Just got back from my daughter’s wedding in Denmark where they
don’t have Labor Day as such.
What they do have, though, is “Arbejdernes kampdag” – loosely
translated as worker’s day – held May 1 and considered a left-wing
political day.
As a matter of fact, according to my sources, a lot of Danes get
the day off, sometimes as part of a work contract. And though some
people go to hear political speeches, most of the rest go and drink
beer, something good working people should always do.
Copenhagen even has a park where the annual gathering is held
and blue collar workers are welcomed while desk monkeys aren’t. The
irony is most of the suits themselves are in a union.
Apparently everybody with a job in Denmark is in a union and
pays high taxes.
On this side of the pond, we are told, supporting unions and
paying taxes will bring about a liberal, government-run police
state where they will take away your freedom to be potentially
homeless, healthless and hungry.
Of course, on the Danish side of the ocean, the few homeless
Danish citizens and legal residents one sees are truly
insane.
Everyone, meanwhile, seems to have health care, free winter time
urban heating from a government that is nearly energy
self-sufficient and everybody gets to go to school, university and
all, for free.
And they seem to have fun, can own guns – I got a deer hunting
invite from my new son-in-law – and aren’t stopped at DUI
roadblocks in a country that, although really tough on drunk
drivers, allows one to imbibe suds in a vehicle as long as you
aren’t driving.
Over here, meanwhile, celebrating Labor Day in honor of the U.S.
working class was first suggested by Peter J. McGuire, founder of
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters after he beheld Canadians
marching to honor working stiffs in Toronto and Ottawa.
Labor Day was initiated in the U.S. in 1882 by the Knights of
Labor, who held a large parade in New York City. Congress made it
into a national holiday in 1894.
With the subsequent growth of strong unions and good
manufacturing jobs, the African-American Pullman porters, auto
workers, steel workers and others fought in succeeding decades for
the ability of the working class, despite some cultural and ethnic
snags, to get health care, decent wages and real housing for
working people.
Unfortunately, the downside of a formerly and recently affluent
working class has been its inability to remember its labor roots in
recent years as jobs have suddenly vanished or gotten corporate
passports to other places.
Workers and the working poor let unions be demonized or
trivialized as we turned into a consumer society with workers –
until the recent near depression in any case – focusing on getting
in debt to flaunt and float new boom boxes, ski boats, giant
campers, cars and other stuff relentlessly flogged by you know
who.
Even so, we can still celebrate Labor Day and despite the
desperate straights working people now find themselves in these
days, like the Danes, we like to have fun.
LECTURE OVER
So, lecture over, here are some ways to have fun – on the cheap
– on Labor Day in Sonoma County. Look out for Uncle Dave, though,
especially if he drinks too much and tells lame jokes. Or doesn’t
really clean his dentures very well.
1: Stay home with friends and family and cook
up some chicken, ribs or tofu, depending upon your ideology, and
suck up some brewskies in the back yard. More on this later.
2: Go to the beach. This is for folks with
families and friends as well as for those who don’t have
either.
Just head west and look for the ocean, although the smart money,
if it’s a hot day, will leave early to get a parking spot at the
more popular places.
Singles can also have a nice time at the beach watching the
waves and sea birds and just taking in the fresh salt air without
anyone taking a second glance…unless you look weird and hang around
family groups, of course.
Inland, Healdsburg Memorial Beach has showers and rest rooms,
lifeguards on duty, and will be open for swimming through Labor Day
weekend. Both swim areas offer sandy beaches and grassy picnic
areas with barbecues.
Check out more spots on the Sonoma County Parks website at
www.sonoma-county.org/parks/ideas
for places to camp, hike, ride bikes and picnic. There is also a
North Bay Hikes website of the same name for those with itchy
walking shoes.
3: Take a walk around town: A Labor Day stroll
around a town like Healdsburg or Sebastopol can often offer up
surprises in terms of quiet neighborhoods and more or less friendly
people, particularly if you run into them at a local café or
watering hole, which could end up being interesting for singles if
one is lucky.
4: Go fishing at the secret spot: Enough said
for those in the know and who dislike crowds. For the serious
angler only.
5: Go fishing where other people go: Still fun,
although waiting in lines and fighting crowds where land meets
lake, river and sea can cut back on actual line-in-the water
time.
6: Go bird watching in the Laguna de Santa Rosa
Wetlands, some 200 species of birds live, work and play in the
area. Other places to watch birds, particularly raptors and the
like, are abundant along the Sonoma Coast, particularly on the
prairie cliffs north of Jenner or in Salt Point State Park.
7: Help clean up: Although probably most useful
after the Labor Day crowds have littered the beach and other
outdoor venues, gathering up a friend or two to pick up some trash
can make the heart feel good. Especially after doing a good deed or
two, doing a couple of pints is especially rewarding.
8: Go ocean kayaking at Duran Beach or Tomales
Bay. It’s a lot more interesting, in many ways, than the river,
although the bottom stretch near Jenner has its charms for bird and
other animal watching without thinking about great white
sharks.
MORE ABOUT BARBEQUE
Of all things Labor Day is defined by barbequing. Personally,
other than fishing, of all of the ideas mentioned above, barbequing
at home on Labor Day is one of the most enjoyable things to do.
Personally, I use an old Weber that has had its legs rusted off,
the bottom control long ago gone and offers a homemade handle that
surprisingly won’t burn the fingers when lifting the lid.
For legs I use three old aluminum tent poles I’ve pounded into
the ground in the back yard in the shape of a triangle. The metal
bowl sits right on top.
The fire grid is a little rusted, but works well. What’s more
important than new or fancy fire cookery is something that allows
the chef to cook well and with confidence. Like my old Weber.
Here are a few rules:
You have to start with the right ingredients, including the
kindling, and at all cost, avoiding charcoal lighter fluid. No
kidding. Don’t do it.
Charcoal is okay but only the real mesquite kind, although it’s
a poor substitute for the real deal…which is oak and other
hardwood.
Kindling. Never burn paper as a starter. The best thing to do,
especially if one has a backyard, even better if living in the
country, is to gather kindling.
A Navajo friend of mine would start fires with what he called
“spirit wood,” which is essentially small twigs or branches that
have died, and dried, on a tree, without touching the ground.
The advantage, in addition to being clean of passing dogs, etc.,
is that such wood is really dry, having dried in the air, and makes
it easier to start.
Gather up the smallest bits for tinder you can find, it helps to
do it ahead of time, and can be from clippings and other yard
stuff. Dried oak leaves and twigs are very good, as are dried alder
twigs and limbs, which are available when walking along small
creeks, for example.
Pack your tinder in a ball on the far side of the grill. Next,
take larger twigs and smaller branches and lay them like a tipi
over the tinder.
Next, find still larger limbs, old cherry or apple trimmings or
maple, and lay them around the little tipi to make a bigger pile.
Next I will take from my wood pile a split piece and with the axe,
turn it into quarter-inch pieces maybe seven inches long.
If I have oak bark, on it goes.
Light the fire with a wooden match and watch it grow. A couple
more bigger pieces of oak or other hardwood…avoid eucalyptus or
bay…too strong…and make sure the fire pretty much burns down to
coals.
Using a stick or other tool, push the coals in a heap on the far
side of the grill. A convection oven like a Weber will circulate
the hot air from the fire over the food with little chance of it
burning.
The chicken, or meat, meanwhile, has been reaching room
temperature and could be in a marinade, although it is generally
better to put sauce on the meat later in the game. Don’t forget
black pepper.
The grill, meanwhile, should be wetted down with olive oil using
a brush to cover the cooking area to keep food, especially chicken,
from sticking. It’s not so important for pork.
With the grill oiled, the fire burned to coals, place the meat
on the grill closest to yourself and put on the Weber cover.
Open a beer and drink it while hovering around the Weber and
talking to friends while periodically checking the barbeque. When
the meat is cooking along, put in some sage leaves in the fire. I
use the big leaf sage they use for smudging or a sweat lodge since
it is very fragrant.
You might put a little teriyaki sauce on the meat when it’s
getting close to done which is also a good time to bring out some
aluminum foil.
After a few minutes, take the meat off the fire, place it on two
large pieces of foil. Put whatever seasoning, including more
teriyaki, on the meat and seal it in the foil.
Place it back on the rack, cover and open another beer.
Don’t worry about burning the food, it will only get more tender
with time, especially as the fire burns lower and lower.
Finally, with all the side dishes done and the people hungry.
Remove the foil package, letting it rest for five minutes to
redistribute the juices before digging in and enjoying the fruit of
your labors on Labor Day.
