Skyway Lounger

Just a short blog to show off this years Skyway Lounger painted by my neighbor, dear friend and fine artist Leigh Yardley!

Clouds, Camping and Buck

So! This was the week where EVERYTHING went wrong! But this is OK I decided as Skyway is quickly approaching on the 30th and NOTHING can go wrong then!
It all began Friday with the arrival of Ryan and Julie and the boys, Jack, Will and Dylan. Which isn't wrong of course. I love these people! Ryan and Julie (Bill's son) are the most wonderful parents in the world to these great kids.
They had a wonderful time chasing rabbits, collecting firewood and just romping around the yard!
Saturday I loaded up the sound system and drove up to Kayuta Lake to celebrate my sister's new camp and my mother's birthday with my other sister Lisa and her husband Jeff at the Buffalo Head.
Since I had reserved campsite 114 at Golden Beach Campground at Raquette there was no sense in driving all the way home and back up again the next day. So I spent the night with Nan and Malcolm in their new camp. A great time there was not a problem.
So Sunday rolls around and Bill and the gang all arrive and we head further north for our 4 day stay in the mountains.
Campsite 114. Booked it online. A little small but very close to the water. We all worked very well together setting up camp making good use of the small space provided. Then Bill and I decided to park his big cumbersome van at my cousins camp which is up in back of Burk's Marina. There we bought firewood. While chatting with Mary Burk an through the corner of my eye I was watching Bill loading the firewood and thought...WoW! He certainly is getting a lot of wood in there with all my sound equipment.
Thats when I walked over and looked in through the window of the back end of my car and realized I had forgotten my guitars!
So up early Monday morning I left the happy campers to head home to get the girls when the muffler on my car went.
German Tank all the way home! Luckily Benedict Corp got me right in. Dad followed me down to drop off the car and got me home again. The whole house to myself was nice.
Monday night while I slept peacefully, campsite 114 got pounded with rain, thunder and lightning from 9 at night till the morning!
Bill said it was like someone held a hose right outside the tent and just sprayed full force all night long.
Sleeping bags soaked the gang packed up what they could an came home to dry out an re-group! Poor Jack petted one of my cats an rubbed his eye which proceeded to swell shut! Good Lord what next!
Later on that day I headed north again with my purring new muffler to do my gig at the Moose. It was pretty chilly Tuesday night so I played in the bar.
Over the last several weeks I've met again 5 couples who were at the Moose last summer and came back again this summer just to hear me play! Makes my day!
Wednesday rolls around. Finally a nice day an we all hiked up Bald Mountain to the absolutely gorgeous view of the Fulton Lake Chain! I think its my 5th hike up Bald. I explained to the kids that there are 46 high peaks in the Adirondack Mountains.
And to become a "46"er they have 45 left to climb. Will is eager!
Wednesday night was my gig next to the pond. A nice crowd. Could of been bigger. They all stayed through the whole show and applauded respectively! While setting up tho I got a terrible blood blister on the first finger of my right hand! Right before the show! Pain! What next. What I go through in a week!
So we made it through, packed up Thursday 100% exhausted and smelling like a woodfire and drove home. On the way I got a shot of this buck just standing on the side of the side of the road while picking up Bill’s van.
I always think of my grandfather when I see a buck in the woods. The indian in him loved to hunt. I have fond memories of my father and all my uncles on hunt weekends when I was small. The house I grew up in on Swan Hill Road was a split level and thats where we would all gather to butcher the deer and get all the different cuts of meat white paper wrapped and freezer ready. It was always exciting as a little girl to look out the windows toward the ridge the men called “Bucks Knob” looking for traces of the red hunting jackets that hopefully held uneaten candy bars saved for us kids.
When my grandfather died. His sons adorned his casket with antlers. They all took his sudden death pretty hard. He was quite a fella with shocking white hair and a laugh I’ll never forget. Put an indian head dress on him and you would swore he walked out of an indian war party!
Anyway...I’ll write more of the house him and my grandmother shared later.
Tonight the Georgetown Inn.
Tweaking Boom Town and I'm invited to record at the new Colgate University state of the art recording studio!
This will be a treat!
Skyway and Sunday after Skyway party now in the works.
Honestly it will be nice to slow down a little come October.

Steve Durham Star Parties!

Cathy Light certainly had a GREAT idea when she met up with Steve Durham and had him come out to the Moose for Star Parties!
Steve is quite a fella! Not only is he an inventor, he also built his telescope and is a quilter and a boat builder! A true Adirondack Man!
He also belongs to this cool organization called Sharing The Sky, www.sharingthesky.org and can be reached at 518-624-3860.
Really! What a cool idea for your kids birthday party! Hire up Steve an he'll come an set up his grand telescope! I can't think of a kid anywhere who wouldn't want to search the nighttime skies for planets and stars and other extra terrestrial beings that might be lurking about in outer space!
Here is the shot once again Steve took of the moon on my camera through the lens of his scope.
Check back as I hope to have many more looks into the galaxy through out the summer!
Or better yet call the Moose to find out the Star Party Schedule and get your own shots!

Buttermilk Falls, Cascade Falls and Norridgewock.

Summer certainly is flying by. Its a bittersweet life these days. I think I'm finally over the empty nest feeling and I'm enjoying with what life is offering more. I'm thankful! I do miss my kids. But my days are pretty nice. Reclaiming the upstairs bedrooms to get the house up to snuff with a Bed and Breakfast in future plans.
Fawny the brown rabbit turned out to be female and I now have 5 new babies. She made her nest under the front porch. I snagged two of the 5 and caged them to save them from the cats. The other three have moved under the woodshed out back.
As luck would have it the original dropped off mother got hit out front in the road. She had a great life tho. Uncaged with lots of freedom and rabbit pellets. So I'm thinking of training one of the new babies to join me on stage while I perform. The children will love to be able to pet a real rabbit! Yeah! I'll be the Rabbit Woman of the Adirondacks kinda like the Cat Man of the Keys! Hurry Up! Take Your Time! That guys was a total riot!
I've been to some beautiful remote spots of late.
Last week I got my hiking poles out an did the 4 mile or so trek around Cascade Lake. It wasn't the most thrilling trail I've ever been on but there is a sweet little waterfall on the back end of the lake which was just a gushing from all the rain we've had.
A soggy hike to say he least! The boots are well broke in!
Actually the first waterfall was the hike up Buttermilk Falls. I went to see Aurora in her new place of residency over in Ithaca. The brick house of many couches. I had plans of visiting more often an to crash there. But maybe not! Its a student flop house thats for sure. She seems happy tho. God am I a terrible mother I didn't even get a shot of her out front. Next time. Anyway we spent a lovely afternoon at Buttermilk Falls. Nick, Aurora, Ed and I. I was amazed at the stonework that runs along side of the falls all the way to the top. Great workout hiking up the stone steps to the top. And wow was the water cold!
I did another gig on the deck of Stillwater Saturday night after a long awaited trip out to Norridgewock. Just love playing Stillwater. I'm feeling like one of the locals! They really make you feel like family out there. Norridgewock! WOW! I'd LOVE to spend some more time out there! Such a funky little village! All power is from generators and the cars with out a license plate. You can only get there by boat. Just a great place on the edge of forever wild bliss.
I did have a nice chat with Scott a fifth generation Thompson who runs the Hotel. Norridgewock on one side of the tracks and the Beaver River Hotel on the other! I'm gonna be playing there at some point.
I'm looking forward to winter to see the mountains in all its beautiful whiteness.
I recorded at Orbital Sound with Steve and Reyna. Got in a good recording of Boom Town and Rim of the World. So the CD is coming.
And Skyway...well..I'll just say that I'll need a lost in the woods week when that is over!