Jaques Pepin's Gratin of Butternut Squash for Thanksgiving 2020

Butternut squash.                 Photo copyright Gary Walts 2020

Just made Jaques Pepin's Gratin of Butternut Squash for our Thanksgiving dinner in the year of the Covid 19 pandemic:2020 I was visiting the artist Tom "Captain Honk" Bintz at his home on Pillar Point in northern NY and found this recipe in a cook book by Pepin. It's quite simple & delicious. Just 5 ingredients.

You peel and seed the squash then slice it into 1/4 or 1/8th inch or so pieces. The same as if you were making scalloped potatoes. 

Peel & slice the squash. I like cooking with beer. This IPA is from Big Tupper Brewing Co located in New York State's Adirondack Mountains.    photo by Gary Walts

Place the pieces into a pan & cover with water. Boil the squash for 2 minutes. Drain in a colander. 

Boil the squash for 2 minutes then drain well in a colander.        Photo copyright Gary Walts 2020

Transfer the squash to an oven roof dish. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt & half teaspoon of pepper on it. Pour 12 ounces of heavy cream over it. Stir it about some with a fork. Then lay 6 tablespoons of shredded parmesan cheese over it. Pepin's recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of the cheese, but in my opinion that simply isn't enough. Put the dish in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes and it should come out fantastic. 

Jaques Pepin's Gratin of Butternut Squash, This dish was simple, quick to make, delicious as can be, and was a hit for Thanksgiving 2020.                   Photo copyright Gary Walts

Halloween 2020 in the year of COVID 19

Jack O Lantern carved by son -in- law D at our house in Chaumont, NY. Founders All Day IPA. Halloween 2020.                                                     photo by Gary Walts

Halloween in Chaumont, NY, during this COVID 19 year. We were wondering what kind of turnout we would have for Trick or Treaters. Year in and year out we average about 100. I think our highest year was 115. A slow year would be 85. Most years we get a 90 to 100. Anyhow, not knowing what to expect we got prepared for 110 trick or treaters, knowing full well it would likely be slow because of the Corona Virus. We counted 53 last night. Half of a normal year.

We had a small family group here, 7 of us. The Better Half & I, her older daughter's family  of four, and a girlfriend of one of the grand sons. We had a great time. Food was Hanky Pankys, Roasted corn dip, a bar-b q beef dip, chicken wing dip, cheese & salami platter, meatballs & Italian sausage. Various beers, crackers and cherry mojitos. We also had a nice wood fire going in the backyard. The weather was pretty nice, a little cooler than some recent years, in the mid 40's. 

Halloween 2020, year of the COVID Virus. Phot of our house in Chaumont, NY. We had 53 trick or treaters this year, half of what we normally get.                                                 photo by Gary Walts

Friday Jan 25 What a day: snow shovelling, home heating oil, flooded basement, guitar gig

Yesterday was a particularly busy day during which a strange thing occurred. We got some snow overnight, not much, maybe 3 inches. So I went out and shoveled the driveway and walks. Good way to get some exercise & fresh air. Then I brought some firewood in. Had a great breakfast of eggs, bacon & potatoes courtesy of the Better Half. I then set about getting my guitar gig equiment in order and sitting through some sheet music, prepping for a coffee house gig at Bay House Artisans in Alexandria Bay, NY.  The gig was from 6-9:00. About 2:30 a knock on the door. It was the truck driver for Philly Fuels. He was supposed to top off the fuel oil tanks at the neighbors house across the street. Instead filled up ours. 200 gallons. We didnt expect that but decided the easiest thing was to pay him for the oil and absorb the unexpected expense. Then he went across the street and filled the neighbor up.
Then he was back at our door. His company told him he had to inspect our fuel oil tanks. This is a liability thing with the oil companies. They will not deliver oil to you the first time without inspecting your equipment. We never had Philly Fuels deliver to us before so the company was concerned. Anyhow, I took to the back of the house and went into the basement and WOW: Our basement was knee deep in water. Had the driver not mistakenly filled our tanks I never would have caught this flood until  I don't when. I don't go into the basement every day.

This unexpected crisis now added something more to my day to deal with. It turned out that the hose came disconnected to the sump pump. It was fairly easy to clamp it back on and get it up an running again. by the time I go home form the guitar gig the basement was almost all dry again.

Feathers & Wood photo I made today August 17, 2020

Feathers & Wood photo I made today August 17, 2020.

We had a terrific thunder & lightning storm in Chaumont, NY last night. It was like something from a Hollywood monster movie. In the backyard this morning I spotted these two bird feathers on a piece of wood. Snapped it with my iPhone, sent it to Instagram. Here is the final result:

Feathers & Wood, iPhone photo filtered with Instagram. August 17, 2020  photo copyright Gary Walts 2020

Here is the uncrossed original straight out of the iPhone:

Feathers & Wood, iPhone photo, Chaumont, NY, August 17, 2020.   photo copyright Gary Walts 2020

Baby Robin leaves it's nest Chaumont, NY Sony a6000 photo

I snapped a photo of this babyRobin at our home in the village of Chaumont, NY. It had just left it's nest that was on our side porch. I used a Sony a6000 camera with a Minolta 200mm f2.8 lens. It was mounted on the camera with the Sony LA-EA 4 adapter.

Baby Robin photographed with.Sony a6000 camera with a Minolta 200mm f2.8 lens  photo copyright  Gary Walts 2020

That lens is incredibly sharp.

Gary Walts' Scholastic Gold Key Award winning photo from 1972

Scholastic Art Gold Key Award photo by Gary Walts, 1971-72, a student at Indian River High School
Philadelphia, NY.  "This was the first recognition I received for my photography," Gary Walts. 

I won a Scholastic Gold Key Award for this photo in the Scholastic Art Awards competition when I was a senior at Indian River Central School, Philadelphia, NY. My photography teacher was Bill Geller. This was the first recognition I received for my photography. The photo was in a group exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. The photo was a slide sandwich. That is, 2 slides, one placed atop the other, similar to a multiple exposure. One was the silhouetted figure and page wire fence. The other was a piece of black slide film that I burned with a cigarette lighter on the emulsion side. The burning created the abstract pattern & colors that you see. A few years ago I came upon the "sandwich" and the burnt piece of film had become very brittle and it partially crumbled. Bummer, I thought, but I know somewhere I have the original exhibition print. Well, low & behold, as I am pawing around in my archives I found an internegative I had made of the sandwich! I couldn't believe it! I had forgotten all about it. So I scanned that negative, restored the color & sharpness with Photoshop & here it is.

WEATHER PHOTO: March 1986, Old fellow in doorway, Watertown, N.Y.

Weather Photo,

March 1986. Man standing in doorway of Book World, Watertown, N.Y. This was
a typical weather feature I would shoot for the Post-Standard newspaper.
photo copyright Gary Walts 2020

I took this photo in March of 1986. The man wouldn't tell me his name but was fine with publishing it in the Post-Standard. After it appeared in the paper Moe Hunt

I believe people thought the newspaper should just give them prints as a little compensation for appearing in it. After all, the newspaper made a lot of money and could afford it. However, I was a freelancer in those days and I had to make the prints myself, in my own darkroom. I wasn't compensated in any way by the paper for making those prints. This was during the "starving artist" period of my life.

This photo was made with a Minolta x700 35mm camera, 200mm lens, Alford HP5 film.

January 3 2020 Looking for pain relief from shingles

The shingles linger. Periodically through the day pain and itching flare up, often intensely . Severe. IT gets tiresome day after day.

Yesterday I went to Samaratin emergency room to see if there was something they might prescribe. The prednisone that I have been taking for 4 days doesn't seem to have helped.

The ER was so busy and the flu season rather severe, I chickened out and went home. It was mid afternoon.

Today I sleep later than I like because I was awake much of night with shingles pain. I never gt to the ER until 10:30. Not as busy as yesterday. I worry about exposing myself to so many seek people in one location.

Eventually I am prescribed Naproxin. Also told to try an over the counter Capsaicin cream

But most of the day the pain I experienced was not too bad. No more than. level 3. Easy enough to put up with.

7:30 in evening & suddenly pain starts. It is intense. I take a Naproxin pill. I coat the area of my skin with the C cream.

The pain is so bad until just about 9:30. By 10:00pm it has subsided and is now bearable.

I believe the hospital/Drs are reluctant to prescribe any narcotics, nor am I anxious to use them. But at the height of tonights pain I was wishing I had some.

If the docs N nurses had seen me I'm sure that would prescribe something of that sort.