TRIP TO STARLIGHT LAKE
Starlight Lake is located in Pennsylvania, but just over the New York border. It was a couple hours of driving, but we took a rather meandering route through the countryside.
It was beautiful.
The first part of the journey was route 88, the most beautiful highway I've seen. However, we were to learn on our return trip that 88 is not a road to travel just now. beyond Richmond. Too bumpy and under construction.
The second part of the ride out was through farms and very small towns. It was hard to find bathroom stops or food.
We were also on the lookout to buy corn to bring, and finally we found some corn. In the early part of the journey we did not even see corn fields. Mostly we saw dairy farms.
We also bought some summer squashes, the usual yellow and a new white scallop patty pan squash which we ate later at Burden Lake.
At Delhi we found ourselves in a great spot for brunch. The Blue Bee cafe.
The coffee cups were huge and the sandwiches and soup were both very, very good.
I had a panini with turkey, kale, cranberries, and other tastes. It was delicious.
The town is a student town, driven by SUNY Delhi, and the college looks very inviting.
SUNY Delhi | NY State College | Upstate NY | College near New York City, Albany, Orange County
Whereas the surrounding rural area reflected a conservative attitude, as in a row of cow head skeletons and a homemade sign that announced the election was stolen, or in another spot a Confederate flag, Delhi reflected a more educated population. Quite a contrast!
For a long while we followed the Delaware River, and at Hancock we went over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania and it was not long before we were at this little, isolated lake.
The river seemed inviting. There were no boats or canoes or any buildings close to it and I could see how one could get lost in wilderness with a trip down this river. However, the river is the 5th most polluted in the USA, so one would want to travel close to the source before it gets to industry. However, I think that reputation is earned farther downstream.
I had a dream that my yellow canoe was lost and floating down a rough river. I could see it, but not reach it. I followed the river and looked in likely places, but I never found it.
In the real world, Mike completed the job of resurfacing the canoe and it is ready to go. I may try it out today. I can't get out of it, but I can get in, and I can tip it over in the shallows and get out that way.
I slept well. Of course, I woke up at 3 AM but I went out on the porch and smelled the night air, and ate a bowl of Death by Chocolate iced cream.
I read more of Sandburg's, “Always the Young Strangers” reading about how his father bought property that had a sleeping mortgage and found himself in debt for over 8 hundred dollars, a good bit of money for that family in those days. Nothing could be done but pay it, so he borrowed at high interest and paid a little each month.
The book is oddly written, and clearly his audience is himself. There are all the details of his life, details of what and how and from whom he learned in early schooling.
Sometime the style seem unpolished with bits tossed on on top of the other.
However, I am enjoying it.
And it makes me sleepy.
We awaken to rain, just a drizzle at first and then a downpour. It is dry on the porch here however, and the only sound beyond the lapping of water is an airplane and a very occasional car or truck on the road across the lake.
No motors are allowed on this lake, and it is sparsely populated with cottages. So, generally, it is quiet and it is this morning.
Today, Elizabeth and I have been married for 21 years. Time goes along so quickly.
It is a happy anniversary day here on this rare road trip in a beautiful and peaceful place with a gentle and interesting host.
I waded out to fish for pickerel. The water was a bit cool, but not bad. I fished the heavier rig with some hammered spinners and a worm, but I got no action. A few small fish worked on stealing the worms, and a few very small minnows hovered around me and pecked at my legs. Otherwise no fish.
I got dressed and started writing this and there was a huge splash at the dock, so I went down and cast light gear and caught a nice perch and a very tiny bluegill.
A blue heron came down to see what I was doing.
A young man and a pretty girl in a bikini rode water boards.
Otherwise it was absolutely quiet. Quite a contrast to Burden Lake.
I read an 2017 Rolling Stone magazine in the upstairs porch while Elizabeth and Susan had some talking time. Pretty interesting. I don't know many of the performers mentioned, but Willie Nelson was mentioned as working on an album of Sinatra covers. I'll be interested to hear that. I see it has been released and is called, “That's Life” and that there is also a duet with Diane Krall on line which I think is also on that album.
Elizabeth and Susan went to the Colgate Rochester Divinity School and so they had a fine talk about all the people, where they are now and such.
The cottage was built in 1896 and reflected much of the original. Susan's husband's family bought it in 1946. A relative had sold it, but retained some of the furniture and the family retrieved those old pieces which are still there today.
One retrieved treasure was a book that all guests have signed since 1896 and for most of the book they added fairly long comments. So, it is a book of memories. My own writing from 1996 was found and read. Fun. Of course, both Elizabeth and I made entries for this visit.
Elizabeth grilled a steak on the barbecue grill and she cooked up the corn we bought along the way and boiled up some small potatoes. It was a grand supper to celebrate our anniversary, and my part was to do the dishes.
I read more of the Carl Sandburg and then drifted off fairly early to sleep.
Sandburg's “Always the young Strangers” is very detailed. He is very people oriented and he has a spot for everyone he ever knew and seems to remember them and their quirks in detail.
One unnamed “roundhouse wiper” made his living at a dollar and thirty cents a day. “ With a lumpy textile known as waste” he “groomed the locomotives for their next trip.”
One day a week he dressed up and walked to the Knights of Abbadabba lodge. I have not been able to find such a lodge, but it was a wild memory.
On our last morning it was lightly raining again when we got up. Very quiet this early in the morning here. Just the sound of a bird a ways down the lake.
We decided to take highways home, the first being 88. That highway is half closed for repair and most of the road is very rough with bump apparently waiting for resurfacing. It was really annoying.
I looked like the highway is done out to Richmond, which is the way we went out. So, we had substituted beautiful meandering back roads on the way up and not had the discomfort.
We had a very fine visit, but we are also happy to be home again.
We made popcorn and watched the last two available episodes of “Lucifer.” More are coming mid September.
Then I watched two Robert Young movies. He seems featured just now on TCM watch. “Paradise for Three” and “ Married Before Breakfast.” If I watch these before bed, Lucifer scenes do not invade my dreams.
Once again I did not take photos. I had my camera. Just never took any. Also, I dropped my external mouse, so I'm writing with the little square finger controlled mouse and making plenty of typos.
I also do not really know how to put photos on here from my phone. When I get a new mouse tomorrow, I'll be able to move them to Facebook and then to the blog. But I want to post everything today.
So, photos will appear here. They are now on Facebook in separate posts.
