What Is This Plant?

If you can tell me what it is, I'll buy you a pizza.

It looks like a lily, but we don't recall planting one - specially in the vegetable garden.

Film Crew In Beacon

A search of IMDB shows that this is not the first time. I remember seeing "Nobody's Fool" with Paul Newman because it was filmed here, but that was a long time ago. I see that some part of "War Of The Worlds" was shot here but I did not recognize anything in the movie when I watched it. 

They have some serious equipment here, so I don't think this is a YouTube production. 

When Finn and I tried to go to Riverpool, this is what was saw that tipped us off that something is going down in town.

The woman in the yellow skirt seems to be an actress, but no one that I recognize.

That looks like an old (1970s) car there - perhaps a Pinto? In any case, it has Indiana plates.

  I hope they don't catch the mountain in the background because it is likely higher than anything in Indiana.

Relaxing In The Woods

Jennifer had never been camping, and this year she said she was ready for it. We got her some nice outfits to go along with task, and happily drove up to Woodland Valley Campground to stay two nights. Here are some selected shots.

Before we go on, a shameless plug here for our favourite outfitters, Mountain Tops in Beacon, NY. The young couple that owns and runs the store is always friendly. Their staff is always enthusiastic, and they have a great selection of good merchandise. I got our bed rolls, compass, MSR fuel, and many other little items there, and that is where Jenn purchased all clothes you see her wearing (including our Vibram shoes). If you are ever in Beacon, be sure to check out their store.

Jenn proved to be a master at building fires. She got them just right for every meal. 

Pictures of our Vibram Five Fingers shoes, which make walking a rocky stream bed much easier.

Enjoying one of five very successfully cooked meals. Jennifer loved creating and cooking over the open fire. 

The hammock I got her for Christmas.

A water strider

Inuksuit In Woodland Valley, NY

We went camping recently at Woodland Valley Campground and saw many carefully arranged piles of rocks in the stream. I have creations like this left all over the Catskills before, but did not know what they were called. I thought 'cairn' would be appropriate until I found the word 'inuksuk' (plural: inuksuit).

An inksuk is a small pile of stones, usually in a vertical stack of some sort. These are common across the frozen lands of North American where the Inuit people live. It is supposed that they are left for navigational purposes or to mark certain spots.

You can see such an item on the cover of the Rush Album Test For Echo. One might consider the symbol used for the Canadian Winter Olympics in Vancouver as an inuksuk, but I read here here that such an item is called an inunnguaq because it looks like a person.

I have seen these in my travels since about 1995 when I started hiking a lot of the peaks of the Catskills and the Shawangunk Mountains (or "gunks"). I gather people just started doing it for fun. Here are what we saw in Woodland Valley.

This is one that Jennifer and I created (that'swhy the rocks are still wet). I told her we had to dedicate it, so she dedicated it to the memory of her grandmother. 

I made this one, and Jennifer said I should dedicate it. She suggested I dedicate it to my  late aunt Roberta (aka,  aunt "Coo" or "Cookie") so I did. 

Long Dock Park Opens

We missed it. We rode our bikes through the area a week before, but the day of the opening, July 9th, we hit the beach instead. 

I went there the next day with Finn and snapped a few pictures of the kayak launch area. 

The kayak launch is just to Finn's left. Behind him, to his right, is the old Dutchess Boat Club.

At last, the kayak launch area.

An interesting sign that greets you in the parking area. I wonder who this pissed off among the more conservative visitors.

This is the Scenic Hudson River Center for arts and environmental education, near the entrance to the park.

Here is a video from in front of the kayak launch. 

A Michael Scott Field Day

The beauty of the "That's What She Said" joke is that it can be used in so many applications where you might not want to. I find myself biting my tongue when in polite company or the company of those-who-might-be-easily offended and statements are uttered that beg for the punchline to be said.

Fortunately, my daughter Cara has a sense of humor. While working on her car door last night (the electric window malfunctions a lot), we found ourselves giggling over lines like:

• I can't get it in the groove
• It slipped out again
• I can't get it back up
• It's stuck
• I need to oil it up
• If you keep it greasy it'll go down easy

The joke is used so much at our house I am surprised we're not tired of it or that the parrot hasn't started saying it. 

Even Finn uses it, but he's not quite sure what it's all about. He just says the punchline randomly, and usually he gets it right or once in a while says it after something really odd is said, creating a mind-jarring joke that gets a sick laugh from all of us. 

Independence Day

Jennifer relaxes with Biko after making pickles. 

Said product cools off on the counter after being canned.

The garden whence the pickles came. It's holding up well, though our tomatoes are a tad slower than our neighbor's (they are in the background, over the fence).

Long Dock Park

The name reminds me of my favorite character from Sixteen Candles ("Now I have a place to put my hand!") but Scenic Hudson's Long Dock Park at the Beacon waterfront has been taking shape since last year. It's been called such for a while, and there have been some works there, but this time it is all-out. A celebration is planned for Saturday, July 9th. They have some work to do. Here is the current state of the park as of last night:

For laughs, I took a video of Jennifer's train coming in.