Day, the Twenty Ninth
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Well, I'm not actually parting don't worry. (Or maybe you felt relief there for a moment.)
On this, our penultimate reflection of the daily November writing month and Substack experiment, it feels appropriate to begin wrapping up with a little recap. When we began this little random trot through the month, I wasn't sure exactly how this would all go and even what exactly I'd write about. Turns out I had more than enough. So much in fact, that I didn't have a chance to get to a couple stories I'd still like to tackle.
For example, making a hundred year old ketchup recipe with Little Bean. (We still haven't found the recipe.)
Or visiting the gravity capital of New Hampshire. Or I have a whole thing in my head about tacos. And boundary markers. And Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing" from 1936. And I saw this cool picture of Miss American from 1914. And I wanted to write about library maker spaces. And drones. Also, I'm sort of embarressed I never got to writing anything about Bob Dylan. I always come back to Bob Dylan.
And honestly, I have this picture of an abandoned motorcycle Little Bean and I found and I just couldn't fit it in. It's super cool, though, isn't it?
So, yeah, there's always something.
For now though, I appreciate your attention and I know you're reading, or so the engagement statistics tell me. It appears you like food stories. And history. And New Hampshire related musings do better than not. Finally, the longer essays didn't do as well so I'm guessing you like short little gulps to consume with your morning coffee? I can work with that.
After tomorrow we'll take a little break and then come back with a regular schedule. Maybe two freebies a week and then a third for subscribers? Let me give it a bit more thought.
But, until then, Little Bean and I will conclude the month tomorrow on a big note - just for you all, we'll present the cover of our brand spanking new field guide "NH Rocks That Rock: Memorial Stones." This will be volume 2 in our four-part rocks series. The book will be available in time for the 2023 hiking season, so May of next year. But you'll have a chance to reserve a copy tomorrow. We can't wait to see what you all think!
And of course, please share, tell your friends, make suggestions, and we'll see you tomorrow for our grand November finale!
Ack! A friend ended up emailing me their neighbor's tomato ketchup recipe but I totally forgot to forward it to you until I read your post just now. SO sorry! Here it is:
Two dozen big tomatoes, crushed
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 ½ cups white vinegar
1 Tbsp. paprika or cayenne pepper
Bouquet garni containing 1 tsp. mustard seed, 1 tsp. whole allspice, 1 broken cinnamon stick, and 2 tsp. celery seed
Cook tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper until tender, then puree in a blender or run through a food mill. Simmer for about an hour, stirring regularly, until vegetable mixture thickens and reduces by about a half. Add salt, sugar, and bouquet garni and cook another 20-30 minutes. Add vinegar and paprika. Continue cooking and stirring until thickened. Add salt to taste. Some people also add a bit of lemon juice for more sourness.
You had better not be "parting"! Your stories are great, whether funny, reflective, educational, ... I had a wide variety that I like. I even like the long ones, but sometimes can't seem to fit in the really long ones, especially if they are very thoughtful ones - maybe thinking that deeply scares me a bit. I'm very glad you took the November challenge and I hope the ones I had to skip but left in my inbox will still be available for when life isn't so challenging. Keep writing, Dan. It's great. (And a friend of mine here was born and raised in Buffalo, too!)