To my grandfather (on left), who fought in WWII and loved every single minute.  Known to most as George, or as my grandmother called him “Bum” (not sure why!), he was better known to me as Poppy. My grandmother captured his journey in this lovely hand-painted album. I’m not sure what the significance of this album coming from “Green Cove Springs, Fla.” is exactly. I thought maybe he was stationed there or trained there, but inside the cover there is an inscription that says otherwise. So, that part will remain a mystery. (Although in a footnote below I did find some information connected to WWII there.) Maybe he shipped out from there?

Above is the inscription page and in case you can’t read it here it what it says in my grandmother’s handwriting:

“S/Sgt. George Sherow 32947541 CO. H. 328th Inf. A.P.O. 26
Entered U. S. Army Dec. 3, 1943.
Trained at Camp Wolters, Texas & Camp Shelby, Miss.
Home on furlough May 1944.
Last 12 hr. pass Aug. 14, 1944
Left for overseas Aug. 1944
With the 26th Yankee Division through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria & Czeck.
Wounded in action Dec. 1944 awarded Purple Heart.
Also holds combat infantryman badge and E. T. O (?) ribbons with four battle stars. (Note: I think E. T. stand for European Theater Ribbon.)
Awarded Silver Star for gallantry in action.
Home after 15 months overseas.
Discharged November 13th, 1945

At the top of the page is written “arrived in States Nov 8 -45. Home Nov 45 on Howard Victory.”

This silly photo is marked “Taken in Texas 1943” on the back, so it must have been when he was first in boot camp. I think the horse is real, but who knows? Eh, caballero!

Here he is with my grandmother. The date on the back is ” May 1944,” so I am thinking this was his furlough.

The album is full of photos of war time events and people. The names, meaningless to me, are written under the photos of long ago war time buddies. Countries are documented as they made their way across Europe.

I remember my grandfather telling stories about the war and having met General Patton himself and what a great man and leader he was. I thought it was interesting how he wrote on these photos where Patton was in these two shots. He’s in there somewhere, we just have to trust Poppy.

Also Patton related were several post cards of the famous Lipizzaner stallions marked “Horse show in Vienna,” and this one marked “Patton’s Horse.”

Now, I doubt this is really Patton’s own horse but there is some reason the photo is labelled that way, both on the back and underneath. Patton did indeed attend a show of the Lipizzaner stallions while in Vienna (and it would seem the two photos above were taken at that very same event!) and was paramount in their rescue during the war.  Here is a link to that story.

A few other pages in the album are worth another look. This one with a ticket from the mess hall stating that the first meal was at 7:30 a.m. and the second was at 4:30 p.m. That seems pretty early to eat in the evening for a hungry soldier! Also on this page, an Army exchange ration card.

One with photos of Austria and a row of stamps with Hitler’s image. Note the inscription under the stamps!

Another page has clippings from the newspaper of his promotions and medals.

Accompanying the album is a small box marked “medals.” I could swear there used to be a paper inside this box that told about his Purple Heart but it’s not there now.

Also in the box is this silver dollar. The note attached to it says “this dollar went with Poppy overseas and came back with him as you can see by all he wrote on it.” It was his good luck dollar, and everywhere he went he wrote his destination.

And last but not least, the box also contained this newsletter which must have been printed on the ship home—The Howard Victory.

And here they are on the ship home. (Poppy is in the middle of the three men.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed your peek into this wonderful album my grandparents left behind. I know I’ve learned a few things I overlooked before.

On this day, thank you Poppy for your commitment to your country. I’m proud of you!

Thanks to all who serve: past, present and future.

Not much going on around here lately. We spent a quiet weekend doing mostly chores. Saturday we finished stacking the two cords of wood, so now we’re ready for colder weather. Our weather over the weekend, however, was balmy and sunny—and mid 60’s! Now, I ask you Mother Nature, why couldn’t you have given us this weather earlier on so the trees would have been happier? Speaking of the trees, that’s another time consuming chore. I ran Johnny over the yard again to mulch the final leaves that had fallen and Rick did leaf blowing duty in various spots. The big oak in the back yard still has leaves, so I’ll wait until they drop to go over the back yard once more and then it will be time for us to change out the mowing deck for the snow blower.

We did take time out on Sunday morning to take the dogs for a walk on the old Jungle Habitat grounds. Not much remains of the old enclosures except some fencing and tall, heavy wrought steel gates. Some of them look like they used to keep T-Rexes and velociraptors captive. You just have to use your imagination. But in reality, where lions, tigers, and elephants used to roam there are now only squirrels, chipmunks, deer and bear, bicyclists and dog walkers. The dogs love it because they can be off-lead, meet other dogs and people. On this walk we didn’t see any other dogs.

I hadn’t realized there was so much bittersweet growing here! It covered the trees. Next time I come I’m bringing my garden clipper so I can take some home with me! I know it’s parasitic but it’s so pretty.

And talking about parasitic ... the vines here are pretty creepy. They take over the trees.

This one looks like it created a loop to catch someone or something in.

The bark of some kind of birch tree glowing silvery-gold in the sun.

A watering hole along the way is always a good thing Bella says.

The moon looks like it’s being embraced by the tree branches, don’t you think?

We do a loop of about a mile and a half. It’s a nice walk along the abandoned road system with some short climbs. The dogs were pooped when we got home and slept while Rick and I did the outside chores. A very full weekend of just “stuff.”

Our autumn was pretty disappointing this year. Too much rain I guess. The colors were not brilliant. Most the of the trees went right into ochres, burnt siennas, and umber colors. Very dull and muted. A lot of the leaves fell off before achieving full color. A few days ago the sun came out and I took a drive down by Monksville Reservoir to see if any color had survived the wind and rain of last weekend. I found some at Long Pond Ironworks that I’d like to share, especially since it’s foggy and drizzly here this morning.

One of the things to truly shine this year were the burning bushes. They waited until the trees had lost most of their leaves so they could steal the whole show.

I give you Magenta Pink. (with a little reddish orange mixed in)

 

 

 

Orange.

 

 

Red.

 

 

 

Panoramic view from Bully Hill Winery

Warning! Wine Overload Ahead!

Keuka (pronounced Kook-a) Lake was definitely our favorite of the lakes we visited. It had a cozy, homey feel to it, mostly due to its narrowness and thickly wooded hillsides. Keuka is shaped like a slightly crooked Y with long narrow fingers. To the Seneca natives that lived in the region long before the white man arrived on the scene, Keuka meant “canoe landing.” The early settlers tried to change the name to Crooked Lake but it didn’t stick. Many places around the lake still reference “Crooked Lake” in their names. Whatever you call it, it’s just plain beautiful.  We started on the west side of the lake and worked our way south.

Small vacation (and permanent) homes lined the lake’s shore. Most had boat docks, and some had decks that literally hung out over the water.

We left the highway that hugged the shore and headed straight up (literally) the hill toward the wineries. The thick woods gave way to bits of meadow and rows of vines.

 

A few clusters of grapes were still clinging to the vines.

Some land did double duty and a few hay bales shared space with the vines.

Our first stop was Dr. Konstantin Frank, known for their award winning wines and champagne. Their tasting room overlooks the lake. Too bad it doesn’t have a better view.

 

 

 

The person pouring the various wines at our tasting was very knowledgeable. I don’t know exactly what you would call such a person. Certainly not a “pourer”; perhaps as husband Rick suggested “a tasting consultant”? The tasting varied from winery to winery too. Some charged a fee of $2.00 per person or $5.00 per person. Some were complimentary. Usually you could taste up to five wines, but if they saw you were serious about wine and not just there for the buzz, they generally tended to pour you a few extras. Dr. Frank’s happened to be one of those places where the tasting was complimentary. I think they had the best wines. Glenora’s were good too (we think their reds were overall the best of those we tasted), but Dr. Frank’s wines were more complex. There are also one of only two wineries to grow the Rkatsiteli grape variety, one of the oldest varieties known to man, from Russia and Georgia. Very intriguing taste.

We asked our “tasting consultant” about places for lunch and mentioned that we were heading down to Bully Hill Winery next for a tasting. She wrinkled up her nose and gave a shake of her head regarding their wines, but told us that their restaurant was excellent. She turned out to be right on both counts.

After Dr. Frank’s we continued on top of the hillside to this view of the lake.

Bully Hill’s location and view of the lake is nothing short of stupendous! Lunch was delightful and the best meal we had. A Maryland Blue Crab cake nestled on top of a grilled portabello mushroom with a side cucumber salad. Yum! We did the tasting and found the contrast between upscale, classy Dr. Frank’s wine discussion and the comedic, canned spiel of the man behind the tasting counter at Bully Hill (I refuse to call him a tasting consultant!) about as black and white as you could get. Okay, he was funny, I’ll give him that. Well, funny almost to the point of being crass. Especially when he pulled out the souvenir underwear for sale in their gift shops and told a few borderline jokes about them. And, oh yes, they glow in the dark ladies and gents! They charged us $5.00 for this “show.” The wines, you ask? How can I put this kindly. Don’t bother. When he poured a sample of their Banty Red and we checked out its “nose” I just looked at Rick and tried not to laugh. When it hit my mouth all I tasted was grape juice. Pure and simple; not even fermented. What was left in my glass went not-so-discretely into the not-worth-finishing-bucket. ugh. They do have a sense of humor about it all and their labels are artistic and very creative. Needless to say, we walked out without buying any wine. No underwear either. I did, however, buy my sister a Christmas gift there and now I bet she can’t wait! (hehehe)

On to Pleasant Valley Wine Company where we just missed the tour. This is the oldest winery in the Finger Lakes region. Established in 1860, the winery proudly displays the designation U.S. Bonded Winery No. 1 and has eight remarkable stone buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But having missed the tour we didn’t see all the stone buildings but we had a “private” tasting since no one else was around. The tasting room is located in a old stone building (naturally) with a small wine museum. It was dark and castle-y feeling. When we walked up to the large bar for some reason I was reminded of the scene in the movie The Shining where Jack Nicholas walks up to the bar and the “ghost” bartender grins. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the lighting because the “tasting consultant” was certainly not scary. He was very nice and we learned (through the course of asking what the winters were like) that he had grown up in Hammondsport, moved to Dallas, TX and only recently moved “back home” and was hoping to “nurture his inner chef” by opening up a restaurant.

Pleasant Valley is known for their champagnes under the Great Western label. One we tasted we didn’t like very well, but the other was very good. We didn’t taste any wines (no charge for the tasting) except for dessert wine. Now, mind you, neither one of us is a sweet wine drinker but he thought we might like his suggestions of Keuka Blue and Chocolate Lab. All I can say is wow. Keuka Blue is port based, but with a slight blueberry flavor. Oh my. Then came Chocolate Lab (with a cute chocolate lab puppy face on the label), which is a concord grape wine with natural chocolate flavor. Oh. My. Goodness times three. I know it sounds strange having concord grape wine (all I can think of is the Mogan David wines—yuck) combined with chocolate, but you just have to taste it!  Then he went on to pour a splash of their late harvest Strawberry Zinfandel wine in Rick’s Chocolate Lab, and a splash of their late harvest Blackberry Merlot wine into mine. Swoon. Like I said, we are not sweet wine drinkers but this was a delicious combination!! Suffice it to say that we fell for it. Yes, we did purchase a few bottles at this establishment. From here we headed up the eastern shore of Keuka Lake.

Our last stop on our list was the McGregor Vineyard and Winery. We had read about their Black Russian Red wine made from two grape varieties (Saperavi and Sereksiya Charni) that are typically grown in Eastern Europe. McGregor’s is the only winery in North America to produce this wine, so we had to try it. Tastings are done seated at rustic tables and cost $5.00 per person. They do bring you a little plate of “goodies” to pair with your wine. They say it’s to bring out the flavors in the wine but frankly I think it’s because they want you to buy those very same goodies for sale in their gift shop. Anyway, I’m getting off the point. Once seated the winery dogs came to pay a visit. Chester, the Portuguese Water Dog, was quite the beggar. Little Max of the Heinz 57 variety liked to lay under the tables and snooze. We tasted a few whites that simply did not have the complexity or body to them that Dr. Frank’s had. McGregor’s also grows the same Rkatsiteli grape that Dr. Frank’s does only they blend it. We didn’t think it was as good either. Ditto on their Pinot Noirs. Just not enough there. The Black Russian Red was the last to be tasted and finally, something that did not disappoint. Very impressive. We only bought one bottle (the Black Russian Red) and it was the most expensive bottle we purchased on the whole trip.

On our way back I snapped these two photos from the car. I had been seeing this particular architecture in several towns and was curious about the style. Victorian? but not classically so. The squareness of the houses coupled with the cupolas on top are curious to me. (Oh boy. Coupled with cupolas? I must be punch drunk from all this writing.) What were the cupolas intended to be? I think these were in Seneca Falls, but it wasn’t the only town that featured them.

And that, dear readers, concludes our trip to the Finger Lakes. I hope you enjoyed the ride! Sorry for such a long post about nothing much but wine, but I wanted to get it all done in one blog post. As it is it took me most of the day in fits and starts! I’m so cross-eyed now I can’t see, so if you find any spelling errors please forgive me. I’m hitting the “publish” button.

Next I’ll be sharing the last of New Jersey’s fall colors (well, one main color really—magenta pink) with you.