Glen Hansard RIP

Glen Hansard RIP. Kitchen Listening the past couple of days with some of this Irish musicians many albums in my collection. I was sorry to hear of his passing in a Dublin motorcycle accident the other day and have been playing his albums since. I'm looking forward to viewing a couple of his films again very soon... Once and The Commitments.

Dinner at Tappo

Last night we met Karen, Dave and Donna for dinner at Tappo Restaurant downtown. Our reservation was for 5:30. Since it was a Friday evening at rush hour we left our house a few minutes after 5 pm. The traffic was very crowded on the way downtown. We walked into the restaurant at exactly 5:30. The others were already sitting there waiting for us and had ordered wine. The waitress asked me and Becky what we wanted. She got an NA and I asked for a Tuscan style red wine. The waitress offered me a montepulciano house wine and said the bottle was a better deal... only $18. Dave decided he wanted the red instead of the bottle of white Donna and Karen insisted on so me and Dave split the bottle of red.

We were squeezed around a small table for five. It was actually a comfortable table for four. I felt a little out of place and seemingly closer to the people at the next table than to most of our table. Oh well, the food was good. Not great. We've had better meals at Tappo but lately they have not been up to past meals but this is where Dave and Donna wanted to take Karen. There are many other restaurants we would have gone for instead and especially on a Friday evening.

I had the chicken milanese which included a salad but it was almost all arugula because of the lettuce scare. The meal was OK but not great. I took a little of the chicken home in a box for some lunch. I also took home the bottle of red although there was only enough left for one glass. Becky had the shrimp risotto. Dave had the spaghetti meatball dinner and Donna also had the chicken milanese. Karen had a vegetarian dish. At the end of the dinner Karen grabbed the check for the table.

Overall we enjoyed the meal and the company. We were there for about an hour and a half. The restaurant was really crowded and more people were coming in all evening. 

When we were done then it was off to Hallwalls for the Member's Show reception.

Hallwalls Opening

After our dinner at Tappo tonight we went up the street a few blocks to check out the opening of the Hallwalls Member's Show where Becky had a piece on display along with probably hundreds more. We had to park a couple of blocks away and the gallery itself was massively crowded and hot too. It was very hard to see any of the artwork so we'll be going back again some other time to see the works on display. 

Dave and Donna brought Karen to the show but they only stayed a few minutes. They don't do the art scene anymore except for maybe a show Becky is in. Karen was really enjoying herself and moving about in the crowd trying to see the artwork. I talked with a lot of different people during our hour or so at the gallery. I especially enjoyed talking for a long time with Diane Bush's husband Steve Baskin whom I haven't seen in many years due to his struggles with Long Covid in Las Vegas.

Last Day... grandkids selfie

We had a great family time in the Adirondacks this past week and of course on our last night together I had to take my usual grandkids selfie pic.

Earlier in the week I did some selfies with Henry, Clara and Violet. Andrew and Autumn were with us toward the end of the week but I'll get some individual selfies with them next week when they are in Buffalo.

Kids Having Fun

Our five grandkids sure had a lot of fun together on our vacation in Long Lake. Their parents kept them busy all week and it was a little different this year in that there were no rain days that needed special indoor activities. But of course the kids did want their tablet times and Henry loves reading books. So they kept busy indoors too. The beach was a main attraction. Todd took the older kids on a mountain hike and Katie and Todd took their three kids on a canoe trip on Blue Mountain Lake. The kids insisted on going to the Adirondack Museum too even though we usually save that for a rain day.

The kids really liked being together doing things.

Wonderful Sunsets

We had amazing weather this week and some spectacular sunsets.

We enjoyed them almost every evening as we sat by the fireplace near our cabins.

Kids on the Beach

We had great weather and every day the kids could play on the beach. That doesn't always happen during our weeks in the Adirondacks over the years. This year was special.

Dinner @ The Adirondack Hotel

Dinner at the Adirondack Hotel... a table for 13. It was a Thursday evening and we got there about 5:30 pm. The big tables in the back were already in use so we had to have two tables toward the front of the room that could not be moved together. That was OK, we still were part of a big group.

At the table on the left was Sean, Ashely, Todd, Autumn, Violet, Clara and Karen. At the table on the left was Katie, Davo, Henry, Andrew, Becky and me. It all worked out and we enjoyed our meal where we have been going for dinner as a group for many, many years.

The food was terrific as usual. Becky had a Everything Bagel pizza and I had their nice haddock fish sandwich. Some nice chips too and a wonderful salad. I don't know what everyone else had but they sure liked it. We had some nice leftovers too.

Earlier in the day we went on a hike to Rich Lake and then spent the afternoon on the beach working up an appetite. 

Rich Lake Hike

We do this hike every year when we visit the Adirondack Interpretive Center at Rich Lake down the Newcomb road from Long Lake. We always hike the Peninsula Trail. We were all very impressed on how great the kids did on the trail.

This time, however, something was different. The trail itself was different and a little confusing. It didn't seem right, something was off and we had to double back on the trail back the way we came in. We could not hike all the way around the peninsula as we usually did. When we got back to the AIC building I talked with one of the staff and found out this past year a nearby dam had collapsed and a large section of the trail including the bridge along the marsh was wiped out. The trail had to be reconfigured to loop back to the AIC building. The map below is the new temporary trail configuration. They have plans to rebuild the trails this year.

Dinner on our Deck

Dinner on our deck... pasta dinner and red wine.

The kids had their dinner at the kitchen table.