Helloooo??

Yikes, it's been a long time! Boys have been up at the barn with their dad and I've tried to convince them to blog about their epic climb of McKenzie Mountain (!). Not bad, eh? Alas, they couldn't be bothered but trust that they are having a great summer. Now, I am back and getting a plan for the rest of our week. Seems like today will be a nice one and we will be visiting our lovely friends Angus and Linnea on lovely Rainbow Lake. Stay tuned!

Survivor! Cousin Fest 2008

Boys in bed, laundry done, dishes done, mother's special medicine poured (of the red variety), rest of house sorta disaster area...but we will let others worry about that. We ruled the Adirondacks. Truly, having 4 genuinely nice boys who get along great is easier than 2 sometimes. They paired off, had enough for cards, baseball etc. I was laissez-faire on cleanliness and nutrition, to say the least. They slept in tents for 3 straight nights and as they cleaned up the tent this evening, I was fairly horrified at the debris that was hauled back. C'est la vie. I would kinda remember once in awhile that i hadn't seen any teeth brushing and would remind, or could convince one or two at a sitting to wash themselves. Other than that, it was a herd mentality. I'll let the pictures speak.

Cousin Fest Day Three

Indeed there were tired boys this morning. I heard murmurings of prank calls, streaking, whipped cream consumption.... I decided to not ruin my life by forcing a hike and allowed them a lazy wiffle ball morning. After that, we decided to finally go for it and do the bobsled run, which we have talked about everytime the Fabulous Bower Boys visit. We then tackled some mountain biking at High Peaks at Mt. Hoevenberg. Pizza for dinner, Starsky & Hutch and now back to the tents!

Cousin Fest Day Two

Rainy day yesterday. We started the day at Blue Moon ( god I love that place) and then i dropped boys at Wall-E while I did grocery run. I asked the teenager at cash register if I had enough junk food to last the week with 4 boys. He literally scoffed and rolled his eyes "em....no....". The amount of food being consumed is fairly alarming I must say. I am not used to things like entire blocks of cheese, gallons of milk, pounds of lunch meat just disappearing in one sitting!

For rest of the day, we made it to Donnelly's (finally!) and back to house for evening hors d'oeuvres and wiffle ball. Because the weather was so conducive, I roasted a turkey for dinner and watched in wonder...

The boys decided to sleep outside in tents and have just arrived back at house, looking like there was not a lot of sleeping but a lot of frivolity. We are supposed to hike today so let's see if they can pull it off.

Cousin Fest Day One

The boys were fabulously patient with me as I attended to some business today before our fun began. We headed to Wilmington Falls, to our favorite swimming hole. While the Bower Boys were fit to be tied that I (and their mother via cell) would not let them jump from highest ledge, everyone had a fabulous time. And then of course, it was time for ribs and excruciatingly painful live music (no Blues Noir on Tuesdays I guess.

Mea Culpa

Yes yes, I really am here. I went back to NYC yesterday to pick up my boys and the fabulous Bower Boys and now we have arrived back, after surviving a car break down and a puking cat. But we are here, damnit. The boys jumped from the car and just started running around the property. Within seconds, the basketball was out, the flashlights were out. Heaven. Now, Goonies is on the big screen upstairs and the root beer has been poured.
The best is that for the last 2 hours, all they have done is reminisce about the fabulous times they have had here. This is what I dream about when I dream about the barn. We've only owned it for a coupla years and the memories for them are deep and rich. Christmas and skiing, and hiking, and ice cream... I hope that whatever else they remember about these years, they will understand that I have done everything I can do to make this place magic for them.

You and Me Both

So I had anticipated great tails of outdoorsiness to share but unfortunately, my client, who I was officially finished with on Friday, thought otherwise. I have another 2 week engagement with them and have been tied to the computer and excel. Nevertheless, not too shabby working with the windows open, in a barn. I am running out right now to Hot House (is that the name? I always forget.) to see about some flowers. I have gotten a few good runs in. Man, I had forgotten what it's like to run hills. Lil ol' McKenzie Pond Rd. is kicking my butt. Other than that, hermitville around here - I haven't even had Donnelly's yet (!)

The Saranac Lake Hillbillies

I know it had been awhile since we've been to the barn, and those April -June months are pretty dramatic, but when I pulled up to the barn, I was fairly horrified at the state of affairs. Grass a foot tall, trees down, weeds where there was supposed to be a garden, a random garbage bag on side of house, wheelbarrow askew, fire pit full of debris. Being solo on this trip, I was more than a little intimidated but am tackling a bit at a time.
The storm here was very dramatic and most are sure there was some sort of tornado-type event. I guess we were lucky but we have a few trees to deal with. As much as I am tempted to grab the chain saw, I decided to call Dave the neighbor, who I think was born with a chain saw in his hands (Bill the neighbor calls the sound of chainsaws "Tupper Lake Mating Music"). I tackled most of the lawn, before the rains came again and am now pulling weeds in hopes of planting something. Given the insanity of these last months, I am letting go of my vegetable dream garden and am just going to enjoy a little color and a few herbs. If i need a real garden fix, i'll walk down to Dave and Joanne's..not a garden....small farm?

I am enjoying the solitude and the quiet...and the wine. I now know with certainty that I could happily be a hermit if I could get good coffee and wine delivery. I will need to remember this zen-like state, as next week I will have four boys here. Yikes!

Excitement in the Air

Today is the boys' last day of school. Officially, they have a half day tomorrow but I am philosophically opposed to that waste of time. Each year, I plan a surprise outing for them. Years past have included: Fire Island, water parks, speed boat rides, sailboat, rented convertibles. This year I had planned a white water rafting trip but our schedules are a bit curflooey so we are settling for a day at Sandy Hook beach. You jump on a ferry right on the Hudson and it drops you at this amazing beach; you can see the Manhattan skyline but it is clean and lovely. After that, the boys head to NJ to hang with their grandpa and dad for a week while I head to the barn, to ready for the summer. I am just obsessing, laying in bed making my lists: "Need to canoe right away!" "Is black fly season over?" "Which 46er should we tackle?" "Need to learn how to work propane stove for camping." "Need to see if Wednesday trail runs are on at Hovenburg." "Casa Del Sol!" "Are the blueberries ripe" and so on and so on. 2 More Days!

The Looongest Month

Who wants school over more, me or the boys? I am so sick of homework and books and teachers' dirty looks. We still have 3 more weeks. We need air and mountain and water and sky. Hmmm, I sure wish I could travel to some place like that -beautiful and alive with great people. HA! We can't wait to be there! We may have to just pull off at Split Rock Falls and jump in on the way to the barn. I am dying to cut wildflowers for the table, and sit at the picnic table in the early morning and watch the dew burn off. I want to hear the loons and only hear the sound of my canoe paddle on a quiet pond. I want to look at the stars and watch the boys scamper over rocks. I want that exhaustion that only comes with a long, hard hike in the sun, where you can barely walk back to the house. I want that kind of sleep that only comes at the barn.

From Seeds?

Too late? Can i still start them? Cmon ADK gardeners what to do. If i don't use the seeds this year, I can save them till next, right? I am coming clean with my limited knowledge of this seed world but want to give it a try. a

Stop theWhiteface News

I'm really trying to plan my summer and all i keep reading about is the most excellent ski season that awaits us after the summer. This must stop. I need a summer music calendar , the summer yoga schedule at InnerQuest, the new Donnelly's ice cream calendar - KIDDING- has it ever changed, the farmer's market calendar. Can't believe it's May already! Who is more excited about the end of school, the boys or i?

Oh, and for those bloggers that rsvp'd for Bloggers at the Barn. My apologies on the cancellation. Rest assured it will be rescheduled.

Renewal

Shocking change of affairs since I last wrote from the barn... Among other things, winter has gone away completely. To think skiing was two weeks ago. Sometimes it felt like it was going to stay here forever, the fun and the joy but I have to remember it was also damn cold a lot of of the time. It was hard to contend with the elusive chill. I won't miss that.

It is 70 degrees and sunny, the frogs have been busy and we have at least 20 new frogs in the pond. The neighbors have arrived to show off new chicks and new maple syrup. The pigs arrive next week at Dave and Joanne's. I am walking the land, looking for the first signs of my blackberry bushes and my few perennials. We brought the canoes out of the shed and are even thinking about taking a quick paddle.

We are here and we are letting the sun warm our faces, looking up to the mountains, and getting ready for renewal.

I know this summer will entail the best of last year but i also anticipate discovering new adventures of 46er Family 2.0. Stay tuned.

It's Settled

We will ski one final time this weekend. Broken cars, ice storms, work, budget, locusts be damned because The Williams Family Is Skiing This Weekend. And then, we will start working on the house for spring. We Promise.

More craziness

Our power went out about midnight until around 3am. Joe was heroic and kept the fire stoked and kept guard that no power lines were tangled in our ever-stooping trees. We woke up to a state of emergency declared in surrounding areas. Trees were all over the road and our car doors were iced shut, but surely we could ski, right?
We headed to Whiteface, confident, not only would we ski, but it would be tremendous. First, we found out that opening was delayed because the power company wanted Whiteface to keep lifts off for a few hours. We settled in the lodge, confident we would ski, and it would be tremendous. Then, we noticed the winds were pretty crazy. We heard talk (Joe did actually...in the men's room)of "95 mph winds" but that would die down and we could ski, right? We walked outside to look at the hill for signs of activity and noticed it was darn cold - like below zero cold, but it was morning. Surely it would warm and we would ski and it would be tremendous.
Sigh. Not to be. We are home, drinking Wildberry Zinger herbal tee. The boys sledded but Clarke ran into a tree and now they are playing each other in Power Soccer online. We know we can't come back for awhile (probably till after ski season) so this is tortuous.
Meanwhile, our Ski Magazine "spring skiing" issue arrived and I am pouring over, looking for any driveable place that we could ski in late April for the boys next break. The season can't be done yet, can it?

Trees

I am glad I don't have my camera because I know I would just get frustrated trying to capture the scene outside our window. The freezing rain first wreaked havoc on our trees. Joe and I just took a moonlit walk and you could hear trees creaking and crashing through the woods from the weight. We saw two of our trees that we knew were in trouble felled and then had to saw through and haul a huge fallen limb from our beautiful white pine (dangerously close to our house. Note to self: call tree doctor in the spring.) Of course, it was dangerous conditions all around but tonight when it started really snowing, the effect was simply awesome. We walked through the low-hung, painted trees, with the snow just dumping down from the sky. We are now back inside and the whole kitchen smells like fresh pine from our sticky, pine, hands.

Well, that was interesting

Out of the city by 3:30 pm! Snow in the forecast! One last 2008 Whiteface Hurrah! Almost past the Catskills already! Hmmmm, battery light is on...
We were lucky. When our alternator decided to cut out, we were just past the Woodstock exit but only 1 mile from a truck parking stop. We literally coasted with low headlights for the last quarter mile and made it. Another lucky break is that while pouring rain, it was not frigid, so the 45 minute wait for the tow truck was painless: Oscar dead asleep, Clarke playing some god-awful game on his cell phone, Joe and I using our blackberries to google "geico road-side", "ny 87 map", "hotels in woodstock". We were thinking of any way to continue to Saranac Lake still, but there's a point when you just have to surrender to the fates; we were 3.5 hours away, it was pouring rain, getting dark, and our car was broken. So the tow driver was adorable and nice, the Holiday Inn - Kingston was exceptional. I mean it. I have stayed in a lot of hotels in my career - some much fancier than a Holiday Inn, and this was a really well-run hotel. The woman at the desk heard our tale, and sent us upstairs with a goody bad of toothbrushes, deodorant, extra shampoo. Our room was pristine, comfy, overlooked a creek. We ordered in some rainbow sherbet and wine and watched some half-funny Hugh Grant movie. The next day started with free breakfast buffet for the boys (they really should exclude children-boys?- over 10. It was a little embarrassing how much food was consumed). Our car was ready by 11am and then the fateful decision. Go back or forge forward... Well, of course we forged ahead. We are now at the barn, fabulous fire, Joe and I finishing the work we were going to do tomorrow afternoon so tomorrow we can ski all day! It was a weird freezing rain but now it's turning to wonderful snow. We are on our way to Casa Del Sol, our favorite, for some fun. All in, our "sidetrip" to Kingston was around the same cost of skiing today so we'll call it a wash. All's well.
PS. Except for the full-on fist fight they boys got into while sharing a bed last night. Joe and I decided to completely ignore and see how it escalated/played out. Fascinating sociological study, tortuous parental exercise. They "hugged it out" this morning.

The Invasion of the CheeseHeads

I kept meaning to post during our extended break at the barn but with all the strenuous skiing, and eating, and drinking, and napping, you know, a girl just couldn't keep up.
First, our 13th annual Porkies Fest was a tremendous success. There were a few traveling snafus for the group (one involving Homeland Security but we won't get into that) but by Thursday evening, most everyone had arrived and we convened at the Lake Placid Brew Pub. Joe and I had never eaten there before, but a friend was enamored by something called "The Growler" so we couldn't resist. After hugs, and helloes, and quick catch ups on life, it was like family, everyone falling into their familiar roles, complete with on-going story lines and great jokes.

For days 2-4, groups convened, regrouped, and headed off for cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, sledding, shopping, etc. Whiteface was more crowded than I had ever seen it, but we all managed to ski ourselves silly, staying on the upper mountain and finding the lifts less traveled.

Tom, bravely keeping with his role of obsessive compulsive outdoor nut in the group, tackled the entire Jack Rabbit Trail. He seems to think it went quite well but his wife now refers to the trail as the Jack Ass Trail, so draw your own conclusions. Tom and Katrina also brought out the big guns in preparing oven fried chicken and home made macaroni and cheese. Did they think we had all skied the Jack Rabbit that day?

Not to be outdone on the dinner front, Mark and Carter, while caring for a feisty young lass named Maeve, still managed to cook up a pasta feast for the ages and take in some dog sled racing on Mirror Lake. Mark treated us to.... "The Best of Shania Twain?"

Dan and Jill made a great breakfast but will be most remembered and revered for bringing an unwieldy amount of wine that still seemed to have disappeared. We must have been using it in the cooking.....

While we missed Laura and Courtney, we still enjoyed the Half Nelson and Jim managed to push delicious berry pancakes onto everyone's plates and then managed to push all Dan's bachelor buttons. Eric was a participant in the great "Oreo Cookie Robbery" which ended with boys hiding in their beds with squirrel cheeks and black teeth.

Sarah and Jessica brought out some delicious casseroley breakfast thing and also brought out their usual "FiredUpNess" (quoted directly from Joe). They both have an unrivaled talent for "giving the business" to the man folk in the crowd which I particularly enjoy. Thanks Ladies! They also made it to The Waterhole to check out the Saranac Lake male species, but no man was lucky enough to ensnare them in his charm trap. Maybe next year fellas. In the meantime, feel free to send pictures c/o 46er family.

Clarke and Oscar were thrilled to ski with their heroes, Eric, Jim, Dan (aka Big Air Spider Dan) and were proud of their new Black Diamond Prowess.

Joe arrived on the scene just in time to get the trapeze up and running and soon it became a focal point. Of course!

Embarrassingly, I took no pictures of anything other than sitting around eating and drinking but hopefully Jim can add a few to prove we actually left the house.




After the hordes left, we had a few days with Big Air complete with more skiing and some poker and then our final fun left. The rest of the week consisted of Joe sick as a dog on the couch, a few days of work for me, and then....a few more days of skiing!

We were very proud of the Barn for staying in one piece with all systems working. It was like we had always imagined. When Jim starting talking about grand kids at Porkies Fest 25, I became a little scared though.

A New Record

So Team Williams had to go to the barn this weekend come hell or highwater to prepare for the pending Cheesehead onslaught, starting on Wednesday. We wanted to get the kitchen stocked, sheets changed etc. On Friday, 75% of the family had terrible colds. Joe was flying in from California and didn't get home until almost 6pm. I was knee deep in my work project at 7pm and everyone was exhausted. We decided to get to bed early and get on the road at first light. Well.....that didn't happen. We ended up getting to bed much later than anticipated because, well frankly, our children were being highly uncooperative, nay, bad. It was boys behaving badly. Such is life. After the floggings and waterboarding, it was quite late. The next day, we stopped at Joe's dad in New Jersey to pick up a few barn items and before we knew it, we were getting to the barn around 4pm. We arrived, did a bit of work and went to bed. The next day, we sprung into gear as we had to leave by 3pm to arrive back in time for a Sunday night board meeting for Joe. So let's put this in perspective, 5 hour drive, arrive Saturday 4pm and leave Sunday at 3pm. Here's the weird part: it was great. The drive is a non-issue anymore. We have books on tape and the boys veg and listen, or read, or sleep. (this time was Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer). We arrived and the barn was cozy and inviting. The snow was bountiful and the boys played for an hour yesterday and most of the day today. Joe and I were busy beavers in the house but it was fun and relaxed. We had North Country Public Radio on through Garrison Keilor, Riverwalk Jazz and This American Life. We drank tea and stoked the fire. We did not attend any of the Winter Carnival activities - NOT ONE - but that will never happen again. Though certainly not ideal, we decided that 23 hours in the Adirondacks is STILL worth it.

I Should Have Known

It would have been hard for the boys not to start asking questions about the elections, given the level of discourse around them. Clarke, of course, took it all in stride. Interested but pretty passive. Asks a few questions and then he's out. Oscar, on the other hand, I should have been more careful with. As regular readers (and oscar's many fans through the country) know, he is a math whiz and slightly obsessive, compulsive. I believe an insensitive soul may have once referred to him as a "cracked out investment banker". I should have known how he'd react to elections, given how I've seen him analyze Yankees baseball. I ignored the warning signs: the tell tale Jim Lehrer News Hour on when I came into the room, his new home page set to NYTimes.com Election Guide, his insistence on going to the voting booth with Joe. It all became clear to me on Super Tuesday, when he was glued to the TV, with the laptop on his lap, clicking between CNN and NYTimes. He wolfed dinner and did a countdown, New Year's Eve style, to the first poll closing in Georgia. Things devolved from there, as poor Clarke wandered in to comment that Obama was losing Missouri. Oscar practically tackled him yelling, "they haven't even gotten results from St. Louis yet. He's going to surge with the urban vote." Yes, he used the word surge. He had a pencil out and was adding delegates, reading the laws on super delegates, and clicking county by county maps for updates. He was impossible to get to bed, even yelling for updates from his bed. He finally fell asleep and I started dreading the next morning when I'd have to drag him out of bed, exhausted. What was I thinking? 6am the next morning, blurry-eyed Oscar, crawled into my bed demanding, "How did it go in California?"

I am worried that he cares too much. I am worried that we haven't peppered him with enough cynical pragmatism about our country, how he probably knows more about the process than most Americans. Should we have told him that Joe and I are normally laughing at the debates and were members of Kerry Haters for Kerry? He has leapt onto our hope bandwagon and I hope our worried planner can survive the mean streets of politics.

As for us, we are more fired up than ever. Care to donate to Obama? http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/bridgetwi
We are heading up to the barn this weekend to ready the house for the onslaught of Cheeseheads next week. I want to start planning my Saranac Lake fundraiser but not even sure I'll have time in the short weekend. We promise not to ski and be diligent about organizing the house. We promise not to ski and be diligent about organizing the house. We promise not to ski and be diligent about organizing the house.....