/\ /\ / \ / \ . / \ /\ / \../ \...../ \/ \....... / Fourpeaks--Adirondack Backcountry Camps \ / http://4peaks.com/ * Martin@4peaks.com \ / Stonehouse Road * Jay NY 12941 * 518-524-6726 \ To: Fourpeaks Visitor At: fourpeaksvisitor@mail.com Dear Visitor, Telling Time. Been a while now since Andy took down his buckets. Iza and Murray come up and I take them below Bassett to his sugar shack to see. Strong fire brings the sap to a rolling boil and steam clouds rise up into the pines. Andy looks real old-timey with his long beard the way he wears it now, and she interviews him for a new video project. "What's it like to be in your shoes?" You can see it on YouTube with her other stuff. I'll post the link. I tell time by flowers. Hardy reminders of our life together, Becky's daffodils come out by Camp Barn deck. They're all that's left. The large fancy variety never made it and Willy's machine tore up her crocus bed fixing the grade last Fall. Folks come to Sugar and I show then the bloodroot and trillium. It's the one and only spot for those frail white and orange blooms. They last just a few days. Trillium is strong and I see them in rich soil by water other places, most notably on ancient Stonehouse Road just opened up again last Fall. There they fairly line the path by the stone wall and running water. I miss the crocus at Sugar and spend some time peering in the grass to find any sign. Unlike our natives the store-bought varieties have a limited life. Connnie comes up from Thoreau for a walk and to pay the rent. She brings her black lab and he and George run off together. Nice girl, works in commercial construction in Toronto. I suggest Wolf as it's close with a view. The road is bad wet as I expected. We find it entirely littered with oak sprouts, well hatched most likely under our extraordinary snowfall and wet Spring. Deep purple over bright red, the husks are broken open by the burgeoning matter inside. Many appear to have rooted right there in the road. I imagine a new oak forest some day on this slope. I show her the shortcut through the woods to Wolf and I stop at First View to take this in. What I'm waiting for is apples. Most every one of my old farmsites have them, the small tart varieties like Russet that keep the winter in the cellar. The one at Sugar is a small orchard while Halsey Straight has just a few venerable survivors, a hundred years of life. One has near fallen down and we put a wood block under to keep it from the wet. Several keep watch by the cellar at Bert Williams. Apples "volunteer" as well so there's some at New Camp and a long double line of them at the sag in Camp Field where the soil dries out enough for them. These make a white cloud of delicate blooms above the bright green first grass. Sun is out and a soft air moves through with no sound for this May day. Come see all this yourself! If you hurry you'll make it in time for the marsh marigold by camp gate and along several small forest streams I can tell you about where sun gets in for them. Last of Spring see lilac at Sugar and Gypsy, splendid reminders of the ancestors who set them out for beauty in their day. JUST CLICK http://4peaks.com/finquiry.htm to get a no-obligation free detailed rental offer well suited to the season, your personal interests and budget. I'd like to help make the natural beauty of the Adirondack backcountry a part of your vacation experience. Your Adirondack Guide, Martin Schwalbaum Member Whiteface Mountain Visitors Bureau Member Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau ****************************************************************** This is #25 of a really occasional newsletter, for Fourpeaks guests or anyone who ever inquired about a Fourpeaks Getaway. TO STAY ON this list remember to send me your new email. TO GET OFF send this letter back (reply) with "REMOVE" as subject. ******************************************************************