Friday
22nd October
Up at 6am and put 1 load of washing in. There is a free laundry here for guests, got to be happy with that hey. On the way back to my room I saw out the front door a white line that I'm sure wasn't there when we arrived. I wondered if they'd painted the yellow line over night so went to check it out, in my pj's still. There had been a light snow fall overnight so off to get showered and dressed to go out and take photo's. Got the 2nd load finished and the cases packed by 9.05, later than the 9am 'cases outside the room' request, but it didn't cause any delays as there were still a lot of cases in the lobby. It started snowing again as were were boarding the bus so MJ took a photo of me in the car park, those white dots on my black top are not dandruff, they are snowflakes. Oh, and the photo of the driver's seat? Enid had made a name tag for Tom and bought some lollipops, recruiting me as her accomplice to place a lollipop on Tom's and Ric's seats when they were not around. I had put the lollipop on Tom's seat, then Enid put the 'do not disturb' sign over it to hide it. MJ joined in having bought a box of Whoppers (like Maltezers), she said Tom told a lot of them so they were appropriate, and also a box of prunes, no need to tell you what for.
We had a 1 hour boat ride on Lake Placid and got to hear the history of the place. Some of the homes on the lake shore are only accessible by boat as the road only runs so far round the lake. There is no road on the island either, that is only accessible by boat. All utilities are accessed via cables running under the lake from the mainland. All construction vehicles are kept on barges on the lake. The boathouses here all have fan heaters under water to stop the water freezing round the supports. One story we heard was off Mabel Smith Douglas who went missing in 1933 whilst out boating. It was 30 years later when her body was found, perfectly preserved by the cold water and the minerals in the lake, apparently she looked like she'd only been in the water a couple of days. There is a lot more history to the lake but I won't take up your time with the narrative, if you are really interested I'm sure you'll Google it like I do when I am missing some details. Some help here; check out 'The minute men'; Battle of Saratoga; Ethan Allen (check spelling).
In Saratoga we had 2 hours for lunch and a wander. My first stop was to a CSV Pharmacy to get something for some bites I had on my left wrist. They had swollen up, were itching like mad, hard and hot to touch and my whole wrist had turned red. Enid and Freda were really worried about them so we checked with MJ, who thought it could have been spider bites but the pharmacist didn't seem to know, or care, just sold me some cortisone cream, should be quick acting, and some allergy pills, recommendation to take them only at bedtime as they may knock me out. The cream eased the itchiness in a couple of minutes so at least my wandering was enjoyable. We had lunch together, Pizza followed by red velvet cake for dessert, yuuum. After lunch we headed off to the park to check out the Columbian Springs, which are said to have healing powers, and are supposed to have a bitter taste to them. The first spring we tried tasted normal, though very cold and having nothing but tissues to wipe our hands on it was a 'chilling' experience. The 2nd spring we tried had a distinct iron taste to it but it wasn't unpleasant.
We were spending tonight in Albany. Of course there were more trees to see on the way. Dinner in the hotel was enjoyable and entertaining, once more in the company of Enid, Freda, MJ & Tom. Back in my room more cream was applied and the first of my pills taken, they did knock me out as predicted.
Up at 6am and put 1 load of washing in. There is a free laundry here for guests, got to be happy with that hey. On the way back to my room I saw out the front door a white line that I'm sure wasn't there when we arrived. I wondered if they'd painted the yellow line over night so went to check it out, in my pj's still. There had been a light snow fall overnight so off to get showered and dressed to go out and take photo's. Got the 2nd load finished and the cases packed by 9.05, later than the 9am 'cases outside the room' request, but it didn't cause any delays as there were still a lot of cases in the lobby. It started snowing again as were were boarding the bus so MJ took a photo of me in the car park, those white dots on my black top are not dandruff, they are snowflakes. Oh, and the photo of the driver's seat? Enid had made a name tag for Tom and bought some lollipops, recruiting me as her accomplice to place a lollipop on Tom's and Ric's seats when they were not around. I had put the lollipop on Tom's seat, then Enid put the 'do not disturb' sign over it to hide it. MJ joined in having bought a box of Whoppers (like Maltezers), she said Tom told a lot of them so they were appropriate, and also a box of prunes, no need to tell you what for.
We had a 1 hour boat ride on Lake Placid and got to hear the history of the place. Some of the homes on the lake shore are only accessible by boat as the road only runs so far round the lake. There is no road on the island either, that is only accessible by boat. All utilities are accessed via cables running under the lake from the mainland. All construction vehicles are kept on barges on the lake. The boathouses here all have fan heaters under water to stop the water freezing round the supports. One story we heard was off Mabel Smith Douglas who went missing in 1933 whilst out boating. It was 30 years later when her body was found, perfectly preserved by the cold water and the minerals in the lake, apparently she looked like she'd only been in the water a couple of days. There is a lot more history to the lake but I won't take up your time with the narrative, if you are really interested I'm sure you'll Google it like I do when I am missing some details. Some help here; check out 'The minute men'; Battle of Saratoga; Ethan Allen (check spelling).
In Saratoga we had 2 hours for lunch and a wander. My first stop was to a CSV Pharmacy to get something for some bites I had on my left wrist. They had swollen up, were itching like mad, hard and hot to touch and my whole wrist had turned red. Enid and Freda were really worried about them so we checked with MJ, who thought it could have been spider bites but the pharmacist didn't seem to know, or care, just sold me some cortisone cream, should be quick acting, and some allergy pills, recommendation to take them only at bedtime as they may knock me out. The cream eased the itchiness in a couple of minutes so at least my wandering was enjoyable. We had lunch together, Pizza followed by red velvet cake for dessert, yuuum. After lunch we headed off to the park to check out the Columbian Springs, which are said to have healing powers, and are supposed to have a bitter taste to them. The first spring we tried tasted normal, though very cold and having nothing but tissues to wipe our hands on it was a 'chilling' experience. The 2nd spring we tried had a distinct iron taste to it but it wasn't unpleasant.
We were spending tonight in Albany. Of course there were more trees to see on the way. Dinner in the hotel was enjoyable and entertaining, once more in the company of Enid, Freda, MJ & Tom. Back in my room more cream was applied and the first of my pills taken, they did knock me out as predicted.