Last week at this time, I was still in Lancaster, PA, enjoying the Amish country while I finished out the first round of hand therapy. Seeing buggies and horses never got old.
After a lovely two weeks or so, it was time to move on, heading to Cape Cod and a housesitting/hanging with friends summer. My first stop, at the KOA in the Poconos, had a sign that boded well for future travels 🙂
I landed Monday in the Hudson Valley, which felt a bit like coming home after 30 years away. So many new things, like the brilliant rails-to-trails walkway over the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie. Honestly, it’s as close to sailing on a summer day as you can get without actually being on the water. The top photo in this post is looking south towards Beacon and Storm King.
The walkway has lots of informational signs; this one was my favorite. After all my years of working and living in different parts of the country, sailing as crew on the Clearwater still ranks as my #1 job. Hard work, low pay, long hours, but seeing the faces of people as they “got” that this beautiful body of water is *their* river? Priceless.
I could have done a lot of other things in my one full day in the valley, but I decided to go up to Saugerties and pay my respects to some ghosts from my past.
For three winters, I lived in that little town and so I stopped by the old Lynch’s Marina to say farewell to Connie and Madeline Lynch, who passed away years and years ago. I could almost hear the old man’s stories and the sound of that little tractor engine pushing the snow around. In that back building, someone was sawing wood and I could swear I heard Al Nejmeh telling one of his stories, and all of us laughing in the cold as we worked another day of winter maintenance.
There were kayakers at the boat launch this sunny day, and it reminded me of the time I launched the yawl boat here one early Spring day and rowed my Dad down to the lighthouse and back. Cold, but he loved it and snapped the bottom photo at the end of our little adventure.
The day ended with dinner at a friend’s in Kingston, two old boat cooks enjoying an afternoon of talk, walking along the Rondout Strand, and dinner. Joined by another old sailing buddy in the evening, it was the perfect way to end the day and put old ghosts to rest.
The past is a very determined ghost, haunting every chance it gets.
Laura Miller
Nice narrative skills! Feels like I am along for the ride.
Great stories and sounds like you had a grand day returning to your old haunts.
Your quote at the end is very appropriate. You’ve lived in a lot of places during your lifetime and it sounds like you really “lived” those moments. Safe travels.