Good Grief Germany!!!!

I think I know why Germans like their cars to be sturdy and safe.

"We're living in a time bomb."

Dressing and Hiking

Last weekend at the Thousand Islands was incredible. And yes, it's where the salad dressing gets its name. The people we stayed with had their "cabin" on the waterfront of the St. Lawrence River and I got to see the most amazing sunsets while sitting on the dock. Swimming in the river was a nice diversion. It was a bit chilly with warm spots every so often. Of course the warm spots made me wonder why exactly they were warm.... Sabbath we were going to go to the nature center, but it was pouring rain for quite a bit of the time so we didn't really want to go out on the boat and brave the lightening. Sunday morning our hostess' son took us up the river in the motorboat. I don't know if technically there is a thousand islands, but there are many at least. Some of the homes built on those islands are huge. It appears to have been a summer place for rich people from NYC back in the day. One of those places is the Boldt Castle located on Heart Island which we circled. We also ate the most amazing food there and weirdly enough it was vegan and mostly had no refined sugar, yet it tasted normal. So, it was all good.

Thousand Island Photos

I opened a bank account yesterday at the M&T bank. Upon leaving, I realized that if you remove the ampersand from the name, you describe my account!

Today I had my physical at the clinic where I'll work. It mostly consisted of checking my heart and lungs and squeezing my ankles. I have NO idea what they learn from squeezing one's ankles, but it seems to be a theme of the internships that require physicals.

After that, I went hiking with another intern because she's been bored and it would be good for me to get out more. We went to Chittenango Falls, just to the east of Syracuse. We only got lost once and found the locals very kind and helpful in getting back on the right road. Of course we were all excited about this hike but when we got there, discovered the trail was closed, so we just walked down to the bottom and back. There was quite a few stairs so it was a workout. It's really pretty there, so our time wasn't wasted, we sat where we could hear the falls and talked and ate our snacks. The creek was so inviting, but signs were posted that swimming and wading were frowned upon. Well not so much frowned upon as verboten, which was disappointing, but nonetheless beautiful.

Chittenango Falls Photos

And speaking of German...because I love random and weird news, the Germans are at it again. I honestly have nothing against Germans, after all, I'm probably half German, but they have the best news!

(Katie, I'm working hard on helping you with this vicarious New Yorker thing!)

I'd prefer Italian....

I'm going to the Thousand Islands this weekend. I've heard it's really beautiful, but I can only picture land draped in creamy dressing. At least it won't be as disappointing as Big Rock Candy Mountain.

A Bit Gun-shy

So today I went back to the canal to walk again. I haven't been there since I saw the snake, although I think it has less to do with the snake than my laziness. This time, I had a different, much more interesting audiobook to listen to. I'm still a little more careful about where I step, but I enjoyed my walk and became thoroughly engrossed in my little world, where I spend a lot of time anyway. I walked up the towpath to this place called Sim's Store. As near as I can tell, it's not a store, could be a museum, but that's still up for debate as well. They have what remains of an old wooden lock gate from one of the many locks the barges used to use. Also some of the hollowed out logs used to pipe salt brine somewhere or another. There's also a reproduction, or reparation of a barge that used to travel the canal back in the day. I dallied a little around these things and then began the two miles back to my car. One of the reasons I like it by the canal is that people suddenly become friendly there. It's almost some sort of magical place. Elsewhere, the locals (I feel like an anthropologist here) are either rude or just oblivious. But on the towpath, they smile and say hello. Some even start casual conversation. I was enjoying this reverie in addition to my book when all of a sudden, right beside me in the canal, a fish (or it could have been a whale) jumped and belly-flopped on the water. I instantly froze, wondering whether I should sprint, hit the deck, or just wet myself. I managed to calm myself down and process what had happened, but good grief, I've either got to get a hold of myself or just take up running for exercise.

more creative news

I know I've been mostly posting news stories, but I was watching the news on public television tonight and the pundit described Fred Thompson's campaign exploration as a very long striptease. Now look at the picture below and tell me that's not a horrifying mental image....

Frisky Pets

I think it's bad enough when a dog humps my leg, not to mention a camel. Australian Camel

ARGHGHG

It's 12:58am and apparently Mr. Downstairs is a burgeoning drummer....