Two local authors will read and discuss their books  on Sunday, November 11 at 2 pm.  Both writers have set fictionalized stories in part in Sullivan County, each with historical backdrops; and both infuse government conspiracy theories into their work.
Gray Basnight will talk about his new political thriller, set against the 50^th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival and government crimes of the J Edgar Hoover era: Flight of the Fox (July 2018).
Bill Klaber will talk about his historical novel set in part in Sullivan County in the 1880s: The Rebellion of Lucy Ann Lobdell (2015), and his recently updated historical investigation: Shadow Play: The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy (April 2018).

More About the Authors and Their Books In Gray Basnight’s new political thriller Flight of the Fox, an innocent math professor tries to decode a mystery file while hitmen chase him from Bethel to NYC and down the East Coast.  Their goal is to suppress dark government crimes from decades past.  His goal is for the truth to be told.  The action switches between the historical backdrop of the J. Edgar Hoover era and the forthcoming 50^th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival.  The professor runs for his life, armed only with his wits and intellect, worrying whether the truth will be told, and if he’ll be seen as a hero whistle blower or a pariah.   Basnight is deeply immersed in his third career — fiction writing, after almost three decades in broadcast news; preceded by a few years pursuing an acting career. His other published novels are The Cop with the Pink Pistol, a modern NYC-detective mystery with some scenes in the Catskills; and Shadows in the Fire, a Civil War historical novel about two young slaves on the edge of freedom as Richmond falls in April 1865. Basnight and his wife split their time between Sullivan County and New York City. He has lived in New York long enough to consider himself a native, though he grew up in Richmond, Virginia.

William Klaber, who lives a short way upstream from where Lucy Lobdell lived 160 years ago, originally set out to write a non-fiction account of her life after learning that the farmhouse he and his wife bought in 1980 had a history with Lucy’s legend.  Klaber ultimately decided it would be better as a fictionalized account, tapping her story through echoes and dreams to create the award-winning novel The Rebellion of Lucy Ann Lobdell.  Just-updated for the 50th anniversary of the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shadow Play explores altered evidence, ignored witnesses, and coerced testimony. It challenges the official assumptions and conclusions about this troubling, and perhaps still unsolved, political murder. It’s also the basis for a new podcast that debuted at #1 on the iTunes chart this year. Bill Klaber is a part-time journalist who has lived in an old farmhouse on a hill overlooking Basket Creek since 1980, where he and his wife raised their three children.

FROSTMAS perfectly describes the feeling you have at first frost after a long season in the garden.  A little gift of frost brings a little holiday.

Frost, of course, isn’t always welcomed in the garden, but as the season seems to get a little longer each year, there isn’t that sense that we’ve been robbed of a longer summer that we used to have.  Several years ago, on a beautiful and warm September day, a customer of a certain age told me that first frost came in August when she was a child in Western Sullivan.

But I digress.  This time of year is always bittersweet in the garden, and Frostmas means it’s time to clean up and prepare for next year.  It also means it’s a time to reflect on the season just passing.  What went right, what went wrong, what needs changing for next season.

As you work to put your garden to bed for the season, reflect, enjoy the fall, and enjoy the outdoors!

By Fritz Mayer

If I leave my squash untended for any length of time, when I come back I’m very likely to find squash nymphs roaming freely over plants and food alike.  The nymphs are small spidery-looking things and before long they will turn into adult squash bugs.  The adults and the nymph suck juice out of the plants and it there are enough of them, they can kill the plant.

Last year, they killed one of my squash plants, and I resolved to do battle.  I got some insecticide soap and every night I went looking for adults and nymphs, and also the eggs, which are laid on the back of squash plant leaves as shown in the picture.  When I spotted any bugs, they get a spray of insecticide soap, and then they get pushed down into the soil a good four five inches.  They aren’t very fast, and it’s easy to catch them by hand.

When I spot a clutch of eggs – and this takes some looking, but persistence will be rewarded – I pull off the tiny bit of leaf that is hosting the eggs, and squash it between my fingers, and again pushed the mashed remains several inches under the soil.  This last part is probably overkill, but I really don’t want to see any squash bugs on my plants.

In fact, I smashed so many eggs last year that I believe I’ve beat down the local population to manageable levels.   This year I have seen a total of about eight adult bugs and three clutches of eggs on leaves.

The other insects that can do great damage to cucurbits – squash, cucumbers and melons – are  cucumber beetles.  These are much smaller than squash bugs and it’s not possible, usually, to catch them by hand.  But one can usually sneak up close enough to them to spray insecticidal soap on them, which will kill them.  I’ve also caught a few with a shot of spray in mid-air.

Again, persistence is key.  I killed so many last year  that the local population is way down and I’ve only seen about a dozen this year.  This method would probably not work well on a large operation with many plants, but with only about a dozen cucurbits to safeguard, it works well enough to insure that the plants will produce fruit.

When Kate and Valerie asked us to host this party and show, I was thrilled and honored.  I’ve been a fan of Ann’s work since the moment I saw one of her watercolors.  We first met when I was looking for merchandise for our yet-to-be-opened store.  She was living in Claryville at that time, and  I had a wonderful afternoon visiting her studio and chatting with her and her friends.
Bio — A Grahamsville artist, Ann Higgins is a former Liberty, NY teacher, a founding member of the Catskill Art Society, a signature member of the North East Watercolor Society (NEWS) and a renowned artist who continues to exhibit her work from the Adirondacks to Connecticut.
Ann’s multimedia works reflect her keen observation and love of nature. Whether in a landscape, a pet portrait or other subject, her skill and distinctive style are always a joy to behold.  She has exhibited locally at the Liberty Museum, Catskill Art Society, and DVAA, in NEWS member and international shows and in every Audubon and Friends Too show as well.
Ann stays active.  If she’s not at the gym, gardening or playing her piano, she writes the NEWSletter, takes walks with her cat, publishes a calendar of her drawings every year and still makes time to paint with friends every week.  And those are just the tip of the artist’s iceberg!  She continues to be a world traveler and to chronicle the vistas she finds on her journeys in her sketchbook.
Kate Hyden, one of the “Friends of Friday” a group of artists who gather regularly, says “there is no single thing that most endears Ann to her friends and her family, be it her wry sense of humor, her kindness, her generosity, or even that all-encompassing spirit of joy which infuses her work and touches all who meet her.”

The exhibit will be up from May 12 – June 10^th.