Adirondack Family Time™

St. William’s on Long Point in Raquette Lake offers FREE Thursday events during the months of July and August there.  Lisa Meissner of the acoustic group, Rustic Riders . Lisa and her husband Klauss will be performing at St. Williams on Long Point in Raquette Lake on August 23, 7:00 p.m.  There will be two other special events as part of the St. William’s on Long Point Thursday series, though the August 30 and October 6 events will be held at the Raquette Lake School on Route 28.

Did you know? • Bald-faced hornets ( Dolichovespula maculata)   will sting if you get in their way, but will not attack if left alone.  They are also beneficial insects. Hornets will aggressively attack  and sting any intruder disturbing the nest. • Bald-faced hornets are considered social wasp s as they live in groups. Paper wasps and yellow jackets are also social wasps. • The queen becomes active in spring. She will select a place for the nest. • The workers, queen and larvae are referred to as a colony . • Hornets' nests can be found in trees, the eaves of homes, attics, or exterior porches. It does not build its nest inside the nooks of buildings as do yellow jackets . • The bald-faced hornets' nest looks like a gray paper/clay ball . It can sometimes reach the size of a basketball. The inside is lined with individual cells, like a honey comb, where the queen will lay her eggs.  The nests are made by chewing up wood mixed with their saliva.

The Taylor Haskins Quartet will  at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Sunday, August 19th, 2012 at 7:30 pm. Joining Taylor for this event will be pianist Mark Shilansky, bassist Joshua Davis, and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. Taylor Haskins is being hailed as one of the most original new voices on the trumpet today. Downbeat Magazine has declared him one of the ’25 Trumpeters of the Future’, stating that Taylor displays “a probing, adroit lyricism and a gift for complex, imaginative composition.”   In 2005, Haskins won a Grammy award working with Dave Holland on the album, "Overtime," and stills plays lead trumpet with the group. 

Hoss’s Country Corner looms large at the junction of Routes 28N and 30 in Long Lake where the annual Author Night will take place this August 14 for its 28th year. Always held the second Tuesday in August the event has grown from a few to sometimes 80 authors in attendance. According to owner Lorrie Hosley, people now plan their vacations around attending this event. “This year there are 60 different authors gathered to meet people and sign books,” says Hosley. “Everyone is always under one tent.    People don’t have to buy books. They can bring their copy and get it personalized by the author. Christopher Shaw will be there along with other Adirondack singers and storytellers.” The event started when Hosley attended a Maitland DeSormo book signing at the Long Lake Town Hall. DeSormo suggested that Hoss’s Country Corner do something similar with more than one author. Hoss’s Author Night was born.

The Adirondack Reader in Inlet, NY  will be hosting its annual Authors' Fair on Sunday, August 12 from 1-4 pm. The Adirondack Reader's Authors' Fair will take place under the tent on Main Street. With many authors. Here are a few of the Adirondack authors you can meet!  The event is free and open to the public. Stop by and say hi, get lunch or go to the beach! Enjoy a beautiful day in Inlet. 

White Castle USA Slider Search in Lake Placid (updated 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) NEW for 2017) By Diane Chase FREE White Castle USA Slider Search Comes to the Adirondacks:  Lake Placid (NY)  July 27 10 am -noon, 2-4 pm)  September 21 ( 5-7pm) The Olympic games have special meaning to Lake Placid, as hosts for the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games. With Olympic training camps, Olympic facilities, and Olympic events happening at the sites of those Winter Games, Lake Placid has proven that it will always be an Olympic town. Bringing the family to see one of the many Lake Placid Olympic sites is a wonderful opportunity. The chance to for children to actually try an Olympic sport is rare. The White Castle  USA Luge Team  "the fastest sport on ice."  has been going around the country offering free “Learn to Luge” clinics all summer. Each USA Luge Slider Search takes place  in two hours segments where children (9-13) can receive a lesson on a wheele

The Lake Placid Ironman may be over but bike riding around the Adirondacks is still very much in season. There are many places where visitors and locals alike can access the woods and enjoy some off-road trails. For smaller children or those just beginning to experience a wooded trail may want to attempt DEC campgrounds for a trail ride.   When my children were first learning to ride a two-wheeler, I wanted to take them some place where they could explore nature and enjoy a bicycle ride. I didn’t want them to go on a busy road and I felt just traveling around the streets wouldn’t keep my older child interested in the endeavor. We recently joined friends for a ride at the Buck Pond Campground. The entrance to Buck Pond is built on the same site as the old Chateaugay Branch of the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Railroad. It was the perfect outing for our group consisting of a wide range of ages.