A few days at Echo Lake
August 8-14, 2006
Kathi, Lara, Ella and Marianne drive from Clifton Park to Echo
Lake -- Lara's first visit this year. How will she like it??
Dad, illogically, claims he is no good at comforting Ella. Evidence points otherwise.
Ella elicits a smile
Brace yourself. This is the first of 10,000 early morning fog-on-the-lake pictures. You have been warned.
The first morning we were there, it was shockingly cold -- maybe 58 degrees outside -- so Dad built a fire in the potbelly stove so the kids wouldn't shiver.
Failed attempts at an Art Shot(tm) of the stove
Three sleepy heads in bed
Lara plants an exuberant kiss on Ella, something she does a dozen times a day
Ella takes it in stride
The lake is always there
Sunrise
The greenery has really grown up in front of the cottage
Ella has a penetrating gaze
taking after her big sister in this regard
Dad makes bacon for everyone
Kathi says, Don't turn me in - my kid is playing with scissors -
The good thing is, Lara is perfectly well aware of what she's doing (check out that expression) so she's reasonably cautious. And hey, we didn't really let her play with the scissors.
We leave Ella with Mom while we go blueberry picking - Ella remained in slumber for 10 minutes, and then got vocal
The littlest blueberry picker
Kathi knows how to do it
Lara learned the mantra from Grandpa: "One for the bucket, one for me"
Playing at the sandbox, which is in the yard around the ice cream stand in Triangle. After the exhausting work of picking eight (8) pounds of blueberries (!!!), we had to stop for soft serve dipped in chocolate, just to get our strength back up. They have 2-inch miniature soft serve cones, "baby size", that were perfect for Lara.
A blur
I think I need another baby cone
Thanks, Mommy!
Taking the ice cream home in the car is an operation.
Kathi operates the motor, and I attempt to reign in Lara, on Lara's second rowboat outing
Go that way, Mommy!
The littlest sailor
But from time to time, Lara would remember home, and wail: "I want to go home!" I was amazed at her grasp of all these abstractions, like "yesterday" and "home" and so on.
Appropriate technology: fingers
Noodle conqueror?
The efficient method
We went for a walk after dinner - amazing how those reflective bands on the baby carrier really reflect light
Dad lists dangerously to one side, to avoid jostling Ella awake
Side view
Closeup
Lara of light and shadow
Getting ready to go for a walk with Grandma to pick flowers
Lara has a big bunch of some yellow flowers
She quickly gets into the spirit of plucking blooms
Let's see, I need these, and these ...
Back home at the lake, Lara discovers it's just as much fun to row the rowboat while it's tethered at the dock
Picking blueberries off the bush next to the lake
First you pick a cupfull. Then you dump them on the ground. Then you pick them up off the ground.
Lara loved the orange paddle boat. She figured out her legs reached the pedals better if she faced them backwards (sitting on the boat instead of sitting in one of the passenger's seats)
The monkey swing is in business
Great fun at first ...
... until you start to slip off ...
... and wail for Mariannie to get you off! (Lara named me Mariannie.)
Further search for blueberries. I have no idea why I shot this one slantways.
Throwing rocks in the lake is one of the most fun activities. Apologies to Grandpa who laboriously hauled two wheelbarrow's full of rocks out of the lake, so that Lara's little feet wouldn't get hurt when she went in swimming.
Sometimes Lara would crawl like a baby up the ramp.
One more go-round on the paddle boat!
Another early morning, another sequence of fog-on-the-lake.
Legitimate Art Shot(tm).
Whitmarsh's Barn, or, The Red Barn. I guess Whitmarsh sold the farm.
Bales of hay
with flowers
Mom asked some saffron-robed Buddhist monks in the laundromat why they were doing laundry in Greene, and they said there's a Tibetan Buddhist retreat out towards McDonough. There was an open-to-the-public Lama Dance on Saturday, so we dropped by for the mysterious and slumber-inducing event. There are hundreds of the gaily colored Tibetan prayer flags fluttering all over the place.
Inside the Buddhist temple
A closeup of the musicians
A Buddhist temple and an American flag
You were warned.
A chair for you to relax in
Mom and Dad at the Binghamton airport
Marianne Mueller
Last modified: August 22, 2006
Dad, illogically, claims he is no good at comforting Ella. Evidence points otherwise.
Ella elicits a smile
Brace yourself. This is the first of 10,000 early morning fog-on-the-lake pictures. You have been warned.
The first morning we were there, it was shockingly cold -- maybe 58 degrees outside -- so Dad built a fire in the potbelly stove so the kids wouldn't shiver.
Failed attempts at an Art Shot(tm) of the stove
Three sleepy heads in bed
Lara plants an exuberant kiss on Ella, something she does a dozen times a day
Ella takes it in stride
The lake is always there
Sunrise
The greenery has really grown up in front of the cottage
Ella has a penetrating gaze
taking after her big sister in this regard
Dad makes bacon for everyone
Kathi says, Don't turn me in - my kid is playing with scissors -
The good thing is, Lara is perfectly well aware of what she's doing (check out that expression) so she's reasonably cautious. And hey, we didn't really let her play with the scissors.
We leave Ella with Mom while we go blueberry picking - Ella remained in slumber for 10 minutes, and then got vocal
The littlest blueberry picker
Kathi knows how to do it
Lara learned the mantra from Grandpa: "One for the bucket, one for me"
Playing at the sandbox, which is in the yard around the ice cream stand in Triangle. After the exhausting work of picking eight (8) pounds of blueberries (!!!), we had to stop for soft serve dipped in chocolate, just to get our strength back up. They have 2-inch miniature soft serve cones, "baby size", that were perfect for Lara.
A blur
I think I need another baby cone
Thanks, Mommy!
Taking the ice cream home in the car is an operation.
Kathi operates the motor, and I attempt to reign in Lara, on Lara's second rowboat outing
Go that way, Mommy!
The littlest sailor
But from time to time, Lara would remember home, and wail: "I want to go home!" I was amazed at her grasp of all these abstractions, like "yesterday" and "home" and so on.
Appropriate technology: fingers
Noodle conqueror?
The efficient method
We went for a walk after dinner - amazing how those reflective bands on the baby carrier really reflect light
Dad lists dangerously to one side, to avoid jostling Ella awake
Side view
Closeup
Lara of light and shadow
Getting ready to go for a walk with Grandma to pick flowers
Lara has a big bunch of some yellow flowers
She quickly gets into the spirit of plucking blooms
Let's see, I need these, and these ...
Back home at the lake, Lara discovers it's just as much fun to row the rowboat while it's tethered at the dock
Picking blueberries off the bush next to the lake
First you pick a cupfull. Then you dump them on the ground. Then you pick them up off the ground.
Lara loved the orange paddle boat. She figured out her legs reached the pedals better if she faced them backwards (sitting on the boat instead of sitting in one of the passenger's seats)
The monkey swing is in business
Great fun at first ...
... until you start to slip off ...
... and wail for Mariannie to get you off! (Lara named me Mariannie.)
Further search for blueberries. I have no idea why I shot this one slantways.
Throwing rocks in the lake is one of the most fun activities. Apologies to Grandpa who laboriously hauled two wheelbarrow's full of rocks out of the lake, so that Lara's little feet wouldn't get hurt when she went in swimming.
Sometimes Lara would crawl like a baby up the ramp.
One more go-round on the paddle boat!
Another early morning, another sequence of fog-on-the-lake.
Legitimate Art Shot(tm).
Whitmarsh's Barn, or, The Red Barn. I guess Whitmarsh sold the farm.
Bales of hay
with flowers
Mom asked some saffron-robed Buddhist monks in the laundromat why they were doing laundry in Greene, and they said there's a Tibetan Buddhist retreat out towards McDonough. There was an open-to-the-public Lama Dance on Saturday, so we dropped by for the mysterious and slumber-inducing event. There are hundreds of the gaily colored Tibetan prayer flags fluttering all over the place.
Inside the Buddhist temple
A closeup of the musicians
A Buddhist temple and an American flag
You were warned.
A chair for you to relax in
Mom and Dad at the Binghamton airport