked out early in the season so it’s pleasing that my visit coincided with a great atmosphere around the club after such a fine achievement. The Cobblers could well reach the League Cup quarter-finals if they can DO! Ipswich that is, which will be better than my own (looks likely..Eddy) as well as a few other big Premier League clubs have managed to do this season.



Matchday stats
NTFC 2(McKay 61 Tozer 81) BCFC 0
Att.4,646
Admission £18
Programme £3






Ground n0.265 Sixfields - Matchday Web album (21 pictures)

The Pawpaw Festival!

One of my favorite photos from the 2008 festival.

For those of you who saw this post on Tuesday, then watched it and your comments disappear, my apologies. The monarch piece rared up and grabbed the spotlight. So here it is again. Whew. what a week it's been!

Celebrating pawpaws--we've done it in our own woods, and every September I like to celebrate them with others. In Albany, Ohio, right outside Athens, there's a little festival that reached its tipping point this year. Now it's a medium-sized festival, headed toward largeish.

Everything was good this year, better even than last. The big Percherons were still giving carriage rides. Picture the four of us stuffing ourselves with all manner of food made with pawpaws (a creamy white sauce over chicken breast, a pawpaw/peach/hot chili salsa, a pawpaw beurre blanc over scallops,

(all of the above made by Chef Dave Rudie)

who showed us how to flip onions in a sautee pan, which I'm sure I could do if I had hours to practice and a tarp on the kitchen floor.I just came from the kitchen, where, following Chef Rudie's lead, I made a pawpaw cream sauce sweetened with our own pawpaw pulp and some sourwood honey from the Smoky Mountains, a gift from our editor, Lisa White of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Heavy whipping cream, softened butter, caramelized shallots, salt, pepper, and a dollop of honey mustard...and heaven can wait. We're going to try it over pork tenderloin at Margaret and Zane's. It was just ridiculously good. How can you go wrong with that ingredient list? I totally winged it, no recipe--just remembered how Dave demonstrated it, and it was ossum as creamed possum.

But wait--there was more in the vendor stalls that we sampled, including a
pawpaw crepe, pawpaw jelly roll, and a pawpaw mango ginger mint smoothie to name just a few.

But wait, there was still more...great live music and a mess of our friends who simultaneously and serendipitously decided to make the hour-plus trek to Albany for the festival at the same time.
David and Zane consult an iPhone for something...iPhone users are forever consulting them.

We hung out and listened to the music and watched the kids dance with Oona, who can really shake her moneymaker.

There was a lot of moneymakershaking going on at the bandstand.
I lost track of Bill for quite awhile...he was watching the hula-hooping, I think. Who could blame him.

This is quite a different demographic than we are accustomed to seeing, only an hour and a half away. Having Ohio University in Athens certainly results in more interesting people-watching than we get in Whipple. For me, most of enjoying a festival is people-watching, but this one has delicious food and great music, too. I give it a five out of five.

Many of those interesting young folks brought their dogs--it's hard to find a place where you can bring your dog anymore.

I did not because, having brought Chet to the last two festivals and having had a loose pitbull straddle and growl at him in 2008, I deemed it not worth the angst or the constant pull on my arm. It's hard to drink a pint when there's an unearthly strong steady pull on your other arm.

This little pied beauty stopped every few seconds to scratch, another reason I was glad I hadn't brought my as-yet-flea-free puppeh.

A dog rumble went down--Chet would've gladly flown into the middle of it.
It was rowdy but friendly, and fun to watch. Dogs who are socialized can do this without getting all snarly. Chet's not quite there.
He likes to be Numba One. He'd have been Offisa Puppin' all over those dogs.

The moon rose, the pawpaw wheat beer was wonderful, and still the children played.

A man walked by with a little light that put sparkles on the ground

arresting the attention of a sweet baby who pointed (don't miss that tiny finger...) and then knelt to try to rub the sparkles out

charming me even more
                             

And the moon rose in a pastel sky and Mary Jane showed us how to catch it

and Phoebe tried, but her photographer couldn't see very well, as the photo of Mary Jane attests...
but Phoebe could see the moon in the viewfinder, so with her help I finally captured the shining orb

and the sky went blank for a moment

nothing but watercolor tints I could never replicate.

As it got dark there hove into view a giant and hilariously funny pawpaw whose barely audible voice came from the depths of his foam costume, asking us to give him a high five
but he had no hands so we squeezed him instead. And nothing popped out.

Plan to come to the Pawpaw Festival at Lake Snowden in Albany, Ohio, next September. I guarantee you'll love it.

If you'd like to get some fresh pawpaws shipped, or, after they're out of season in late October, some frozen pulp to play with in your own kitchen, see Integration Acres' cool web site. We have them to thank for this wonderful festival, and for making "pawpaw" a household word in Appalachian Ohio. Well, in some houses. Soitainly ours.

Here end the pawpaw posts.