Summer adventure continues. Jeannie and I spent a whole week up in the Adirondacks with our good friends Mark and Kelly. It was great to see them and catch up. We spent most of that time camping on an island in Saranac Lake. This is the third time we’ve done this, and the longest trip yet, four days. The island, named Pirate Island, is accessible only by canoe, so we had to haul all our stuff out with us: tents, food, water, firewood and all. This year Jeannie and I bought new lightweight compact chairs and a table and a rain shelter. Fortunately the weather was great the whole time. The canoe rides were all very pleasant and hanging around the island was great. While we were up there I did a nice long bike ride one day on the local rail trail, and we explored the town a little, some bars and restaurants and the local river walk. Tried to go to the local astronomy center but they were closed.
I’ve been trying to make more time to read this summer. I brought two books with me. One was Mixing With Impact, which I mentioned last time, and am now into the the second half. The other was This Must Be the Place by Jesse Rifkin, a music critic and historian who works with me on The Global Jukebox. It’s about the rise and fall of various music scenes in downtown Manhattan over the last 70 year or so, how they were incubated by cheap real estate, and in turn met their demise by wave after wave of urban gentrification. Excellent book, highly recommended. I finished that one, and lent it to Mark. I found a playlist of the recommended listening at the end of each chapter.
I’ve been away or busy the last six weekends in a row, so it’s nice to be home and able to focus on getting some things done.