40 Years Ago

 

 

Ahh, a trip to Westfield and Barcelona on a perfect weekend.  Always good to get some time on the shores of Lake Erie and see friends and family.  We spent a lot of time on this beach and out on the breakwall as teenagers.

The lighthouse is getting restored.  When it's done there will be parking spots right outside.  You should visit.

 

The lighthouse was the first in the world to burn natural gas to produce light.  The pipes from the well were made of wood.  This stream about a mile away is a good indication how easy it was to find gas.

 

This trip also featured a tour of the school building I attended for k-12.  I don't recall having been back since I graduated and it was remarkable how a couple bond projects can change the layout.  This space was the band room when I was a trombonist (I was the third chair and saw the first and second chairs during the weekend), now it's part of the cafeteria. When we were there they painted murals depicting the grape industry that's prevalent along Lake Erie's shores.  The addition added more and we were able to recognize old acquaintances.

They've added a little memorial garden in a courtyard that was under-utilized when we were there.  Sadly, the McMahons have ordered another brick for Janet.  Class of '80.

 

Still living, though his football career is dead.

 

Can you believe all these people graduated 40 years ago?  Well, our gym teacher is on the left, and one guy who left in the middle of our sophomore year came for the reunion.  Still, Class of '84 Rules!

Stone Walls, Old and New

 

 When my friend, Lauren, found out I like to play with rocks, particularly stacking them for walls and steps, she asked if I'd be interested in repairing the wall in front of her 1910 house.  Her actual question was, "How big of a rock can you move?"

This is the one she had in mind, and it didn't seem too onerous to return to its previous position as a capstone.

The firewood scaffolding method got it almost in place to flop over on top of the wall, but I was working alone and needed another set of hands for that.  I thought this made for a fine picture to send to Lauren to let her know I was done.

Fortunately, I brought along my come-along and there was a tree close enough to anchor it to.

Unfortunately, the rock on top of the wall a couple down from the one I was lifting was out of my view and I couldn't see it getting pushed off the wall by the one in between.  I think it was one crank from falling.

An hour trying to get this additional inch.

Another hour to flip it around so the correct face shows.

All the capstones are back in place.  They have enough support so they aren't likely to fall any time soon.  I'd like to switch out the new rocks I put under the caps with ones that match the original stones and are stacked better structurally.  Lauren says I'm funny.

 Maybe she'll leave the beach someday and come see the repairs, and how much more pleasing it will be to have structural rocks that match.

And maybe someday, I'll get around to finishing this little wall I started at our house back in June.  My back has recovered from carrying some of those rocks up from the creek.

Over and Back

 

 

Gail and some of her swimming friends did a swim across and back from Meyer's Park on Cayuga Lake.  Perfect morning, a little chop, a little wind, and a current going the opposite direction.

 

With three kayaks and a clear reference point to aim for, the trip over was pretty straight.  Don't look at me to explain how the trip back got off course.  No problem, it's not like they weren't capable of swimming a couple hundred extra yards.  I hope Women Swimmin' goes off as well where I'll be a support kayaker again,  Instead of swimming, Gail will be on the Kayak Safety Team.

Huge Loss

 

A good friend and mentor, Fr. Dan Riley, died suddenly in July.  So much has been said, and will continue to be shared long into the future.  His laugh was legendary, and he loved this picture of Jesus laughing.

In addition to being a cherished friar at St. Bonaventure University, Dan founded and was the backbone of one of my favorite places: Mount Irenaeus in Allegany County.  I recommend checking out some of Dan's posts, he was a great writer, photographer, artist and speaker.

GrassRoots Again

 

Mid July, heatwave- time for GrassRoots Festival set-up. 

Give him some slack, he's over 70 and the temperature was almost 20 more.  A special project this year was to fix up a tractor that would be covered with kids during the festival and parked by Green Star in the future.  Steve wasn't using it anymore (hard to when it doesn't run or have brakes).

 I took a break in the shade and watched the old guys work a couple times.

 Roxy spent far too much time parsing the schedule for someone who would spend the festival in the pound.  Maybe next year she can be a support dog.

 Thursday afternoon, Bubba George gets the music going and I hang out in the shade and take this annual picture.

There was a buzz for a Friday morning set by Savannah Lee.  She's new in town from Texas and got some grad school mates to support her.  That guy on bass?  Erich, I baby sat for him and his brother Neil in the last century.  Looking forward to hearing them play in the area some more.

 Mavis Staples.  Yep, she just turned 85 and kicked ass.  What a legend.

 Brad puts in far too many hours during the fest, but his sharp mind would be wasted to join our crew for set-up.

A rare treat: Keith Secola did an acoustic workshop featuring indigenous music and stories.  It was the first time I'd done the "NDN Car" dance in ages.  He told a great GrassRoots creation story during his song "Fry Bread."  I also loved the song he did in his language which translated roughly to "This land is not your land."  He had everyone singing along.

 Another special project during set-up was an Information Booth that was painted during the fest with three peace-themed images.  Dan loves getting the kids involved and painting.  The technique for this type of painting is to do it in layers, so kids can be involved, but the final images are highly skilled paintings by Dan and John.  I had a good time hanging out in the booth, it took me back to my days in HQ at the Heron.

John is a true Wonder of the World.  Check out his work here and here.

 Kim and Adam just didn't have their usual glow.  They had their vibe going, but something just wasn't right.

 Then they visited the Sunglasses Exchange Table and began to sparkle.  Dig your roots.

Saturday afternoon and into the evening featured one of the strongest line-ups in GR history.  Local-made-big, Willie Watson got things going with a set that had support from his old band mate Ben Gould on bass and Sami Braman on fiddle.

One of the biggest acts in bluegrass these days is Molly Tuttle.  She does some great covers, writes stuff that connects to the festival crowd, and the whole band has amazing chops.

 Old Crow Medicine Show rounded out the string band trio for the night.  They formed shortly after Willie and Ketch met a couple miles down the road at the Rongo.  Good to see them playing together again.

Old Crow often features "The Weight" when they have special guests around.  Let's get Keith Secola, Rosie Newton, Tara Nevins and others up for the encore.

They somehow took an unfinished Dylan riff and created a great song.  Unfortunately, it's been beaten down enough to be right up there with bands as "No Stairway to Heaven" signs in music shops.  But man, was it a pleasure to witness it this night: "Wagon Wheel" 

 Sunday sunrise- kickball.  What a hoot with Joe, Steve and someone I don't know providing live musical accompaniment.

 Who says it's only a game?

 After many of the drunks have gone to sleep for the morning, the orchestra shows up and people looking much fresher (for the most part) show up for the symphony.  Under a new Grandstand Stage roof, they played a piece this year that Jeb Puryear wrote.  Rock star, festival organizer, nice guy and symphony writer.

 

 

The tractor was a hit with the kids, and more than a few adults took advantage of the planter seats on the back.
 

Only 50 weeks until the 33rd GrassRoots.

Too Much Wind

 

Heat hasn't been the only problem this summer, we've gotten several windstorms.  One hit Caroline quite hard, especially downtown Brooktondale.  Connie, Andy and I once again hit the trails to clear blow-downs, or occasionally make a reroute around the hole where the roots used to be.

The Steve and Cindy had a near-miss when some of their oaks came down around the cabin and outbuildings.  Erich is 6'2''.

 Another reason to reroute.

 Right across the trail, and not really visible, but right on top of a bunch of other trees.

Backpackers and tall people are just going to have to duck for now.

 That shirt is too valuable to be out in the woods where it can get snagged and torn.

 Some came down in Six Mile Creek too.  This one is on an unmarked trail so Roxy and everyone else are just going to have to go over for a few decades.

Pictures stolen from the internet.  NY broke its record for the number of tornadoes for the month of July.  This one was near Wells, NY in the Adirondacks.  I read a horrifying account by a woman who was caught in one on the FLT.  She lived and somehow was uninjured by trees and branches falling all around her all night.