Vagabond exploring life with my little trailer in tow
During the early days of the pandemic, I started hand-sewing quilts to keep myself from going crazy. I started with hexagon quilts, which were easy to do and easy to store away. Quilting gave my brain and my hands something to do, and I liked the end results.
Way back when I lived in the Hudson Valley, I would often spend a few hours on the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, enjoying the shade trees and the view of the river. I never went into the Mansion itself, though; I didn’t need to. The grounds were enough for me, a huge park on the east bank of the river.
Way back in 1976, I made my first trip east, during the summer between college semesters. I rode a Greyhound bus all the way from California to the Montreal Olympics, then made my way down to New York State. And it was there, at Albany, that I encountered the boat that would change my life, the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.
It’s felt both like forever and just a few weeks, this summer of 2023. Kids are back in school, campgrounds are emptying out during the week, and I just saw my first golden leaf fall from a tree. So I guess I better share these summer photos before we slide into fall.
Some days are just so perfect that you just don’t want them to end. Today has been one of those days. I’m sitting outside under tall pine trees that shade me just right, watching the sunlight filtering through, and thinking how relaxing it was to paddle this morning with a long-time friend (34 years and counting, I think…) and take photos as we talked about whatever came to mind.