As I said a day or so ago, getting ready for winter is something that everyone here in the country has to do. From putting on storm windows to stacking 8 cords of wood, Fall is not really a season, it's the prep time for Winter. So today I donned these really cool flowery gloves and headed out into the yard to get the house ready for winter.
At 81 years old, my Mom can still bark out the orders. Cut this, rake this, move this pot, dump that over there. She was in total command of what had to be done. She was right out there with me cutting down plants and raking up all the old stuff. Sure, her stamina isn't what it used to be but she made darn sure that I got the stuff done. A lot of it was old tradition. We put stakes with little red yarns on them to prevent the snowmobilers (the winter form of transportation around here) from ripping up the lawn, dug up the flower bulbs and stored them in the basement, and other task too numerous and boring to mention. And with the temperature hovering around 38 degrees, working outside wasn't all that bad. If you kept moving, you didn't freeze. How logical!
The highlight of my day (besides my trip to Starbucks) was going to one of the local restaurants that serves something that I can't seem to find anywhere else...especially in California. It's really just and East Coast thing as the people here love good food and a journey to Ted's Fish Fry is always on my list of things to do here.
Ted's is the bomb. People come from all over to get a Fish Fry here. Now a fish fry is not really a culinary masterpiece but it's one of the best damn things you could ever eat. A piece of haddock is stuffed into a hot dog bun and then they throw some sweet chili sauce on it and there you have it. A Fish Fry. Mmmm, pleasure on a bun. I used to be able to down two or three of these but one is mhy limit now. Add to that a hot bowl of homemade New England Clam Chowder and you've got a feast. That's a prime example of good home country livin'!My little town outside of the metropolis of Albany New York is ever changing. With the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute just down the road, many technology based companies are moving here. That means more people and more jobs. It also means more development. Houses are springing up everywhere. Mini strip malls are popping up all over the place. The big stores like Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart and others are here putting a pinch on the local Mom & Pop type businesses. But out here, they still survive.
Below is a mini pictorial essay on my small town. It's gotten a lot bigger since I left here in 1984 but it still has that small town flair!
So there you have it. My hometown in a nutshell. From it's humble beginnings to what it is today, it's still the place I call "home." If only they'd put in a Dunkin' Donuts or a Starbuck's. Then life would be grand in the little city!
Discover Insanity's "The New York Experience" series is a continual recap of the previous day's adventures in the country wilderness of Upstate, New York. We will return with our daily topical blog posts on November 17th
