Welcome to the first official edition of Wanakena Weekly. There have been two test-runs held so far and this debut comes - as planned - Thursday, February 13th 2020 - two days from exactly four years after Otto’s Abode first opened its doors to the public. You may view the Wanakena Weekly archive on the list at the left or follow the link here: LINK
Here we go!
Last Thursday night if you were out for a stroll just before midnight you would find everything freshly coated in ice – yikes! There was already lots of snow lying about and so the ice created shell-type formation which one could *pop* off to handle a smooth-topped crunchy layer - from, say, a picnic table, and nibble out the snow filling underneath the shard. The freezing rain/ice turned to snow early Friday morning and continued until around just before midnight Friday. There was no school Friday ***SNOW DAY*** and we received about a foot of the fluffy white stuff. Around 5 below and a BIG moon rise Saturday morning. Saturday was bright and sunny. Lots of outdoor enthusiasts out and about enjoying the near perfect winter conditions. Big moon, clear skies. Down to negative 18 Saturday evening. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday overcast with occasional sun and flurries – temperatures in the thirties. Radio called for 3-6 inches today, temperatures dropping right around zero and staying cold trough the weekend, though as this is being published (Thursday AM) there is a freezing rain covering everything with a thin layer of ice again....slowing changing to snow. We'll see!
Whiteout Weekend begins tomorrow! Looking like it’ll be a cold one - high around zero and low around -15… Bundle up and lets party!!! Friday night BASH in Wanakena. Luminaries across the footbridge at dusk. There is an ice luminary walk down “Lovers Lane” (the shortcut from Second Street to Ranger School Road through the woods) Rick and Jamie are performing LIVE at Black Waters Café 7:30-10pm. Outdoor sculpture around town. And bonfire, croquet and boombox tunes out front of Otto’s Abode. TSHIRTS ARE IN THE SHOP - designed by Vanessa Vaverchack - celebrating the sixth annual Adirondack Whiteout Weekend which will be held February 14th + 15th + 16th in the Clifton-Fine region. See the full schedule of events here: https://sites.google.com/view/adkwow/schedule and be sure to check out WOW’s Facebook.
“Well, what do you suppose that is?” remains on-view at Otto’s Abode through March 8th. The exhibition is being enjoyed by folks of all ages. “Don’t touch the art” seems to not apply here – how else would you figure out what this is if I can pick it up and smell it?!? C'mon through and check it out!
A couple summers ago a gentleman by the name of Michael Mandolfo spent some time in Wanakena and shot some photographs of the foam formations on the surface of the Oswegatchie flowing through town. Shortly after his visit Otto’s Abode worked with Michael organizing an exhibition of some of the photographs captured during this trip called “The Flow Through Wanakena”. We were delighted to receive a postcard in the mail announcing he will be showing this body of work at Kean College, New Jersey starting next week!
Wanakena Car bridge construction has commenced although no work has occurred in the past couple of months. Trees have been cleared, fill has been dumped and shaped, survey steaks wrapped with neon tape, scribbled with sharpie notes symbols and numbers abound. We will be sure to keep information coming as it arrives.
All for now! There’s snow to shovel!
Any questions, comments, concerns, trail condition inquiries, legends, jokes, animal sightings, etc… feel free to email otto@ottosabode.org or call 3158483008 or pop-in the shop!