Thanksgiving Pilgramage V - the Northeast
Here is where we find a total lack of pictures. This is the leg of my journey that took me from Buffalo to Dunkirk to Rochester to Phoenix to Saranac Lake to Burlington to Syracuse to Dunkirk to Fort Erie to Dunkirk, before I finally returned to Boston.
If you really want pictures of this part of the trip to look at, I would suggest you take out a bright white piece of paper, and stare at that. It is sort of what the world looks like when covered with snow.
And the snow did indeed hold off until I got to Dunkirk. Barely. No sooner had I unloaded my car at Jr. and Jo's and gotten comfortable, the weather started to turn colder, the winds came up, and snow was in the air. I will not suggest that I was like a little kid in a candy shop dreaming of a white Christmas. I was more like a kid visiting from Sicily, dreaming of warm weather.
Anyway, I visited with my in-laws for a few days, and then started a circular path that took me through Rochester (where I got to see my step mother Andrea Frost), Phoenix (New York, not Arizona) where I visited my adult education friend Donna Besaw, and we got to see Sweet Honey in the Rock in concert at Oswego State, along with a group of Donna's wonderful and interesting friends, and where I also ran into Fran and my old friends Michael and Annette Riposo, from whom I had not heard in about thirty years, and who is quite the Italy afficionado, and may even come to visit the best part of Italy some time when he is on his yearly pilgrimage to Florence, and we got to experience snow coming down like there was no tomorrow. Ah, the joys of lake effect.
If the snow was not enough, I then drove north into the mountains. I had almost forgotten how beautiful the mountains are, and I had also almost forgotten how awfully cold it can get there. Of course six or so inches of new snow on the road did not help my flash backs be pleasant ones, but I did get to spend a nice relaxing and wonderfully warm evening with my friends in Vermontville, Al and Kathy Berg.
The next morning, it was on to Plattsburgh, and the snow kept me from meeting friends from Montreal there. Then on to Burlington, over a choppy and windy Lake Champlain, but at least the Ferry was solid and got me across in good order. Burlington also was full of snow and cold, but I again received a warm welcome, this time from Lloyd, Nancy, and Asa Portnow, the friends that I ran into in Rome, and who I hope will be coming to Sicily in short order. We had a wonderful evening, and they had gotten together a group of people who wanted to know more about Sicily and about visiting there.
Then it was back to Dunkirk, with a too brief stop to see my friend and advisor Barbara Arndt, and my lawyer Bill Dewart. Back in Dunkirk, I was wined and dined by the Piede's and visited with the Priveteres, who had visited Sciacca just before I left for the states.
Then off to Fort Erie, to see my friend Michael, his wife Sandy, and his two daughters Sam and Jess. That was a nice relaxing time, and I was filled in on the latest plots America has devised to take over Canada. I was also reminded on an hourly basis that our government has allowed the dollar to become so week, the Canadians are considering changing their money into some US currency, as it is becoming cheaper than what we call rolled hygienic paper here in Italy.
Then back to Dunkirk for the final few days, I thought, in the terrible cold and snow. Jo had found out that I loved her pot roast, and she made it for the second time in my honor. Jo, I really do love your pot roast. I seem to travel on my stomach, and it is food like that that does wonders for me. Of course Kathy Piede also made a wonderful dinner for me, however I was still having some adjustment problems with the American diet, so I was unable to do it justice. And yes, everyone else made this leg of the journey far easier than it looked like it was going to be on paper. Too many miles, too many people to see, too little time, too many folks I did not get to see. And that seems to be the way it is when I get to the states.
If you really want pictures of this part of the trip to look at, I would suggest you take out a bright white piece of paper, and stare at that. It is sort of what the world looks like when covered with snow.
And the snow did indeed hold off until I got to Dunkirk. Barely. No sooner had I unloaded my car at Jr. and Jo's and gotten comfortable, the weather started to turn colder, the winds came up, and snow was in the air. I will not suggest that I was like a little kid in a candy shop dreaming of a white Christmas. I was more like a kid visiting from Sicily, dreaming of warm weather.
Anyway, I visited with my in-laws for a few days, and then started a circular path that took me through Rochester (where I got to see my step mother Andrea Frost), Phoenix (New York, not Arizona) where I visited my adult education friend Donna Besaw, and we got to see Sweet Honey in the Rock in concert at Oswego State, along with a group of Donna's wonderful and interesting friends, and where I also ran into Fran and my old friends Michael and Annette Riposo, from whom I had not heard in about thirty years, and who is quite the Italy afficionado, and may even come to visit the best part of Italy some time when he is on his yearly pilgrimage to Florence, and we got to experience snow coming down like there was no tomorrow. Ah, the joys of lake effect.
If the snow was not enough, I then drove north into the mountains. I had almost forgotten how beautiful the mountains are, and I had also almost forgotten how awfully cold it can get there. Of course six or so inches of new snow on the road did not help my flash backs be pleasant ones, but I did get to spend a nice relaxing and wonderfully warm evening with my friends in Vermontville, Al and Kathy Berg.
The next morning, it was on to Plattsburgh, and the snow kept me from meeting friends from Montreal there. Then on to Burlington, over a choppy and windy Lake Champlain, but at least the Ferry was solid and got me across in good order. Burlington also was full of snow and cold, but I again received a warm welcome, this time from Lloyd, Nancy, and Asa Portnow, the friends that I ran into in Rome, and who I hope will be coming to Sicily in short order. We had a wonderful evening, and they had gotten together a group of people who wanted to know more about Sicily and about visiting there.
Then it was back to Dunkirk, with a too brief stop to see my friend and advisor Barbara Arndt, and my lawyer Bill Dewart. Back in Dunkirk, I was wined and dined by the Piede's and visited with the Priveteres, who had visited Sciacca just before I left for the states.
Then off to Fort Erie, to see my friend Michael, his wife Sandy, and his two daughters Sam and Jess. That was a nice relaxing time, and I was filled in on the latest plots America has devised to take over Canada. I was also reminded on an hourly basis that our government has allowed the dollar to become so week, the Canadians are considering changing their money into some US currency, as it is becoming cheaper than what we call rolled hygienic paper here in Italy.
Then back to Dunkirk for the final few days, I thought, in the terrible cold and snow. Jo had found out that I loved her pot roast, and she made it for the second time in my honor. Jo, I really do love your pot roast. I seem to travel on my stomach, and it is food like that that does wonders for me. Of course Kathy Piede also made a wonderful dinner for me, however I was still having some adjustment problems with the American diet, so I was unable to do it justice. And yes, everyone else made this leg of the journey far easier than it looked like it was going to be on paper. Too many miles, too many people to see, too little time, too many folks I did not get to see. And that seems to be the way it is when I get to the states.
posted by Steve at 7:48 AM
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