Tag: William Daniel Ross

  • Bald Eagle Breakfast

    I saw a young bald eagle recently flying over the lake just off from the hamlet. The ducks by the ferry dock ignored him but I bet they were keeping a close watch nevertheless. ~ Rob Ivy (Essex Column, Feb. 5, 2014) I bundled up this morning – thermals and lots of fleecy layers –…

  • Cold Snap Boom, Boom, Boom!

    One very cold and quiet evening last week, I was outside accompanying Ginny on her last foray of the day, and heard what sounded like distant fireworks. It was a low rumbling that brought to mind quarry blasting, but it went on and on. I thought the truck stop on the Northway was on fire,…

  • Crappy Homecoming

    Sorry about that title. Crappy homecoming. Yuck. Not exactly the eggnog-y, balsam fire aromas one dreams of this time of year. Joyful Homecoming One blessing of living at Rosslyn is that travel – no matter how captivating – never eclipses the joy of returning home. That’s a bizarre admission from an unabashed wanderer, but it’s…

  • Chicken Provencal

    Can you smell the chicken Provencal wafting through Rosslyn? Sundays are the best day of the week for experimental cooking. Pungent aromas filling the house all day long just feels relaxing, the perfect reward for a week well lived. Besides, Sundays at Rosslyn tend to be the lazy day of the week, affording more time for culinary…

  • Veggie Patch Lullaby

    It’s that time of year again when we put the vegetable garden to sleep. I’ve been asked if it isn’t bittersweet ripping out limp, frosted tomato plants and tilling under the rotting stems of zucchini and cantaloupe. And you know, it really isn’t bittersweet. It’s a celebration of another bountiful summer, eating delicious, fresh produce…

  • Hammock Days of Indian Summer

    A warm thank you to friend, photographer, and some time Essex neighbor Eve Ticknor for giving me these evocative images of Rosslyn’s boathouse. You will see in my photographs, ways to see water, not just to look at it. Honing your observation skills will open your eyes to other worlds. ~ Eve Ticknor (Aquavisions) Indeed.…

  • Autumn Vegetable Garden Update

    Autumn Vegetable Garden Update

    It’s been getting considerably cooler at night lately, and feeling fall-like much earlier than the last few years. We’ve already had two nights that broke forty degrees! But still no killing frost. The vegetable garden is still thick with produce. We’ve been eating cantaloupes and musk melons just as quickly as we can. The same…

  • Sherwood Inn Remembered

      Without a doubt, one of the greatest rewards of living at Rosslyn is the parade of people I’ve met (and the stories they tell) simply because this house and boathouse have touched so many over the years. [pullquote]”Everyone’s so busy nowadays,” Lila said.[/pullquote]A couple days ago I answered the front door midday. A smiling,…

  • Rosslyn Boathouse Doodle on a Slate

    The Adirondack Art Association in Essex, NY sponsored a creative fundraiser recently. They invited members of the community to transform recycled slate from Rosslyn’s roof into unique artworks to auction off. Dreamed up by Amy Guglielmo following her successful Depot Theatre “sap bucket” art auctions, the slate art auction was an artistic and fundraising success.…

  • Learning to Live: Sweet Corn and Raccoons

    I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~ Henry David Thoreau I’ve never successfully grown sweet corn at…

  • Cedar-Apple Rust Facts

    Over the last two weeks I’ve observed two young Pixie Crunch apple trees in our orchard succumbing to cedar-apple rust. Or so I suspect. (Rosslyn Redux) So what do you think? Cedar-apple rust? Something else? Although I dread admitting it, I’m fairly convinced that we’re battling a light invasion of cedar-apple rust which has undoubtedly…

  • Rosslyn Gardens: Time to Reseed the Greens

    It’s time for a late summer gardening update. The August heat’s been great for cycling and wake surfing, and for fast-tracking veggies (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, melons, corn, artichokes, cucumbers, leaks, broccoli and Brussels sprouts) after a rainy June. But hot, hot days also pose some challenges, especially for the leafy green vegetables like lettuce…