Cayuga Lake & Taughannock Falls

 It was a great trip!

Cayuga Lake

I'm heading back to the Finger Lakes today. This time, Cayuga Lake. It's part of my sinister plan to visit all eleven Finger Lakes before anyone catches me.  :)

Ca-yu-ga! Sounds like an old car horn. The named actually comes from the area's original inhabitants, a branch of the Iroquois Native-Americans.

While there, I'm dropping into the Taughannock Falls State Park which has biggest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains; it's taller than even Niagara Falls. I also plan to visit the city of Ithaca for the first time.

Have a fun weekend!

Where's Ally?

 When I was young, my family socialized and vacationed with two other families (the Grosses and Mayers). My parents were best friends with the parents in those families (Walter & Gertrude; Warren & Inge). Recently, at the urging of Warren's granddaughter, I called him up and chatted for an hour. Warren is 89 years old now but still healthy. His personality hasn't changed a bit. 

Here's a photo from our joint trip to Letchworth State Park in Western New York back around 1970. Can you pick me out?

From left to right are: Walter, my brother Richard, my mother Barbara Jo, Warren, three Gross kids, me, Inge and Wendy (mother of the granddaughter).

My Summer With Holga

 When I travel, Holga is always with me. She's capable of magic, enhanced by the anticipation that comes from waiting weeks for her photographs to arrive. (Regular readers know who Holga is. Those of you who don't can click on the link.)

Here are some images created this Summer. The first is beautiful Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. The second is Long Island's majestic Big Duck who lures me back time and time again. 

The third was taken at a local park I wasn't aware of until my friend Emily brought me there last month. She used to visit it as a child. The pandemic caused Emily to look for someplace we could have an outdoor picnic and this bucolic site fit the bill. That delightful outing was my first -- first! -- social event since the Coronavirus arrived. 

More Kodak News

 Remember that story I told you about Kodak? There's a sequel.

The money is now being held up due to "recent allegations of wrongdoing.” The U.S. government just said “We will not proceed any further unless these allegations are cleared.” (News report here.)

Turns out that while Kodak was secretly negotiating with the Trump administration, Kodak executives were privately buying up company stock. They anticipated, correctly, a huge increase in its value and then sold at a massive profit. The SEC and other government agencies are investigating.

As Captain Renault said in "Casabalanca" while being handed a wad of money as he announced a raid: "I'm shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."

International Beer Day

 

Today is International Beer Day. No kidding! We even have a poster.

Pandemic life is hard. Beer makes it easier.

My favorite new beer comes from Keuka Brewing Co. in the Finger Lakes. I drank their Mocha Stout straight out of the tap (so fresh!) and later went online and ordered their 10th Anniversary Limited Edition Fat Stack Maple Pecan Porter. To each his/her own.

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Beer Tweets:

- Here's to all the Americans who think Sam Adams was one of the Founding Fathers

- Wife: I’m heading to the store. Do you want anything?

Me: A sense of meaning and purpose in my life.

Wife: *adds beer to the grocery list*

- I'm impressed with who I become when I don't have an opener for a bottle of beer

- Ever had beer so good that two sips in you're ready to quit your job, buy all that stuff on your Amazon wish-list and move to an island?

- Wife: We need a new fridge.

Me: This is a terrible day.

Wife: You can use the old fridge as a beer fridge.

Me: This is the best day of my life.

- Today is the two-year anniversary of me chipping my front tooth on a beer bottle to impress a guy who it turns out already had a girlfriend

- People are so anxious for bars to re-open like they don't know you can charge yourself double for a beer and stare at your phone at home too

- [morning after party]

Me: I'm never drinking again.

Brother: Want a beer?

Me: Yes.

Beer Crowlers

Do you know what a crowler is?

I didn't until now. Arriving at Keuka Lake last month, my life was transformed by a delicious Mocha Stout served fresh on tap at Keuka Brewing Co. I took home a four-pack, which is now gone, and want to drink more but it isn't sold in local stores. So I opted to buy some from their website and they offer the beer only one way: in crowlers.

Contrary to popular belief, the best way to store beer these days is not bottles, it's cans. Can technology has developed and is now superior to glass containers. Craft brewers try to explain this to customers who mistakenly believe, from past marketing, that cans are inferior to bottles.

A crowler is a 32 ounce aluminum can. Bon Appetit confirms everything I just said above and proclaims crowlers are "the future of your craft beer consumption."