#25 Boston - Past Unadilla to the Finger Lakes - November 27 2006

Ever heard of Unadilla? Me neither until yesterday on my journey from Boston to upstate New York when I zipped past the lovely hamlet of Unnnnnadilllllla (this is how I pronounce it). Nothing particular happened there, but I took a liking to the name, and kept saying it over and over. I did that mostly to keep myself awake as I had started out in Boston on Thanksgiving morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM - Oscar and tons of luggage included - to spent the holiday with my cousins near Ithaca. It had been a wise decision to leave on Thursday rather than on Wednesday when six million cars would be fighting for road space. To say I was tired would be an understatement, I was just glad that I did not fall asleep on a toilet during one of my rest stops or was found by highway patrol on the side of the road slouched over and drooling all over the steering wheel.

The car was cozy and warm, which was good for Oscar who seemed to enjoy the car ride very much, but the sauna-like atmosphere in no small part contributed to my comatose state of mind. Good thing there were no other cars around, at times I seemed to be the only one driving on I-88, which reminded me a bit of early horror movies where people drive along lonely roads and then get eaten by zombies roaming the countryside of rural Pennsylvania or New York State for that matter.

I got here in a jiffy, 6 hours on the nose, and had to take a little rest in the afternoon, as I had not gotten enough downtime the night before. Work had been busy this week, the post-conference follow-up was and is in full swing, there was a honorary dinner for my boss at the very swanky Harvard Faculty Club and just for fun I threw in an upper endoscopy. The results were good, I seem to simply have a mild gastritis and the docs are investigating to see if some not-so-friendly bacteria are at it again. The procedure happened the afternoon before the fancy schmancy dinner, which I thought was quite a good scheduling arrangement. Aside from tea for breakfast I had not been allowed to eat or drink anything since the evening prior, and come mid-day I was ready to eat my shoes. Having a four-course meal waiting for me seemed quite the appropriate reward for such serious deprivation.

I was glad to be able to escape my house this time, as the heat is still not working, and efforts are ongoing to determine what little sensor in the heating system is the culprit. I have the meekest of heater fans in the kitchen directed straight at Oscar, so that that little tropical companion of mine does not freeze to death, I myself huddle underneath a blanket with a hot water bottle. Fortunately, we have not yet experienced the for New England typical glacial temperatures, and I am hoping for at least a couple of mild days next week until the heater is back in action.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday with my mom's cousin Barbara, her husband Frank, her daughter Emily and husband Peter from Oregon, her daughter Rebecca and youngest son Dawson, her daughter Maria and fiancée Dave, and of course the menagerie of Stanley, the dog, Goblin and Thurman, the cats, and Oscar, the bird. The food was perfect and for once I did not eat so much that I had to open any buttons or buy pants a size larger the day after. I crashed pretty much at 8 PM, with that little sleep and that much food there was no way my body was not going to collapse into a stupor. I think I must have slept somewhere between 10 and 12 hours last night, and despite my restraint at the table, the amount of delicacies I ingested must have affected my sleep, as I dreamed I was attending a Republican convention and seemed to be obsessed with searching for some decent ice cream.

We had a fabulous day today - tons of sunshine, tons of fun activities, the highlight being a visit to the Sheldrake Point Winery (www.sheldrakepoint.com) where Maria's fiancée Dave is the resident winemaker. It is located most picturesquely at Cayuga Lake near Ithaca and was built on the grounds of a former dairy farm. Barbara and I learned tons about Rieslings (their forte) and the very distinguished ice wines, explored the wine bottling machine, and got a lesson on how to correctly taste wine (there was quite some spitting involved). We tasted some still-fermenting Riesling (just like the Federweisser in Germany, excellent). This wine tasting business (with the spitting-out part) is actually not bad for those of us with reflux issues and sensitive stomachs. You get a little of the flavor and the stomach knows nothing of it. However, try to explain that to the police officer who stops you and smells the wine on your breath..... "I swear officer, I spit it all out.....". (Well maybe I did not spit it all out, at $60 dollars a split (half-bottle) and out-of-this-world taste, ice wine should not be spat out, period.)

Following the tasting, Barbara, David and I took Ella for a spin over to Seneca Lake (http://www.fingerlakes.com/seneca.htm) to visit "Dano's Heuriger" (www.http://www.danosonseneca.com/). A rather non-descript venue from the outside, you enter into a tastefully decorated interior with cheerful colors, and a spectacular view of the lake. Featuring Hungarian-Austrian cuisine, chef Dano Hutnik dazzles with an Austrian style tapas menu, and in particular the spreads (pumpkin seed oil, gorgonzola, horseradish -walnut) must be sampled. The deserts were in an equally celestial category - do try the Linzertorte if you go there! Promise?

It is evening now, I just returned from two jogs, first a couple of miles by myself and then a little tour with Stanley who is amazingly spry for a 17-year old dog and who only once in a while gets a little distracted by a good smell or two. Oscar is chirping behind me along with Van Cliburn playing Mozart's Kleine Nachtmusik. He seems to be amazingly unaware of the dangers lurking in this house, in particular Goblin the cat has been staring at him, and a couple times was found with his nose right next to the cage. Oscar has been constantly surrounded by his human bodyguards and today had the run of the house by himself while the cats where sent outside for frolicking in the sun.

I have to go now, dinner awaits - have a nice weekend everyone! Walk off those calories will ya?

Pet?