Adirondack Family Time™

Make a simple door hanger for every holiday. For Valentine's Day fill it with a treat for you or your sweetheart. Materials: scraps of ribbon, various colors of wool felt, needle embroidery floss or other thick thread Directions: Tip: Use a cookie cutter for a pattern. Trace and cut two hearts out of wool felt, thread needle with embroidery floss, start on upper corner and sew 3/4 round leaving the top open creating a pocket. Sew a ribbon loop inside creating a hanger. Decorate the front with silk flowers and beads. Use different decorations for each season (shamrock, star) Have fun.

It will be a sea of spandex suits, warming huts and waving flags. No, it’s not a comic book convention though the next two weeks will attract the same amount of hero worship. With twenty-one countries being represented in the 41st Luge World Championships, Lake Placid deserves a bit of fanfare. The first time the Worlds came to Lake Placid was 26 years ago. It was the first time the event had been held outside of Europe. Now it is back. The event is toted as the final major event for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. This is going to be a career builder or breaker for some. Some tricky areas for the sledders will be Cliffside, Labyrinth, Bendam’s Bend and Chicane. The organizers of the event are making it very user friendly. There are viewing areas set up around the track with television monitors showing the rest of the run. Ticket holders are not restricted to seats but allowed to walk all around to get various views. It is going to be exciting as people, competitors and ticket

What is a bunch of bananas called? Check for the answer in the index under, well... Answers!

The U.S. Greeting Card Association’s website states that about one billion valentines are sent worldwide each year. Not that I am not the sentimental type but most of the time cards end up in the recycling bin. Saving cards seems to create just one more thing to move. There are some items that I do keep that are only significant to me. So for anyone looking to create a different keepsake, Northern Lights School is offering a Valentine’s Art Day this Saturday. The cost is minimal ($2 per person.) That wouldn’t even buy a box of chocolates and I can assure you this will last longer. Melanie Niemczura, the Northern Lights School Morning Garden teacher will be facilitating the craft day. This workshop allows participants to make a choice of treasures. Some templates will be available but feel free to bring your own creativity. There is no pressure, just fun and the ability to walk away with a beautiful handcrafted item to give to your loved one, or keep for yourself. There is no harm, no

map compliments of the Friends of Pointe au Roche

What is it about a pirate that can cause children and adults alike to relish a good fight? You would think with all the corporate pirating going on, we would have gotten our fill. That statement would be met with a resounding no. This holiday season the Pendragon Theatre serves its holiday goodies in the form of pirates, sword fights, a mermaid and the saving of a Christmas pudding. For all those that ponder the lyrics to “We wish you a Merry Christmas” but never quite understand why someone would eat a figgy pudding let alone threaten to be the guest that won’t leave, the pudding is once again thrust into the limelight. This cake-like dessert is the cause of much a ruckus at the Pendragon Theatre. This musical, “Christmas Cat and the Pudding Pirates” was writing by the British children’s performer Christopher Lillicrap and his wife Jeanette Ranger thus the pudding and other strictly British references. Clever and imaginative the Pendragon actors interact with the audience by enlisti

My children have mastered with great success the joy of getting. Whether it is a birthday party or a trip to the store, they have quite a bit of freedom of choice. They choose their snacks, vote on meals and certainly have strong opinions on the gifts they would like to receive. Since they know nothing else, they do not realize that other people may not have as many choices available. The more challenging aspect of parenting, for me, is to strengthen a generous spirit. As with everything it is teaching by example and I can only hope to show my children the same generous nature my parents showed to me. Since I am not the perfect example of parenting, sometimes life presents the opportunity to help me make giving tangible. The Joy of Giving Party’s whole purpose is to foster altruism in children in the hopes that cultivating an unselfish behavior when young will inspire such behavior as adults. Each family is asked to bring an unwrapped gift (new or used) that has real meaning to the ch

Energy, alternatives and the rising costs of fuel have all garnered a lot of much needed press lately. I am a supporter of alternative energy, the funding of it and the need for it. Though I am not the perfect example of using it. I do not yet drive a hybrid and my home is not powered by alternative energy. My excuse for the latter is that I am currently renting and looking to buy. My excuse for the former; I am waiting for my current car to make the choice for me. It doesn’t excuse me from teaching my children that every decision I make whether it is the gas I put in my car or the means that I use to turn on the lights, is not an easy one. We have errands to run in Malone and decide mid-trip to check out the wind turbine farm that has conjured up all sorts of controversy. I have seen wind turbines in the Altamount Pass when visiting Northern California and from the highway they looked quite serene, lining the ridge as I drove on I 580. Of course I was just visiting and the wind

By Diane Chase Skipping stones. I wouldn’t think that would be enough to keep my child entertained but I am proven wrong. We enter Pont au Roche Park and follow signs to the playground. It is officially off-season so parking is free, a bonus we didn’t expect. I try to get the kids to walk the one-mile bicycle path to the nature center, but they see the unoccupied beach and want out. The car is hardly in park when they start running to the beach as if wild dogs were chasing them. What is the hurry? I just sit and watch the water lap over the sand in its season finale. I turn to get the lunch. I am in charge of the food. Everyone wants to eat it but it has become my role to worry about having it. Perhaps it’s a mother’s obsession but like some kind of magician I have been known to pull the makings for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of my bag. So it’s certainly no surprise my family expects me to have provisions on demand. The kids are in a self-made competition to contrib

“It is not every day we get to visit the summer White House,” I inform my children. We park our car at the main gate and walk the ¼-mile on the Main Entrance Road of White Pine Camp toward the tennis court where our tour will begin. The kids have already started in with the “arewethereyets.” We are here and this is it. We are taking a turn back in time. White Pine Camp, originally built in 1907, became the Summer White House in 1926 for President Calvin Coolidge. Situated among 35 acres of land, White Pine Camp houses 18 buildings and an interesting architectural history. We walk past the single story guest cottages with asymmetrical rooflines and marvel over the trees growing through the covered decks. My children run outside and then back in to confirm that the trees are indeed alive. They are not as interested in the brainstorm siding (rough-hewed clapboards) as in the bowling alley, boathouse and footbridge to the Japanese teahouse. Stuffed animals have a different connotatio

“You’re a fast hiker,” my daughter says to me on our way up the trail from the famed Ausable Club toward Noonmark (3,556’). I can say with complete assurance that no one has ever said that to me before. I have always been the last in the pack. I enjoy hiking and backpacking and my family knows that I will eventually show up on top. My camera will be filled with pictures of tracks, plants and trees to identify once I get home. Now that my daughter is able to amble up the trails I am no longer left wandering alone. We are starting up Noonmark via the Stimson Trail, named for Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War under Roosevelt and Secretary of State under Hoover. We split the group letting the faster hikers park the car at the hikers’ parking lot on the Ausable Club property off of NY 73, while the slower ones (my daughter and myself) are dropped off at the trailhead opposite the golf course. This is all private land so we are respectful and stay on task. When the trail begins we fol

I have always been partial to fairs. Not really the huge amusement parks (though we have gone to a few of those) but the traveling carnivals. I am not, however, much for the fast rides. A lifetime ago a cousin once challenged me to an "eat and ride-off" at one such visiting fair. Yes, immature, I know. So we ate carnival food and rode on the fastest rides. I lost and to be frank so did anyone else that was riding "The Zipper" with me. My cousin went on to consume more food and enjoy many more rides. I woefully handed over all my tickets and sat with my head between my legs. Interestingly enough my taste for carnival snacks never diminished, just the jostling rides. The Franklin County Fair in Malone, NY, is the largest annual, long-standing event in Franklin County. The Franklin County Agricultural Society was formed in August 1851. For over 150 years the Society has continued their purpose of improving agriculture, horticulture and the inclusive mechan