My friend Louise shared this on my Facebook page after I started sharing recollections of the lovely weekend I spent with her helping out with another great Women Swimmin' for Hospicare.
Unfortunately, I did have to hit the road back to NYC on Sunday the 11th of August, but I didn't particularly need to rush off, so we were able to get in a lovely paddle from Taughannock Falls State Park to Lake Ridge Point and back. Conditions were much calmer than they'd been for the swim on Saturday, too bad we couldn't have switched days!
Our original plan had been to paddle and then get in a short swim ourselves before heading back to Louise's place for a light lunch before I headed out, but we had such a good time beachcombing at Lake Ridge Point that we skipped the swim. Cayuga is famous for "lucky stones", smooth beach stones with holes in them. Louise has a very sharp eye for these and I found a couple too, plus a stone bearing the fossil impression of a tiny, ancient clam.
Here are a dozen photos from that lovely afternoon.
Louise's happy little dragon figurehead was inspired by the travels of the Draken Harald Hårfagre and her Norwegian heritage - she got a local ironworker to craft him for her, with the specific request that it be a friendly dragon, not a mean or scary one. The ironworker succeeded admirably! This was the first time I was seeing the figurehead in person and it's absolutely charming.
Click on a photo for a slideshow view.
Unfortunately, I did have to hit the road back to NYC on Sunday the 11th of August, but I didn't particularly need to rush off, so we were able to get in a lovely paddle from Taughannock Falls State Park to Lake Ridge Point and back. Conditions were much calmer than they'd been for the swim on Saturday, too bad we couldn't have switched days!
Our original plan had been to paddle and then get in a short swim ourselves before heading back to Louise's place for a light lunch before I headed out, but we had such a good time beachcombing at Lake Ridge Point that we skipped the swim. Cayuga is famous for "lucky stones", smooth beach stones with holes in them. Louise has a very sharp eye for these and I found a couple too, plus a stone bearing the fossil impression of a tiny, ancient clam.
Here are a dozen photos from that lovely afternoon.
Louise's happy little dragon figurehead was inspired by the travels of the Draken Harald Hårfagre and her Norwegian heritage - she got a local ironworker to craft him for her, with the specific request that it be a friendly dragon, not a mean or scary one. The ironworker succeeded admirably! This was the first time I was seeing the figurehead in person and it's absolutely charming.
Click on a photo for a slideshow view.
2 comments:
I loved having you up for the weekend. We missed our s'mores and campfire chance but we'll have other ops for that. Meanwhile, Women Swimmin' couldn't have happened without your help! What a wild and challenging ride that was! And hearing music by the lake, with cute doggies and a great paddle the next morning....we just didn't have enough time! You are always welcome here and there's always a bed waiting. SO glad you could join me!!
I didn't (living an hour away from Ithaca) know about the lucky stones but stones with fossils aren't uncommon. There is a quarry (not sure it is open to the public anymore)called the Portland Point Quarry where they used to let Cornell students hunt for fossils. Not sure they do anymore. There is the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca; I visited it many years ago with my then young son before it moved into its current building. Lots of drawers with rocks in them.
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