Sunday, September 26, 2010

Paddling the Rollins Loop

We had a very nice paddle today. It was a gray but very calm day and the tree colors are spectacular.We put in at Fish Creek, paddled up to and through Copperas and Whey, enjoying the carries with our light-weight boats, into Rollins then Floodwood, Little Square and back into Fish Creek. We saw the usual assortment of birds - black ducks in Fish Creek, a bald eagle on the south shore of Whey Pond, and lots of belted kingfishers, loons, mergansers, and great blue herons.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Quilt Class

As if I don't have enough to do, including many quilting projects in the works, I could not resist signing up for a quilting class at the Village Quilter in Mount Holly. It uses the New York Beauty pattern that I have never tried but have wanted to. And this one,a pattern by Karen Stone appropriately called Cinco De Mayo, is outstanding. I had my first class today and we spent most of the time selecting fabric for just one block. The instructor was very helpful. I only have one problem. To really make the quilt zing, you should use all different fabrics. Let's see, 36 blocks with at least 10 fabrics per block - that's a lot of fat quarters. The assumption is that you have a large stash to select from. In my case, I'll have a large stash once I'm done with the quilt. So far I've only purchased batiks (you can never have too many batiks), but with the instructor's help I realize I need to branch out.

We head back to NY tomorrow, so I don't have time to shop now. And we're not in NJ very much in October, so it is a good thing we only meet once a month. It is going to take quite a while to accummulate all that fabric. I can't wait.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Quilt Show

We had a great time at the quilt show. I bought LOTS of fabric for a couple new projects. Since this was a commercial show, there were more vendors than quilts and most of the quilts were art quilts. But there were a few I liked that I might actually be able to make someday, like this one.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

In New Jersey

We drove to NJ Tuesday in time for chorus rehearsal. Yesterday I went to RRQ open sew, we walked on the boardwalk in gorgeous weather, then we joined S for dinner. Today we head for AA&J's for the day, stay overnight, and then go to the big Mancuso quilt show in Valley Forge on Friday before heading back home.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Kushaqua Chapel

Apparently I am not the only person intrigued by the church on Lake Kushaqua - see the previous post. I googled it and found the following information. Much of it is from responses to a Flicker posting of a photo of the church very similar to the one I took. There is lots of information on a site on the history of Saranac Lake and surrounding areas. That is the source of the photos shown here. There is also information on a site maintained by the current owners, a small group of friends.

The area was once known as Stony Wold and was the site of a TB Sanitarium built in 1900 to treat working girls in the initial stages of tuberculosis.The chapel building was the community hall, chapel, and movie theater for the complex. The sanitorium closed in 1955 and was bought by the Ogdensburg Diocese of the Catholic Church to be administered by the “White Fathers”, medical missionaries to the Middle East (they originated in France and were known for their white robes). They ran a boys camp known as Camp Lavigerie. In 1962 the Camp was closed and the Franciscan Friars used it as a seminary while their facility in Saranac Lake was being built. The main building and out-buildings were finally razed in the 1970's,leaving the chapel as the only remaining building.

The chapel had beautiful Tiffany windows behind the altar. The windows are now installed at the New-York Historical Society Museum at Central Park West and 77th Street, on the stair landing outside the third floor.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Paddling the North Branch of the Saranac River

We checked off another paddle on the Paddle Pursuit today.We drove to the dam at Lake Kushaqua where we put in and paddled down the lakeand through the narrows into the North Branch of the Saranac River. It is a nice winding river of the sort we like to explore.We stopped at an impressive beaver dam about 2 miles upstream.We could have carried over it, but we had read that you can't get much farther, so we stayed in our boats. The round trip paddle was about 8 miles.

This picturesque church is on the Kushaqua Mud Pond Road on the way to the dam.It seemed in very good shape but was all closed up and there were no signs to indicate what it is and whether it is still in use.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Paddling to the Upper Locks

We paddled today despite the low clouds - at least it did not rain. We started at South Creek,went into Middle Saranac Lake, stopping to see the resident eagle on Ship Island, and then down the Saranac Riverto the Upper Locks. We got out for a brief rest at the locks, then retraced our steps for a total of 7 miles.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

We Finished the Basement Room!!!!

Well, almost. We can't attach most of the floor molding until Jack installs the baseboard heating, hopefully by the end of the month. But the entrance to the room at the base of the stairs is doneand the closet and room doors are hung.We even installed the handrail for the new steps.Now hopefully the weather will improve so we can do lots of paddling to make up for lost time.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Moose Pond

We finally did another paddle today. We joined the wayfarers in a paddle around Moose Pond, followed by a picnic at Marilyn and Peter's. The Moose Pond paddle would normally be very tame, since it is not very big.It was a bit more of a challenge today since we had high winds, forecast to be 30 mph. But our boats performed outstandingly, riding the waves and keeping us dry, unlike the kayak where even with our spray skirts on we would have gotten wet. Here is a view of Whiteface from the lake.As a bonus I finally learned from Bill how to find the trail into Moose Pond from Route 3. The road into the trailhead is just on the Saranac Lake side of a house with a barn about 1/4 mile past Trudeau, shown as a gravel pit on the left side of the map. There is a dirt road leading to a narrow walkway over the river. Several folks said it is a great place to cross-country ski, as long as there is enough snow. The road is not plowed so you have to park along Route 3 in the winter. You can ski right onto the lake, which is very picturesque.