Certain parties have hinted that I've been remiss in updating this so-called blog. To placate my so-called readers I present the following illustration of my latest obsession:






I've loved boating all my life but never had a boat! And I've driven back and forth across the Kinderhook Creek for the last 17 years since we moved to Stephentown, and I've always wondered where it goes. Of course, now you can just zoom in and see where it goes with Google Maps. But heck, there's still plenty of things left to discover from frog-eye's view, and for some reason the Father's Day Fairy was particularly generous with me this year, so off I went on my maiden voyage.

The creek starts in the Berkshire hills a few miles to the east of us, passes within a mile of our house, and wanders south and west for another 20 miles or so until it ultimately reaches the Hudson River in the town of Stuyvesant Falls. I put in at the bridge I'd been crossing the last 17 years, a mile down the hill from the house, and set off hoping to reach the falls in East Nassau, which I figured was about 8 miles away.

Three hours and lots of scratches later, I gave up and found myself only about 4 miles away as the Blazer flies. Along the way I struggled over and through lots and lots of shallows, rocks and "strainers" (i.e. trees and branches blocking the way). I had to get out and schlep so many times that I scraped all the skin off the back of my knees getting in & out of the kayak.

But I also saw more woodducks and kingfishers than I'd seen in the last 17 years combined, and indeed discovered an entire ecosystem I never knew existed right in my backyard, so to speak. And I was hooked on kayaking. I've since been out every weekend, and hope to keep at it as long as the weather is nice. Maybe even beyond that.