How to make grape juice

Pick five pounds of white concord grapes.

Pull off the stems and put them in a large pot with a couple cups of water.

Heat to boiling and moosh with a potato masher.

Simmer for 20 minutes.  Looks like pea soup. Smells delicious.

Strain through a fine colander.

Measure the liquid and return to the pot.  For each quart, add about 1/2 cup sugar.  Simmer.

Freeze in small containers.  Label it so you can remember what the heck you made last September.  Dilute 1:1 with water to serve.

Confucious say

The Weird and Whacky Holiday Calendar says September 29th is Confucius Day.  Confucius was a scholar and statesman born in China 2500 years ago, and he was perhaps the world's first great philosopher.

Confucius was never at a loss for words and he left behind 499 wise quotes (I don't know he didn't make it an even 500) which still sound contemporary.  I had a wonderful Roman history professor once who claimed that basic human intelligence, motivation, and behavior had not evolved a bit in 2,000 years.  He was right.  Here's what Confucius say:

“If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake.”

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

“Consideration for others is the basis of a good life, a good society.”

“Study the past if you would define the future.”

“People with virtue must speak out; People who speak are not all virtuous.”

“You cannot open a book without learning something.”

“Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”
(Ha, I thought that was just new age speak)

“A man without a mustache is a man without a soul.”
 (Well, some things get lost in translation) 

To this day, Confucianism is a spiritual belief across Asia, even thought it lacks the trappings of organized religion, such as worship of a specific deity or an afterlife.  Confucianism is also considered a humanistic philosophy, based on its enlightened and basically decent recommendations for living in society.  The Golden Rule, and all that.

Confucius also say:

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

And speaking of music, it was nice to going the first Symphony concert in our series yesterday afternoon, sitting in our usual fourth row seats next to Betsy and Paul.  We are right in front of the stage.  The soloist was a beautiful, 27-year old pianist named Khatia Buniatishvli from Georgia (the country, not the the state) who played Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff.   As Khatia came out for her third curtain call to a standing ovation, Betsy turned to me summed it up nicely, as she often does:  She sure has it all. 

Cork hoarders anonymous

 

This is exactly what it looks like: a three-foot high basket filled with all our used wine corks.  And I think there's also a garbage bag full of them in the bottom of a closet somewhere.  Almost 25 years of wine-drinking and cork collecting, although to our defense, we did have a little help from our friends :-) 

So with winter coming on and more time for indoor projects, I turned to the Internet to see what other folks are doing with with their wine cork collections. I am relieved we're not the only cork hoarders out there. My goodness, what a creative world.     

A fine cork basket

A cork birdhouse

A cork chair!

A cork bathmat

A fancy collage

 

An even fancier collage!

 

Someone had too much time on their hands in this house...

A useful tabletop...

 

A wreath

 

This uses up a few...

 

A jacket and hat for John

 

With matching pants!

 But the best lazy idea?  Cork mulch!

Those were the days...

Here's some glorious vintage travel posters, complete with charming stereotypes...perfect for daydreaming on a rainy fall morning.  Have a good weekend!

Remembering

Somewhere in time's own space
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again.
 
~Stanley Harrison


A day doesn't go by when I don't think of my old horse, and each September 25th marks another anniversary of her passing on.  Can it really be four years now?  All that's left are memories and pictures and there will never be another Sizzle, but I'm lucky to still have horses in my life.  One of the greatest gifts she gave me was wonderful, generous horse friends like Dolly.  I hope your ankle is as good as new soon!  Looking forward to many more of our quiet and "uneventful" trail rides on Spanky and Belle.

An unfamiliar sound

It's been raining steadily for the last 12 hours-- over an inch already, which is a record amount for this September day. It's warmish out and the bedroom window was open last night, so I kept waking to the pleasant and unfamiliar sound.  It has been months since we had measurable rain in Seattle and the ground is parched.

The concord grapes are starting to smell good when we walk by, which means they're almost ripe.  My friend at the museum told me how she makes delicious grape juice concentrate with hers, but I don't have the freezer space to store all the containers. I could make jelly, but that always seems like more trouble than it's worth.  Anyway, there are many more than we could possibly use so maybe I'll leave a box outside the front gate and let people help themselves.  The only problem is the large number of dogs that are walked by,  all doing their business.  You get the picture.

In wine country, rain at harvest time causes many sleepless nights, because the fruit sucks up water which dilutes the carefully managed sugar content.  We heard on the news that the Washington harvest this year is spectacular. The hot, sunny summer east of the Cascades has brought a record 230,000 tons of wine grapes. That is a good thing, except they're ripening so rapidly the wineries are struggling to keep up with the bounty.
.

The little shoppers

Maya and her friend Finnbar shopping at Hank's supermarket yesterday in Twisp. Thanks, Amanda for the cute picture!

“The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread 

and coming out with only a loaf of bread 

are three billion to one.” 

Erma Bombeck

A fine balance

 September sunlight map
Die.net

The autumn equinox occurs at 7:29 pm in Seattle, and there will be approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness everywhere on Planet Earth today.  We're headed into the dark time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, but for now day and night are in perfect, healthful balance.

For many people, that New Year feeling of expectation starts in the fall, not January. The fall equinox reminds us to balance the light and dark spirit in ourselves. As the trees slowly change color and leaves fall to the ground, it's also a time for letting go of the things that have burdened us.  The flowers of summer are vanishing, and autumn is a reminder of the fleeting nature of all living things and experience.

Summer departed Seattle this weekend with two more incredibly lovely days. I spent time working outside in the warm (almost hot) sun getting things done before the rain comes later this week.  I cut the big, scratchy clematis vines off the wire trellis with my hand pruner and stuffed the tangled mess into the compost bin, just like I've done for the last 25 years. It's one of my least favorite fall jobs, but as I was working, a thought entered my mind: This might be the last time I ever do this. We take so much for granted, including the assumption we will be here this time next year doing exactly the same things.  Suddenly that old task was pleasurable on a quiet, sunny afternoon.

Fall has inspired so much beautiful art I don't know where to start, except with one of my favorite painters, John Waterhouse (1849-1917). The Victorian Pre-Raphelite artists liked using vivid colors for their mythical and literary subjects, although that doesn't come across in the muted reproductions on coffee mugs and posters.  In particular, Waterhouse liked the warm color palette of autumn:  gold, bronze, burgundy, brown, deep green, russet, grey.   He has appeared on the blog before, but here's a few more examples.

 Pandora's Box

 Saint Cecilia

 Thisbe

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

 Lamia

The Magic Circle

The Sorceress

Ulysses and the Sirens

 

The Naiad

 

Destiny

 Miranda from "The Tempest"