When I was very young, we visited Cherokee two times. It was a magical town, holding much of Native American history and lore. Both times I wanted the red moccasins, really wanted them, but we could never afford them. Maybe that's the cause of my thing for red shoes today, who knows. I am enjoying the road up to Cherokee, but also I become certain I have come here almost solely to buy those red moccasins. Andrea should be cheering by now, she is always on my case about scarcity thinking. Cherokee has changed mightily, and well it should, I was last here 55 or 60 years ago. Harrah's has a huge casino here. I struggle to find any trace of authenticity among the t-shirts and made in China souvenirs. I buy the red moccasins. The inner little girl is elated. Mission accomplished.

I head for Tampa, friends, Florida and home, but I am too tired to make much progress. I stop for the night north of Columbus, GA.

Then I cross Maryland, and go into Virginia to see the Shenandoah Valley. This valley is lush and productive, with farms, cows, and goats, lots of goats. There are ridges on either side of the valley, running parallel north and south. The valley is protected, peaceful, broad and beautiful. I wanted to find the property where a group of us had worked very hard to establish a community there, one I valued highly, based in personal development, a spiritual life and organic carrots (maybe even goats). We lost the farm in the late 70's, and I have been in Miami ever since. I saw an allee of trees looking like the ones that lined the road into our property, but I did not recognize the house. I never found the property I was looking for, but I began to cry. It occurs to me that I have never worked this loss, never felt the grief, never mourned the dream. I did so today.

Next leg of the trip is the Skyline Drive, down through the Shenandoah National Forest. (A national park! I can use my lifetime, golden age passport I bought in Denver in May at Ellie's wedding!) Little car does her best chugging and climbing. Brave heart car! The road winds and swoops, climbing and falling, between a cliff up and a cliff down, and suddenly opening out into a jut overlook where one stops the car, gasps from beaty and takes pictures. I discover "driving meditation". Coming out of the park into commercial streets, I am dazed and surfeited.

Let's get some rest and go to Cherokee tomorrow.

The exercise in going to Eagles Mere was to see a place where I had been very happy, a place that I had loved deeply, and to close that chapter. EM is a lake on top of a mountain in north central Pennsylvania. Sonestown is in the valley below that mountain. In the morning the tops of the mountains were covered in clouds. Driving up the mountain to Eagles Mere, the mist got denser and denser, and finally I was creeping along trying to make out the road. It was beautiful. I was looking for remembered landmarks, and the fog made it all the more difficult. I drove around the town and looked at everything. I really had some fine times in this town. Here is a pic of the Reily’s summer house in the mist.

So I headed south down along the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg. And continue south through Maryland to Virginia. Next part of the itinerary is the Shenandoah Valley to see the community I worked so hard to establish in the 70's. It was called Carmel In the Valley and was south of New Market and north of Harrisonburg. I stopped in New Market for the night.

Down the road to Harrisburg -- there are three ridges ahead, each one covered in mist, and each one getting lighter and lighter as they are more distant. Loving the Susquehanna River. Gas prices are getting less. $2.49 on the mountain top, @1.99 here. Hmmm. What is Dubya up to?

Shenandoah Valley is incredibly lush, farms and cows and goats, a lot of goats. On either side of this broad glowing productive valley the terrain slides up into a ridge. There are battlefields everywhere. The reason for the trip going through the Shenandoah was to find the community I worked so hard to help establish there in the 70's. Our ideals were high, involving personal development, a spiritual life and organic carrots (maybe even goats). We lost the farm in the late 70's and I have been in Miami ever since. I never did find the property. I saw what looked like our entry-way allee of trees, but I never recognized a house. I found myself crying. It occurs to me that I never worked this portion of my life, never fully experienced the grief and the loss. I did so today.

I can't seem to get my new card reader to read the camera card, so there will be no pics until that gets solved.

Next leg of today's adventure is the Skyline Drive. It is in Shenandoah National Park, so I am totally pleased to pull out my lifetime golden age passport to all national parks, something I acquired in Denver in May at Ellie's wedding. Little car does her very best in each climb. I need to get her a reward. There will be many mountains to climb before this is over. The road winds and climbs and provides many outlook places where the road juts out over huge views across immense valleys to high mountains. I discover "driving meditation". At the end of the drive, coming out onto commercial streets, I am dazed and surfeited.

Highway 26 from below the Skyline Drive to just north of Asheville has got to be one of the most beautiful stretches in the world. I am unable to reach my brother so I head for Cherokee, NC.

Here is Aunt’s architectural marvel of a cottage in the north woods. Look through the windows on the right to see the bridge game in progress.


Going south on Route 12 you can see the ruins of at least four locks of a barge canal running up the middle of the road. Aunt told me it was formerly a part of the Erie Canal. The barges must have been quite narrow and short.












I called ahead for a room in Eagles Mere, and was recommended the Sonestown Country Inn. Recommended by a trustworthy local inn that was all full for the weekend, the price was right, the room was available, what’s not to like? BIG mistake: loud music, noise, smells, machines, lumpy squeaky bed, and after the bar had closed, the party next door had turned off the music, the car doors and shouting in the parking lot had stopped and I had dropped off (about four in the morning) someone dropped an enormous number of dishes on the floor downstairs right under my room. Sheesh! And, I was miles from anywhere with no recourse. It was a very uncomfortable night

Andrea's comment to post on Sept 16th set off in me a little research flurry. Go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk and here http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures&Params=A29 to get a little start. I am so loving these rock sculpture, temples, holy people, symbols, thingies.

Two days in one this post. Yesterday was a quiet day all day, I ran errands in town in the am, and collapsed in a nap in the afternoon. Cousins, wives and children came to dinner, spaghetti, garlic bread, and home-made peach sorbet with Bailey's Irish Cream added. Serious yum!

And talk! I very love my cousins and their families, and we talked a lot.

Today, my Aunt hosted the Book Club in the am, and is currently playing her weekly bridge thingie. Petey and I helped get ready earlier, and now are making ourselves scarce, so the card players can concentrate. Learning bridge was a traumatic experience for me in earlier days, my teachers were emphatic about how wrongly I played, so I have never seen it as an enjoyable pasttime nor taken it up as a pleasant activity. My Aunt gets a lot of pleasure from her game and her friends. Maybe I am missing something.

Tomorrow I will leave Lowville, and go down to Pennsylvania to see Eaglesmere. More on that tomorrow.

Today I left Kingston, Ontario, and went east to cross into the USA just past Gananoque. I love to say that word. There was a sign for the Gananoque boat tour of the Thousand Islands, but the rain was so very heavy I didn't go for it. More fool me. "Ok, a thousand islands, nice but not compelling," I thought. And then when I got on top of the bridge between the countries, oh! my! the sight of the river and all the islands, little and bigger and very big, so close to each other, dotting the river as far as the eye can see, I lost my heart. I am in love with them. I pulled some pics off Google Image, but am having trouble getting them into this blog. Too hard to take photos while driving across the bridge. If I don't succeed, go look at them on www.google.com (Image) yourself.

I got off the interstate and took backroads all the way to Lowville, NY, and my Aunt's excellent cottage in the woods. Upstate NY is very pretty. I am well on my way to becoming overly happy happy joy joy-ed. Never mind, I'll deal with it when I get home.

I spent the afternoon with my cousin Hamish's wife, Eloise, and son, Graham. Hamish and Eloise are renovators, among other artistic talents, and have collected a barn full of period house parts, doors, mantles, hardware, china and crystal, antique auto parts, you name it. I want to get them started with selling on EBay (the world does not beat a path to Lowville, NY) and a web-store. I touted them on web design software, photo handling software, etc., and set up a step-by-step on how to break into the web-store thingie in a low-cost but effective way. They really have the goods, so they might as well make some effort to alert the market.

So I leave Sudbury...In order not to retrace my trail, I went east on the Trans-Canada highway and then south to Kingston. The leaves are turning, which is really happy happy joy joy for me. I wish the sun had been out so you could see the colors better in these pictures. Nice drive, miles and miles of Canada, very pretty and mostly empty. Except for the highway construction teams. We stopped four times to wait our turn to drive through a one-lane-for-both-directions blockage. But it was amazing to see them working so hard in such a heavy rain. (Canada is so very pretty even in the rain.)

The rocks in the south are more a pink square than the slate-y flat rocks near Sudbury. It is so wonderful to see the countryside chage with the miles. Andrea's Inuk Shuk is made with the pink-y square rocks, while mine is from the slate-y ones.

One thing I observed is that the north side of the hills are turning color faster than the south side of the hills. Took me miles and miles to figure that one out.

Then at the end of 41, when we were almost into the town where you find 401, a little black bear ran into the road in front of the car. I have never seen a wild bear before. He was a half grown cub. I stood on the brakes, and Petey went flying right under the dash. He landed on my purse so it was relatively a soft landing. The bear saw the car, and turned tail and ran. He ran along side the car for a while. What a thrill. I was too shook up from the surprise to reach for my camera.

Andrea is taking me through a different neighborhood and on different roads every time we go out, so I can see as much of Sudbury as possible. I need to admit here of more than a little locational chauvinism as regards Miami vs all northern climes. In Miami we grow annuals in the winter, impatiens, petunias, etc., and tropicals all year round. Annuals fade fast in the summer heat. I have come to believe that this is right and proper and that everyone else has it all backward.

Sudbury, all of Canada that I have seen, and also in New York State, have marvelous late summer garden things going on. Sudbury should be world famous for its little garden patches. Everywhere you look someone has planted annuals in wild juxtaposition, contrasting colors or complementary, planned or haphazard, they are all over the place, and they are beautiful.

I needed to eat my attitude!

I had wanted to give Andrea a wireless set up for a house present, but she already is completely tricked out with techno. Ditto every kitchen gadget a hausfrau could want. What to do? I asked and she said she would like for each of us to have an Inuk Shuk of our own so that neither of us would ever feel alone again. The Rock Shop in town accomodated our request and we each now have an anchor to the other.

Here are two Innuk Shuks from near Sudbury. I like the family effect in the second one.

Kathy Scholl from Tampa asked for a photo of Eelin in her comment below. So here is a picture of Eelin with me and my cousin Stewart the night before the wedding. Stewart (1) wore a kilt to the wedding, and (2) has owed me 89 cents since 1952, when I was blamed for a chocolate bar he actually stole. I can't get the man to see reason on this issue. BTW although Stewart and I spent the greater part of our childhood fighting like cats and dogs, I rather like him now and am always really joyed to see him and especially his wife Kelly.

Last night, Keely and Petey had a fight. The dogs were all overjoyed and excited when the doorbell rang. Visitors are major thrills in dog land. We are not sure who did what and who took offense, but there was a lot of barking and a scuffle and I came in to find Keely with her jaws around Petey’s neck shaking him like a little woodland animal. SO VERY SCARY! I have seen Petey use that same move to subdue his stuffed toys. I pried Keely’s jaws open, someone took Petey up and handed him to me, and then the two of us sat on a kitchen chair; he trembled and I cried. What a way to start a dinner party. Today Keely is contrite and sweetly inquiring about our well-being, Petey is a little sore, and I am keeping him on a leash so he can’t get very far from me, and get into any more trouble.

Andrea tells me Inuk Shuks (real spelling) are made by a lot of different people, and that their purpose is to let travelers in this huge empty country know that they are not alone, that there actually are other people in the country that are thinking of their well-being. No wonder they move me so much. Tomorrow we are going out to get some photos of Inuk Shuks for me.

Inuk Shuks are one of the huge happy happy joy joy factors for me here in Canada. Them and the amazing plantings. Everywhere in Sudbury that you go there are little rock gardens, little knot gardens, little places where flowers, mostly annuals, have been placed. Cheery.

Canada is keeping me busy, a lot of social, and a lot of catching up on both sleep and conversation with Andrea. I am totally enjoying myself. Jim and Andrea had told me that they planned to keep me chained to the stove while I was here. I think they like my cooking. So, I made a crock pot dish of skinless chicken thighs layered with thyme, lemon slices and more garlic than one would think was healthy. And tonight, we will entertain for dinner. A total of 10 people. I made a turkey with sausage, apple and cornbread stuffing, some gravy, etc. And a peach crumble. See if you can get any of the last of the season Ontario freestone peaches. Amazing! Sliced peaches with a little sugar, vanilla and flour (next time I am going to try tapioca as a thickener). The crumble part is oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter worked into the dry ingredients with your fingers. Bake until bubbly and brown. Reallygood food.

There were a lot of compliments. I am pleased, and there were not many leftovers.

I told you this trip is about talking and eating!

Canada – Let me tell you about Inook Shooks. Driving up from Niagara to Sudbury, ONT, I began to see little rock cairns on the tops of the rock walls on either side of the road. Some look like stacks, and some look like temples, and some look like people and some look like rock piles. They all look purposeful, and as if they are sacred to someone for some reason. I saw hundreds and hundreds of these little sculptures. Some of them incorporate found objects. I am enchanted. As I drove, I got more and more of an emotional charge from seeing one. They seem to be on most if not all of the rock walls on the side of the road. They move me greatly. I will get some photos of them so you can see. I faintly remember Andrea telling me about them once long ago, but don’t remember more than that.

In Canada at Andrea’s house, she has Jim of course, and two black and white Corgis, Keely and Phantom. Keely is a girl and the alpha dog of the house. She rules the roost. I keep Petey on his leash in the beginning while the dogs sort it all out. Petey has no idea how small he really is.

There is a commercial for Sara Lee in which they sing “Happy, happy, joy, joy. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, joy, joy.” My thought exactly! I find it very easy to check into a subtle sweet condition of joy as I am driving down the road and see things that are pretty. The black-eyed susan, summer’s most powerful expression. The way the clouds sit above the road. A tree anticipating fall’s color scheme. Small majesties. I am a very happy camper (well, moteller).

And in exactly this mood, we are on the road to Rochester, where I will drop Eelin at the airport before going on to Niagara, when a convoy of motorcyclists comes up on our left and in really neat, courteous and orderly fashion come past us and over to the right lane in front of us, two by two. The final couple is none other than Randy, my friend from Old Forge, with his honey behind, both grinning, laughing and waving. I illustrate the word “elated” for everyone to see, by yelling “Hey, Randy, hey, buddy!” out the window. Sorry I scared Petey, but Eelin was elated as well. We laughed for several miles. Nice encounter.

Eelin is a very good traveling companion. She is an excellent navigator, a meticulous planner and every bit as interested in finding great food as I am. And I do not have a motel for Niagara, nor any idea of what to do once Eelin is on the plane. Petey and I stop at the rest area. And I see the tourist info booth. Who knew? The woman behind the desk is very kind, and when I asked her if she could help us find a clean safe quiet motel in Niagara Falls that was both pet-friendly and affordable, she had just the place. And was friends with the proprietor. And made us a reservation right there and then. That’s the way to go!

Do you remember my cousin, Shamus, that was killed in Iraq last year? The cousin getting married is one of his three sisters. It is wonderful to have a joyful occasion to be with family.

We went into Old Forge for shopping, sightseeing and and art show. There is a hardware store, general store, and souvenir shop in Old Forge that has anything and everything one could want. Enough shopping and I am glad to sit out front and talk with a large-ish motorcyclist named Randy, who is also enjoying the storefront bench just sheltered from the rain while his honey shops. After some conversation Randy and I are friends. Kater I drive past the store, Randy is still there, and I show off my little car. The motorcycle antithesis.

Lunch, a nap and some primping later, Eelin and I are ready to go over to the Woods Inn for the wedding. It is somewhat cold for an outdoor event, but the lakefront setting at twilight is perfect. There is a seagull hovering over the ceremony. There are a large number of guests, half of whom are cousins of some degree. I am hugged to pieces and I love it.

Leaving Lowville to go to Inlet, NY (near Old Forge for those who know the Adirondacks) we stopped at the Farmers’ Cooperative to get some upstate NY cheddar cheese. Andrea, in Sudbury, Ontario, says Canadian cheddar is without doubt the best in the world, so I am taking some Lowville XXX sharp up to her for a taste-off. Eelin has found another motel with a great, great view, and a lawn full of Adirondack chairs from which to enjoy the view.

My nephew and his wife are here from California, I haven’t seen them in far too long, and we will have dinner with them. I hear there is wireless internet at the pizza place on the corner so I will try to post some of this tonight or early tomorrow.

A very long drive to Lowville, NY, with stops in Hyannis at Best Buy (no camera cables, but a flash card reader that will do the trick), and Four C’s ice cream. TV-story-famous, very cute, and seriously good ice cream. In NY state, my Aunty Tam lives just this side of Lowville, and we crashed at her amazing cottage in the woods on the lakeside. Cousins and friends were there and it totally feels like home. I need to stop here again on the way back from Canada and spend better time with Aunt. Right now everyone’s attention is being eaten up by the wedding (tomorrow) and it’s hard to get a good gossip going.

Our last day in Cape Cod. Eelin, who is training for the Miami Marathon (walking), went to Race Point for some trail time. Petey and I went into town and took many, many pictures of the houses along the beach front. More scallops for dinner, they are so sweet! They seem to have eclipsed lobster in our senses. Try Arnolds in Wellfleet. We loved it and came back a second night.

Wed morning already. The quaint little motel does not have connectivity, not even a telephone in the room. I had a serious internet jones. Sitting on a bench outside The Wired Puppy, a coffee shop with wireless access on Commercial St, P'town main drag, giving you Tuesday's post.

P’town is amazing, cute, small, crowded, everything set all on top of each other – almost tipsy tilty. I could spend some length of time here before I had enough. Eelin went out on the whale watching boat, Petey and I had some nice sightsee and read time.

Here is what I love Tuesday – Scallops (fished right next door in Wellfleet), drive-in movies (although even the boy cows have udders), looking at the sea, looking at the sea, looking at the sea, lobster for dinner, not yet for lunch (not sure how anyone would fix lobster for breakfast, but I am willing to try (or scallops! How do they become so sweet?)), sitting on our deck and what?... looking at the sea.

Early early out of Brooklyn and we get to the Port Jefferson – Bridgeport Ferry way before our reservation and get an earlier boat. We looooove ferries, but you can trace my passage across the decks and through the corridors by a trail of spilled coffee. We take the back road through Cape Cod. The quaint! the charm! the sweet! the Cape Codditude! I lost my heart totally. If we thought we had bad real estate-itis among the Brooklyn brownstones, well triple that and then some! I moved in a hundred times before Wellfleet. Eelin chose such a lovely motel, outside of P’town, on a hill in the National Forest (beware mightily of ticks!) with a little wooden balcony with a view out to sea. Much lobster for dinner, and sinfully early to bed. Have I mentioned how much Petey loves his new little doghouse? (Foldable canvas, screening and zippers to make a punk proud. Too bad Petey is so non-punk.)

Brooklyn, still -- A quiet day. Eelin took me on a tour of the Park Slope Food Co-Op, which is a pretty famous place. I wish we had one in Miami. I sure would join in a flash! Then we drove through some sweet Brooklyn neighborhoods. Eelin has real estate dreams and brownstone envy. So do I. A thoroughly satisfying drive. We packed, talked and ate. My daughter is a fabulous cook! Tomorrow we are back on the road, headed to Cape Cod.

Eelin and I went into Manhattan to go shopping. A stop at Tiffany’s to pick up a wedding present (you get a lot of mileage out of that blue box!), then we went to Chinatown for lunch at a vegetarian dim sum restaurant Eelin had heard about. Deeelicious. But didn't sit well on my tummy. I do hope that is a one-time occurrence!

I am finding getting around in the City a little strenuous. Gotta do something serious about my fitness level when I get back home.

Petey’s best friend is a little Bichon next door (he lives with Robert & JP) who was scheduled for an operation either Thursday or Friday. I called both Robert and JP for an update. Waiting to hear.

We do massive amounts of laundry. Eelin is happy to have the car to drive everything to the laundrymat, so we load up the car with everything, comforters, the works. Petey is happy to supervise.

Brooklyn -- Eelin went to work. So did I but on a different task. I went to Heather at Medusa for a haircut. She is my best hairdresser, and it is just too darn bad she is in Brooklyn and not in Miami. Feeling much more like a woman of the world, I went for a manicure and pedicure, too. And why not an eyebrow shaping. Super glam! So I walk along the electric street and call Joan in West Palm. Joan is so dear to me, and since I left work, I miss her all the time. We worked closely together, and shared most ideas and all problems. Can't beat a friendship like that.

Joan is from Brooklyn. Nice to share my walk in Park Slope with her.

Petey and I laid back, rested, and watched TV the rest of the day 'til Eelin came home.