New Discoveries

It took me long enough, but I finally discovered that there is a church in Jamestown that has a fish fry every Friday during Lent. St. John's Church, at 270 Newton Ave., has been doing this for 16 years. Tom and I enjoyed going out for a good fish fry when we lived in Cleveland, and it's one of the things we've missed since moving here.

This brings me to a recurring problem we are always running into as we adjust from a metropolitan environment to a "small town in the middle of nowhere" environment: communication is different here. And some of our habits are hard to change.

There are no local TV stations. There are local radio stations. But my radio is usually set to NPR, and around here, the public radio station is out of Buffalo and the "local" news is Buffalo-centric. However, in the past year, I've become acquainted with Jason Sample of WRFA, the local low power "radio for the arts," and I do hear about lots of things via his Facebook postings. So, I guess this is a case of "whom you know."

The local daily newspaper leaves a lot to be desired, and I don't regularly scan the weeklies. I miss the Chautauqua Word, the indie paper that I loved, but it fell by the wayside after losing Steve Lafreniere as editor. 

There is no single website that serves as a "go-to" place for all things happening local. In fact, irritatingly enough, most websites here do not get updated in a timely manner and cannot be relied upon for correct information if you want it in a hurry.  In Cleveland, there was a regular collection of local blogs I could scan daily for important information. Not so much here. So, for people like me who have come to rely on being plugged into the information highway via the internet, a clunky and time-consuming process of surfing is required. And the result: "I find out about a lot of things I would have liked doing only after they happen."  Wish I had a quarter for every time I've heard somebody say this.

Anyway, now that I've discovered the fish fry, I'd like to go to one, but our new diet may pre-empt it. My interest in nutrition and health, and my friend Bonnie, have led me to Dr. Joel Fuhrman and EAT TO LIVE, a high-nutrient, high-fiber (mainly) plant-based way of eating that is touted as an answer to the obesity epidemic and remedy for other lifestyle diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. We've been trending veggie in our food choices for quite a while anyway, and I'm old enough and heavy enough to be motivated by a chance to throw away my blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications.  The bonus in this book is some great recipes for combining veggies in new and delicious ways!  I was always a sucker for new recipes.

After the first few days...it's great. I find myself spending a LOT of time in the kitchen right now...chopping veggies. There are frequent trips to the store for MORE GREENS, and the nightly soaking of the dried beans.  My food processor, seldom used until now, has become my new BFF. Eating involves a lot more CHEWING and savoring.  And this is the really cool part (and it doesn't necessarily happen this fast for everybody): I'm not having any cravings for the things that have always tended to bring me down: sweets, ice cream, mac and cheese (with white pasta).  I'm loving the new variety.  I'll let you know how it's going later. After all, this is Week 1, and the novelty hasn't worn off. But these foods MAKE SENSE. And I feel good.

Finally, without reasonable segue, a word about our local hockey team, the Ironmen.  I confess that we haven't been to any of the games. Tom and I rarely go out in the evening, but I hear lots of complaining about "nothing to do" in Jamestown, which is just wrong, and probably actually means, "I'm not getting laid." Whatever.  We have this minor league team that's WINNING, and an opportunity to watch some future stars of the NFL in action, tickets are reasonably priced, and yet they're having trouble filling up the seats in the arena.  What is wrong with this picture? There's still time to catch a game or two this season: they're playing on the road now, but will be back in town for the last two weekends in March.  So, gather up your friends and make it an outing. Do something different for a change.

We're going up to SUNY Fredonia this afternoon to hear Dr. Anthony Ingraffea from Cornell present some actual facts about fracking. Meanwhile comes the news that the Chinese Petrochemical Corp. is buying a 50% share of Chesapeake Energy assets. Any questions about who will benefit from the destruction of our environment?

Waiting for Spring

What I've learned about rug weaving so far: I'm still not ready for prime time. In fact, I'm not even actually weaving the rug yet. I am still correcting mistakes I made in threading the loom. Loom weaving is not for sissies.

We're having another cold snap here -- 7 degrees this morning. Tom has the day off for President's Day, and is out in the back yard in his tent, testing the performance of his really, really cold weather camping gear. Seriously.

I may go shopping  (!) today, just to see if I can find myself a new pair of boots on sale.

It seems like this winter is going by much faster than last winter. Maybe we're just busier now than we were last winter. I've started plotting out my garden (on paper). Square foot gardening worked well for me last summer,  and I'm going to stick with it.  Hanging strawberries might be fun to try, too.   Community gardens will be expanding this year as well, with the new project at JCC ready to go.

I've been added as a coordinator for the Furniture City Foods buying club, and I'm going to be exploring ways of using communication and customer service to improve the ordering process for members. As much as we love Wegman's, it feels really good to be tapped into a distribution system for locally and regionally sourced foods. There's peace of mind in knowing where your food comes from and how it is produced. Unless you don't mind poisoning yourself and your family, of course.

Speaking of which, we became aware last week of two sites across the lake in Ellery where fracking permits will be issued when the statewide moratorium is lifted. This is alarmingly close to one of the wells which provide the water for the city of Jamestown.  Reading through the comments on pro-fracking sites online, it is apparent that people are woefully ignorant of what fracking will mean for our area. This is NOT the same kind of well drilling that has been happening since 1947. This is a process that will industrialize what are now quiet rural areas and bring in an incredible amount of truck traffic, noise, and of course deadly pollution.  It is important for people to learn the facts.  There will be two opportunities next week when Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, shale oil expert from Cornell, presents facts at SUNY Fredonia and at the Cornell Extension Facilities in Portland. Do yourselves a favor and give him a listen.
 

An uneventful week

It's been an uneventful week. And when I say uneventful, I mean I've been in full couch potato mode.

Despite my best efforts to avoid illness, I came down with a cold. Since I rarely get colds (I think this one attached itself to Tom at school and snuck into our house to get me), I'd kind of forgotten how miserable they can be. So most of the past week has been a bendryl-induced haze. Good timing, really, because the outdoor temperatures haven't climbed out of the teens.  And the dog has been pretty patient with me, considering.  I finally came out of the fog, with the help of some homemade chicken soup, and this morning I think I'll go back out in the world, to my yoga class.  Props to my immune system, and the chicken,  for a job well done.

One of the things I observed over the past week is that when my mind is freed of all those "gotta do" messages (because my body put the brakes on, full stop, and declared it was not going anywhere or doing anything, and that was that!), my more creative thoughts come in and have a party. They've been creating an expanded children's program for the church, a plan for subgroups in the food buying club, writing the Great American Novel, and exploding with new craft ideas.

I even had some pretty profound thoughts about the advantages of small town living in a place like Jamestown in the kind of future we're heading into.  I wish I had written them down, because this is a theme that needs to be articulated until all of the people who live here appreciate the jewel they have in their hands. I am grateful to the people who understand this and work every day at nurturing and improving our community for ourselves and  future generations.

Of course, now that I have returned to able-bodied status, the "gotta do" voices are back, and my time for all the fun and profound stuff will be reduced, alas!