The Histories: June 2019

William Gillette was a nationally known stage actor, from the early 1900s. He had a retirement house built overlooking the Connecticut River in Hadlyme, which is an area around the boundary of the towns East Haddam and Lyme. His house and grounds is now a local tourist attraction and state park with hiking trails.

Above is an aerial photo of that house, what's now known as Gillette Castle State Park. It's stone on the outside and mostly woodcarvings on the inside. It was donated to the State in 1943. On the tour, you are shown intricate doors and passages, which allowed the actor to either make grand entrances or quick escapes, depending on the desirability of who was at the door. It's said that Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin were among the visitors.

Gillette is best known for portraying Shrerlock Holmes. To bring Doyle's character to life, Gillette supposedly invented the tweed hat, pipe, and the phrase "elementary my dear Watson!".

Hadlyme and the surroundings are full of fine homes. The Connecticut River is the largest river in the country without a big city at its mouth. So instead of barges and factories, there are fine homes and scenic views. I cruised through Hadlyme and Lyme for ideas on how the tastefully wealthy paint their fences. One home had an idea that I liked, a purplish-gray fence with stained post caps.

Things went fast after that. The fence before:

The wooden caps on top of the posts were dried up and falling apart. Below are replacement caps (the squares) and two finials (with the round ends), about $50 total from Home Depot.

You can see the wooden caps, after staining, in photo below. Below is the finished product. Fence is painted with a Behr color called Orion Gray and the caps and finials are stained with semitransparent color called Cordovan.

It took a day and a half of prep, mostly sanding and scraping the pickets. Painting took a little more than half a day. I only painted the three sections and gate by the back entry. The entire back yard surround would take too long, and much of it is overgrown or otherwise not in bad condition.

The next house color, presently undecided, will need to match the fence!

Part 2: River Sunset!

Route 149 between Moodus and East Haddam rarely fails to enchant.

Around 8pm in late June, the sun's rays seem to summons the spirits...

There's one spot along this stretch of road, with enough of a gap in the trees, where you can glimpse the sunset. If you brave pulling over. The picture below, is taking from that gap, overlooking where the Salmon River joins the Connecticut River.

Below, is not far down the road from that previous photo. Here's the sunset looking up-river. The river has a slight easterly course in this area, which is why the sun appears up-river.

The East Haddam Bridge at the Goodspeed, just down the road from the other spots.

And below, are the two spots in reverse after sunset, as I made my way home:

Serenity...

In winter time Syracuse sees enough regular snow and lake effect snow, that it often is recognized for having the most amount of yearly snowfall for any city in NY. Either way, everyone is fighting the elements. Downtown can be bleak and wind-swept. Trucks rust apart because all the salt.

So when June hits, it is cause for a series of fairs and festivals! Everyone seems happy to finally spend time outside.

Below are the sites featured in this post!

First, at home, serenity is a constant. And bugs aren't really a bother when I keep the doors open for a short while.

Rhododendrons were in blossom everywhere in early June!

First stop in Syracuse, the Greek Festival at Saint Sophia's. The church is in a residential area, on some land that can accommodate the large crowds!

Inside the church is a display case with some history of the Church and its deeds, such as supporting folks in the old country during the war.

One panel showed the story of the purchase of land and construction of the church. Someone is standing precariously on that scaffolding!

And the church as it is today... arriving at the festival

A shuttle from a school parking lot drops you off at Waring Street, where the food line begins!

The line takes you by the souvlaki grills

The line moves fast and soon you're about to check out.

I forgot to take pictures of the dining area. After fine food, on to the dessert and boutique area:

Dessert area is to the left. Shops are to the right. This room below is normally a gymnasium/auditorium.

Behind the counter is the impressive supply of baklava.

Other dessert offerings....

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The Taste of Syracuse is a three day street fair, where local restaurants set up booths and sell samples and small versions of their regular menu items. Several streets downtown are closed off.

The Erie Canal used to go through Syracuse. After the canal served its purpose, they then filled in the downtown part of it, which is now Water Street. Some of the fine architecture remains, as you can see below:

Canal in olden times:

It's a Utica Thing! sets up their trailer. Here's my tomato pie slice. Very thick but light crust.

Chicken Riggies are a popular local dish. It features rigatoni (riggies), chicken, and creamy tomato sauce with touch of green pepper flavor. My sample was from Peppino's.

More booths along north Clinton St. Many booths have long lines. I waited 15 minutes for fresh lemonade. Kevi's Treats had banana pudding that I would recommend to anyone. Some wineries set up a large wine slushie tent.

Hammi's BBQ offers the Bacon Bomb, which includes barbecue pork and bacon. I didn't go for the Bacon Bomb because it would be filling and I preferred to leave room for other offerings.

There was also a hot-dog eating contest, how many hotdogs can you eat in 10 minutes. The winners go to the final at Coney Island. There were contestants from around the northeast. The winner ate 21, but only got credit for 19 because some pieces go flying to the floor, so they deduct for that. The woman's champion ate seven. This stage features free rock concerts in the evenings.

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Below are the waterfalls at Watkins Glen State Park. Watkins Glen is a town at the southern end of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. A series of waterfalls run through a ravine about a mile long.

The falls were running fast because of so much rain. On such a perfect day it was a popular destination!

Below is where you walk under the falls.

Below is the northern end of the gorge, where it ends and flows into Seneca Lake. The park entrance and some of the town is in the background. Seneca Lake is beyond the town and to the left, out of view.

Below is Seneca Lake from the car. Many vineyards are along the lake. How come the wineries? Part of the reason is the lakes are more than 700 feet deep. The large volume of water helps the lake keep warm over the winter. The relatively warm lakes help the surrounding vineyards from going too much into deep freeze.

After a weekend of adventure, the New York thruway takes me by Utica on the way home. Utica is about 40 mins east of Syracuse.

Some purchases:

Cheers

Back home, below you see progress around the back entrance. The small garden area to the left was a bit overgrown. That small bluish plant is a hosta, that I discovered behind and underneath the boxwood (the large rounded green bush). I moved it to be more prominent, where you see it below.

Below is how I pulled out some very large bushes using a logging cable. The bush is gone, but a few roots remained. Here's how I used the cable to pull out some remaining roots, in the same fashion as with the bushes. When I back the truck up, the plant gets yanked out.

Today I stopped at an open house, to see what the old homes near East Haddam village center are about inside. This area along the Connecticut River slopes steeply. This house from the 1870s is tucked in the hillside above the road. Its about 1400 square feet, asking $274,000.