sunny day in clearwater

It was a sold-out crowd at the Phillies' rollicking spring training facility in Clearwater. Official attendance: 10,270. The Rays were in the park--so were Elvis and Pat--and there was a nice mix of Ray fans in the crowd. It's about time the Rays have fans! Maybe the Marlins and Nats will now get some.

It was also the first televised game of the season. It almost made me wish I were there--but really Florida is not my cuppa. Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler were talking about how Bright House Field resembles the Lakewood park, and it does. Maybe that's why I liked Lakewood so much when I went there last year.

T-Mac and Wheels also talked about Victorino's selection to Team USA. No one is more excited about it, said T-Mac. Responded Wheels, he gets excited about the sun coming up in the morning. They also talked about Victorino getting a Gold Glove last year. How did I forget that?!

Kyle Kendrick got the start and did OK, going 2.2 innings. The Phillies at last got decent pitching for a whole game. Drew Naylor came in after KK and did pretty well. I've heard a lot about the kid, only 22, and it was good to see him. Lots of future 'Piggies played, including the hunky John Mayberry, Jr., who had one of six windblown homers in the game. Jason Donald, playing 3rd, got his first hit of the season and made a diving catch in the stands. It was a typical spring training game, which is to say the weather was good, the fans relaxed, and the game soon got boring. On the winning end or losing end, these early ST games tend to get out of hand once the starters leave.

Jayson Werth has turned into something of a mystery man. He's yet to play in a game, is reportedly not in game shape because of his hometown weather. He was supposed to play today but was scratched pregame because he yesterday "tweaked his shoulder." What is that all about?

If I went to Clearwater again, I'd now know all the good places to go. Five years too late!

victorino to wbc

Shane Victorino was added yesterday to the USA team and will play in the World Baseball Classic. He was named to replace Grady Sizemore, who pulled out because of an injured groin. Congrats to Victorino, who by all accounts was disappointed that he had not made the final cut for the team. He'll join Jimmy Rollins as the other Phillie on Team USA.

catching up

Mrs. October is organizing her baseball scrapbooks, some 95 in all, and sent this card from a game in 1988. It arrived the afternoon of this year's first spring training game.

The best news so far from Clearwater is that the competition for #5 is in full swing. Yesterday it was my fave, Carlos Carrasco, who started the game against the Blue Jays. I stopped in the middle of a deadline to follow his two innings via gameday. He was superb, striking out three and giving up nothing. He did, however, get some sterling help from the newly-acquired John Mayberry, who made a leaping snag of a ball in the outfield.

J.A. Happ followed and also did well. As with Wednesday's game, the lesser-knowns then came in and let things get out of hand. It's easy to root for all four guys in this race. Kendrick of course gets cheers and so does Chan Ho Park, whom I don't really know, for his intense dedication.

Both Jamie Moyer and the slimmed-down Joe Blanton looked sharp in their starts on Wednesday.

Carlos Ruiz signed a split deal, which means that everyone is now accounted for. This morning's big news was the release of Adam Eaton, who may have much to ponder or may just go away and enjoy his wealth.

snowy sunday

Now 42 days till opening day and this morning's weather is another reminder why Utley and Feliz should perhaps be on the sidelines that night in Philadelphia. Maybe it won't be snowing but it's as likely to be in the 30's as not.

With its early start, spring training is going to go on forever this year. I'm a fan of the World Baseball Classic but wish it were held in November after the World Series. That way the players could come from teams not in that series and they could be getting ready for the WBC in October while WS contenders were playing.

Former Phillie Doug Glanville. a Penn graduate, has a thoughtful opinion piece called 'Ballplayers, the press, and the truth' in Friday's New York Times. It is very much worth reading. Glanville's ongoing series about baseball for the Times is insightful and always well-written.

Leslie Gudel, covering the Phillies in spring training for Comcast Sportsnet, gave Jimmy Rollins her SLR camera to use one day. The results, now posted on csnphilly.com, are awesome candid shots that reporters would never be able to get.

winter aconite

Yesterday I saw the first winter aconite, an early sign of spring in this part of the world. Only one--nestled against the stone wall along the driveway--was in bloom, but the bud behind it means that more are on the way. It was a cheery note on a cold, blustery morning.

Of course, Bill Veeck famously said that the true harbinger of spring was "not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on the ball." Yesterday down in Clearwater it was just that, with the first batting practice of the year underway. Even the rehabbing Chase Utley stood in the batting box to track some balls. The news is that Utley is ahead of his rehab schedule and Pedro Feliz, recovering from back surgery and just starting to take fielding practice, is a bit behind. This early spring training has barely begun so let's hope that the two pace themselves accordingly. No rush, guys, no rush.

steve degler to ironpigs

Longtime radio play-by-play voice of the Reading Phillies, Steve Degler is joining the TV broadcast team of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Degler joined the Reading Phillies in 1992, making him the longest-tenured broadcaster in the Eastern League. I never got to hear Degler all that much, usually only when driving home from Reading games, but I liked his work. He was to me the voice of minor league baseball. This season he'll be taking Ricky Bottalico's place as color analyst in the IronPigs' TV booth.

Bottalico will reportedly be taking Mitch Williams' postgame spot on Comcast TV. Whenever I heard Bottalico last year working 'Pigs' games, he was so-so, perhaps challenged by how dismal the team was. When he filled in on Comcast postgame shows during the Phillies' postseason, he was a lot better. Mitch Williams, by the bye, now has a gig with MLBN. Degler will still do TV broadcasts for the Reading Phillies and Williams will continue on Comcast on a limited basis.

I'm happy to hear that Degler will now be on airwaves in my listening area, but wish he were going to be on the radio.

eggs

Nothing like eggs, especially when they come from free-range chickens. I get my eggs from a friend's daughter who keeps chickens. My favorites are the little pullet eggs but those chickens don't produce much when it's cold. So in winter I make do with these large multicolored beauties. The green, blue, and pink shells are lovely but the best thing about all of the eggs I get from Rachel are their intense yellow yolks. That and how good they taste.

i don't want your apology

The whole Alex Rodriguez affair brings a recent New Yorker cartoon to mind. The caption read: "I don't want your apology--I want you to be sorry." As the A-Rod world turns, however, we are getting neither. First were the lies to Katie Couric, then the pathetic interview by Peter Gammons, then the presser on Tuesday, another joke because no follow-up questions were allowed. So that was pretty much that. It went for a bit more than half an hour, during which Rodriguez read from some crumpled papers and paused melodramatically to thank his stoic teammates.

He also treated us to more dribbles of information, this time about his 'cousin' who procured the steroids, called 'boli' or 'bole' (nice touch that, like something from a flim-flam advertisement). Though he painted the two of them as dumb kids playing with needles--in what universe---, it turns out the cousin is 46 or something. Not that A-Rod was a kid at the time in question anyway. Hate to be a cynic but as soon as I heard there was a 'cousin' involved, I wondered how much money had changed hands.

Another disturbing aspect of Tuesday's 'event' was the way A-Rod handled the question about Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts. After trashing her to Gammons, his accusations were revealed to have been baseless lies. Asked about it on Tuesday, Rodriguez said he had "reached out" to her. The guy couldn't even make a token public apology.

I would like this all to go away immediately. But think about the AL and NL MVP's for the past 10 or 15 years. It's a sobering list of names. And really, dubbing this the 'steroid era' is not fair to the players (Rollins and Howard are MVP's who come to mind) that did not juice. But Jimmy Rollins had, as usual, a cool quote about being a 'clean' player. As beat writer Scott Lauber wrote in his blog for the Delaware News Journal, Rollins said, "If you're clean, it doesn't matter....you brush it off your clean."

hey, says winter

Not yet spring. In Clearwater, however, spring training is about to go into full swing as everyone reports in and the news starts to be about what's now happening. For starts, pitching coach Rich Dubee said yesterday that Kyle Kendrick still has the inside track to the 5th spot in the rotation. Go for it, Kyle!

On Presidents' Day, the morning's Inky had a presidential story. When Carlos Ruiz returned to his native Panama last November, he was invited to meet Panamanian president, Martin Torrijos. A baseball fan, the president had called Chooch's mother after the World Series. At the meeting, Ruiz gave the president the jersey that he wore in the clinching game of the World Series. A sweet story. When Ruiz decided not to take part in the WBC this March, the president made another call, this time to persuade Carlos to represent his country. No way that he could say no.

The Mets are trying for a three-peat with Jimmy Rollins' "We are the team to beat." Imitation here is in tatters. In New York, of course, where all the talk is of the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez, the Mets are getting only the crumbs. One funny story from Mets' camp down in Port Lucie. A sign over the entrance to the field proclaims that through these doors pass the greatest baseball players in the world. Quipped someone this weekend, "Are we in Clearwater?"

I look forward to seeing Raul Ibanez in a Phillies' uni.

signs of spring

I bought this pot of crocuses a couple of weeks ago and suddenly they are in bloom, just in time for pitchers and catchers reporting to Clearwater. Two strong signs of spring converge on a cold, grey day in February.

J.C. Romero spoke today about his suspension. Now that is one guy who can only move on. There's nothing much he can do about the situation but put it behind him, get ready for the World Baseball Classic, and stay in shape for his comeback later in the season.

Ryan Howard and Brett Myers have reportedly shed 50 or so pounds between them. See what a championship will do for you.

No surprise here: Cole Hamels will be the starting pitching when the Phillies open the season with the Braves on April 5. Did I mention that I have tix to the game? Woohoo!

"the perfect season"

This Valentine card was sent to me by my co-blogger and her husband, but I dedicate it today to Brad Lidge, who is just about perfect in his role as narrator of The Perfect Season, the 2008 Phillies Video Yearbook by "Video" Dan Stephenson. It's a great video, from spring training to the final exciting out of the World Series and the unbelievable celebration that followed two days later.

One of the surprise threads running through the video is 94-year-old Jesse Branson, a baseball lover, Phillies fan, and historian of the Negro Leagues, who becomes the team's 'talisman' for the season. A thoroughly charming and upbeat old dude, Branson embodies the best of fandom and sometimes threatens to steal the show. Impossible, of course, given the year that the Phillies had. All the highlights are there, including the breathlessly great double play (Rollins to Utley to Howard) that ended the game that clinched the NL East and Utley's heady fake-to-first-throw-to-home in Game 5 of the World Series.

The main video runs for 75 minutes; another two hours of bonus cuts are included. Highly recommended, but there is one huge disappointment and caveat. Chase Utley's comments at the celebration at Citizens Bank Park on October 31 have been edited out. Not bleeped but edited out, which means that the reactions of all in the park were also cut. Come on, it was a defining and iconic moment. It deserved to be included.

let's hear it for stump!

Last night belonged to Stump, the great Sussex Spaniel that took Best in Show at the 133rd Westminster Dog Show. The 10-year-old veteran, who came out of a five-year retirement, was an obvious crowd-pleaser but I wondered if the judge might go for Spirit the Giant Schnauzer or Lincoln the Brussels Griffon. I picked Stump to win the Sporting Division, Lincoln to win the Toy, and Spirit to take Working. But Stump was my main dog. I leapt out of my seat when he was announced last night as the winner. He's a sweet successor to the wonderful Uno.

David Murphy has an interesting piece on Phillie infield prospect Jason Donald in today's Philadelphia Daily News.

In the second part of the Comcast Sportsnet interview with Jimmy Rollins, done by the funny and excitable Marshall Harris, Rollins talked about his boyhood idol Ricky Henderson. To paraphrase what J-Roll said: If you have an idol and he does everything right, then you feel that you were right for believing in him.

more love

Yesterday's mail brought a Valentine from Jonathan and Alistair, the five-year-old twins of friends now living in France.

Just to get the steroid taste out of my life, I've got to mention the 76ers. Elton Brand is now done for the season, having had successful shoulder surgery yesterday. Without him, the Sixers have gone back to the fast-paced style that got them into last year's playoffs. Last night, the Sixers ran the tired, ageing Suns, who were coming off a grueling game the day before, off the court. Rookies Thaddeus Young and Marreese Speights, who was everywhere, were standouts. But it's Andre Iguadola who is coming into his own. I've long thought that many people do not see or understand how good Iggy is. So it was great to hear Tony DiLeo say today that he had told Andre to enjoy his rest over the All-Star break because it's the last one he'll be having for years to come. From being largely unwatchable, the Sixers have gone again to sprinting for a playoff spot.

what a bunch of hooey

So Alex Rodriguez confessed to using "a banned substance" for three years in what ultimately looked and sounded like a contrived and toothless interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN. Gammons later said he had had no restrictions on questions. If that is so, he should give it up. What a bunch of hooey. The only time Rodriguez seemed truly sincere was when he ripped Selena Roberts, the Sports Illustrated writer responsible for the article revealing his failed drug test. Otherwise he was either making peculiar blowfish faces or looking like a narcissist caught in a web. Gammons fed him cupcake after cupcake and did not even question his angry accusations about Roberts, who later patiently refuted all. It was Gammons, too, who first played the "children's card", as in would Rodriguez want to work with children to keep them off those banned substances he could not remember. Having Rodriguez "confess" was a good idea but he would have been better served by talking for five minutes rather than taking part in a 35-minute ESPN close-up that only indicated a disturbing lack of substance.

Then today came the news that Miguel Tejada is being charged with lying to Congress about the use of steroids by a fellow player. Where is Bud in all this?

looking for a silver lining? hats off to mlbn and jose canseco

There's got to be something good in all this mess, doesn't there? A year after we had to go through the Roger Clemens act, the Alex Rodriguez circus came to town. What is with these baseball players who think that they can get away with anything, then lie their way out it? Four years after testing positive for steroids, Rodriguez is on national TV with Katie Couric telling her he had never taken steroids, had never considered it because he's always been so "dominant" on the field, and could only tsk-tsk about the use of steroids in his game. He even called himself "naive", like a virgin I guess. What has come out so far of A-Rod's interview tonight with ESPN (the love-me-some-athlete network) sounds like a real two-finger PR job, as in stick those fingers down your throat and heave.

Yes, he's very good but Rodriguez is not my kind of baseball player. Come to think of it, he, Bonds, and Clemens have something in common; all seem to be stathounds who think they are bigger than the game. But did we have to go through this steroid stuff again? Curt Schilling may be right. MLB should release the names of the other 103 players who failed the 2003 tests and get the pus out in one go. Now that one name is out, the others are sure to follow, albeit in dribs and drabs. Get them out and get over with it. Otherwise, we are going to have to wait for another generation of baseball players before the steroid era is put to rest. God knows what the PED's of choice will be in another generation.

Hats off to Jose Canseco, by no means an anti-steroid crusader. Everything that the vilified Canseco has said about steroid usage in baseball has been pretty much spot on. If not for him and his books, MLB might still be stumbling around for a drug policy. I mean, I saw Bud Selig in action this October in the rain in Philadelphia. The Players Association fought testing, the owners went for the money, and the players went with the flow. Sheesh.

Hats off, too, to MLBN, which went at this story head-on from the moment it broke Saturday morning. From what I saw of their coverage, it was excellent.

Mantra for the cynical and disgusted: pitchers and catchers on Saturday. Thank you, Ruben Amaro, Jr., for at least giving Phillies fans sunshine in this year 2009.

willi singleton at the allentown art museum

Friend Willi Singleton is having a solo show at the Allentown Art Museum. Called Slow Clay: The Ceramic Art of Willi Singleton, the exhibition ends on April 12. I saw it yesterday. It's a good show but would have been better with more pieces in a bigger space.

Slow clay refers to Willi's belief that "making pots is like cooking. You have to start with good ingredients to get a flavorful, satisfying result." Good ingredients means local ingredients. Willi gets his clays from Hawk Mountain (he lives at the foot of the famed raptor sanctuary there) and from the mouth of the Susquehanna River and makes his glazes from local creek clay and wood, corn stalk, and bamboo ash. He 'cooks' his pots in a wood-fired climbing kiln he built himself. This morning I got an email from Willi saying that he's now busy chopping wood for the May firing.

rollins on a roll

Gotta love J-Roll. Interviewed recently on Comcast Sportsnet, he was of course asked for a prediction for the 2009 season. Rollins had famously thrown down the gauntlet in 2007 with his proclamation that Phillies were the team to beat in the East--- then delivered on it. Last year he predicted around 100 wins, around what the Phils had, including post-season.

This year he said he was out of the prediction business, then quickly laughed and delivered a boatload: 112 wins, a Phillie for MVP, the Cy Young for Cole Hamels, and another parade down Broad Street. Oh, and Brad Lidge keeps his streak going until he gets tired of it. Jimmy may be serious but he does it all with a twinkle. And he's been dead-on so far.

I'm rolling with Rollins.

howard signs, amaro shines

Wow! According to Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ryan Howard and the Phillies have agreed to a three-year, $54-million contract which will lock up the slugger until he is eligible for free agency in 2012. Great news! Hugs and kisses to Ruben Amaro, Jr. for getting the deal done.

spring in the air

Eight deer made these tracks in the snow at twilight the other day, dashing across the field below the house. The next morning tracks crisscrossed the lawn, just beyond the front door.

snow country---
while snow flits down
spring mountains
---Issa

Yesterday's ku from the wonderful site Daily Issa fits the day. It's not yet spring but brilliant sunshine coupled with two days of temperatures above freezing = a lightheaded feeling. As I was taking photos the other day of deer, rabbit, and cat tracks, I noticed too that the woods out back are starting to get that reddish tinge that betokens budding.

el beisbol con orgullo

More mosaics from the NY subway system, this time at Times Square.

"El beisbol con orgullo" (baseball with pride) is on an outfield billboard at Casas Geo Stadium in Mexicali, Mexico, courtesy of the White Sox. Pride has certainly been a big part of the Serie del Caribe, now in its last day of games. The series, however, 'ended' last night when Venezuela beat Mexico and secured the championship.

I've watched several of the 5 pm games and bits of the 9 pm ones. As the host nation, Mexico got to start all of the later games, avoiding both the afternoon shadows that plagued the earlier matches and the empty seats. Each day the stadium started filling up only when the Mexican team fans started trickling in. The MLBN announcers kept talking about how much more passionate the Latin fans are, but Uri Betenguer last night was delusional when he suggested that the crowds in Mexicali outdid World Series crowds. Maybe in San Diego, LA, or Houston but try Philadelphia or an Northeast city, Uri. Did he sleep through the 2008 WS? It's an apples-oranges comparison in any case and the Latin announcers would do better to talk up their product without making it.

Cookie Rojas was the color guy for the early games and was super, staying with the play on the field but adding all kinds of thoughtful insights and interesting anecdotes from his long career. Dan Plesac, too, was surprisingly good. When a former Philadelphia farmhand who never made it past single A is a starting pitcher in a playoff game, though, you have to wonder how many times more the announcers would compare the level of competition with the majors. To me, it was more interesting when they stayed with the players on the field or talked about baseball in Latin American countries and the history of the leagues and the series.

Yesterday Puerto Rico finally won a game, supposedly their first CS win since 1982. One of those "That's baseball" kind of things, I guess. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic played the sketchiest ball of the four teams. Their hitting was pretty much invisible and their defense suspect. Pitching dominated the series, though the pitchers themselves were often not that dominant. Venezuela was the best team in the series, though the Reindeers of Mazatlan and their 'hometown' fans put up a good fight. And yes, I know that advertising pays the freight, but the ads on all of the unis have got to go.

I won't be watching today's games but would love one day to go to the CS or for that matter winter ball. Meanwhile, thanks to the MLBN broadcasts I could tune out the self-serving Torre-Verducci book (yawn) flap and the Bonds' indictment. Just as I type that, though, the news comes across that in 2003 Alex Rodriguez reportedly tested positive for two kinds of steroids and that players were being tipped off about test dates. It would be a joke if it weren't so depressing. Not to mention that all of the big names get to skate and J.C. Romero gets nailed for using a supplement containing traces of a substance that wasn't even banned when he took it. El beisbol con orgullo.

truck day

It's Truck Day--woohoo! Sometime this morning a truck left Philadelphia for Clearwater, Florida, loaded with equipment (15,000 balls, 1200 bats) and provisions (15 cases of gum, 12 cases of sunflower seeds) for spring training.

Equipment manager Dan O'Rourke was talking on radio this morning about getting things ready for the annual trek. Players, he said, are most particular about their bats and pants. Pants have to fit just so, and the truck carries 600 pairs. Then there are the bats. All are picky about them, but Chase Utley, according to O'Rourke, is the pickiest of all. Lots of signed balls, bats, and other equipment used during the play-offs are also on board for a charity auction at the Clearwater ballpark later this month.

Pitchers and catchers--heady phrase--report on the 14th. Other players follow.

location, location, location

Architectural elements, such as this tile mosaic, have been part of the New York subway system since its inception. I took this photo at the Times Square station, in the passage leading to the uptown 1, 2, and 3 trains.

Here's a success story from the art world in a pretty much gloomy time. Last September the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) moved from its previous site across from New York's MoMA into brand-new digs on Columbus Circle. Since then the museum has had over 160,000 visitors, which is double its yearly attendance. Both membership and revenue from the museum shop have also gone up. Thanks to the overwhelming response, MAD is extending the run of its debut exhibitions, including Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary and Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry. Good news for me, as I have yet been able to visit the new museum and wanted to see both shows.

116th street station

I took the 2 train up to Harlem yesterday, to 116th Street. The subway station there had two fabulous glass mosaics: Minton's Playhouse and The Movers and Shakers. Created by Vincent Smith for the MTA's great Arts for Transit program, they pay homage to some of the people and places that have made Harlem great.

I was in New York to interview artist Xenobia Bailey, who suggested meeting at Settepani, on the corner of 12oth and Lenox, which turned out to be a neighborhood haunt of hers. We talked for several hours, but there was no time to eat at the restaurant, which features Mediterranean food and has a bakery. What I can say about Settepani is that it has a wonderfully mellow ambience and plays jazz. I'd go back again to try the bread or the food. I thank Xenobia for the introduction.

caribbean series: day one

I was stuck behind Spring Air for over two and a half hours heading east on I-80 yesterday afternoon. You don't want to know why.

Last evening I watched some of the opening games of the Caribbean Series, taking place this week in Mexicali, Mexico. Four teams, from Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, are in the six-day series. It's an interesting format: Each team plays the others teams twice; the team that wins the most games wins the series. In the event of a tie, there's a one-game playoff on day seven.

Yesterday the Dominican Republic took on Venezuela and Mexico faced Puerto Rico. Pitching dominated both games. In game one, Brad Knox from the Oakland A's farm system, took a no-hitter into the 7th for Venezuela, which ended up winning 3-2. Luis Maza provided the key offense in the victory. Opening ceremonies delayed game two, scheduled for 10:00 p.m., by half an hour. By then it was already too late for me; I lasted only a couple of innings. This morning I learned that Mexico had won 3-2.

Teams in the league wear ads on their unis, a la Nascar, and it is just as tacky looking. Fine, that's how they pay expenses but it still looks tacky. Otherwise, Mexico and Puerto Rico had some fine-looking uniforms. I always love the red and green of Mexico! The MLBN guys doing the broadcasts so far are pushing how good the players are. Uh, maybe we can see and judge for ourselves? They also keep talking about how raucous and passionate local fans are but so far we have yet to see much of that. How about showing the thousands of fans outside the stadium instead of just talking about them? Tom McCarthy, who does annoying in-the-stands bits for the Phillies, is doing play-by-play in the series. Now is the time I'd like to see him go into the stands.

More than anything, though, it was great to see real baseball in real time being played on green grass. More today!

wait for spring

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." ---Rogers Hornsby

I love this quotation but yesterday I was looking out the window to check on the tea plant (lower left), which is so far holding its own. Today those of us who find it hard to wait for spring get a treat: MLBN begins broadcasts of the Caribbean World Series at 5 p.m.

making strudel

Ron Hari started making strudel when he was in the 7th grade. His mother, tired of his requests for her homemade strudel, told him to make it himself. And so he did. Here he is rolling cabbage strudel to ready it for the oven. Hari is now minister of the Hungarian Evangelical Reformed Church in Bethlehem, PA, and making strudel is how the church, which has a dwindling membership, raises money for expenses.

Parishioners get together through much of the year to make apple, cabbage, sour cherry and cheese, turnip, and rutabaga strudel. Thanks to the demand for the homemade strudel, there is a waiting list. I got my first order last September, then another in December. My favorite is the cabbage or maybe the rutabaga. It could be the turnip but this was a bad year for turnips. At the same time, the apple and sour cherry and cheese, too, are delicious. The "Strudelers", as the volunteer bakers call themselves, are a local treasure.