Happy Birthday to me

Today is my birthday. Yippee.

I had a plan for this post, inspired by a writing prompt I found in a magazine article: Write a set of instructions for the child you once were. It got soppy pretty fast, so I tossed the whole thing overboard. Besides, anyone who ever watched Star Trek knows that only an idiot messes with the time line. So kid, I'll leave you with just two words: Berkshire Hathaway. 'Nuf said.

Dramatic lemur

Because... well. Just because.

Enough, already

There was a time when you could physically capture an audience for your vacation pictures. All you had to do was to lure them in with the promise of free food.

You'd fire up the stove and dole out some soggy casserole and booze. Then, you'd herd your groggy victims to the sofa, and BAM. You had 'em. Once they were down, you'd spring your trap: You'd reveal your cleverly concealed projector and proceed to fleece a few hours off their lives. To quote Mr. Filch, God I miss the screamin'.

You, my friends, are a craftier lot. Or perhaps you have simply noted the absence of free food. In any case, I suspect I will only get in one good shot per post before you make good your escape. The remainder will reside on Flickr, to entertain the masochists among you.



Ha. Sneaked one in on ya. Hey, you sat on the sofa...

That's my younger son, and yes, he did jump off that thing. In fact, all the guys did. They did snorkle the base first to be sure there was nothing down there to hit. Still, it gave me a whole new set of gray hairs.

Photo Hunt: Bright

I see the moon
And the moon sees me.
The moon sees the someone I'd like to see.
God bless the moon
And God bless me
And God bless the someone I'd like to see. - Nursery Rhyme


Full moon over Indian Lake. We sat, silent, on the cool rocks for a long, long time, breathing in the shards of light.


There are more bright things to see this week at the PhotoHunt home page.

Round Robins: Wondrous weeds

Who says a plant has to come from a nursery to be fabulous? Certainly not the Robins. These fuzzy green gems are only about an inch tall and grow high on an Adirondack mountain top, in the rubble of an abandoned garnet mine. (More about that mine later.) If you look closely, you can see the red garnets among the stones.



This one may be stretching things a bit. Technically, it's a lichen, not a weed. And the photo looks better in a bigger size. Lots of garnet chunks, though.

You are hereby invited to stroll a bit further off the garden path to where the wild things are at The Round Robins Photo Challenge. Watch where you step, OK?

Mist and Mystery

Letters From the Lake, Day Two: The Greenman Door

Beautiful as it is, the light here is strange, mysterious and given to fading unexpectedly into shadow. As darkness wraps itself like a sleepy cat around our cabin, the wind whispers of secrets and legends. Earlier, I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of something that looked like a little door in the side of a hill. Could that be? Tomorrow, I will climb up there and see what there is to see...

The woods around Indian Lake are thick and deep, and many are the tales of the secrets they hold. Some say there was once a black ops government installation here, where children were test subjects in psychic warfare experiments. Some say that on moonless nights you can hear the ghost of an Indian guide calling for his wife who was lost in the lake. Some swear that Bigfoot walks these hills. Once you're here, the stories don't seem so far fetched. In fact, a mere doorway into the hill seems downright plausible.

Setting out in dappled morning light, I retrace our route into camp armed with my camera and ready for adventure. Not far up the steep hill I spot my quarry, a low, dark entryway overgrown by trees and green with moss. Decades of fallen leaves form a springy cushion underfoot, and make the climb slippery. The saplings make great handholds, though, so the way up is fairly easy.

The opening seems to swallow light. Even this close, it is hard to see within. For a moment, I feel a frisson of apprehension, and I hesitate to get closer.

Smiling at my own silliness, but moving as quietly as possible, I take the final steps. Whatever this is, it was built to last. The structure is cinder brick, and the way in is flanked by high stone walls.

I peer into the inky black -- and am shocked to find a pale, old face peering back from the darkness.


The face belongs to a beautifully carved Greenman, guardian of the passageway within. I think to myself that this must be how Alice felt when she stumbled into Wonderland.




Now, here's where I face a dilemma. I could tell you what lies beyond the door. On the other hand, it might be a greater gift to leave it to your imagination.

Which do you choose?

Conversations for the Campfire

*The Indian Lake Project. A long-buried box holds clues to a government conspiracy, lost children, and mind control. (Home)
*Adirondack Paranormal. Ghost stories of the north woods.
*Bigfoot. Fact or fantasy?

Letters from the lake: Day one

Letters from summer camp being a tradition and all, I kept a small journal, the old fashioned paper kind, of our adventures on Indian Lake in the Adirondacks. It felt good to really write again; so much so that I just may do more of that and less of this for a while, at least until the afterglow wears off.

We packed quite a bit into just a few days, including a visit to the Adirondack Museum, Stone Bridge Caves, and a hike to an abandoned garnet mine. I'll be sharing photos as I get them organized and uploaded. Bear with me, though, as there are literally hundreds to sort out. You know how that is. And by the way, hubby took the lake view photo above. Kinda cool, huh?

Anyway. Here's page one.

Day One: Peaceful, Easy Feeling

Twelve hours on the road, and here we are, at last, ensconced in a rustic cabin in the North Country. Already the mind stills and heart beats slow and strong. The only sounds are the lapping of the water, wind riffling the leaves, and the occasional low call of a loon.

The place is all knotty pine, the furnishings a merry mix of Adirondack craftsman and Saturday yard sale. I feel a little guilty for having bedrooms and indoor plumbing. Tent campers from way back, we've always harbored a certain smug disdain for folks who call this camping. The guilt passes quickly as I note the little cloud of black flies buzzing around the outside of the screened porch.



The boat is in the water, the gear is stowed, the fridge is stocked, and the beds are made up. The only decision to be made now is whether to play Pictionary or Texas Hold'em before turning in.



Beautiful as it is, the light here is strange, mysterious and given to fading unexpectedly into shadow. As darkness wraps itself like a sleepy cat around our little cabin, the wind whispers of secrets and legends. Earlier, I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of something that looked like a little door in the side of a hill. Could that be? Tomorrow, I will climb up there and see what there is to see.

There and back again

Well, we're back from vacation - bug bitten, sun scorched and majorly mellowed. I've been without TV, newspapers, phones and Internet for a week and half. So what did I miss?

It looks like the Midwest pretty much got washed away last week ... the presidential campaigns have heated up considerably in my absence, with Obama under attack for flip-flopping on something or other ... Meet the Press's Tim Russert passed away and so did George Carlin. I'll miss them both, Russert more than Carlin. I used to love Carlin when he was the enfant terrible of comedy, but in the end his humor became too bitter, too caustic for me.

The national memorial statue of Martin Luther King is in final approval stages ... it was made by a Chinese artist? You can't tell me there wasn't an American sculptor somewhere who could have and should have done that piece or a better one ...

Two guys at the helm of a major Bear Stearns hedge fund have been arrested for misleading investors. Ditto a few hundred folks involved in fraudulent mortgage deals. Inflation, if not stagflation, is becoming a threat ...

Wars. Violence. Rigged elections in Africa. More violence ... yep. Same old world. Who needs the details. Can't honestly say I'm glad to be back.

I did miss reading all your blogs though, and I'll get around to catch up ASAP. I kept running notes of our trip and a took a bazillion photos, too, and I'll fill you in on the details in a bit.

Thanks for keeping an eye on the place for me!

Into the woods

Into the woods,
It's time to go,
I hate to leave,
I have to, though.
Into the woods-
It's time, and so
I must begin my journey...








Into the woods,
Without delay,
But careful not
To lose the way.
Into the woods,
Who knows what may
Be lurking on the journey?

Into the woods
To get the thing
That makes it worth
The journeying
into the woods. - Stephen Sondheim

In case anyone is wondering, I am still here, for the moment at least. We're going on vacation, and it's been more than a little bit crazy getting it all together.

We're heading up to the Adirondacks in New York, to a cabin on Indian Lake. There is no phone, no TV, and no Internet up there, so this blog will be on hiatus for a couple of weeks.

This is the first real vacation we've had in six years, and all of us are stoked. We've never used a cabin before, but Hubby and I are just beyond the whole tent-on-the ground thing. I can't wait to trade this treadmill life, at least for a while, for aimless days of hiking and swimming, kayaking and hammock swinging. We'll be checking out Fort Ticonderoga and the Adirondack Museum, too, which should be fun.

I greatly underestimated, however, the amount of money, manpower, and materielle it would take to get from here to there. Let me tell you, the simple life ain't easy - and it ain't cheap, either. In the course of outfitting ourselves, the van, the boat and the cabin we have become a one-family economic stimulus package.

The cat is going to the vet today to be boarded. He knows something's up, and I haven't even gotten the carrier out yet. He is making himself scarce and avoiding eye contact when he slinks by us. He is smarter than he looks.

We'll be on the lake for the full moon and for the summer solstice, which somehow seems very special. It will mean fewer stars to see, and that's a shame. But I can already imagine the moonlight on the water, moonshadows in the woods, and the sense of being poised at the turning of the season.

So. See you in couple of weeks, guys. Keep a light on for me, OK?

Nice nuts

A couple of days ago I posted a photo of this little boat's bigger brother for the Round Robin Photo Challenge, Tiny. In that entry I guessed that the larger ship was a netsuke. It seemed to fit the description in some ways, but I couldn't be sure. In the course of my research I found no netsuke that really looked similar.

Then I found the website for the International Netsuke Society, and I figured these would be the people who'd know. Among the contemporary artists featured there is Doug Sanders, a fellow Hoosier who does beautiful miniature work in wood. (You definitely want to check out his site: Buxus Sempervirens.) I sent off an email, and he graciously took a look at the photos and sent this reply:

"Vicki- I think it's exactly as you've been told: a Chinese peach pit carving. The tiny holes top and bottom are likely original to the pit itself. There's not much netsuke-like there.

"Still, it's a fun curio to have around."

I must admit that I was a bit disappointed at first, but I quickly got over it. Doug's email sent me off in the right direction, and the more I read the more intrigued I became.

Nut and fruit-stone carving, known as Hedaio, is a Chinese art of its own with a history dating back to at least the Song Dynasty, over a thousand years ago, and are still being made today. The best are incredibly detailed and quite valuable. Boats were a popular subject, many including a figure of a famous Chinese poet Su Shi. Apparently, the carved characters in the bottom are poetry, and it is relatively unusual to find that.

In Chinese folklore, peaches are associated with longevity and good luck, and peachwood charms are thought to ward off evil spirits. Peach pits are therefore a popular material for this art form. Walnuts and olive pits are used too; a tiny hole is drilled in the end of those, and a little worm is inserted and left inside to hollow out the nut.

I want to thank both Karen Funk Blocher of Outpost Mavarin for the Round Robin topic that set me off on this little adventure and, again, Doug Sanders for steering me straight. I've gone off on so many tangents and learned so much about Chinese art and culture from this. It's been a fun week!

To learn more, check out these links:
*Nut Carving
*Small Pit Carving Brings You a Big World
*Miniature Miracles
*Himice.com (Culture)
*Chinese Mythology
*Peaches in Heaven

Photo Hunt: Self

We were to take photos of some part of ourselves this week for the Photo Hunt. I've always avoided posting photos of myself, preferring to be known by my words and pictures. Besides, there really aren't any parts of me that make for great viewing, so I wasn't planning to play this time.

Then I ran across this shot while clearing out my photo files. I considered it a failure because, among other things, I had accidentally caught myself in the reflection. I was going for that hawk in the sky, as seen in the rear view mirror of the car. The hawk looked a lot bigger in reality, and I thought the warning on the mirror would make for a funny caption.

Anyway. As I looked at it again, finger poised on the Delete button, I thought about this week's photo hunt. This picture may not be flattering, and it won't win any awards, but it does capture the eccentric part of me that notices things like that hawk. It captures me there in the background, slightly unreal, watching, seeing, trying to stop time. And I thought, Yeah ... that part of me I like. I can share that little bit.

*Check out the others' entries at tnchick.com.