Winter Skies

On the way upstate, Cory and I noticed a lot of diffuse light in the night sky, just above the tree line. We weren't far from Binghamton, so we assumed it was light pollution. I didn't try to photograph it, but it was beautiful.

Leaving Binghamton the next morning, I noticed there is a huge and incongruous cemetery behind the Best Western where we stayed. I'd like to go back to take pictures.

During my 6 months in Cincinnati, in 1993, I would often walk by a tiny cemetery in the midst of strip malls and gas stations on Hamilton Parkway. If I ever go back to Cincinnati, this little left-behind plot of land and headstones will be one of the main reasons.

In Hawaii this September, we visited Ulupo Heiau, which is well-hidden behind a YMCA. It was a powerful place, especially at night.

This group of photos was taken between 4 and 6 pm, the beginning leg of our return trip to Brooklyn, back through Prattsburgh and on to Route 17, after we had said goodbye to my family.

Log in the Water/Blade in My Eye...Thank You, Roman Polanski

According to Wikipedia, Cohocton's name "is derived from an Iroquois phrase for 'log in the water.'" Not knowing anything about Iroquois language or culture, I wonder why there is a phrase, rather than a word, for this concept? Because it is important? Or is this simply a misnomer?

I imagine a log in the water. It could signify many things: a bridge, a dam, a boat. Elliptically—kinds of water: still, rushing, deep, and—ponds, rivers, streams and oceans; ripples, currents, waves and tides. Parsing further, I think about power and ways to contain it: surmounting it, blocking it or giving in. Weight, buoyancy.

The windmills are forbidding yet compelling. I would not want to gaze at them every day from my back window. 

My family owns property nearby in Prattsburgh. Wind turbines are a hot button issue for them and many others. Cohoctonfree.com is an activist web site "Seeking to keep our hills and sky turbine-free."

Homes and Watering Holes

I've learned there is a bottled spring water company in Avoca called Avoca Water. Bill Brewer launched the company in 2003. I wonder how many jobs it provides?

Some Details

From my sister -

“Hi Amanda,
You may be interested to know that the line "Sweet Vale of Avoca" comes from a poem ("The Meeting of the Waters") by Thomas Moore. I know this because Stephanie & Kerry sang this poem at our wedding. (Thomas Moore is the same author who wrote your wedding song: "Believe Me if All These Endearing Young Charms".) As you already mentioned in your blog, the original poem must have referred to a place in the British Isles. Is it because there are (or used to be) potato farms that Avoca, NY came to be identified with the other town? Were some of the early settlers Irish or English? The identification is a bit surprising to me but I like the identification since Avoca, NY is so near where we got married.

Love,
Ellie

P.S. Here's the full stanza:

Sweet vale of Avoca,
How calm could I rest,
In thy bosom of shade,
With the friends I love best!”

Avoca, New York

I took the photos I've posted up until today through the windshield or out the passenger window en route to the town of Avoca. Once we reached our destination, Dad, Cory, Eleanor, Thor and I got out and looked around.

Avoca is a beautiful town with some lovely brick buildings. 

From Wikipedia I learned that the first person to settle in the area arrived about 1794 and that Avoca was created from portions of the towns of Bath, Cohocton, Howard and Wheeler in 1843. 

You can travel through Avoca on Interstate 86, Interstate 390 or New York State Route 415.

Avoca is also a railroad town: "The Gang Mills (Painted Post) to Wayland LIne of the B&H Rail Corp. passes through the Village of Avoca and hamlet of Wallace in [the] town of Avoca. From c. 1853 to 1963 the Corning-Rochester line of the Erie Railroad passed through Avoca and Wallace. This line was removed c. 1963 by order of the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commision to increase highway use. From 1882 to 1963 Avoca and Wallace were also served by the New York (Hoboken) to Buffalo Main Line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (and its Erie Lackawanna successor). This through route was severed in 1963 by order of the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission also to increase highway usage. The former DL&W route in the Town of Avoca is now operated by the B&H Rail Corp.

The Conhocton River flows through the town past Wallace, Bloomerville, and Avoca village."

From westny.com I learned that "Originally Avoca was named '8 mile tree.' In later years the village became identified with 'The Sweet Vale of Avoca' in Ireland because of its similarity with its namesake. The area is well known for its potato farms.

The Avoca Tigers were the undefeated class D 1989 New York State Champions in Basketball."

As we drove away I mentioned that I'd seen a few people go into the American Legion Hall. The building boasts blue wooden doors with ornately carved red white and blue medallions. My Dad speculated that members could go there for meat loaf and mashed potatoes and frozen peas and beans. I said that maybe the cook there was the best around and we were missing something really good. It would have been fun to have a meal there, assuming they actually serve them!

I left the town with a lot of questions: how do its inhabitants make a living? I wondered what the brick building with the weather-beaten red, yellow and white sides originally housed. It is in bad shape, but looks structurally sound, though it seems unlikely that anyone will save it. It would be a hugely costly labor of love in a town that seems to be economically barely hanging on.

First the railway routes were cancelled to promote interstate travel, and now the interstate highways that run through Avoca have been replaced by newer roads. My Dad told me that he'd heard that the Avoca school district and another school district are going to merge to cut down on expenses such as teacher salaries. (See article on proposed school mergers in the Hornell Evening Tribune - www.eveningtribune.com/archive/x415863940/New-York-s-budget-woes-may-force-school-mergers)

A Few More...

A Couple More Photos That Make Me Imagine the Feel of Paint

I'm thinking about intuition and about grace. I operate very well from the gut. I'm very intuitive. A professor, Martin Ball, told me that intuition is a a high level of thinking where the brain is working so fast that it outstrips methodical processes. Of course, thinking of intuition that way flatters me. And I'm very pleased to have this gift. Like anything else though, gifts don't mean much unless they're used, and used well. I think I need some help with developing my intuitive gift. I also need help with being accountable to myself - with discipline, in a word.

I'm thinking about joining a church, because I hope that being a part of a spiritual community might make me more accountable, both to myself (honoring my own gifts), and to others (building alliances and bridges with my gifts and theirs). I don't know if I believe in God, but I do think I believe in grace and I'd like to cultivate it within myself. 

I think grace is recognizing the immensity and abundance of this world, feeling that abundance within ourselves - feeling full. And it's not about wealth or fullness from food. It's more like being grateful for the painful pleasure of being alive.

On a more prosaic subject, I'm designing my blog now, and struggling with it because I don't know html. I want a very simple but elegant format, and I welcome all feedback (really!)