Tag: Rock Harbor
-
Home Inspection, May 22, 2006
Remembering that fortuitous day almost two decades ago when home inspector James Gibb helped demystify our future home.
-
Re-Homing Stump-to-Lumber Ash & Elm
Today I’d like to touch upon a recurring theme: re-homing materials and items still potentially useful to others (if no longer to us). We’ve been fortunate over the years to pair Rosslyn’s storage capacity in the carriage barn and icehouse with local expertise — specifically sawyers with portable sawmills able to custom cut logs on…
-
Ready for Rhubarb Time?
Spring along the Adirondack Coast tempts us with plenty of enticing seasonal flavors, but a personal favorite is the sweet tart medley of local maple syrup and homegrown rhubarb. Although we’re still a little shy of rhubarb time, the maple syrup is standing by, and my imagination is conjuring up this springtime staple. It’s as…
-
Fox & Squirrel
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8vmPSvUNps] When I was in middle school my parents moved our family from a circa 1876 manse in Wadhams that they’d restored gradually over a decade, to a new home tucked into a tree-lined meadow near Lake Champlain. Formerly part of the Higginson farm, the homeowners association comprised a little over a half dozen camps…
-
Almost Logical
Within minutes we were tripping over each other, drunk with excitement, imagining one whimsical “What if…” scenario after another. No filter, no caution. Our reveries flitted from one idyllic snapshot to another. “What if I finally sat down and finished my novel?” After dawdling self indulgently for a dozen years – writing, rewriting, discarding, rewriting,…
-
Postprandial Soak
After dinner Susan opted for a postprandial soak. Quiet. Languid. Sybaritic. Tasha curled up beside the bathtub, sighed and fell asleep. A breeze carried the faint smell of pine trees through the open window. A whippoorwill called in the distance. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could live here?” Susan said. “Why couldn’t we?” I…
-
Tasha, Tennis and Wildlife
Tucked into a meadow surrounded by forest, the tennis court was starting to show a quarter century of soggy springs and icy winters. The net drooped, but we decided not to tighten it and risk breaking the rotten netting. Besides the droop better accommodated our rusty tennis skills. The twelve foot tall fence around the…
-
Lingering Longer at Rock Harbor
Back at Rock Harbor I packed the car while Susan prepared tuna melts. The temperature had warmed to the mid seventies, and a light breeze was blowing off the lake. We ate lunch on the deck, one last indulgence before locking up and heading back to Manhattan. Perched a hundred feet above the lake, the…
-
Rosslyn for Sale
Susan and I were driving back to Rock Harbor after visiting Rosslyn, an early 19th century home in Essex, New York, which our realtor had just shown us for the second time in several months. It was spring. At least a dozen sailboats speckled Whallons Bay as we wound south along the edge of Lake…
-
Reliance and Neptune Grapes
Neptune grapes? What? This spring one of my gardening priorities is developing Rosslyn’s long term fruit production. I’ve spent the last couple of years salvaging long abandoned apple trees, and this spring I’m planting additional fruit trees, shrubs and vines. Sounds factory farm-like… Not at all what I’m going for, so let’s start again! Neptune…