Our first summer in the Adirondacks is whizzing by.  We never imagined there would be so much to do.  

In one week, we went to the horse races in Saratoga, where I came away only $4 lighter and Tim lost virtually hundreds (virtually because he never actually placed the bets). That night we heard Yo Yo Ma play with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Elton John will be there in a few weeks. 

We’ve kayaked in Saranac Lake where we wnt through the upper locks, built in the 1800’s.  It is a small  lock and is opened and closed by hand.  I went to two county fairs and saw a car rollover competition, which was fun until someone actually got injured; pig races, sheep competitions; wallabies(?), which didn’t behave much differently in captivity than they did on Deal Island; saw beautiful knitting, woven designs and quilts and got to spin yarn (merino, silk) with the spinners.

We’ve had visitors and went visiting.  I’ve crewed on the Friendship a few times, where Tim likes to say I am his mate on and off the boat. (Which is better than saying he is always the Captain.)  I am getting braver about walking on the wire cable to raise the foresail.
This weekend we will be camping in the High Peaks.  The only problem with summer is it is way too short.

We only can have one paper delivered to our home.  Tim really likes taking the walk to the end of the driveway to get the paper and the act of turning the newspaper’s pages.  I know I am guilty of not always being the best proofreader myself, but we find some strange pleasure in finding the errors.  I read an uplifting article today, in contrast to the many downers, and did a double take.  The article described how a man’s life was saved because off-duty nurses responded to him in the hospital’s parking lot, where he was having a heart attack.  One felt for his carotid and the other for his ephemeral pulse.  Wait, what? A pulse which lasts for a very short time?  A fleeting pulse.  The term creates an interesting image,  much better than femoral: a few large arteries in the thigh.

All is well though because he had blockage removed, a few stints placed and is recovering at home.  A stint could put an end to it. A stint could limit something or reflect time spent.   A heart stent is just a pipe.  Even my wordpress spell check isn’t happy with the word stent and there’s an ehow article online dealing entirely with heart stints!

We finally had some nice weather tonight and a beautiful sunset. We were at a spot by the Hudson River (very briefly until mosquitos swarmed me).
I’ve been keeping busy knitting, quilting and WORKING! Only one day a week but it cuts into play time.  It’s good to be back in the stirrups again.

I am storing some of my daughter’s treasures until she gets her new apartment in Washington, DC. I was given permission to use the pineapple tool and don’t know how I managed to get this far without one. In general, I oppose one-purpose tools but will gladly make an exception for this one. It cores, slices, peels and leaves a wonderful pineapple shell behind.

I wonder if she’ll miss it.

THE GOOD:  We just spent a whirlwind weekend attending my daughter’s graduation from Brown. I had a great time with her and friends. She received an award in excellence.  My little baby has become a poised young woman. She was gracious and a wonderful host. We attended BBQ’s, dances,dinners and pubs.

THE BAD:  Perhaps I am not the best dancer. While we were dancing the last dance of the night at a party of 10,000 people, something flew across the dance floor and struck me in the face. I knew I was hit and when I took my hand away, it was covered in blood.  A gallant young man produced a cloth handkerchief. EMS butterflied it and I was fine.
 
But then I became the ugly. Sunglasses helped.