A Late Sunday Morning Sun (Algae Bloom Begins?)

7:02

7:03

I was up at 7:00, the sun hidden by the clouds, but now, 8:00, its risen above them, shining bright above Long Point.  It's 60º, a slight breeze, cooling us as we sit in our living room.  The next couple of days look sunny and warm, no rain predicted, alas.

This morning I listened to a program on the 7th Avenue Project called "The Civil War Isn't Over Yet." The writers of this article, Tony Horowitz and David Blight emphasize that any great moment in history brings about an opposite reaction.  After the Civil War, Reconstruction brought about the emergence of Jim Crow, segregation laws, and the Ku Klux Klan.  And he suggests that the election of Obama brought about the likes of the Tea Party and Republican intransigence in Congress which has at its base, a strong element of racism.  Who controls the historical narrative, historical memory is important.  After the Civil War, there was a great push to suggest the war was not about slavery but the noble attempts to save a special culture, a way of life.  And the deification of Robert E. Lee was part of the narrative to make the South more heroic.  Most of the north eventually bought into this myth.  The Civil War enactments and groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy are also attempts to prop up the Confederacy, denigrate the North.  And now schools in Texas want to change textbooks to deemphasize slavery, and put an emphasis American exceptionalism.  An interesting radio program that really made me think differently about the Civil War and its aftermath, the attempts to sanitize both Southern slavery, the myths we are so ready to believe today.  Even today, here at Chautauqua, I have often seen pick up trucks drive by proudly flying the Confederate flag. Slavery and white supremacy were at the core of the Confederacy,  yet Horowitz also suggests that though the South lost the war, they won the narrative.  The taking down of the Confederate flag in state capitols in South Carolina, however,  this past month, long overdue, is promising step in demythologizing the Confederacy.

Bass Fisherman

Yesterday was sunny and warm, the high in the mid 80's, the kind of day we have had much of the summer.  Where are the chilly days of August, where we used to wear a fleece, wondering where the warm weather had gone.  Not so the past few weeks.  We got another paddle in yesterday morning, meandering around Long Point, looking for ducks to photograph, eventually working up enough of a sweat by the time we returned, that I went immediately out on the dock for a swim to cool off.   For the first time, we both noticed that the lake is beginning to turn green in some areas, as the algae bloom begins.  The good news is that it started weeks earlier last year, so we have been lucky to have such clear waters to swim in.  And to my knowledge, no beaches have been closed this summer because of algae blooms.  Around 9:30, we drove over to the Village Casino in Bemus Point, where the various lake organizations were having a gathering to talk about the coming of a lakewide sewer system as well as the various attempts to keep Chautauqua Lake healthy.  The good news is that people are finally paying attention to the lake; the bad news is that the sewers are going to cost local residents like us, lots of money.  Most of what they had to say was not new, just a rehashing of what they have been saying for the past  couple of years.  In the interim, they are going to check individual houses along the lake to make sure their septic systems are up to code.  I imagine this will cause many people a hassle and expense but it's something that should have been done ten if not twenty years ago, making sure septics are working efficiently.  They did mention the cost of hooking up about the 700 residents, including us,  to the sewer system would be about 41 million.  Our neighbor jokingly estimated that would on be only $58,000 a piece(if there were no Federal, State or Local Funding), not bad.  We ended up leaving early!

When we got home, Evie went straight out to the dock, to read and swim, and I drove off to the Transfer Station, to get rid of our trash, then to Hogan's, to get a sub sandwich for this evening, when we were going to the Heron Blue Grass Festival.  Hogan's was packed, with cars, and about 25 motorcycles, the remnants of Motor Mayhem the previous evening.  The rest of the day went quickly; I watched some of the PGA, swam, sunbathed and read more of my Civil War book about the Battle of Gettysburg.  And, yes, Lee is made out to be God like, both to his soldiers and to the Union Army.

Hay Wagon Ride To Festival

Blue Heron Blue Grass Festival

A New Age Hippie Couple

Around 5:00, we came in off the dock, dressed for the Blue Grass Festival, and packed a cooler, with beer and food.  We then left for Sherman around 5:30, getting to the Festival round.  They were very organized, as volunteers welcomed us, sold us tickets, 35 bucks a piece, and 10 bucks for parking. We parked in the blue lot, and took a tractor ride to the venue.  We were at the Blue Heron Festival last 4th of July and it was much larger, more varied in the kinds of music played.  This festival, the first at this venue, was strictly Bluegrass.  Thus, it was not as crowded nor well attended.  I would estimate it was less than half, perhaps only a third the size of the Blue Heron Festival on the Fourth.
We easily found a place to put our chairs on a hillside, got out a cooler, cracked open a beer and watched people dance in front of the Evil City String Band.

Evil City String Band

After awhile, we walked through the woods to the second venue, the Tiger Maple Stage and listened to Clay Hess.  It's a great place, in the woods, and about fifty people were seated on benches and picnic tables, listening.  We eventually walked back to our seats, pulled out our sub sandwich and ate, waiting for the next group to get  their sound system working.  Around 7:30, the sounds were right, and the Claire Lynch Band took off.  She is a three time Grammy Winner, in the Blue grass category I assume and she has that great country western twang to her voice that is so recognizable.  We, of course, had never heard of her but liked both her and her band.  They played for a good hour and, unfortunately, was not the kind of band that got people dancing, more ballads then high energy Bluegrass.  Their performance was marred, however, by three seven year olds, turning somersaults and dancing as they played.  At first, they were cute, then annoying, and finally were told to move on.  I felt like an old fart but they were a bother.

Claire Lynch Band

Around 9:00, we had enough Bluegrass, so we packed up and started walking back to the car, the night just beginning to darken, the Night Lights coming on. They do have an amazing forest of lights which we have visited before and the venue itself is lit up colorfully, so the night is a special time.  A golf car, driven by one of the volunteers, offered us a ride to our car, which we accepted.  And we drove home in the pitch dark, as out in farm country, there are few lights to mar the night sky.  We were home by 9:30 to read some, then go to bed.