Quilt 76

I finally finished the quilt and pillows to go on the dark brown leather sofa which will be in our new living room.

 

A Walk Down Memory Lane

We wanted to walk in Holmdel Park one more time before we move - yes, the project in progress is a move away from New Jersey where we have lived for the past 50 years.  So we are revisiting favorite places.  We had a nice walk, then went to Bell Works, the amazing space which used to be Bell Laboratories, where we both worked, and which has since been repurposed into a home for many companies and retail stores.  But it still looks the same.

Longwood Gardens

It has been nearly two months since I posted anything here.  We have been very, very busy on a project that I hope to reveal soon.  But in the meantime, here is a Holiday greeting from a trip to the Longwood Gardens Christmas show.  Unfortunately it was raining, so we didn't explore the outdoor lighting.  And parts of the conservatory are still under construction, so it is not as extensive as it has been and will be again in a couple more years.  But what we saw was impressive.

Not all the galleries were fully decorated.  Here are some wonderful cacti.

Then there was the organ!! OMG!  I'm sure we never saw this before.  It has over 10,000 pipes and you can walk around behind the room containing the console to see the rooms and rooms of them.  Here are just a few.  We think those small white objects are Simplisafe sensors, probably monitoring temperature.

2022 Paddles

We did 16 paddles this year, three of them on Piercefield Flow.

• Black Pond
• Bog River to Hitchins Pond
• Carry Falls Reservoir
• Forked Lake
• Franklin Falls Pond
• Little Tupper Lake
• Piercefield Flow
• Rollins-Floodwood Loop
• Saranac River
• Second Pond to Lake Flower
• South Creek to Weller Pond
• Upper Saint Regis Lake
• Upper Saranac Lake from Indian Carry
• Upper Saranac Lake from Saranac Inn

Final Paddle of the Season

Today was the traditional Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day paddle and picnic at Hitchins Pond.  We had at least 15 people with the usual assortment of boats, plus some people hiked in instead.

 

I liked this ground covering of moss and wintergreen where some of our boats were placed.

The weather turned out much better than expected.  Which meant it was a beautiful paddle

and we stayed at the picnic longer than we had intended.  We are driving back to New Jersey tomorrow and the idea was to just spend a short time at the picnic so we would have time to rest before packing the car.  Note to self - do not try to drive back the day after the paddle and picnic.  It is too much fun visiting with our friends, especially since it is the last time we will see them for a while, to try to cut it short.  We should have kept to our original plan and driven back on Wednesday instead.

Fall in the Adirondacks

A beautiful fall day on our driveway.

Another Paddle on the Flow

We wanted to paddle again this week but didn't want to drive anywhere.  It has been a busy week, including a wonderful lunch with friends in Lake Placid yesterday.  So we just put the boats in here and explored for a while.  The temperature was about 70 degrees, which was marvelous, although the wind picked up in the afternoon.  The leaves are gorgeous.

Paddling Black Pond

Another new paddle today.  Black Pond is quite small - we paddled the circumference and went less than 3 miles.  So we probably won't do that again.  But the fall colors were great.

We drove home via Rt 86 toward Saranac Lake so we could view the colors along the way.

Peak Fall Colors

We drove to Saranac this afternoon to see a Hill and Hollow sponsored concert by the Alexander Quartet. It was marvelous.  And so was the drive there.  The sun was out and the colors on the hillsides were at their peak.  Unfortunately, I did not get a photo.

Paddling from Second Pond to Lake Flower

We did a variation on this paddle today.  Due to near freezing temperatures in the morning, and since there is no place to stop along the way for a lunch break, we started the paddle after lunch when the temperatures were much more moderate.  It was a good 6-mile paddle as usual.  And it is always fun to go through the lock.