Happy Thursday!
This past week in a nutshell… Got COLD this past Thursday evening – twenties! Bright beautiful sunny start to the Columbus Day weekend. It would have been Oktobeerfeast this past Saturday. Alas, the party was not held – although at one point there were TWELVE WANAKENERS down lingering around chitting and chatting in conjunction with the post office. A renter asked: where’s all the animals? The trailhead parking lot was empty for a day or two this past week – quite possibly the ONLY time this has occurred ALL SUMMER. Hiker-traffic has been down. Overall a seemingly quiet Columbus Day weekend. Summer folks heading out of town for the winter. And as they left cold and rainy weather returned. Merganser spotted at the Mill Pond. Tamaracks still green. What fish? A Cranberry Lake 50 hiker commented: this is the best vacation we’ve ever been on, and last year we were in Switzerland! Wow! School bus drivers report MOOSE out and about – keep dem eyes peeled! WEAR ORANGE IN THE WOODS. AND WATCH OUT FOR THE MICE (they’ll get ya)!!!!!!! Oh, yeah - the gazebo got wrapped up!
Upcoming… Word on the street is that the Town of Fine Highway Department will be doing some repair work on the Wanakena Footbridge as well as the tiny bridge in between the footbridge and South Shore Road. We'll keep ya posted. Weather forecast says RAIN and then CLEAR AND COOL thought the weekend... This weather forecast is brought to you by Wanakena’s own PATTIJACKNAN weather team – a Wanakener garage pole mounted weather station and crew. THANKS, TEAM! This weather station can be found at: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/ny/wanakena/KNYWANAK8 - Also, always beautiful photography at the Wanakena Tracks facebook page.
Bridgework continues! Wayne says the steel is being laid down and the concrete gets poured next. BIG MOVES!!!! Also, some details of the railings: Square steel three-high; see-though. Wow! The Bridge Crew is COOKIN’. As they say around Wanakena: WE’LL BE DRIVING OVER THAT NEW BRIDGE IN NO TIME!!!!!! For old times' sake here's a shot of the old bridge, from a couple years ago, same time of year:
TOILET forest TOILS... up on the CRANBERRY LAKE 50 PUBLIC FACEBOOK GROUP, NYSDEC employee reports that he had been constructing and building open-air wilderness privys to be taken out into The Five Ponds Wilderness. Great job, Derek! Here's a screenshot from the Facebook group, gotta love the forehead strap!
Down at the Abode… BEAUTIFUL Wildflower Drawings by Wanakena’s own Kathie Nevil remains ON VIEW though October 25th. C’mon down and check the show – top-notch work! While you’re here take a peek around the shop. Perhaps you’ll go home with something you did not realize you needed. Perhaps you’d find a perfect gift for someone. Perhaps you’ll go home with ingredients for a DELICIOUS dinner. You’re purchases down here at Otto’s Abode help keep us open and going all year long. Local businesses NEED local support! You don't want to hear your grad kids say: "mommy? daddy? What was a small bussiness?" Do you?!?!?!??! We sure don't. Your purchases also help keep the place open so that people who don't want to or are unable to purchase things can still have a place to come shoot the breeze and check out the art. TEAMWORK!!!
How about A BLAST FROM THE PAST…. Here’s a glimpse of an exhibition held three years ago, right here at OTTO’S ABODE!!!!!! THROUGH MY EYES : JAZZ MOMENTS IN THE CAPITAL DISTRICT - ALBERT W. BROOKS - 10/11-11/12/17. Albert W. Brooks is a long-term resident of Albany, New York, and native of Charleston, South Carolina, who has been practicing the art of photographing jazz musicians in performance for about ten years. A retired public sector attorney for thirty years, Brooks came to photography late in life as a way to get closer to the music and its creative energy. “Jazz music, performed at its best, is an improvisatory art form that embodies standards of excellence, virtuosity and beauty. Jazz musicians devote years (indeed lifetimes) to learning, developing and honing their skills as practitioners of this quintessentially American art form. Though its historical nascence is in fact American, jazz is so well loved and recognized as an international art form that, many of its greatest adherents are musicians from around the world who are drawn to its beauty, creative complexity and limitless improvisational possibilities.” “With my photography, I try to capture some of the moments of artistic creativity, surprise, interplay, striving, repose, energy and emotion typically expressed in a jazz musical context.” Brooks is also a student of jazz saxophone and has studied with musicians such as Dan Faulk, Don Byron and Marty Erhlich.
Important information from the other end of the lake: The Clifton Community Library is open FIVE DAYS PER WEEK plus Wednesday evenings by appointment. Call 3158483256 or clklib@ncls.org for an appointment. Curbside pick us is also still available. At the Clifton Community Center, Cranberry Lake, NY 12927. ALSO, a message via their Facebook Page: Our grant from the Foundation for Rural Service has ended, and so we have shut down our wireless hotspot in Newton Falls. We hope the community made good use of it and enjoyed it there. If you have any feedback, please don't hesitate to let us know. Thank you to the fire department for partnering with us to provide this resource for the past 18 months! LAKESIDE GENERAL STORE IN CRANBERRY LAKE IS CLOSED FOR THE LONG WINTER SEASON. Stone Manor Diner and Motel open , The Clifton Community Library and Tooley Pond Duck Decoy Showroom in Cranberry Lake are open! Check out the Cranberry Lake Boat Club and The North Shore Hub online, too!
WANAKENA’S BLACKWATERS CAFÉ AND TRADING POST FALL/WINTER hours/menu/etc. announced! Breakfast at B-Dubs returns! Hours are: Tues+Wed+Thus: 8am-3pm and Fri+Sat 8am-7pm. Call to make DINE-IN RESERVATIONS! 3153094040!!!! Open for pick-up/take-out too, YA’HEARD! Picnic tables and port-o-john out front! Picnic tables out back by the river, too. Order though their take-out window or better yet do it online at their website www.blackwaterscafe.com
RANGER SCHOOL IS IN SESSION, BUT THE CAMPUS IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC!!! That means no hunting. Here’s a message from the Ranger School: The Ranger School's James F. Dubuar Memorial Forest will be closed to the public for an indefinite amount of time beginning Saturday, August 15, 2020. The Cranberry Lake 50 trail, which passes in front of the school, will remain open. This action is necessary to protect students and staff as they begin a new academic year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but it is a critical precaution as we work to ensure the health and success of the Class of 2021. Thank you for your cooperation. Here’s a story about it all: https://www.nny360.com/news/stlawrencecounty/property-sales/article_eeec3094-901a-531a-8a18-ab1b991b3a79.html
Out West: Coffee Fever, Todd Hardware, Adirondack Pharmacy and Circle K in Star Lake are open! Mountain Gate Redemption near Benson Mines is open! The Clifton-Fine Municipal Golf Course is open seven days a week. Hillside Diner, UB’s Mercantile and Adirondack Rustics in Oswegatchie are open! Both Twin Lakes and SOS in Star Lake got a fresh paint job but remain temporarily closed since March 2020. Word on the street is Twin Lakes is re-opening SOON!
Kim’s Lost Dog Report: As of today, there are NO lost dogs in Wanakena.
All for now!
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! Wanakena Weekly archive here: http://www.ottosabode.org/p/wanakena-weekly.html
Those few pale Autumn Flowers, How beautiful they are than all that went before, than all the Summer store, how lovelier far! And why? They are the last – The last! – the last – the last! O, by that little word how many thoughts are stirred! That sister of the past! - Unknown