Yesterday was Billie’s birthday. Her 50th birthday. She wanted to see a movie. We searched the various local movie listings, and Billie found a trailer for Young @ Heart, which was playing at the Little Theater.

So that’s what we went to see.

Here’s a recommendation for you: See it.

See it especially if you want a little inspiration. See it if you want to understand the human spirit and the strength of optimism. See it because it’s just outstanding documentary film making. See it because you’ll meet a cast of people you will want to meet and know in real life.

Young @ Heart is a chorus of older people — average age 80, according to the movie — who love life, love to sing and specialize in singing rock and roll, even punk rock.

The movie documents a seven week period in which the chorus prepares for a new tour. It shows their struggles to learn new songs, reveals bits of background of select members, and takes you some of the sorrow that goes with a group of elderly people bonding (friends die, you know).

YouTube is full of Young @ Heart videos. I could show you I Want to Be Sedated, or Fix You (one of the emotional peaks of the movie), Golden Years, Road to Nowhere, or this cool home movie of David Byrne singing with Young @ Heart. But I’m going to show you “Staying Alive,” because it captures the fun spirit of this group and features my favorite singer from the chorus (and after writing that, I actually watched the version on YouTube — it’s longer than the movie, as it contains a great, and I mean great, take on “I Will Survive.”

You can buy the movie poster: YOUNG AT HEART DS ADVANCE POSTER

Maybe it’s just me, but the most difficult rose I’ve ever dealt with is the Double Delight.

It’s a very popular rose. The bloom is a beautifully white and pink and the perfume is strong and sweet, hence the name (rose pictured is not from my garden).

In Bakersfield, I found the plant was a little susceptible to powdery mildew — not much, but some, so I sprayed it. Every part of the plant hit by the spray became burned. I had leaves and canes dabbled with black. It survived, but it was ugly for half a season.

One of the first plants I bought last year, however, was a Double Delight.

Because Western New York is a more humid climate than Bakersfield, the powdery mildew problem last year was particularly difficult.

Three weeks ago, I started on a weekly spraying regime — insecticide, herbicide and liquid fertilizer — as recommended by the owner of Carey Lake.

I’ve had some leaves on the DD completely burn off.

I’ve also found that this plant, like the one in Bakersfield, really only produces useful cuttings — strong, leafy stems — early in its growing cycle. The next flush of flowers are on weaker stems with fewer leaves near the flower (which makes for a less attractive display).

But like I said, maybe it’s just me.

My search for what other rose growers were saying about Double Delight, turned up this forum, where most users rated the rose high and said it’s very easy to grow.

This comment, for example, contradicts everything I just said:

If you want a hybrid tea that doesn’t ever need spraying, even in my hot, humid, steamy climate I never spray, try Double Delight. Even when I had to in WAY too much shade it never got icky looking. It didn’t grow and it didn’t bloom much but it never got bad looking. Wonderful rose to look at, has an out of this world true “tea rose” scent and is easy on top of every…

But neither am I alone in my experience:

This is a cut Double Delight. It seems to be a bit tender. All three bushes got burned a little when i sprayed them with a light spray of Ultra-fine when nothing else got hurt. They did fine with Immunox though… and they did clean up well. The repeat, like most of my HT’s isnt as fast as i would like, but the first flush was great.

So I guess I need to find some Immunox.

This DVD looks interesting: Growing Good Roses

In my short life, four people have died who continue to haunt my memories.

My grandfather died when I was 18 and stationed at Loring AFB in Maine. I remember a year or so later visiting my grandmother’s house and going through his garage and looking at all his mechanic tools, and being haunted by his presence.

During college, my girlfriend’s sister died in a flash flood. I cried at that funeral. I never understood why. I barely knew her. The one thing I remember is that she said I was a “good egg.”

I’ve blogged about Buddy Blue a few times. He wasn’t my closest friend, but he was a friend, and he never got his due as a songwriter and musician. I loved our e-mail exchanges about music. I still miss him. During a recent trip to Orlando, his version of “St. James Infirmary” popped up on my iPod. I listened to it about 15 times. I’ll take his version of that classic over any other, including Cab Calloway, any time.

And Eric Show.

Eric Show was a pitcher for the San Diego Padres. After he was quoted making some especially insulting statement about Alan Wiggins and Tony Gwynn, I wrote him an angry letter (I was in my second year at Point Loma Nazarene College). Eric answered. We exchanged a few more letters. Then we met for lunch. And more letters. Then I stopped by his guitar shop one time and we went for lunch again. We talked on the phone maybe twice.

With that minimal contact, I still considered him a friend.

Then one evening, while watching Star Trek, Channel 51 teased their 10 o’clock news … the announcer said something like, “Padres pitcher found dead,” and the video was of Show, whom I recognized instantly. I burst into tears. It was such a shock.

Show was an interesting and complex person. He was often misunderstood and hence, terribly controversial. I still think most fans, those who even remember him, have a negative perspective on the man. To me, he remains a man to admire. He was an intellectual with varied interest and high ideals.

These thoughts come to me because of a profile of the man on SignOnSanDiego written by Brent Schrotenboer. It’s the best piece about him since a San Diego Reader profile a decade or so ago (Show told me he hated that piece, but it was pretty good).

Related to Schrotenbore’s article is a conversation I had with Show — a very religious man — that has always stuck with me …. Show was convinced he was haunted by demons. And I don’t mean the mental or psychological demons some of us may feel we face from time to time, but real devils out to destroy him. If Show was right, if as Paul preached, there are physical demons out to destroy whatever is good in the world, then that is what took Eric’s life — not drugs … but spiritual powers he could not, for some reason, even with all his faith and prayer, conqueror.

We all have our demons. I just think Eric’s were more real than most. And that is what makes the man such a mystery more than a decade after his death.

Eric Show’s music isn’t available through Amazon, but here’s a record by his former teammate: Tim Flannery & the Enablers

In a previous video, I showed you an area I had rototiled for a flower garden, but said it needed graded.

Two days ago, we had it graded. Here’s the video that shows you a bobcat in action:

The garden will be mostly roses, but we want to plant some Peonies, too. So I guess I’ll need this book at some point: Peonies (Firefly Gardener’s Guide)

The other day, I ran a little video tape during a thunderstorm that hit Pittsford, NY. Just for the fun of it.

Listening to thunderstorms can help you sleep. Here’s a CD: Echoes of Nature: Thunderstorm

This rain we’ve been having the past few days is really screwing up my vacation.

I haven’t spent nearly as much time doing yard work as I intended.

Nor have I done as much fishing as I had hoped.

This evening, I headed out to Oatka Creek. I knew there was a chance of rain, but you can never trust the weatherman in Western New York.

But of course, I wanted to be outside, so of course, it rained.

I was able to throw about 10 casts before being chased back to my truck.

What made the 20-minute drive worthwhile was the chance to commune with nature, so to speak.

Where I entered Oatka was, as it turned out, the location of what I guess is an old mill. (I meant to show you a photo at this point, but Buzznet seems to be screwing with my uploads at the moment). UPDATE: Pictures now available here, here and here.

After i snapped a picture of the ruins, I turned around, looked down into a small ravine and found I was maybe 15 feet from a deer. The deer didn’t even notice me until I turned. I wish I had seen her sooner; I could have gotten a better picture.

The cool thing was, as soon as I saw her, I froze, and so she stopped running, and actually showed interest in coming back to the spot she was feeding. We stood like that for about five minutes … me not moving, her looking towards where I was standing, seemingly unsure if I was really there or not. I wanted her to move closer so I could get a better picture with my iPhone, but she held her ground and I lost my patience. I wanted to fish.

So all I have is the picture inset at the top of this post.

Related DVD: Successful Fly Fishing Strategies

Like HowardOwens.com, registration is now required to comment on Back Channel — and this site gets almost now comments as it is!

I watched a video videos of other guys fly fishing, and found them pretty boring.

This video, is different — the set up and the actual fishing in this rocky river is interesting, but the post-catch footage makes the video. It’s an incredible trout and the guy who caught him treats him with such respect.

Interesting sounding book:  A Wisp in the Wind: In Search of Bull Trout, Bamboo, and Beyond

After watching this video this morning, I spent a good deal of the day practicing tying the knot. It’s very easy, seems very strong and should end my creek-side frustration with the clinch knot.

UPDATE: This note worked great when using practice fly line.  When I tried it with actual tippet material, not so much, at least not for my awkward fingers.

Related book: Fishing Knots: Proven to Work for Light Tackle and Fly Fishing with DVD

In my fly fishing magazine reading, I’ve seen references to the “double haul cast,” but didn’t understand what that meant.

This video explains it. I haven’t had a chance to practice the cast yet.

Related DVD:  Beginning Fly Fishing

I really didn’t understand the “roll cast” until I watched this video. A day after watching it, I can deliver a serviceable roll cast.

Related book:  Troubleshooting the Cast

I haven’t watched part II yet, but of the “how to cast” videos I’ve watched so far, this was the best. That’s probably because there’s more detailed explanation.

Related Book:  Lefty Kreh’s Longer Fly Casting, New and Revised: The Compact, Practical Handbook That Will Add Ten Feet–Or More–To Your Cast

Spring rains hit Western New York last night — a good drenching followed by scattered showers today.

My morning fishing expedition to Irondequoit Creek was a lesson learned — it’s deeper, faster and muddier after a big storm — not great for fishing. During half hour in the stream, I saw no evidence of fish under the surface.

I came home with the intention of mowing the lawn, but then the rains came back.

So I’ve been hanging out around the house, with a good deal of time watching fly fishing videos on YouTube.

The next series of posts will be of some of my favorite videos so far — most of which are training videos.

When it’s wet, waders come in handy: Hodgman Caster Rubber Hip Waders w/ Cleated Soles Green

Long-time friends know, I’ve always been a man of many hobbies.

I’ve played guitar, wrote songs, smoked cigars, run fantasy baseball teams, played golf, collected journalism books, played poker, built model cars and grown roses. Once in my very young life, I even collected stamps. Coins, too.

There was a time when I would throw myself into a hobby and that’s all I would do and approach it with a mindset of “this is my new hobby for life” and all of those other hobbies would be forgotten.

That’s not my way these days.

I kind of keep most of my hobbies going in some form or another — I still have my guitars, and even pick them up once in a while, and I win the occasional poker tournament  and hit (or try) a golf ball around green areas from time-to-time (playing tomorrow, in fact). And the roses are doing great this year.

But a new hobby is creeping into my life: Fly fishing.

Bill Blevins got me started.

After Bill took me out a couple of times (once last fall on Lake Honeoye and once this spring on Irondequoit Creek (Bill’s post with video)), I decided to start assembling my own gear (especially after losing six of Bill’s flies on that last trip — he ties his own). So far I have a cheap fly rod and reel, some flies in a box, Wal-Mart waders and a straw hat (subject of future post: How to get into fly fishing on the cheap).

I’ve been to Irondequoit twice on my own.

No caching yet. Just fishing.

Last night my wife asked me why I want to fly fish, do I think I’ll enjoy it and do I enjoy it?

Here’s pretty much how I answered the question:

• My motivation isn’t to be the best fly fisherman; at this point I’m not even motivated to catch anything (though, I certainly want to — why else throw your line in the water);
• I love living in Western New York. There’s so much nature, so much open space, such a vibrancy and variety of living things (which is why I’m also getting into native plants). Fishing is a relaxing thing to do out in parks. It’s always a way to learn more about and explore New York.
• It might be a way to make some friends in the area. Pittsford has a fly-fishing club I think I’ll join. Billie is always telling me I need to make some local friends (as in, “go outside and get out of my hair”!).

Speaking of Billie — in all the years I’ve known her, she’s never been much of a hobbyist. Well, she’s treated domestic things as a hobby (she collects homemaking, cooking and etiquette books, for example). Recently, she took up painting. That, I think, is very cool.

I told her last night, maybe by next spring we will be in a position to rent a cabin in the Catskills and we could take Pachuco, and she could paint and I could fish and we could just hang out. That sounds like a hell of a nice vacation.

Related book: Flyfisher’s Guide to New York

I’ve uploaded a series of pictures to my Buzznet account … stuff I’ve taken over the past couple of months but never got around to uploading.

• A photo of Otis that looked under exposed on my iPhone, but when I downloaded it, it’s actually pretty good. Man, he was a big guy.
• A blurry but fun photo of Billie with a group of Japanese business men we met at a tiny restaurant bar in Syracuse.
• Pachuco on the day we got him during the drive home from the animal shelter.
• Pachuco at Mendon Ponds Park (this picture is my current laptop wall paper). This picture from the same time is cute, too.
• Pachuco in our back yard with our spectatuclar rhodadendrin in the background.

A book: The Digital Photography Book

I’ve done a lot of traveling over the past four years. I’ve been in lots of airports. I’ve eaten a lot of airport food.

It doesn’t get better than Brookward Farms Carolina BBQ Pit in Charolotte, where I’m passing through today.

It’s the real deal for pull-pork fans, and the sides (fixin’s) all seem fresh made and they all look so good, it’s hard to decide what to add. Today, I also went for the keylime pie. Perfect.

This was my third meal at Brookward Farms in the Main Concourse. The first time was 2005 or so when Billie and visited Charlotte (where she was born) to see her relatives. I’ve passed through Charlotte one other time.

The food here makes any layover bearable.

Here’s a book for you: Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue

I’ve just spent an enjoyable hour or so going through a web site I found for the first time tonight — Rosenut.

The home page opens with:

I am Karl Bapst, and I live in Northwest Indiana, Gardening Zone 5. My wife Nancy and I have been married since 1971. We have 6 children, all out of the nest. We have 21 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. I survived a bout of acute leukemia in 1982 and am currently recovering from a massive stroke suffered in March of 2002.

I am a Life Member and a Master Rosarian> with the American Rose Society. I am also a Life Member of the National Home Gardening Club, an Advanced Master Gardener, and Master Composter through Purdue University, and member of the Duneland Rose Society of NW Indiana. I would welcome questions pertaining mainly to roses and composting but I have general knowledge of most other plants and access to answers to questions concerning many of them. I gave horticultural programs to various groups but have curtailed that somewhat.

Given my prejudice toward blogging, I wish Karl blogged … that said, for a personal web site dedicated to a hobby, Karl’s site is a great example of how to build an information-packed and interesting site. It’s also easy to navigate.

There’s just a ton of useful information for rose growers on Karl’s site — Karl answer’s questions, he shares his rose mix recipe, he has several short articles on rose care, he lists and reviews mail order suppliers, and he’s aggregated some great rose links. I’ve looked at a lot of rose sites over the past couple of years … Karl’s is by far my favorite.

My friends know I didn’t start growing roses until we moved to Bakersfield and bought a house that had 30 or so plants already in the garden. I needed to learn to take care of them, and that just got me very interested in roses.

Roses are very easy to grow in Bakersfield — great soil, lots of sun and dry weather … you would have to be a careless idiot not to be successful with a rose bush in Kern County.

Western New York — it’s a different story. There are more insects to deal with (most perniciously, the Japanese Beetle), mildew and black spot are more common and quicker to spread (the air is damper most days), and the soil (at least in my yard) is not as good.

That’s why there are not many rose gardens in Western New York (even though Jackson and Perkins was founded here). In the San Joaquin Valley, it’s hard to find a home without at least one rose bush in the yard. In Rochester, the favorite plant is lilac and roses go largely ignored.

That’s one reason I was so pleased to find out about Carey Lake last weekend.

I visited a nursery out that way because the owners used to live on my street (their former house is again for sale, and if you want to live in the Rochester area, it’s a lovely place — the landscaping is stunning). While visiting, I asked about roses and they said they pretty much don’t stock roses these days — nobody buys them.

But they did have one customer they do special orders for — the owner of Carey Lake, which is just three miles from the nursery.

So I drove down there to see his garden. It was way too early in the season to see any blooms, but he has an impressive formal layout for his garden. The owner was busy atop a large earth mover, pushing dirt into the lake (making some sort of peninsula or dock). He stopped when he saw me wondering through is garden and we spoke a bit.

He said he sprays his plants once a week with a mixture of herbicide, pesticide and fertilizer. He said, “You have to.” You can’t let the black spot get started, he said. For the beetle problem, he said he sprays each bloom every day with Sevin.

Photo gallery here.

Theses were good tips to pick up, which brings me back to Rosenut. I went online this evening to see if any rose grower had any recommended mixture for Carey Lake owner’s spray. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I found Karl, and I’m glad I did.

The Rosenut recommends: Roses for Dummies

On Sunday, Billie and I took our first trip to Mendon Ponds Park.

I shot some video. Part of my interest was documenting some plants that may or may not be native plants.

The more time we spend in Western New York, the more we like it. There’s all this nature, open space, places to take our dog, farm land … it’s almost always pretty, even in the winter.

And it’s not crowded, smoggy, expensive, or crime-ridden.

Here’s a page about Mendon Ponds Park. There’s lots there for us to explore.

We hear Mendon Ponds is good for birding, so here’s a book: Birding in Central & Western New York : Best Trails & Water Routes for Finding Birds