Faces of the Adirondacks

  Adirondacks NY

As promised in my blog last week, meet Doris and Dread, a somewhat happy couple of the Lake Region in the Adirondack Mountains.

Doris

Dread

The word Adirondack, started as "ratirontak" in the Mohawk language and denotes the Algonquins tribe in a derogatory manner, " bark eaters".  The Algonquins called the Mohawks "eaters of living things". Mohawks called themselves "people of the place of the flint".
So... this is  the first distinction in the new world that I know of vegan and non-vegan peoples. (I value the Native American culture and peoples but if we were to Anglicize the situation you could tell the meat eaters apart from the vegans by the hair cuts, dreads or mohawk, and loin cloths, camo or tie dyed.) 

The Story:
It's mid September and I had a late start in making the drive to Indian Lake, arriving around 7:00 pm. This was my second trip and I was familiar with the lake and surrounding area. I was hoping to arrive at camp and have a fire going, cooking dinner and maybe some reading before dark. But...

the sun has set and I am scrambling to load my boat and catch as much light as I can to make the two mile paddle. Not that far or time consuming.  By the time I have parked the van, loaded the boat and launched, it's dark and  I am able to see light grey ghosts, wisps of fog rising off the surface of a warm lake into the cooler air. I had not planned on the visibility being so low and it's getting darker each minute.  I am wearing my PFD (personal floatation devise). I realize it is not the safest way to travel, alone at night, on the water. The night is chilling down. Still... I love this.

The water is smooth, and silky. I can see the bow wake as I paddle towards my camp site on the distant horizon. Through the mist I can make out the rough outline of the trees and it gives me a hint of my destination.


Paddling seems like an endless task as I keep my head down and keep my arms moving. I am the only one on the lake that I know of. I see no lights or campfires, The fog thickens. As I near the island to find my camp I turn on my head lamp and look for a landing, The rock ledges stand out in my headlamp and I find a narrow ledge to slide my kayak upon the rocks. I get out and polk around the camp site looking for wood. The first thing I think of is get a fire going. I didn't think it would be necessary to pack in fire wood, why haul it in a limited space and add the weight? As I start to look around for dry deadfall to burn, I stumble about the forest kicking up anything that I can haul back to burn. Maybe I misinterpreted the word Adirondack the original meaning is actually"wet fire wood". Finally fire!

I'm here to do my work, to find the images of reflections, to discover, what has already been seen before, yet has never  been noticed.
My opinion is that these images communicate that there is more than we see in our day to day life. I wonder what else I have not appreciated or recognized due to viewing life and others in the same way?



This alone time is rich. It allows reflection of values, things, family. I value this solitude "If you can't stand solitude maybe others find you boring as well." Mark Twain                               
                                    


How does this image communicate to you? What would you name it?

More photos of the Adirondacks  next week.



Steve

Great history on the Wiki!

Mohawks   People of the place of flint


Adirondacks   Bark eaters