Friends Weekend

  Friends Weekend is always a cherished time spent with several of my oldest friends from Westfield, and this year had the added bonus of being held in Lake Placid.  Never one to pass up a chance to get up a mountain or two, I coerced Amy into going early to join me in climbing two more of the Adirondack peaks over 4000', Cascade and Porter.  They are considered two of the easier ones, and with spectacular views, are often overrun with people.  We had the advantage of getting there early on a weekday after most of the leaves had fallen so had both summits to ourselves.  While we ate lunch atop Porter we could see a small crowd gathering on the bald summit of Cascade where we'd gone first.  Both offer stunning, unobstructed views of most of the High Peaks, Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains in Vermont.

  Based on a tip from the Zamboni driver on the speed skating track, I got up Saturday morning for a short hike up Cobble Hill near the village.  The High Peaks were obscured by clouds, but I could see the cut in the mountains where the Ausuble River and Rt. 86 cut through the mountains.

  After the clouds burned off it was tough to have this view of Whiteface and not be climbing it, but the purpose of the trip was to spend time with friends.  Maybe a ski trip up the Veterans Memorial Highway on an equally beautiful day is in order.

Friends Weekend

  An annual rite of passage, Friends Weekend is a good time to gather and have too much to eat and drink while catching up on another year.  Sue and I showed no restraint in the eating part. 
  The house we rented this time was fantastic, and rich in history.  It was the first in the hood, many have surrounded it, but still excellent for a large reunion.

Friends Weekend

  A few of us made it to John Brown's Farm in North Elba.  I'd been trying to get there for several years, and when Gail went in 2018 she was moved by a new permanent exhibit titled "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" that tells the story of Gerrit Smith's efforts to give away lands to blacks so they could have the $250 in property wealth required to vote in NY in the 1840's.  John Brown supported Smith's efforts so moved his family to North Elba to help the new landowners get established (as well as transport escaped slaves to Canada). After the exhibit traveled around for several years it was given a permanent home at his farm.
  A lovely spot to learn history.

Friends Weekend

 

  We hit the weather window perfectly and were able to spend quite a bit of time outside.  Everybody enjoyed a couple walks around the village of Lake Placid, the lawn was sufficient for various games,  a few of us visited the ski jump, and best of all, we missed another 100-year storm with destructive winds and flooding by a week.

20th Caroline Walkabout

  Hard to believe it's been 20 years since a bunch of young, ambitious people set out to walk a 26-mile marathon around the hills of Caroline.  Many blisters, bunions, corns and callouses later, we've scaled it down to about 15 miles, but the spirit remains.  Hosted by Connie and Andy and attended by participants from far and wide, we walk on. 
  Already looking forward to next year.

20th Caroline Walkabout

  Nice day for a walk, and the colors didn't disappoint.  We headed down McGrath Road with the leaves as expected, but the first rolling fields of hemp any of us had ever seen.  Probably the best aspect of the walk is having extended time to catch up with friends.

20th Caroline Walkabout

  As always, Connie put out a sumptuous lunch that kept everyone who was continuing through the afternoon nourished and in need of a walk.  Two views near the end gave a great display of fall colors, and the sky put on a decent show too.

NY NY

  Before returning to work in September I made an overnight trip to Brooklyn to see Ting and meet her adorable boy, Hison.  He's growing so fast, the outfit I got him was already too small though it was for a baby two months older.

  Xiao was there too and I taught him some of the finer points of collecting scrap metal.  Unfortunately the scrap yard was closed so we just left our offerings by their gate.

NY NY

  While the kids slept I went to two places in Brooklyn I've come to love: Coney Island at sunrise, and Greenwood Cemetery.  Had a nice swim in the ocean and saw some interesting graves, trees and views of the Manhattan skyline.

NY NY

  Thanks to a tip from Gail, I got to see a wonderful and broad exhibit celebrating the life of Leonard Cohen.  More than a dozen artists were given space to use so there was a great variety of genres.  This is a picture of one of the many self-portraits Cohen did that were projected onto a wall.