Seeking Colin Dunne

Colin Dunne has just arrived in Gainesville. So reports the Clog-wife, who collected him from the airport and took him to his hotel, where he will rest until this evening's meet-and-greet.

This weekend Inisheer Irish Dance is hosting Mr. Dunne, who is offering a 2-day masterclass for dancers, Irish in particular. The workshop takes place at the nice studios of the Gainesville Dance and Music Association.

This weekend Clog-House, Est. 1935, will host Colin's assistant/travel-booking-manager. Hope she likes Corgis!


Irish Dance, Colin Dunne, Irish Dance, Inisheer, Corgi, Clog Almanac

76 Pages for Project Gutenberg

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Distributed Proofreaders, Project Gutenberg, Volunteer, Books, Public Domain

Ford Anglias Discovered in Florida Woods

During my Monday hike I happened upon an old abandoned automobile graveyard deep in the woods in northwestern Alachua County, Florida. The woods had grown up around them. Most had license plates from the 60's to very early 1970's. Of the dozen or so vehicles, there were 2 VW beetles, a Triumph, 2 Ramblers, 2 old Buicks with the baleen whale grills, a Chevy Vega station wagon, and surprise of surprises, 2 Ford Anglias of the 105E model.

I couldn't let the Anglias be. I prised the block-lettered "Anglia" emblem from the nose of one, and the lower-case script "deluxe" from the rear quarter panel of the other, a faded gray-blue car. Would that they were not rusted hulks. I should have tried for the chrome headlight "eyebrows" - they were still nicely intact on these cars.

I wouldn't mind owning a collection of these cute little britcars.

Ford Anglia, Model 105E, British cars, Anglia club

Raptors Three

Monday I continued my survey of the vegetation around an abandoned quarry in the rural lands of northwestern Alachua County. The large tract will be developed into a cluster subdivision (=conservation subdivision in some places). The quarry bottom with its 2 fish- and turtle-filled lakes (lovely blue windows into the Floridan Aquifer) will be preserved as conservation land. The uplands outside of the required buffer (50-feet from cliff edges) are available for lots, stormwater retention, roadways, and common areas.

I saw 3 different raptors there: Mississippi Kite, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Red-tailed Hawk. I heard Summer Tanagers in the woods.

Sugarberry (hackberry), southern red cedar, and boxelder maple were over represented in the tree component of the vegetation owing to their weedy nature and tolerance/preference for limey/rocky soils. Walter's viburnum, buckthorn, and wax myrtle were the dominant shrub/small tree representatives.

It sure didn't feel like Florida. There is more sudden topography there than you see anywhere in the state.



Mississippi Kite, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Summer Tanager; Florida, birding

Scoot Over for Scooter

Yeah, go ahead and commute Scooter Libby's sentence to time served. His prosecution drew media and public attention from the rot emanating from Denmark and everybody missed the mark.

Now would be a good time to refocus and to identify once and for all and bring justice to bear upon the real culprits in the Plame outing. Identify the offenders and mete out their due punishments. Pillory them. Put them in stocks in the town square. Call them sissies to their faces, prop their eyelids open and force them watch Michael Moore films forever, whatever.

If a Tree Falls:

This day in north central Florida started out quite nicely. The Clog-wife and I walked the 3-legged corgi (he rides in a Western Flyer red wagon when he tires) first thing this morning. The early light was filtering through the trees, the cardinals and wrens were up and busy, and the sunflowers in the butterfly garden were looking eastward to the rising sun. Everything pointed to a lovely Sunday.

I had to change my mower's oil and filter so hopped in the car to run to the local small-town hardware store that's usually open on Sunday (one of 3 hardware stores within a block of each other in the old town center). I'd just made it onto the blacktop when I noticed a clumping and vibrating and thought "bad tire". Not fifteen seconds later I was regaled with a terrible whanging of loose tread beating the fender well. The tread drummed a noisy tattoo as we limped the short trip home at five miles per hour through our (up to that point) quiet neighborhood, thankful I hadn't chosen to hop on the interstate and head for the big city.

I rode my bicycle back downtown only to find that all the hardware stores were closed. I pedaled home and fixed the mower the old-fashioned way - washed the filter in gasoline and used what motor oil I had in the shed. So the lawn got mowed, just as the wind whipped up and thunder clouds darkened the sky. We worked inside while a good hard rain and the wind lashed about outside.

After the rain and a nice meal, Clog-wife and I were back outside walking the dog again. She noticed that our neighbor had another tree down. Then we realized that it was an old chinaberry tree from the corner of our yard. I'll volunteer to stay home tomorrow and help him cut it up and put the pieces out for the city to haul away. I'm sorry for the smashed fence, and sorry that the tree took out one of the palm trees he's planted and has been nursing through the long drought we've suffered through these past months. Still, I'm glad it didn't hit our or his wooden storage sheds. Even more glad the truly big trees in the yard didn't fall: a tall branchy camphor and a massive southern red oak with a trunk as big around as a phone booth (remember those?). The camphor would demolish our shed, and the oak would certainly hit our home, or the neighbors'. We've got our fingers crossed as we guardedly pass through the 2007 hurricane season that is just underway.

The tree must have fallen in the height of the storm - we didn't even hear it go down.


Chinaberry, Camphor, Western Flyer

The Enigma of Returning

After a long hiatus I'm back again. Changes abound.

This past weekend the Clog-wife and I had some memorable experiences. We lunched with my daughters prior to their sojourn in Athens and Crete with their mother. We hiked in San Felasco Hammock and saw a 4-point whitetail in velvet, and hiked at O'leno State Park where we saw a 4' garfish; a young 3'-4' alligator who still had the orange-ish bars/stripes on his tail; and had a close encounter with a red-shouldered hawk who swooped through the woods at eye-level just 20 feet in front of us.

We attended the 2007 annual meeting/reunion of the local chapter of the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Alumni at O'Leno. What a vibrant bunch of old folks they were! My Grandfather Baldwin served in the CCC in 1934 in Idaho. This being the Fred White/Gator chapter in north central Florida, and well-attended by elderly southern ladies, it was a treat to sample the great southern cooking during the pot-luck after the business had been attended to: Fried chicken, creamed corn, pole beans and ham, coleslaw, and some marvelous desserts.

CCC, Florida, whitetail deer, alligator, hawk

Today's Butterflies

Today scores of butterflies visited the sunny flower beds at west-facing Clog-House, Est. 1935:

Gulf Fritillary
Cloudless Sulfur
Long-tailed Skipper
another brown Skipper – 2-3 white checks on wings
Zebra Long-wing

It is truly pleasurable and amazing to this Idaho transplant that so many butterflies visit our north-central Florida flower beds this late in the season.

United In Death - November 8

Today' mashup unites an American painter, a British poet, and a Scottish philospher, all of whom died on a November 8th.

Norman Rockwell 1894-1978, American painter
John Milton 1608-1674, British poet
Duns Scotus 1255/66-1308, Scottish Philosopher

Rockwell is best known for his cover paintings for the Saturday Evening Post.

Milton left Cambridge University following a fist-fight with his tutor. His work Areopagitica, published as a pamphlet, is a seminal reference that argues for freedom of speech. View his poems here.

An interesting discussion of the birthplace and philosophy of Blessed John Duns Scotus is available in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

mashup, Norman Rockwell, John Milton, Duns Scotus, November 8th

Rumsfeld Is Bugging Out

Donald Rumsfeld is leaving the Bush administration. So said a brief statement on Reuters at 12:53 p.m.

President Bush confirmed it at 1:06 during his televised conference, and praised Rumsfeld for his service. Bush nominated Bob Gates to replace Rumsfeld, a former Director of Intelligence who has served in 6 administrations.

Donald Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld, Robert Gates, Secretary of State

More Dance and Music

Yesterday was a busy day for the Clog-wife and me. She had a series of performances with the Greenwood Morris side at the annual Gainesville (FL) Downtown Arts Festival. I put in a 3-hour stint with the newly-formed trio of which I am the guitarist, Fear No Weevil, playing for the Gainesville Old-Time Dance Society's bi-monthly contra dance. We played a series of energetic (gross understatement) old-time Appalachian fiddle tunes for the dancers. For three hours.

Fear No Weevil's lineup includes banjoist/fiddle leader Chuck Levy and fiddler Dave Forbes. Dave is an extremely accomplished instrument artisan. His banjos, produced earlier in his career as a craftsman, are one of the most sought-after instruments among 5-string clawhammer style banjo players. His bows are played in orchestras world-wide, and are the recipients of many awards. Dave currently also plays string bass in the Gainesville Fl Jazz band Hot Club de Ville, with band leader Marty Liquori, who you may remember as a legendary mile-runner from a former era.

dance, traditional music, Gainesville Florida, banjo, Fear No Weevil, old time music, David Forbes bow, fiddle, southern music

Dance Magic Dance

The Clog-wife and I travelled to Jacksonville, FL to participate in a half-day dance workshop taught by Kieran Jordan. The workshop focused on fundamentals of Irish Sean Nos and Cape Breton styles of percussive dance.

The group was extremely fortunate to have live music to learn steps and dance to in the lively duo Laura Risk on violin and Paddy League on guitar and bodhran. The Clog Almanac wholeheartedly recommends Kieran Jordan's dance workshops and performances to anyone interested in exploring stepdance traditions, and likewise the music workshops and recordings by both Laura Risk and Paddy League. Follow this link to watch a video of Laura and Paddy performing on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center.

After the exhilarating workshop we hied to a traditional folklife festival in White Springs hosted by the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, where two of the workshop participants joined fellow members of the Cross Creek Cloggers to perform several of their traditional Appalachian clogging routines. Just spitting distance from the beautiful and legendary Suwannee River. We drove home to High Springs as the sun was setting in the west and the full November moon rose in the east. That was a lovely end to a fabulous day filled with traditional dance and virtuosic live music.

sean nos, Cape Breton, stepdance, Kieran Jordan, Laura Risk, Paddy League, Celtic music, Suwannee River

Scottish Cello Music - CD Review

New in the mail yesterday: Castles, Kirks, and Caves - Scottish Music of the 18th Century, featuring the haunting and powerful virtuosity of cellist Abby Newton. Newton's restrained and nuanced interpretations of the selection of tunes are sublime.

I especially enjoyed the 5th track - Neil Gow's Lament on the Death of His Second Wife. This is a classic and well-loved tune generally played by the violin, but as she points out in the liner notes, this melody is a man's lament equally well-suited to the range of the cello.

I recommend the CD (RWMCD 5410) to anyone with an ear for fine music from the Celtic lands. Listen to track samples here.

cello, Abby Newton, Scottish music, 18th Century

Greenhouse Gases Up Up Up

Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are at an all time high. A senior scientist at the World Meteorological Association suggests that controls more stringent than those of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 are required.

greenhouse gases, global warming, Kyoto protocol, climate change, anthropogenic emissions

The Decline of Fish

Get your seafood while you can. It might be all gone within your lifetime.

Remember those history lessons about the Grand Banks? That cod fishery collapsed and is probably gone for good. the same is now happening on a global scale.

Let's make it an object lesson. Scientists warned, politicians ignored the facts and did little to address problems and implement solutions, factory [over]fishing went unabated, and fish stocks went extinct.

Now apply that object lesson to other issues like global warming, international whaling, deforestation, &c, &c.

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

fish, fisheries, seafood, global warming, extinction

Today's Birds

Observed at Chapman's Pond, a favorite birding stop on the Great Florida Birding Trail, Gainesville, Florida.

Boat-tailed grackle
Phoebe
White ibis
Tri-colored heron
Little blue heron
White egret
Coot
Blue-winged teal

The 30 or so teal (mostly females) were busy dabbling. Grackles were congregating in noisy groups among the cattails bordering the pond. The lone phoebe paused for a moment's perch atop a pole supporting a nestbox upslope from the pond.

I collected a handfull of achene/pappus "parachute" fruits of a couple of aster species that grew rampantly in waste areas around the pond, in hopes of getting them established in "natural areas" around the yard at Clog-House Est. 1935.

One couldn't have hoped for a prettier day, though the birding could have been better. There will be better days ahead.

birds, birdwatching, birding, Florida, Chapman's Pond

Sumac Tea

I enjoyed a very pleasant walk in the woods south and west of Gainesville Florida the whole of this afternoon. The tract was former farmland. Trees along the wooded areas surrounding a cleared area exceeding 40 acres were predominantly very old live oaks, with scattered longleaf pines, post oaks, bluejack oak, turkey oak, occasional upland laurel and water oaks, Walter's viburnum, and American and yaupon hollies. There were gopher tortoise burrows, Opuntia cactus, 2 species of pawpaw, Agave, sparkleberry, and numerous wildflowers and grasses that indicated the land was once a sandhill community. It was very hard to go back to the office on this lovely Autumn day in Florida. The pressing thought was that this land needed to be burned to reset the clock to encourage those periodic fire-adapted species to reassert their presence in this area.

Before leaving, I picked a double-handfull of winged sumac infructescences: clusters of very small red drupes from which I will steep and make a strong sour "lemonade" this evening, flavored with fresh ginger and a stick or two of cinnamon, and a measure of honey or sugar.

On the balance, life is good. I try to make homemade music every day (guitar, piano, fiddle, banjo, pennywhistle), dance at least once a week, and walk through a local woodland two or three times a week. Life could be much much worse.

sumac, sumac tea, bluejack oak, turkey oak, Florida, sandhill, gopher tortoise

DANNY HAROLD ROLLINGS

Serial Killer Danny Harold Rollings was executed at 6:13 EST today. I had just moved to the University of Florida when he went on his spree to become a superstar criminal: the brutal mutilation murders of 5 local college students. Residents of the city of Gainesville were terrorized by this man who had vowed to kill one person for each of the 5 years he had been incarcerated for other crimes.

One consequence of the student murders that was never discussed: the number of big dogs owned by off-campus students and Gainesville townsfolk increased noticeably. American pitbulls were previously the dog of choice for the reddest of redneck men; the most unsophisticated of drug dealers; and congenitally inhumane illegal dog fighters - most of whom live off in the woods where their pathologies go mostly unnoticed and unpunished. Suddenly pitbulls were seen everywhere. Being led through downtown street art shows; marauding through the dog park; and happily defecating on the lawns of student apartments and curbsides of the most genteel of urban core neighborhoods alike. This canine unpleasantness continues to this day, more than a decade later.

Rollings killed 5 kids just as they were blooming into adulthood. The community is still horrified and reacting to his actions.


Danny Rollings, Gainesville Florida, execution,
death penalty, pitbull, bulldog

Katharine Harris - Only Good From The Waist Up

Florida Democrat Bill Nelson and republican Katherine Harris squared off tonight in a televised debate. The event was aired on my local north Florida television outlet.

Bill Nelson emerged as a composed, experienced, humble, down-to-earth, and moderate-thinking Floridian who convincingly argued that he has served Florida while remaining immune to the interests and money of big corporations and lobbyists; one who has served with the so-called People of Florida in mind. He stood on his record and seemed to defend and deflect the rehearsed challenges of his republican opponent; challenges which seemed to be contrived and designed to snatch whatever spotlight his record, personal philosophies and positions held.

Katherine Harris put on an unflattering variety of stage show worthy of a moneyed, rehearsed-with-consultants, yet still trailing-badly-in-the-polls political candidate. The performance was vaguely reminiscent of the risible, grinning, and badly ill-advised presidential debate antics of Michael Dukakis. Harris frequently strode from behind the podium to smile, show her legs, and speak patronizingly in turn to her opponent, to the audience, moderator, and panel. She battered viewers with stiff smiles and awkward gestures. She attempted to own the stage as if this were the true key to winning the votes she needs to overtake the front-runner Nelson.

In the end, Katherine Harris' legs seemed uncomfortably too big, too out of proportion to the rest of her and to her stage. Perhaps so with her ambitions to the Florida Senate and beyond as well.

Katherine Harris, Bill Nelson, Florida Senate, Senate Race, Florida

Intl Respect For Chickens Day

Have you respected a chicken lately?

How could I have let yesterday pass without calling attention to this most fowl of holidays?