Fall In The Air, In Many Ways
Cooler, but not freezing the way it was last night, so we sweatered-up and lit two braziers on the porch and sat outside for a while, sipping Southern Belles, a good cocktail made with Southern Comfort, crème de cacao, crème de menthe and bourbon. Alex said these were strong little cocktails, so, no refills!

Elizabeth, in her quiet way, brought up the question of fall. It didn't take more than an instant she to realize she meant to make us think of innumerable variations on fall. With the exception of the change in seasons, the other types of fall she talked about were all along a nocuous vein. This pleasant change in season is especially beautiful on a farm. The fall of all the victims of Katrina, Rita, Wilma and the earthquake in Pakistan, well, Elizabeth said, that kind of fall goes beyond mere tragedy. Regardless of chirpy polyester Karen Hughes' trips around the Middle East cackling about the joys of driving, and how the victims of Katrina and Rita had nothing to do with race and poverty, their fall had everything to do with race and poverty.

Schuyler, Elizabeth's husband and our usual cocktail maker, said there was one more fall Elizabeth was discussing with him earlier in the day: the fall of Bush & Co.

Poverty, Katrina and Rita
Helping the poor really raises Bush's hackles. Nobody in our group was fooled for a nanosecond by his prissy little costumed, highly-choreographed trips to the sites of the hurricanes' devastation. The words compassion, empathy and willingness to help are as foreign to him as they are to Satan. Trust me, Elizabeth said, any help going to those hapless families is going to have to be dragged from his cold dead fingers. If he does provide some funds, his government is too inept to successfully handle a reconstruction.

Anatole France once wrote: "It is only the poor who are forbidden to beg."

Schuyler, On Poverty
It's no secret, even at this stage of the game, that Bush would rather the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama help themselves, with no Federal aid. What he fails to say in public, Schuyler said, was that those states are also among the poorest in the United States. In per capita income, the ranking of these states is: Alabama 38th, Louisiana 47th, and Mississippi dead last at 50th. So, Elizabeth and Schuyler asked us, how are these poorer states supposed to help themselves with massive reconstruction with no Federal aid?

And guess what? A lot of those victims had to move to Texas, which only ranks in 32nd place, not exactly making it a wealthy state, and furthermore, Texas, thanks to Bush's mismanagement when he was governor, has more of the poorest counties than any other state in the country, 17. As an interesting aside, though still relevant, Schuyler told us that at the end of President Clinton's presidency, the official U.S. poverty was at an all time 26-year low of 11.3% and under he wacko from Waco, poverty has climbed to 12.7%, or an increase of 5.4 million people dropping into poverty. "Way to go," said Barbara to her heartless son "keep those dirty people in their proper place."

Just before going in to dinner, we were all asking ourselves the same question: Will Pakistan help its people more willingly than will present-day Washington?

Laudare Dubya? No, perhaps an overdose of laudanum.

The Final Fall
A.J. opined that after all the suffering this country has witnessed, by middle-class and working poor, blanketing the South in desperation, the high-and-mighty valetudinarian Republicans have seen their last election victories.

The Dinner Gong for the Gourmands, Young and a Soupçon Over Young
Tonight, many of us collaborated on dinner to give those couples who normally like to do everything themselves a well-needed rest, however much they say cooking for 40+ people nightly is not work. In the case of Max and Charlotte, Shelley and Cathy, they put on these elaborate dinners with such aplomb, with such seeming ease, that they truly make it look effortless.
Tonight, Bob and Liz first served us a very popular dish, Chèvre and Wild Mushroom Bruschetta. From their cellar, they brought a Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve Champagne. No insult intended toward any faith, but was this Paradise in a bottle or what?

Next, we were served a soup reminiscent of those soups some of our neighbors who moved here from Israel and Iraq may have had back home; at least, that was our hopeful intent: Eggplant and Garlic Soup. The soup sounds simple, but it contains a world of spices, fruits, and vegetables. Because the portions we serve are small, the soup was still just a prelude of things to come. The soup was very successfully paired with a California 1996 Kalin Cellars Reserve, Potter Valley.

Ah, the fish course; flaky, perfectly grilled Salmon with a Lime and Poblano Pepper and butter rub. Paired with even a very affordable Pinot Gris, this was a sumptuous course. The wine we were served was an Alsatian Domaine Paul Blanck Patergarten Pinot Gris. The grilled wild mushrooms, pearl onions and fingerling potatoes were an excellent accompaniment to the salmon.

Pomegranate granite was served in small dollops, to prepare us for our next dish, Roast Leg of Lamb with Wild Mushroom Velouté, wild rice and simple, perfectly cooked French peas, paired with an excellent California Pinot Noir, a 2002 Beringer Pinot Noir, Napa Valley.

Our dessert, a Blackberry and Apricot pie, we shared with the teenagers back in the great room. Our after-dinner espresso is always made by Max, who enjoys using an early-twentieth century brass espresso machine he bought in Italy and keeps here at our farm. Who can argue with perfection?

Winding Down
There's a business upstate that specializes in cleaning and repairing horse blankets, and we got ours back today. The friendly UPS guy must have thought he was delivering tents for an army from the sheer number of packages and weight, but the horses who don't grow thick winter coats will appreciate the blankets when we need them. The farmers' almanacs have given us two nice, reliable prognostications: we're going to have a frigid winter, and we're going to have a mild winter. Pick your almanac, and have your blankets ready.

Summary:
The non-wealthy, have-nots, victims of Katrina and Rita in the South, and their neighbors in Texas, are going to ask the Republicans to account for their disdain at the polls.