Swan Family

The swans are back, so it is officially winter on the river. From our bedroom window we saw this family of 2 adults and 5 young swans come into the creek this morning. Then around noon I saw them head back under the bridge and rushed out to get photos. We've seen pairs of adults many times, but this is the first time we've seen juveniles as well.

Prison Ship Martyrs Monument

I joined the other members of my chorus in an interesting event yesterday. We took a bus to the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn in order to take part in the re-dedication of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument. We sang an original piece written by Alvin Singleton especially for the occasion. Here is a description of the historical event that led to the creation of the monument, as described on the Fort Greene Park website.

The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument that stands today in the center of Fort Greene Park is a 1908 memorial to the 11,000 men and boys who died in horrid conditions on the British Prison Ships during the Revolutionary War. The story of the horrid Prison Ships – and the ghastly conditions suffered by the men and boys imprisoned on them during the Revolutionary War – is one of the most disturbing chapters in American history.

During the American Revolutionary War the British arrested scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens on both land and sea. Many were apprehended simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. Besides American civilians and resistance fighters, the British captured the crews of foreign ships on the high seas, especially Spanish vessels. The soldiers, sailors and civilians they arrested were deemed by the British to be prisoners of war and were incarcerated. When the British ran out of jail space to house their POWs they began using decommissioned or damaged war ships that were anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons.

Life was unbearable on the prison ships, the most notorious of them being the Old Jersey – which was called "Hell" by the inhabitants. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were horrendously overcrowded and wretched. If one had money one could purchase food from the many entrepreneurs who rowed up to the boat to sell their wares. Otherwise, the meager rations would consist of sawdust laden bread or watery soup.

A great number of the captives died from disease and malnutrition. Their emaciated bodies were either thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes of Wallabout Bay. Even though the British surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia in 1782, the surviving prisoners were not freed until 1783, when the British abandoned New York City. (A footnote: after the war, the British Commander in charge of the Prison Ships was brought up on war crimes charges and was subsequently hanged.)

In the years following the war the bones of the patriots would regularly wash up along the shores of Brooklyn and Long Island. These remains were collected by Brooklynites with the hopes of creating a permanent resting place for the remains of the brave Prison Ship Martyrs. In the early 1880's the first Martyrs Monument was erected on a triangular plot of land near the Brooklyn Navy Yard waterfront in what is now called Vinegar Hill.

By the 1840s, the original monument was in a state of disrepair and neglect. By 1873 a large stone crypt was constructed in the heart of what is now Fort Greene Park (then called Washington Park), and the bones were re-interred in the crypt. A small monument was erected on the hill above the crypt.

By the close of the 19th century, funds were finally raised for a grander more fitting monument for the Prison Ship Martyrs. The prestigious architectural firm of McKim. Meade and White was commissioned to design the large 148 ft. tower which stands today in the park. It was unveiled in 1908 with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by President-Elect Taft. The monument eventually fell into disrepair but has now been restored and was shown off to the public at yesterday’s dedication.

Trip to Oregon

This fellow is to prove I've been in Oregon the past few days. Linda and I met in Portland airport on Wednesday and drove down to Mom and Dad's. We left Sunday, which was a great plan as we didn't have to worry about Portland rush hour traffic on the way back to the airport. Note to self: from now on I need to go in October, before the time change. Leaving just after the time change meant I was off 4 hours instead of 3 and was generally miserable the whole time due to jet lag. But we had a nice visit all the same.

Trip to NYC

We spent most of yesterday in New York, going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to dinner at Beacon Restaurant and to Carnegie Hall to see a production of Bernstein's Mass.

We saw some nice Monet, and Van Gogh paintingsand of course much more. We especially enjoyed Jeff Koons' sculptures, made of stainless steel.

Then we found this fellow while walking to Carnegie Hall from the restaurant.The Mass was excellent, even if we were in the very last row of the balconey. That's all that was left when we got our tickets.

Guess where

Yep. We spent today in Wildwood, NJ as part of our family birthday celebration. A good time was had by all.

Trip to Maine

The autumn colors we saw driving through the Adirondacks were spectacular. Too bad there wasn't sun to make them even brighter. The colors weren't nearly as far along as we got out of the mountains.

Our hotel in Auburn, Maine looked out over the falls on the Androscoggin River - seen here from the Lewiston side. There was a nice walk along the river and I did manage to find nearly all the quilting fabrics I was looking for.After W's meeting we headed to Boothbay Harbor. It was very windy and cold so kayaking was not an option. We decided to leave a day early and arrived home in NJ today.

Leaving the North Country

We leave camp tomorrow on our way to New Jersey, via Maine. Here is W saying goodbye to the lake. W has a conference in Auburn, ME for a few days and I've found a number of quilt shops in the area that should keep me busy while he is working. Then we are going to the Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor for a few days of R&R, arriving back in NJ on October 5th. The autumn colors here are spectacular, though gray and rainy weather means few photo opportunities. But the weather is supposed to clear tomorrow so the drive should be beautiful. We are going via Burlington, VT, which means a one hour ferry ride across Lake Champlain which should break up the drive.

Kayaking from Raquette Lake to Blue Mountain Lake

On today's wayfarers paddle we finally completed the portion of the Raquette River from Blue Mountain Lake to Raquette Lake. Though we reversed the route due to prevailing winds, starting at Raquette Lake village, going through the Marion River into Utowana and Eagle Lakes and then into Blue Mountain Lake with a carry into Utowana over the old railroad bed. Here is a view of Blue Mountain showing what a beautiful day it was for a paddle.
After the paddle we all (14 of us) went to Hemlock Hall for dinner. It was a wonderful day.

ADK Fall Outing

We spent the weekend at the Adirondack Mountain Club fall outing, headquartered at the Wilmington KOA campground, where we stayed in a nice cabin. A group of about 100 ADK members from all over the state took part in organized hikes, paddles, bike rides throughout the weekend. On Friday we took a short paddle on Lake Everest, a wide section of the West Branch of the Ausable River near Wilmington. The paddle included maneuvering over 2 beaver dams which added to the excitement. We saw this osprey and the remains of his/her nest. Most of the nest plus some of its supporting branches were destroyed by the remnants of hurricane Ike that came through recently.

On Saturday we paddled the Ausable River from the bridge on Route 9 out to Lake Champlain via the northern route shown on the map. The lake was very windy, so we paddled into a quiet side channel and walked out to the lake. Someday when the wind isn't so strong we want to go back and paddle out one branch of the river and in the other, paddling the section of the lake in between.

On Sunday the weather wasn't nearly as nice, with low misty clouds. But we decided to go on a hike anyway. We climbed Cobble Hill, behind Northwoods School in Lake Placid. We are told there are usually nice views of Mirror Lake and Lake Placid from the top, but we saw very little. There is a nice rock scramble to get to the top that J would like. We'll have to take him there sometime, if we can find the path again. The entrance and exit (via a walk along Echo Lake) are off a private drive.

Rest In Peace

As part of today's paddle we stopped on Pine Island in Rollins Pond to spread Pop's ashes. W's mothers ashes were placed there too, many years ago. It is a place they both loved.