Wordle

This is really cool. We were at a talk at the Wildcenter today where the authors of a new book about the Adirondacks used the program found at http://www.wordle.net/ to produce slides showing the topics in each section of the book. Wordle takes any text and creates a graphic that "gives greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text". And you have lots of control over the results, choosing fonts, colors, shape, etc. Here is what I created for "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. Here is another one. Can you guess what it is?

Bear

We were awakened last night by the sound of a bear trying to get into our trashcan. The bear-proof strap that holds the lid on earned its name, but the can is definitely the worse for wear this morning. When we heard the loud noise, W jumped out of bed and got the high-powered light he keeps in his closet for just such an occasion and we watched the very large bear roll the can around a few more times, then give up and saunter away up the driveway. Definitely glad we were sleeping inside four solid walls and not a tent.

Deck Refinishing

We've been playing hard. Now time to get some work done around camp. We've spent the last couple of days refinishing the deck and back porch. Actually, the porch isn't finished yet; we realized if we did both at the same time, we would not be able to get in and out of the house. W washed down the surfaces with a cleaner and power washer. Then we applied Sikkens, using the teak color this time. Hopefully it will last longer than the last finish did. This post is mostly so we can look back and see when we did the work. I will also note that 2 gallons was just barely enough.

Wildlife

We heard a loon calling closeby early this morning, so we went down to the lake to see it. Instead, our attention was grabbed by 4 otters swimming toward the point. We knew they were in the lake but rarely see them, so it was a real treat.

And a couple nights ago while walking back from Rose and Kay's we saw bats flying overhead along the driveway. Because of the white nose disease that is killing them off, I had wanted to go out and look for them, but hadn't gotten around to it. So it was great to see them still around.

Kayaking Lake Placid

Another calm day and another lake. We went on an ADK paddle on Lake Placid today. There were only 6 of us in 3 boats. We did an 8 mile circumference of the lake. Here is a view from Echo Bay where we stopped for lunch.
We have paddled about 27 miles in 3 days. Time to stay home tomorrow and get some chores done.

Kayaking Lake Champlain

Another great day today. Since the weather was again forecast to be calm we headed for Lake Champlain, where we have wanted to paddle since the ADK fall outing last September. We put in to the Ausable River where Route 9 crosses it and paddled out the northern route shown in this aerial photo.Then we paddled out into the lake, which was fairly calm considering its size; but we were glad we had our spray skirts on.We hauled up on this sand bar and had lunch facing the lake with the Green Mountains of Vermont in the distance. Then we pulled the boat over the bar (the shortest portage we have ever taken) and traveled on the other branch of the river back to our starting point for a total of about 5 miles of paddling.

Then we drove the short distance to Plattsburgh where we did some shopping (naturally) and saw the movie "Julie and Julia", which was fun.

Kayaking Cranberry Lake

What a beautiful day. And the next 5 days are to be sunny as well - finally. The winds were forecast to be "light and variable", which is the closest we get to "calm", so we headed for Cranberry Lake, another of the Paddle Pursuit goals. We put in just past the Pine Cone Restaurant along the road to the Ranger School in Wanakena. Then we paddled the length of Dead Creek Flow and back for a total of 13 3/4 miles, as shown on the map. We also stopped at several nice campsites to break up the trip.We got an early start and since it was very foggy this morning, we saw scenes like this.And all the spider webs were covered with dew. The fog burned off quickly and we were left with scenes like this.

New Jersey

Today we drive back to camp after a busy week in NJ. Over the weekend we worked on S's porch. During the week we visited AA&J, where A and I picked some blueberries and peaches; I picked blackberries at the Berry Farm in Colts Neck; we walked on the beach; we participated in the MCC sing of Bach's B Minor Mass; we did lots of shopping, including buying yummy corn-on-the-cob to take back; and last evening we went to an organ concert in Ocean Grove. So we got to do lots of the things I've been missing since we aren't in NJ during the summer.

When I was looking to see if there would be an organ concert we could attend, I looked up the schedule online and saw that yesterday's recital included "The Storm" but gave no more information. So I googled it and this is what I found. Check out the link - it proves you can find anything on the web. It is a NY Times article reporting that Ocean Grove residents complained that "The Storm", an organ piece which we now know is by Jacques Lemmens and is otherwise known as "Grand Fantasia in E Minor", is so loud it "disturbs their afternoon naps and annoys them at tea time". The article was published July 16, 1909.

Kayaking Round Lake

We are leaving for a week in NJ tomorrow, so we needed a shortish, close paddle for today so we could get back to camp to pack. So we went to Round Lake. The pickerelweed is in full bloomand you can always count on lots of waterlilies along the inlet from Little Tupper.The bladderworts are also blooming around the inlet at the southwest corner of the lake.Yes, Round Lake has corners. I don't know where they get these names. Round Lake is triangular if anything. The reddish leaves in this photo belong to a carpet of sundews.

Quilt

I finished this quilt top, and since I won't actually quilt it until I get to NJ where I have more room, I figured I'd show it off now. The pattern is from a book by Evelyn Sloppy (if that were my name, I'd change it, especially if I were a quilter). I'm not sure I like it. The colors were chosen to go with a dusty rose chair, which is very hard to match. But each one is an adventure and a learning experience so I'll go ahead and finish it. My next is a "stack and whack" which I can't wait to try, though I'm sure it will be nerve-racking.