Well. Despite yesterday's post about 100 degree temperatures on The Homestead, Rural Ways actually spent the week experiencing another climate entirely. A family reunion in Lake George, New York took us to the other end of the country. It might just as well have been the moon. Instead of 50 days of drought, the Adirondacks were in the middle of 50 days of rain. The deluge was so heavy that nobody laughed when one guy started loading his boat with two each of every kind of animal. Ha. The thing is, in that climate, it doesn't even need to rain: You can be wet just sitting in the house. The other thing that stood out to the dry land farmers from Utah was the obvious floral aggression. If you don't cut it, mulch it, mow it, spray it, or dig it up, it will take over your property. Every living plant grows with such vigor that your main problem is keeping it from tearing down your house. Quite a change from The Homestead and The Farm where nothing will grow if you miss even one turn on the irrigation spigot.
In any case, the point of the trip was to enjoy the classic Adirondack camp experience while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the patriarch/matriarch. And, enjoy it we did. There was basketball, tennis, canoeing, archery, sailing, swimming, hiking, craft-making every hour of the day—interrupted only by the time necessary to heap our plates at the dining hall. We sat on the porch, walked in the woods, and, of course, enjoyed the white pines . . . between massive down-pours. It has been nice to return to southern Utah for a bit of drying out, but here we could actually benefit from even a small portion of the daily rain falling on Lake George right now.
We finally got the rain, although I could certainly use a visit and a small-boat sailing adventure in upstate New York.
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