Up North

So I'm heading out into the woods tomorrow. Finally for a period longer than a 3-day week-end. Got plans to do things like build a funky woodshed, repair stuff, hike around, maybe even fish; although fishing to me is almost as much work as felling trees and splitting firewood, which I really do enjoy. Gotta check out the beaver pond on the back forty and see if the water level as risen enough to give the beavs any problem with their dams. They have two dams now within 20 feet of each other. The lower one captures a small tributary that flows in, very slowly, beneath the much larger structure so they have created a rather sizable body of water. There is a convenient tree to lean back on there and just soak it all in. Total nature immersion. And there are no invasive species (save for me) that I recognize. No buckthorn, honeysuckle, wild grape or locust. Just sugar maple, birch, oak, alder and basswood. And blueberries, wintergreen, lycopodium, mosses, lichen and rocks. And deerflies and mosquitos at certain times, too. Keeps out the riff-raff. But the sandhill crane family, loons, turkeys and bald eagles offset the insects, somewhat. And we have a sizeable black bear hanging around the neighborhood, too.

The moon is waxing and I'll be up there when it's full on the 28th. Won't see as many stars but I'll be able to walk around at night without a flashlight. Of course, its likely to be overcast and, therefore, no night sky to speak of. But I have a lot to read (current novel: Orhan Pamuk's "The Black Book) and a lot to ponder...and hummingbirds to feed.

ट्रांस्लितेरेशन Transliteration

Transliteration...or, how did I acquire the ability to render this in Hindi? Threw me off my game. Changed the title from something about crickets. Finally figured it out. दुह । Crickets are almost constant now here in southern Wisconsin। They ratchet up their sawsound about the time the back-to-school sales begin and football news starts crowding the pennant races। But I am sadly unilingual and am as likely to carry on a conversation in a language other than English as carry on a discourse with crickets. You know the joke ( I heard it in the film The Blue Diner ): You ask "what do you call someone who speaks two languages?"; the answer, of course, is 'bilingual'. Then you ask the same for three languages, answer; trilingual. Many languages? Multilingual. Then you ask "what do you call someone who speaks and understands one language? The answer..."American". There are those "americans" who are so obsessesed with creating a law that would make English the national language. Must be because its the only one we know. Its kinda hard calling someone who speaks or understands more languages than you, ignorant.

Speaking of cultural differences...what's up with americans and anise? Anise, fennel or licorice, that wonderful, universal flavor whether from licorice root or anise/fennel plant, shows up just about everywhere I've traveled or sampled off liquor store shelves but it is getting more difficult to find even a Twizzler licorice in a convenience store or pitstop anymore. And "red licorice" is not licorice, godammit. Italy even had licorice Skittles! And in different flavors. Consider mint licorice. Alcoholwise, Italy has Sambuco; France, Pernod; Turkey, Raki; Greece, Ouzo. What does America have? Anisette. Little more than a flavoring agent. And for what? There seems to be a national aversion to anise flavored anything. At least in the mass market. And why? As a nation of immigrants why hasn't anise stayed with the population. Could it be that immigrants weren't fleeing religious persecution or economic disasters but anise? Sometimes I wonder...