Down By The River

Bah-dump-dum-dump....Dat-dah-daaaaahhhhh....

Down by the river....Down by the banks of the river Charles.....

The Head of the Charles is the largest rowing regatta in the world.   Watching the race as a spectator and one of the team photographers for my wife Mary's Genesee Rowing Club, I could not get the song out of my head.  Did you know the Standells were from LA?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  First we had to get from Rochester, NY to Boston.  And since we didn't want to get up before the crack of dawn and head east on Interstate 90 so that Mary could be there for Friday practice, we decided to go part way on Thursday night.

Oh, all right.  I was the one who didn't want to get up before the crack of dawn and drive.  For Mary and the rest of the rowers, it is no big deal.  The rowers in her club, and rowers in general, are regularly on the water well before I realize it is time for coffee.  They are all crazy.

The back entrance beckons.

The Red Lion Inn has been around in some form since 1773.
In those days, Americans could not abide by laws made without representation.
Today we realize we must be careful what we wish for.

The front entrance, nicely adorned by local mutant produce.

One of the attractive stone churches in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
I don't know if Norman Rockwell painted it while he lived here.

Another of the churches.

The front of the Inn.  We occupied the Swan Room, which is the rightmost dormer.
What a magnificent front porch.  

The porch is a great place to train for a regatta
by sipping a cocktail and watching the world go by.
I wonder if Arlo Guthrie ever sipped one here after dining at his favorite local restaurant.

It is OK for employees to end it all out this 4th floor opening,
but customers are not allowed.

Bah-dump-dum-dump....Dat-dah-daaaaahhhhh....

We arrived in Boston around noon.  Plenty of time for Mary to get ready for practice.

It was a warm and beautiful autumn day.

Chaos on the water!
Actually, the organizers did a pretty good job keeping things in order
considering the number of watercraft.

With all the boats on the water, practice was more about getting familiarized
with the course than a workout.
Bad form to crash into the boat in front of you.

Trailer after trailer with boat after boat after boat.
This is just a very small portion of the the boats that were here.
Multiply each boat you see by a conservative average price of $20,000.
Even in the land of Paul Revere, rowing is not free.

Rowing past the Cambridge Boatclub Boathouse.

Rowing downstream toward the start, under the Eliot Bridge.
The person you can just see on the left yelled to the rowers to keep up the pace
and stay tight on the turn.  A fine task for a control freak.

Always picturesque.
The boats on the left are heading to the start,
where they turn around and head back upstream on the right.
This goes on non-stop, all day long. 

According to the organizer's website, three hundred thousand people participate and watch.  I can't verify this, since I only counted 298,342.  But I was distracted by the lovely foliage, so their number may be correct. 

Race day was every bit as nice as practice.
Maybe nicer.

Two row past oars for eight.

The course starts at the Boston University boathouse and runs 3 miles upstream,
under numerous triple arch bridges.
It is a timed race with each boat starting 15 seconds after the last.
A passing boat has the right of way.

The Genesee Rowing Club Women's Master's 8 moving through the last turn.
Thanks to Russ for the fine still shots.

They're not in the woods, honest.
Teams in the top half of finishers are guaranteed an invitation for the following year.
The GRC ladies will be back for sure!

The Genesee Rowing Club Men's Master's 4
emerges from the last bridge and heads into the home stretch...

...and toward the finish line.

The happy men (and lovely coxswain)
of the Genesee Rowing Club after a good race.
Note the upward camera angle.
Attending rowing regattas is a lot like visiting the Land of the Giants.

A very nice boathouse for the Harvard women, eh?

The crowd at the reunion tent.
After Mary's race, we grabbed some available folding chairs and watched the boats row by.

People packed the bridges for a view.
Harvard's Dunster House Clock Tower watches over them.

To which boathouse do you think this crew is returning?

Gotta like the spirit.

It's hard to tell who you're shooting with a long lens across the water.
We realized later that his random shot happened to be Lisa, one of Mary' rowing buddies.

Who do you think wins this race?

Bah-dump-dum-dump....Dat-dah-daaaaahhhhh....

And it really wasn't all that dirty.

And now for your bonus videos!

(Click on the YouTube button to see them at reasonable size)

A Beautiful Day in the Finger Lakes

I went for a hike in Bob's stomping grounds near the south end of Canandaigua Lake.  We hiked up one rim of Clark Gully, down across the stream, up to the opposite rim and then back down to where we started.  A fine hike on a fine day.  Only a few miles, but the change in elevation made it challenging nonetheless.

The view from the parking area was encouraging.

Bob leads the way on the pretty trail down to a nice viewpoint.
It's great to have a personal guide.

That's far enough.

It was a pleasure to just sit and look at the distant foliage.
The cloudy day provided even lighting that made the yellows leap from the greens.

Here is a disorienting look down a waterfall.
Please do not fall headfirst into your computer screen.

The same falls with Bob properly oriented.

The view from the opposite side on the way down.

Looking out of the gully, over the West River, and to the wind turbines on the hills beyond.

One last look.

 Bonus #1

Longhorns on the hill...not a bad view for grazing.

What the heck are these shaggy things?

I think they were also wondering,
"What the heck is this shaggy thing?"
Truth be told, I do need a haircut.

"We're Scottish Highland Cattle.
Snort...Don't get any closer...Snort"

 Bonus #2

A short walk on the trail...

Led to this vista over the Italy Valley.
Bob says the hang-gliders launch from here.
From the force of the wind coming up the hill, it's easy to see why.

Weekend Update

The continuing saga of construction at the camp in Stratford, NY.

The brain trust discusses the tasks ahead while Homefries readies the fuel.

Consultants were consulted.

The warm room was pushed into place.

Insulation cut and ready.  It is colored this way because pink is the warmest color.

"Where's my contact?"

Doors in place...looking into the warm room.

The view from the warm room.

The plan was to go with two 30" solid doors, but George Lumber only had one 32" solid door available.  The "9 light" 32 was there so we took it.  Bud Lightnin' and Dock Doc widened the openings and hung the doors.  

An improvement, I think, to have some natural light entering the room.   Many construction weekends before, we moved the exterior window into position to shine directly into the warm room.  On purpose, of course.

"Now where did I put those staples?"

"They've gotta be around here somewhere..."

Gimp 1, half in the bag.

"Follow the pink fiber road!"

Buzz and Sam Adams proving they are "Sooo Big!"

Not so big and being punished by drooping pink stuff.

You probably don't want to be left hanging 
about what is going on here.

It's halftime at the insulation game.

You are looking at one awesome drywall screwer, resting after a job well done.

The troops relax after a long day.  Except for Homefries, working hard to fill bellies.
He also took some fine photos, included herein.

Where is Cut Boy/Hellfire ?  Why is he not at his usual incendiary post?  Unfortunately, both he and Nail Gun/Sinman were stricken with ailments that limited them to the back bedroom.  Though they were never seen, we must have provided them with large volumes of fluids, since all that we had seemed to disappear.

Part way there on Saturday night.  Isn't purple a lovely ceiling color?

A shot of the yellow quicker-picker-upper, ready to swing into action.

Load a sheet of sheetrock, wheel the quicker-picker-upper into position, crank it up to the ceiling and screw it home.  The Woodbutcher was a hero in absentia for providing it.  Even though he was not present, he helped us a great deal. 

There is one other who helps us without being there, but in his case, the help is because he is not present.

Moving the yet-to-be-applied drywall out of the way.

Close to finishing, things are lookin' up!

Recording the gin rummy score.

A talented fellow, he smokes with either hand.

Not wanting Mary to blunder into a construction site,
BooBoo put safety first.

But Mary is a very brave woman.

There is more than one use for the quicker picker upper.
It was decided that the second floor was the place to store the unused sheetrock.

I don't want to hurt his feelings, 
but Booboo is not a particularly good pole dancer.

Team photo.
Gimp 1, Buzz, Bud Lighnin', Homefries, Booboo, Dock Doc and Sam Adams

A little break in the sun before hitting the road.

We got a huge amount of work done, and the scenery was terrific!

Fabulous!

Awesome!

Wonderful!