50 incredibly hopeful, cool things about the North Country
These days there’s a lot of ugliness going around, what with the national economy still sputtering, Albany in chaos, and (yes, this makes my list) snow flurries and chill winds persisting into May.
So this thread is a challenge to In Box readers:
By the end of the day, I’m hoping to gather fifty different comments — hopefully from different commenters — highlighting incredibly cool, positive, hopeful things about the North Country.
Doesn’t have to be huge. Digging in your asparagus bed? Your kid’s report card? Your first paddle of the season? A new job?
Or maybe it’s the opening of a new store on your local Main Street, or a trash clean-up day. Anything goes.
But I’ll be honest: This won’t be easy.
Usually it’s the negative posts that attract a lot of attention and comment.
So let’s dig deep. Find something to celebrate and share it. Who’s first?
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I went off on what I call a “mountain day” yesterday. Living just North of the Adirondack Pack and being a photographer I have the good fortune to be able to make one day forays and come back with ‘visual gold’ to put on my blog, http://jims-ramblings.blogspot.com/. Our daughter commented to me in a phone conversation last night “If you are lucky enough to be in the mountains, you’re lucky enough”. I was lucky yesterday. I’m lucky every day to be in the North Country.
Daily visits to the greenhouse to see how seeds planted in April have survived cold nights and are flourishing.
Awesome – thanks for starting us off. Forty-eight to go!
-Brian, NCPR
Hooking up the water at camp for another wonderful summer on the St. Lawrence River.
I’ll vote for the quiet and the night ski.
On a clear night, you can see a long way into the past and feel certain there will always be a future.
Geez, just look out your window.
The arrival of the first humming birds.
4 unique and enjoyable seasons, though some seasons last a bit longer than we’d like!
An area ripe with historic events, places, distinguished personalities and talented artists, inventors and workers that affected our history and culture.
Wonderful hunting, fishing, trapping and other outdoor activities.
An excellent agricultural area with a diverse range of crops and methods used available for anyone to see. From horse powered Amish and English homesteads to multi-million dollar agribusiness corporate style farms- we’ve about got it all.
A core group of hard working producers with links to traditional American values and ethics. A large group of veterans that we can take pride in. Both serve to remind us of the sacrifice it took to keep this country at the top of pile in this old world.
A decided lack of new age, urban “me” attitudes.
All these are things I find valuable in the north country.
Relative to the majority of other places on the planet, clean air and water.
Minor Hockey (one of our North Country teams came within a whisker of winning the nationals) High School Hockey (still competitive statewide dispite a severe numbers disadvantage) and College Hockey (nothing like Clarkson vs St. Lawrence.
The fresh smell of spring in the air, the first flowers of the season, the anticipation of warmer days and nights.
Ten down, forty to go! Some of these are awesome, btw.
–Brian, NCPR
First jump in the lake of the spring/summer season!
Bicycling from Ottawa to Canton via Ogdensburg, Lisbon and Morley on a clear, cool late autumn day (with no head wind!) taking in the sights, sounds and smells of nature and agriculture in the St. Lawrence valley on roads with very little traffic and good pavement – and arriving in Canton tired but exhilarated and ready for a mid-afternoon stop for coffee and dessert.
launching the canoe for the first time of the season and remembering how much sun you can soak up on the open water…
You should try and ski (or snowmobile whatever you prefer) to the middle of Ossetah Lake on very cold winter night. Then lie on your back and look at the stars. You might even see the northern lights if you are lucky. Try it in the summer also, but make sure you bring a boat!
Without a doubt for me the “most incredibly cool,positive and hopeful” thing in the North Country was the reopening of the Big Tupper Ski Area. It was a true positive in what can be considered by some a doom and gloom period in our Nation,State and Region. Thanks To All Involved.
50?… just 50!? Everything mentioned so far – absolutely! I’ll mention something that is in process and a ways off still but it is very positive and very hopeful – Patriot Hills at Saranac Lake.
Mark, Saranac Lake
This morning: walking out the back door at 6:20 to an incredible fresh, moist, green-ness, FULL of birdsong. Then driving though more of the same seven minutes to work (listening to a “mom” story from StoryCorps), and opening the car door to hear a hermit thrush in the woods bordering the parking lot.
I count at least seven things there.
green-ness
birdsong
seven minutes
“mom” story”
my job here
woods bordering the parking lot
hearing a hermit thrush
Almost halfway there and it’s not noon yet! Keep it coming!
–Brian, NCPR
Enjoying a couple dozen raw Little Neck clams while sipping a cold micro-brew. All while sitting on the edge of Fourth Lake in Eagle Bay. It’s Friday afternoon and in the back ground, the “Beat Authority” thumps away. “Toby” and “Karl”, Golden Retriever and Black Lab, swim after the perch and rock bass under the boat house. It’s the annual spring clam bake in Eagle Bay! The biggest decision of the weekend is should we walk to The Tavern for a “Larry Burger”, or polish off another tray of casino’s. Ah, Fourth Lake before the craziness of the summer season. It just doesn’t get any better.
Michigans.
And Bret.
coming back to the adirondacks this summer to get married!
(also, props to martha for her excellent taste in birdsong)
Every time I leave the house, to go for a hike or to go to the grocery store or whatever, I get to be around people who are enjoying themselves and happy to be where they are. People LOVE being here. Living here, vacationing here, driving through here… doesn’t matter. People love this area. Those feelings are so very positive… and contagious.
That is something I notice and appreciate almost every single day.
Oh, and a 46er pale ale on an Adirondack summer day… I appreciate that too!
Hope begins with the clean smell of mud season! Yesterday, I spied into the bottom of my compost bin to find it has finally thawed and is ready for deposit into the new raised bed I am building by the bee hives. Beekeeping and Gardening in the North Country; although certainly a challenge, are truly a walk in faith and hope, and are definitely on my list of cool and positive things in my life here in the woods.
The amazing job that the public libraries do with so little money.
Sunsets on the St Lawrence River.
Lilacs in bloom.
Moved to the North Country in October. just in time for the autumn display. Lots of wonderful things here. First thing is the people, they don’t get friendlier than the people here. I love living in a small town where everyone waves to one another. My neighbor who I had never met snow blowed my driveway after the first big storm this winter. We enjoy Robert Moses State Park and watching the ships go through the locks on the mighty St. Lawrence. My teenagers were welcomed to their new high school. Their first day at school I had 6 great teens show up at our door and invite them out to join them. My kids are all off to great colleges in the fall. And it is friday. Have a great weekend!
Running from Canton to Morley on Rt 27 and back; great road nice farms. Saw one fox, multiple turkeys and two really cool sheep dogs.
The Seaway! Nowhere else in New York state will you find more beautiful sunsets, large vessels from around the world, wooden boats, unique birds, amazing scenery and more!!!
Forward-looking, forward-thinking people and organizations;
growing Community Garden movement;
growing eat-, shop-, and think-local philosophies;
new restaurant choices coming to Saranac Lake (two known, a third rumored!)
the peepers singing their spring song in the marsh behind the house
the woodpecker tapping out his hopeful call for a mate on the old tractor
the Dairy Princess Parade in Canton in June, welcoming in summer
Coming out of hibernation and going for sun-shiny walks on my lunch hour!
Amazing talent, both local and student populations, of artistic expression that is everywhere, fine, and free (usually, and the parking is grand!) keeps me entertained and enthused. Loveliness everywhere, from the various natural beauty to the kindness of our communities, soothes the soul. The generosity and friendliness of this place is heartwarming. What a great place to live!
When we adopted two kids from Ethiopia , we were a little concerned that they might encounter some racism. Not much, but something. Early on they sure got some stares, walking around with their middle-aged, very white, parents.
Three years on we’re still waiting for that first incident, and the nobody even stares anymore. They’re just kids.
Wahoo! We’re well over thirty celebrations of the North Country — and I still haven’t offered mine yet. Keep ’em coming!!!
-Brian, NCPR
Ok, I gotta chime in again: the commute to work… anywhere in the North Country.
Mark, Saranac Lake
Taking a break from undergraduate papers to hear the ranger start up, the chains clink, and the dogs in the barn start to bark and yip in anticipation of the coming work out. Hearing the shout and command and looking out the window at the rag tag bunch of english setters, north country businessmen in their cut off tee shirts and cammo bib overalls, holding up a can of Labatt Blue Light, beckoning me to come join the fray.
I enjoy the non-human company. I live close enough to the village of Potsdam to be classed as suburbia, but I can still meet up in my yard with deer, racoons, rabbits, foxes, skunks, porcupines, beavers, coyote, turkeys, as well as a blizzard of songbirds, a ratpack of rodents, and a snake’s nest of–well–snakes.
A lot size hedgerow of fragrant lavendar lilacs kissed by spring snow.
Wow. I could name so many, but here are just a dozen that point up the contributions of many community-minded people:
1. Clarkson’s Engineers Without Borders Chapter
2. Edwards Opera House
3. Russell Opera House
4. Free Community Suppers
5. SUNY Canton Energy Education and (future) Sustainable Energy Fair
6. Grass Energy Working Group
7. Habitat for Humanity
8. Indian Creek and Robert Moses Nature Centers
9. GardenShare
10. Higley Flow Cross-Country Ski Trails
11. Rescue Squads and Volunteer Firefighters
12. Laurentian Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club
A friend, now deceased, told me about a conversation she had while volunteering at the ’80 Olympics. A visitor from Switzerland told her, in amazement, that he had been to Olympics for many years, all over the world, but never in his travels had seen an area so rich in both mountains and lakes.
Too bad he wasn’t here in the summer!
Crystal Spring Dairy.
I need to add more:
NCPR!!
The Lows Lake to Oswegatchie River canoe trip
Playing cards and drinking beer at hunting camp
Maple Syrup
Very little traffic
Tas Cru and the Conrad Story Blues Band
Norwood Village Green Concert Series
The Hotel Grande in Norfolk
and….. the great people who live here!!!!!
The yearly privilege of suiting up, parading, jamming and enjoying a few cold ones with the Norwood Brass Firemen.
tilling the garden, Smelling that fresh dirt smell you only smell in the spring. Planting my first plants. Catching my first fish.
I was having a conversation yesterday with my partner about how wonderful it is that people had the foresight to create the Adirondack Park and how, long after we are gone, people will be able to enjoy something that will appear perhaps even more unspoilt than it appears now.
But the thing I think is really cool is that, because of this Park, and the unique nature of it, in this very rural area we have a wealth of world class athletes, artists, craftspeople, writers etc who we run into regularly…maybe not even knowing what it is they do…who are our neighbors. Pound for pound our talents stack up to those in the greatest cities.
The Thousand Islands and the St. Lawrence River in the summertime!
Great grass on which to graze my sheep.
The Upstairs Music Lounge at the Waterhole #3.
Some pretty fantastic golf courses located all over the park.
OOOOhhhhh yes and the Beat Authority. Best way to start a weekend — EVER.