Category Archives: hiking
Three Falls Woods
Three Falls Woods is located at 4618 Sweet Road, Manlius, NY 13104. It is a beautiful place to hike! There are two main trails – the white trail leads to a pond and the blue trail loops the falls, and then there are the other trails that get you completely lost and so the key is to go early in the morning and make sure your phone is charged to GPS your ass out of there. So fun!
Bubo & Company
Be on the lookout for these little darlings. Yes, more owl rocks! This time I painted them with acrylic metallic paint. They remind me of Bubo from “Clash of the Titans” (1981 version).
First I used gesso. Then I painted on the faces, added color and did the detail work using a black Sharpie marker.
In addition, they are coated with Mod Podge in a matte finish.
They will be sent to a park nearby. Not sure which park yet. Stay tuned. <3
The Parkway
The last time I was at the Onondaga Lake parkway, I fell. I was rollerblading and tripped over my own feet, lost my balance and hit the ground butt first really hard. For a minute or so, I wondered if I was paralyzed. That is, up until people surrounded me and someone said, “Are you all right?”
That is my least favorite comment in the world. It fuels the fire of humiliation and embarrassment. Somehow, I found the strength to get up and rollerblade back to the car with my fractured coccyx in tow.
That was years ago, probably close to twenty years ago – I’m fine now, but have since retired my rollerblades. They are in my sister’s garage preparing for her next yard sale. Size 8, if you want them.
Yesterday I decided to make my triumphant return to said parkway. It takes about an hour each way to walk the road adjacent to the lake. It is set up for the annual holiday event called Lights on the Lake, sponsored by Wegmans.
It doesn’t look like anything in the daylight; however, much like my students’ clay projects needed the heat of the electric kiln to transform the glaze, this place requires the night sky and electricity to come alive.
Yesterday’s hike was magnificent though. Peaceful, safe – and the bathrooms are heated! I did not make a spectacle of myself, no injuries to report, lol, and it was all free.
If you want to take a ride over there at night, you need to get your tickets in advance through their website.
Click here to see the magic that is Lights on the Lake at night.
Lights on the Lake will continue through January 14, 2022. Drive thru happens from 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm. Get your tickets here.
Storybook Trail
An illustrated children’s book, displayed as a storyboard, exists on a trail overlooking Round Lake at Green Lakes State Park – it’s between the upper and lower campgrounds and runs parallel to the street.
It is incredibly special. A magnificent way to engage children with art and writing in the fresh air while maintaining social distancing policies.
It is, like, finding a treasure without leaving the path. How cool is that?
Art is alive and well in Central New York. Art will always find a home here – find its way to you.
If you feel motivated to investigate this, there is something similar at Clark Reservation, as well. Those storyboards are placed closer together. They are in the open space between the playground and the museum. <3
Legendary Path
The tranquility of a hike is a blessing.
We are so lucky to have some of the most beautiful New York State parks in our area. The meromictic lake trails and glacier produced hills of Green Lakes State Park and Clark Reservation are among my favorites.
But today I decided to traipse around the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park (3883 Stone Quarry Road, Cazenovia, New York 13035) – investigating paths I had never ventured on and, really, exploring the entire park. Dorothy Riester’s legacy to Cazenovia, New York is a great gift to the public. The park is open and currently free. Everyone is on their honor to come in small family groups or alone and to steer clear of the other patrons.
There were, maybe, six other people there today. The forecast said rain but it was all bright sunshine when I arrived. It was as if someone lead me there, truly. I was inspired to go after meditating and when I arrived it was just incredibly magical.
My motto is to meditate every day, then spend time outside every day and to be grateful – to keep a gratitude journal and write down the positive aspects in my life every day. The gratitude today was pretty much over-the-top. Exploring these trails was fun in and of itself, but then there was this added bonus of stumbling upon works of art. Sculptures scattered around, both new and old familiar friends. Some meant to be temporary and others standing the test of time.
Escaping into this reality for a couple hours is the stuff of legend. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dorothy, for building this world. <3
New Threads
Syracuse artists Jacqueline Adamo, Lauren Bristol, Dana Stenson and Tom Huff have joined forces to produce a contemporary spin on texture for the new art exhibit at Edgewood Art Gallery and Custom Frame Shop (216 Tecumseh Road, Syracuse, New York 13224).
These four talented people – I am always running into them in town – I saw Jackie at the Yoko Ono exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art; I see Lauren every now and then while hiking at Green Lakes; ran into Dana last week at Target and Tom at the Regional Flea Market. But, weirdly enough, I missed the opportunity to see them all in one place at the same time at the art reception for their show, which was Friday night.
The exhibit is called Creative Thread. I popped in on Saturday to check it out. Edgewood is a small gallery, about the size of my living room, but owner Cheryl Chappell has a great eye and a way with space. Each show brings a fresh perspective and Cheryl does a magnificent job curating – pairing larger pieces with smaller ones and allowing all to shine. She is also a preeminent framer.
Jackie Adamo has created all new pieces incorporating fabric and sewing techniques into her oil paintings. Lauren designs her own patterns in these wonderful crochet wall hangings in addition to displaying several diminutive fiber art narratives. Dana is a metalsmith and has produced some mixed-media art pieces, as well as jewelry for this show. And Tom has chipped in with his reductive soapstone sculptures.
David MacDonald’s ceramics are still for sale too!
This exhibit continues through November 15, 2019.
The shop is open Tuesday-Friday 9:30-6:00 PM and Saturday 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. For more information call (3150 445-8111).
Clark’s
I can barely walk right now – I hike literally everyday – at least seven miles per, but today the stairs at Clark’s Reservation kicked my butt. They are depicted here in this scale model, located inside the Nature Center at the park.
They were built in 1878 by James McFarlane who had purchased the property to turn it into a summer resort. Patrons could take the stairs to catch a boat ride on the meromictic lake. Descending them now is like living in a dream. They are of the rustic old-timey variety – and there are a lot of them.
And when you get to the bottom you see this sign, reminiscent of a Scooby Doo cartoon, that reads Danger Quicksand. Is quicksand really real? Really??!!
Clark’s history is a fascinating one. The land had first been divided to be allotted to Revolutionary War veterans in the 1700s. For some unknown reason, nobody collected it and so, it was reassessed, sold and sold again until Mary Clark Thompson purchased the lot of it and donated it to the state of New York in tribute to her father. It is a New York State park, one that is free to the public and open dawn to dusk every day.
It is located at 6105 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, New York 13078. ((315) 492-1908)
There is a Nature Center there. Cameron Aloi is the resident naturalist. He is a student at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He will be there to answer your questions (as he was today) on the weekends from 11 am – 4 pm. Other volunteers, part of the network known as the Council of Park Friends (CPF), take turns manning the museum during the week.
They are responsible for the nature center’s maintenance and also offer many programs to educate the public in regards to the flora and fauna of the park. CPF welcomes new members with a tax deductible gift as low as $20 per year.
Upcoming events include a photography hike on August 17, 2019 at 1 pm and the annual volunteer meeting on September 12, 2019. See their web-site for the deets.
My favorite part of my visit was seeing the great collection of taxidermy wildlife. They would be ideal for my classroom. OMG, the drawings we could do! Pheasants and bobcats are on my dream classroom wishlist (true story, that). <3
