Thanksgiving Wishes for You...

More than a year ago I shared this picture of wild turkeys in my back yard. Today is the traditional time to roast a turkey,... I think that most of these have escaped the oven. Unlike our ancestors who hunted turkeys, now we usually buy a specially grown turkey. We add all kinds of yummy side dishes and have a feast.

I will be doing that today at my daughter's home. My three grown children and my four grandchildren, as well as some people that my daughter invites to join our family dinner will be sitting down around 1 p.m. My contribution is always the home made rolls. Also my daughter has me make the gravy when I get there.

So today as we watch parades, eat huge meals and watch football, I wish for all my blogger friends, your families, all our neighbors far and wide, and our fellow residents on this planet, ...good health, warm clothes, a home, friends and a few moments to think of all that you are thankful for. For me, it's all of the above mentioned things plus my good fortune to have a job I enjoy, a camper to travel with, and especially this computer to communicate with all of you good people!

A special "Happy Thanksgiving" wish to you from the hill!

Traditional!...

The skies threatened rain and finally delivered rain as the last band was closing Saturday night. People ducked into the pavillion, and laughed, it was still a happy time. The scene was the 6th Annual Upper Hudson Bluegrass Festival in North Creek, NY. Here the crowd gathers in the pavillion facing the stage at the Ski Bowl Park.

The Town of Johnsburg, home of Gore Mountain Ski Area donates the use of the grounds. Thank you Johnsburg!
For me, this particular festival was all about traditional bluegrass music...the pioneers, the people that have been entertaining for decades. Smokey Geene, and his Martin guitar which he named "Ben A. Martin" are always a favorite. Smokey, now 79, has been performing for more than 50 years.

Traditional music continued with Vern Young, who is now 85 years old. This gentle giant's voice and guitar picking is still strong. I talked with Vern and he's a gracious and most interesting person. And,...he's booked to be back in 2010!

White Mountain Bluegrass continued the traditional music with several sets over the three day festival. I spent some time visiting with Mac and Hazel as they sat in their individual band tent near the stage. I felt honored to receive a hug from each of them as I headed back to the pavillion. They are included in a permanent display honoring Pioneers of Bluegrass at the International Bluegrass Museum in Owensboro KY.

Here Junior Barber of Beartracks visits with Vern Young. Talk about a "meeting of bluegrass minds!" It doesn't get much better than this!

Watch for Beartracks at the Peru Community Church on November 13th at 7:30 p.m. Junior Barber, his cousins Julie Venne-Hogan and Tom Venne will be performing their usual high energy music.

If you have never attended a bluegrass festival give it a try. Bring your camper, your tent, or just bring a folding chair and come for a day. You will leave steeped in traditonal music and warmed by the friendship of the "bluegrass family."

LaDuchesse...

The LaDuchesse is the 1903 Gilded-Age houseboat moored at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY.
As you enter the museum building you register at the admissions desk for the tour of the antique houseboat. As I walked out toward the dock it looked like a big houseboat,... but,...


As I walked farther down the dock that houseboat seemed to grow! It is extremely large!


There are many guest bedrooms on board.


The dining room is on the lower level. Can you imagine the elegant meals served here just after the turn of the century,... the last century!


The master suite is much larger than the other bedrooms. This is the sitting area...


On the other side of the room is a lovely bed, perhaps a queen size. Imagine being anchored in the 1000 Islands with the windows open and hearing the waves rock you to sleep!


Evenings aboard were spent entertaining guests with a piano player. The windows you see behind the piano raised outward and were fastened above by slender chains and hooks. That way the music could be heard out on the dancing deck...

A lounge deck by day while cruising,... a dancing deck by evening while anchored!

I could almost hear the voices and the music and the clink of glasses as people enjoyed a party over a century ago!

Weekend Getaway!...

The 1000 Island Bluegrass Association sponsored a weekend getaway at Bonnie Castle Resort in Alexandria Bay, NY. It's the annual kickoff for the bluegrass festival season in the north country.
Headlining for Friday evening was the Abrams-Burtch Connection. Wayne Abrams, grandfather of the Abrams Brothers, and Bob Burtch have formed a new band for the bluegrass circuit.

The headliner act for Saturday evening was Remington Ryde from Pennsylvania.




The opening band for both Friday and Saturday nights was the north country's favorite son, David Nichols and his band Spare Change. David does custom pearl inlay work for many well known musicians, as well as building mandolins and guitars. The summer season will find the band traveling to festivals in NY, VT and Ontario. You won't find any nicer friends anywhere than David and Nadine. Here you see them sharing a duet while band members Gary Greenland on banjo, and Chad Darou on guitar join in.

Across the St.Lawrence River from Bonnie Castle is Boldt Castle,....another story for another time. Sunday morning it looked like this... but in the summer it is awash with colorful flowers. It is open for tours beginning in early May.

Informal jam sessions were going on all over the hotel. In good weather you might see groups outside, or in various guest rooms as well as the larger designated areas.

People of all ages,... I guessed this to be a mother and daughter...

This is a bluegrass family friend Ray on guitar.

The girl playing fiddle is a young teenager...

The circle is always able to be widened to include new people coming into the room. This made me think of the song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken," and old standard of the music world.

Here Ray's daughter Pam is in the center holding his mandolin which she'd been playing until she sang this song,...

I enjoyed watching this gentleman playing his dobro guitar...

I've already made my reservation for next year!...

Steam's Up!... (Part 2)

This is a different view of the sugarhouse, you can see the huge tank on the wagon behind the tractor. Sap is transferred from holding tanks in the woods at the end of the pipelines and then pumped into the large covered tank from where it runs into the boiling pans. As I said yesterday, all systems and tanks are cleaned and sterilized prior to use.

This thermometer is attached to final pan of boiling syrup. You can see the needle is right at the exact mark for "syrup." My son waits until it's one degree higher to begin the draw off. The reason is that it will cool in the drawing off process and usually end up one degree below the syrup mark, making the average temperature right on the correct reading.

The syrup is drawn off by a faucet at the bottom of the final pan. Usually two large stainless steel pails full for one "run" of syrup. The pails of syrup are then lifted and poured through a filter.

A spigot with a lever is at the bottom of the filter chamber and it goes directly into new jugs and is sealed.

That is the story of "Pure" Adirondack maple syrup. Other areas in the northeast are famous for maple products, especially Vermont. Maine, Massechusetts and New Hampshire also produce syrup as well as New York. Canada produces much of what you find in your grocery stores. There is little difference, just the polical boundaries of the states and provinces! Some "old timers" say they can taste the difference from maples that are on either north or south facing slopes. All of that is too little a difference for me to worry about!

Pancakes and sausage any one? They are hot off the griddle and the syrup is ready!

I will be holding a drawing on Saturday, March 28th, of all the names that have commented on the two "Steam's Up!" posts and the winner will receive .... A quart of Pure Adirondack Maple Syrup!

Steam's Up!...

Springtime in the northeast brings maple sugaring time. Here in the Adirondacks there are several maple sugar "works"... Stands of maple trees which are tapped for the sap. Sap is either collected in buckets on the side of the trees or runs directly through vinyl pipeline from tree to tree, ending up in a holding tank. All parts of the system are sanitized prior to production. The sap is then boiled down to make maple syrup. This is our family's sugarhouse. It has been in use for many generations.


You can see that that our family has held to the traditional ways, no fancy building here! It is treasured as it is, and I'll show you why.



On the interior wall you see initials of my son's great-grandfather,... dated 1918! There are other notations on the walls that are farther ago than that, but those did not photograph well.



This is looking up from the boiling pans to the opening above where the steam rolls skyward.

My son is adding wood to the fire beneath the boiling pans. Some modern operations have oil-fired boilers, all encased in stainless steel and in well finished rooms. For us, the old way, while perhaps a lot more work, is interesting. We have had school classes visit to watch this traditional process.
The back half of the sugar house is where the wood is piled. By the end of the boiling season most of this will be gone. Used to feed the fire that boiled the sap. In the photo below you see the steam rising from the pans of boiling sap. Strainers rest across the pan's upright walls, waiting to skim any froth from the top of the sap.

The sap enters in one end of the system of connected pans, and as it thickens toward syrup consistency it moves forward to the final pan where it is drawn off. Here my daughter-in-law brings more sap gathered from buckets on the trees. My grandsons watch. The sap is a clear liquid almost like water, but with a sweet taste.

According to studies, it takes four trees at least 40 years old to yield enough sap over six weeks to produce one gallon of maple syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of syrup. I will have more photos and show how the syrup is tested for correct consistency, then strained into the plastic jugs, and also news of a "give-away!" Tune in tomorrow,...