A Parlour for a Plague

Beth, re the pool.

I had my suit and robe on and walked out the door and promptly turned around and went back inside. It had turned rather chilly and I bailed. The rest of the week predicts thunderstorms, so we’ll see.

Is she inCanada or the US?

Good they are planning

Same here for Woolworths so far....7 to 8

Not sure if I’m senior enough!

re the toilet paper!

Hope his food was ok! Sounds like a great meal.

Now I’m hungry

that's the nextish block over. I'm just past Perry. My grandmother lived on West 4th between West 11th and Perry for over 40 years prior to her earthly exit.

I'm old school for The Village and don't believe in that thing labeled "East Village" ....The Village ends at 5th Avenue for my mind. (old maps confirm this)


Anywho, all NYC Public Schools (these are run by the city) are closed from tomorrow morning until possibly April 20. The situation is to be reevaluated then.

The Governor told the Mayor to get things rolling. This will include the free lunch programs and the free breakfast programs which many kids rely upon. One option suggested is a 'grab and go'. That way they get the meal...and I suppose bring it home or somewhere.

More as I find out more.

We lived about 25 miles from one "city" of about 30,000 people, and 25 miles in the other direction was a city of about 150,000 people. We didn't go to the city very often, though, we had almost everything we needed where we lived.

It is ironic that Phylloxera infestation, as it was commonly known, originally came from North America. In the late 19th century, it devastated the vineyards of Europe, especially France. They only recovered by bringing in root stocks from North America which were resistant to the infestation, especially from California, where the problem had been solved long before. I love it when the wine snobs are sipping their Pouilly-Fuissé or their Bordeaux, completely unaware that they're sipping wine from root stocks brought over from California about a century and a half ago. Them California winos produce stuff just as good, they just don't get the same money for their swill.

I rarely disagree with you, Setanta, but I have always believed Texas supplied those grapes to Europe.

I'm not a wine snob but I used to love the white burgundy...I probably still do I just haven't shopped in more than a few years.

We found California wines very pleasant on the west coast. Then found it hard to find on the East coast, whereas Australian wine, mostly cheap to medium level, was easy. We really didn’t want to travel all that way to drink home wines!

We also found lots of crap French and Italian stuff that was awful.

Of course, we might just have had bad luck

Well, perhaps they did. I'm not claiming expertise, it's just what I've read about how California survived the blight, and sent root stocks to France.

I'm upset they cancelled SXSW this year.

That brings millions of dollars into the local economy each year. I daresay this could cause a good number of people to go out of business. I'll bet a lot of small business rely on it for the bulk of their sales and services for the year.

I may not attend SXSW, but I know this will hurt many people.

To me it's not a point to argue. I was just saying.

california had its own vin plagues. As late as 1980 they were re grafting stock from France , Texas and Niagara vines to back cross with existing Calif vine tops(Sort of another "Columbian Wxchange 20 th century style). The blights were insect caused and generally affected just the roomass. Maybe Hightor knows . The wine guy back here stated that, like any time we deal with monocultures we get problems with local infestations that can further adapt and spread .

There are a few grape-growing regions in the world which haven't been hit by Phylloxera. Some of the vineyards in Chile can grow vinifera grapes without the grafted rootstocks. The wines are much sought after by connoisseurs but I don't know if they really taste different.

The plan was to make varietal jellies. The tart wine grapes make fantastic jelly, nothing like Welch's or other ones made with Concord grapes, really flavorful. But I realized that it was a shitload of work and I hardly even eat jelly! I gave jars away for a few years; they were highly coveted. Actually going commercial and selling my crop to local producer would have required too big an investment.

It's amazing what a bunch of raccoons can do — as any gardener knows. Like clockwork, once the Brix got up around 20º they'd hit and completely consume every bunch of grapes. They gorged themselves so much that the vineyard aisles were strewn with undigested grapes that had just passed right through them. I attempted to put nets over the crop for protection but they'd usually find some way to get in, rip the netting, break the canes — total destruction. So one morning I came out, surveyed the damage, and just announced out loud, "Okay, you win." There are a range of other protective measures available but I'd had enough.

Sounds like my original ideas about honeybees. You can have a bazillion hives and only need like 10 acres. We gradually sold our hives too and we did ok, every AMish farmer wanted at least 1 hive for their kids to learn

This infestation happened a little bit later but it's an example of insects acting as vectors of fungal and bacterial diseases:

Canada. Though she is applying to move to US to be with new husband in Texas.

Did you just strain and cook the juice with something like a pectin and then make a sugar-free jelly (or preserves)?? Or was there a really long recipe?