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FacebookPainting in Morning
Perfect light reveals
Deep texture in a canvas sky.
Finest of brush hairs dot a mosaic landscape,
A seascape, devoid of birds.
2021 community arts grants announced
The ADK Quad-County Decentralization (DEC) Grant Program of the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts (ALCA/Arts Center) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 DEC Grant awards. With funds made available by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), ALCA’s DEC program is regranting a total of $91,720 for 30 projects throughout the four counties the Arts Center, as the region’s DEC site, serves: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and Hamilton counties.
The statewide DEC Grant Program was developed to ensure that New York State’s cultural funding reaches every part of the state. The program forms the cornerstone of the partnership between NYSCA and local arts agencies throughout the state, providing a link between NYSCA and portions of the community that might not otherwise be able to access funding from NYSCA.
Adirondack Center for Writing hosts free virtual retreat for teens
High School Writing Retreat
↠ Wednesday, April 21, 2021 // 10:00am-12:00pm & 1:00-3:00pm ET
↠ LIVE ONLINE on Zoom // Sessions are recorded for registrants only to view to help alleviate any scheduling or tech issues
↠ Free! There’s no cost to be a part of the High School Writing Retreat thanks to our supporters: Cloudsplitter Foundation, Charles R. Wood Foundation, Saranac Lake Public School Education Fund
Register for a day of writing workshops, epic performances, meeting new friends and fellow writers, swag bags (limited supply), and a meet ‘n greet with poets. A perfect opportunity to include on college applications. Open to any homeschooled and high school students and classes, no writing experience necessary!
Students will enjoy poetry performances and learn how to make their writing gorgeous with workshop leaders and poetry legends Mahogany L. Browne (pictured here), Roya Marsh, Jive Poetic, and Jon Sands.
Schedule is as follows:
Band Nite Train pens High Peaks tribute
COVID-19 has affected all of us in one way or another, and hopefully things are winding down. For those of us in upstate New York, getting back to a sense of normalcy seems just around the corner, and listening to some bluesy folk music about the Adirondack High Peaks may be the perfect way to hold us over until we can return to the outdoors ourselves without fear.
Upstate New York-based band Nite Train is back with their newest album “Cat on a Mission,” named after band leader Ken Briggs’ newly adopted blind cat, whose other senses have turned up to overdrive. The cat zooms around with some serious conviction, and the phrase “cat on a mission was born.”
Serenade of the loon and the journey of healing
(All loon photos courtesy of Peggy Ivimey)
*A Brief Author’s Note: I first drafted “Serenade of the Loon” several years back. I had plans to submit it to Adirondack Life magazine, but lacked the loon photographs I felt I needed to complete it. so I never did.
Peggy Ivimey and I graduated from Saranac Lake High School together. She still lives in the Saranac Lake area, where she is a photographer specializing in loon & eagle photography on Lake Colby and throughout the Tri-Lakes area. I’m sure many of you already know Peggy and her top notch Adirondack bird imagery. When I first saw it, I found her photography’s high quality striking. In my humble opinion, some of the very best work I’ve seen.
Long story short, we recently reconnected via Facebook and decided to collaborate. “Serenade of The Loon” is the result.
Poetry: Dragonfly Dreaming
Dragonflies,
Gossamered in gold iridescence,
Fluttering in double-winged prescience,
Shimmering faery lights,
Trembling in an out
Of reality, magical,
Nearly corporeal, yet,
Nearly not,
Flickering one and one and one,
Bobbing, sentient, sapient,
Perched precariously on single blades,
Among seas of swaying grass,
Blanketing them, gilding them,
In a resplendent dream,
Of Spring,
Like souls of before,
Come again.
Summer reading
Ready to read a good book by a mountain lake? That’s a pleasant thought after a troubling year, and the time for it is creeping up on us. Maybe this summer we’ll even feel safe to mingle in bookshops, or do our reading around others in coffee shops.
Remember those days?
With high hopes, we at the Adirondack Explorer are assembling a summer reading list and some reviews, for recent books with Adirondack themes or interests.
Poetry: Wind Dancing
Wind Dancing
Yes, it goes the way the wind blows,
This I say about today,
And it’s true of tomorrow too…
Spring comes to the mountains
By Patti Reiss Brooks
With windows shut, curtains drawn, and doors firmly latched against a long cold winter, no one heard her come on a breeze scented with sunshine and earth. She wore a fluttery light green dress that left her slim arms bare. Her slippered feet appeared to float over the hardened snow and in her wake birds, like bridesmaids, flew, singing their joy in following her.
If they had been looking they’d see how the drifts parted as she came down the mountain pass.
North Wind noticed and was not pleased with the ease she slipped in, softening his winter’s work. He reigned with a force that snapped trees as though they were twigs. Everything sought shelter and shivered when he howled. They cowered when he blustered. But this one … she didn’t lower her head in proper acquiesces when he blew.
Spring’s promise
Winter’s Winds Wild
Ice Trickles Flow
Melting Deep Drifted
Sunlight Bright On White Snow
**********
Virtual Howl Story Slam LIVE
Friday, March 19, 2021 at 7:00pm
Theme: “March Madness”
The same beloved Howl Story Slam, revamped to be enjoyed at home.
This event is LIVE via Zoom featuring 5-minute true stories, with no notes. The first 15 storytellers to sign up will be included in the lineup. Registration required in advance for storytellers and audience members, sign up here.
Free to tell stories and to attend. If you are able, please please add a suggested $10 donation to your registration for the Howl team to split.
Click here to register
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Poetry: Hunger as Focus
Hunger as Focus
Wads of newspapers
New York Times
Glens Falls Post-Star
Albany Times-Union
With flames to pulp
kindling ignores news
Favors votes to get
dinner on the table
Adirondacks the musical
Just for fun discussion idea….I recently watched a filmed performance of the musical “Hamilton.” Which got me thinking: What would “Adirondacks, the musical” look like? Who would the main actors be? What would they sing about?
Some song title ideas (using existing songs for inspiration):
“Climb every mountain”
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
“Misty Mountain Hop”
Maybe we can take these ideas and start an Adirondack-themed playlist…
Photo: Shepard Park amphitheater by Fred Thatcher/Almanack archive
Art gallery roundup: Upcoming Exhibits & Calls for Art
A year into this pandemic, and many small businesses are struggling with how to safely stay in business. Our area artists and galleries are no exception. Fortunately, we have the largest “canvas” in the world available to us – the internet!
Several of our galleries have opted to hold virtual exhibits in addition to in-gallery shows. NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery (https://northwindfineartsgallery.com) is now sharing a space in the back of the former Sears Store (62 Main St., Saranac Lake) with ADK ArtRise (https://www.adkartrise.com) – a school offering art classes.
Free Film Series begins Feb. 24 online
The Lake Placid Film Festival will be hosting its free featured filmmaker series this winter.
Each Wednesday at 7 p.m. starting Feb. 24, an award-winning short film will be streamed online. After the film, there will be a moderated live discussion with the director and someone from LPFF.
Each program is free of charge, but they do require you pre-register. Donations are greatly appreciated.
Latest News Headlines
- Hiker shuttles planned for Essex County shelved for another year
- Adirondack Theatre Festival announces 2021 season
- Spring migration: Where are the birds?
- North Country study: 1 in 4 are 'vaccine hesitant.'
- Fulton County hiking challenge begins
- Adirondack Park Agency to prepare for more solar
- Volunteers lean into work to save lean-tos
- Lake Champlain ferry to be scrapped, not sunk
- Rail trail work underway
- Trail running: From a pandemic pastime dawns a new passion
Latest News Headlines
- Hiker shuttles planned for Essex County shelved for another year
- Adirondack Theatre Festival announces 2021 season
- Spring migration: Where are the birds?
- North Country study: 1 in 4 are 'vaccine hesitant.'
- Fulton County hiking challenge begins
- Adirondack Park Agency to prepare for more solar
- Volunteers lean into work to save lean-tos
- Lake Champlain ferry to be scrapped, not sunk
- Rail trail work underway
- Trail running: From a pandemic pastime dawns a new passion
The Adirondack Almanack
The Adirondack Almanack is a public forum dedicated to promoting and discussing current events, history, arts, nature and outdoor recreation and other topics of interest to the Adirondacks and its communities
We publish commentary and opinion pieces from voluntary contributors, as well as news updates and event notices from area organizations. Contributors include veteran local writers, historians, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts from around the Adirondack region. The information, views and opinions expressed by these various authors are not necessarily those of the Adirondack Almanack or its publisher, the Adirondack Explorer.
General inquiries about the Adirondack Almanack should be directed to editor Melissa Hart.
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