Tag: Fall

  • ODDS and ENDS: End of Summer, Banana Ball, and Monday

    (Nothing really matters, anyone can see…)

    Well, I know the season of Summer isn’t over, but the kid starts school on Monday, so that means that this is the last weekend of Summer Vacation for the kid, and hr family as a whole. It did go by fast, and I do think all of us were ready for it to come to an end. This was the first Summer that we all chaffed at leaving our routine. I think in a large way, we had all come to enjoy the order that the school year brought us. It was like we had too much freedom. That really isn’t fully true, as we did enjoy going to to community pool, and the kid did love going to camp. The short vacation to West Virginia was relaxing, and calm and very enjoyable. It gave the wife and I a chance to recharge, and like all truly good vacations, it was over too soon. And though we still have at least another four weeks of heat and humidity in the City before we will notice a season change, it is time that we say farewell to Summer 2025. Goodbye, Summer… Goodbye, Summer…

    Okay, I get it; Banana Ball is a whole lotta fun. I will also say this; Banana Ball respects its fans, which is way more than I can same for MLB, the NFL, or NHL, and I’ll throw the NBA on that pile, too. Perhaps Banana Balls success is because it leans more in towards entertainment rather than athleticism, which is not to say the players are not athletes, for they are. Or perhaps Banana’s success is because the fan comes first in this equation. No flex priced tickets, no televised games stuck behind paywalls, no paying to reserve the right to buy season tickets, and basically not treating fans like they’re a mark who needs to have as much money squeezed out of them as possible.

    Speaking of the end of Summer, and stuff starting on Monday. I gotta get back into my writing routine…

  • Autumn Memories, Sort of (Unedited)

    There is a serious Autumn chill in the air today, and it’s awesome. This was the first day that I could put on a button-down shirt, and a sweater, and a coat. Leaves are changing color in the City, and it’s getting darker earlier. My wife loves this time of year because we can leave the bedroom window cracked, making it all chilly in there, and sleep under all the comforters. (But I hate Pumpkin spice, so don’t get me started on that shit.) For a guy who loves Fall, this was like Heaven.

    As a kid growing up in Texas, Autumn didn’t start until November. And even then we had a couple of Thanksgivings were we had to run the air conditioner – not that it stopped my father from building a fire in the fireplace. Usually, by Halloween, it started to noticeably cool down at night, so you’d have to put on a sweater ort a coat. Maybe the leaves would just start changing color. I do remember several Halloweens where we were sweating while Trick or Treating. Depending on what your costume was, this could make the evening a very sweaty affair.

    Sadly, Fall in Texas was not a long season. As soon as it started, a month later it was December, and full on Texas winter. All the leaves had fallen, and it was a chilling 50 degrees out. Basically, you had one month to get all you Autumnal fun in.

    And then by March, it was Spring, and warm again.

  • Apple Pickin’

    Apple picking is hokey, corny, and a sad excuse for city people to play farmer. We drive way out to the country to go to a “farm” and then pay to pick apples, which half of them will rot in our homes as we try to figure out what to do with 10 lbs. of apples.

    I have a fraught relationship with apple picking, but after nine years of it, I have come to love this part of our Fall tradition.

    The first time I went a’pickin’ was when the kid was a baby, and the “farm” was this almost amusement-park-of-a-place why out in the sticks of New Jersey. It took like thirty minutes to get into the place, the parking was so bad. The line for tickets was long, and then when you got in the joint, all the trees had been picked over. (There were pony rides!) And leaving the place took an hour. It was like leaving a rock concert, but with way more produce. I felt silly being there, like I was being conned.

    The next time I went was when my parents came to visit New York, and were staying upstate, as they were traveling in a motorhome. My wonderful wife found an orchard not too far from where my folks were staying. That was a way more enjoyable experience. It wasn’t crowded, lots of apples, a large orchard to wander around, and most importantly, the kid had a good time. With the exception of the Covid Years, we have gone back to the apple farm year after year.

    And as each year goes by, I start looking forward to it, more and more. It has become our tradition, and an activity that we can yardstick our year, and also gage how much the kid has grown and changed. It’s also the gateway into Autumn for us, as the drive takes us out of the City and into the woods of small town upstate. The changing leaves, and Halloween decorations sprinkled about every corner. Maybe it wasn’t as cool as it was last year, and the leaves were more yellow than any other color… but Fall had arrived for our family.

    Which also included the dog.

    (The dog was totes ready for some apple pickin’)

  • ODDS and ENDS: School’s Starting , Bigger Pants, and Goodbye Summer

    (It’s just a kiss away…)

    It just feels like Summer started, but next week, the kid starts up school again. These two months flew by, and though it still feels like Summer out there, the signs have started to show that we are slipping toward Autumn. At the start of the week, the kid refused to speak about the coming school year. Now, today, she told me she is excited and nervous to get back; Excited to see her friends, nervous about what the year could bring. I have been trying to remember what that felt like. The feeling of possibility, of the excitement of learning, the joy of friendships. Out of all of it, it is that feeling of excitement and wonder of learning rings the most true. Boy, if I could get that feeling back – maybe just for a few minutes, to experience looking at the world as brand new. That would be great.

    I had a good time this Summer. There was a big family wedding, and the kid went away for camp. As such, I lived it up. Drank a little too much, ate way too much, but I went to the gym once – you know, balance. When I think back on this season, I will refer to it as my “Sloth Summer.” As such, my pants and shorts have become rather snug around my belly. I don’t like this development, and I know what I need to do. Well, what I should do…not that I want to do it. Which brings me to why I am contemplating buying larger pants and shorts. NO, no, no… I need to watch what I eat, work out, cut down on alcohol, sleep better… But… you know… at some point the weight won’t come back off. At some point, I will need to buy the bigger pants, right? Am I just fight the tide?

    My least favorite season has started her exit from the stage. I said that up above, but it is true – Get Outta Here, Summer! It’s still sticky out, and will be for the rest of August, but it’s starting to get a little cooler at night. We had one day, though it was raining all day, that was in the low 70’s and it was like the best feeling in the world – it just not being really hot out. There are other signs too, like the “back to school” commercials on tv, and crossing guards are back out. Also, I look at empty store fronts, and I can imagine a Spirit Halloween store being there. Soon it will be cooler, and sweaters will be out, and leaves will change. Just one more month to go.

  • Nabemono – My New Food Fixation

    We are in the middle of Summer, and I am already thinking about Fall. Anticipating might be a better word. Fall is my favorite time of year, and I have the flannel and sweaters to prove it. There is the apple picking, leaves changing, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Autumn also means a switch to our menu at home, as we start eating heartier things due to the colder weather; soups, stews, and baked goods. While searching for new recipes for Fall, I came across nabemono, or Japanese hotpot cooking, which I have become fixated with.

    Nabemono is simple in concept, and complex in flavor and execution. It just means one pot meals, with a protean, vegetables, broth, noodles, and a dipping sauce. The pot is placed on the table, in some cases while on a heating plate, and people take what they want out of the pot and eat communally, or family style.

    I came across nabemono when I was looking up fast family meals from all over the world. I mean, America can’t be the only place where feeding a family quickly and cheaply is a major concern, and I was correct – seems to be a concern all over. If one doesn’t have a traditional nabe pot, a Dutch oven can be used as a substitute. And I have a Dutch oven! Also, nabemono has several different varieties – like shabu-shabu, chankonabe, and sukiyaki – as well as regional variations, which means that there are tons of different recipes out there to experiment with.

    I have been doing my research, and counting down the minutes until it is Autumn. I could give it a shot now, but it is like 90 degrees in NYC, and with 75% humidity so the thought of having a soup on a day like that doesn’t sound like the best idea. I need it to be like 65 outside, which is like late September. That’s a bit of a wait, but I can be patient.

    I’ll just keep searching for YouTube videos… like this…