More on the Argos Inn/Adventures in Ithaca

This is one of my favorite places now that I've been, in part because of the beautiful inn itself, in other part because of this cocktail, the Argos Bourbon Sour.

It was warm while I was there so I didn't sit outside but it would be a perfect place for a drink when the weather is just right.

Every angle is lovely.

This was before the evening crowd arrived.

Outside the room:

 The stairs to the third floor:

Along the wall outside the room:

The room!

I loved the little nook with the sink.

And the writing desk.

In the bar, a piano.

The bar where they make the amazing cocktails.

This season's menu.

Shelves any sandplay therapist would love.

The main stairway.

I'm looking forward to the next visit.

Me and my herd view the eclipse

Remember Lee Smith's wonderful book, Me and My Baby View the Eclipse? If you haven't read her work, go find it now and start at the beginning. She was an early writing professor and a mentor and her stories and novels are well worth reading.

Yesterday I was on November Hill alone with the animals. My husband traveled to the Great Smokies to get totality eclipse photographs, my son watched in Ithaca from Cornell's campus, my daughter was with her neurobiology professor on NC State's campus watching. Many friends took road trips to South Carolina and other points along the path. I have no desire to drive hours in traffic to stand in a crowd of strangers to see anything, so I opted to be here with the November Hill herd.

It occurred to me that aside from the peace and quiet of my own home, this would likely be the only time in my life that I could see a 93% totality solar eclipse on November Hill Farm with Keil Bay, Cody, Apache Moon, Rafer Johnson, and Redford. How could I miss that?

I grabbed my straw hat and my iPhone and headed to the barn around 1 p.m. I didn't have viewing glasses and briefly pondered making a viewing box, but decided to focus on the landscape itself and the animals and insects. I spent a little bit of time mucking stalls, tidying things up, which is what I normally do when I go out mid-day. The equines were all, except for the painted pony, in their stalls with fans and ready for some fresh hay.

Around 1:30 I went to the hay tent to get a few flakes. I was distracted by the crescent moons beginning to form on the ground beneath the oak trees and by the fact that the hay-barrow frame has completely broken. I decided to just carry a few flakes in my arms. As I opened the gate I saw this:

I realized the tiny holes in my straw hat were projecting the eclipse onto everything I looked at! I headed over to the picnic table to experiment. It's hard to see in this photo but all around the brim of my hat, tiny crescents of light haloed my silhouette.

I took the hay to the horses and got them set up. The quality of light was increasingly odd and eerie, though never truly dark. Birds didn't stop chirping completely but they did get much quieter, and crickets began to sing. I walked through the arena to the back field to see if I could find the pony. The arena at F, under the big oak tree, looked like this:

In the back field, grazing through the event taking place in the sky, Apache Moon:

Unfortunately the iPhone just couldn't capture the odd light we had here. I walked over and stood by the pony's shoulder. Apache Moon, named because of the half moon on his barrel, suddenly had tiny similarly-shaped moons everywhere I looked!

I was completely enchanted by my magical straw hat. It's old, the band has fallen off, and it is mishapen but it is cool and it keeps the sun off my head and face. And today, it became the best eclipse-viewing instrument in the whole world.

After a lot of walking about and casting tiny crescents onto things, I followed the pony back to the barn and while the horses and donkeys and painted pony munched, I sat on the bench in the barn aisle and watched the light return outside the doors. Keil Bay came out of his stall, stood with me for a moment, and then went to take his own gander at the eclipse:

I wouldn't have traded this moment for the world.

My essay "Airplanes" up at Manifest-Station

I'm very happy this one found such a wonderful home! The Manifest-Station is a terrific place with interesting stories and perspectives on a near-daily basis. Check out my essay and then keep reading - and go back often.

You can find my essay HERE

November Hill farm journal, 35

I have more adventures to share but wanted to check in about farm stuff today. We had several weeks without rain and the pastures became quite dry. This week we've had three good rains so things are going green again. The most recent rain came with a thunderstorm and the worst lightning strikes we've had in several years. Fortunately nothing was hit and the horses and donkeys came in to the barn and finished out their night under shelter.

Yesterday the gravel guy came and fixed the pothole in our driveway, as well as the drainage issue that was creating it. Our temps have gone back into the 90s so he brought the gravel earlier in the day but came in the evening to do the work. After my own sweat-lodge style chore session mid-day, I considered doing the same thing until this heat breaks!

Today my farm helper is putting gravel underneath the front porch to create a tidier surface under there. Once he's done with that I'm going to repaint the lattice boards and we'll put everything back together for now. I'm still pondering the cat space and how to do it.

He's continuing to clear the fence line, which is looking wonderful, and once he gets to the barnyard gate we'll move to the other side of the property to get the fence lines clear for the new perimeter fencing. That is I think going to be an easier job for him but it's all hard work and I'm grateful he's willing to do it in this heat. He prefers to start early and finish at 3. Most of what he's doing is in shade so that helps! But we're both ready for fall and cooler weather.

The gravel guy is returning this afternoon with a load of mulch to put on the path that goes from our back yard gate to the barn. That path was always a bit of a drainage issue when we get a lot of rain, but over time as other, higher areas have eroded some, it's gotten worse. He looked it over with me and said while gravel might make it tidier he didn't think it would do much to stop the flow of water. His thought was to mulch the area and stop the water, absorb the water, and maybe in the process help out the oak tree that's looking very sad in that same area. We are wondering if its proximity to the well is the problem - not getting enough water at the roots due to the well pulling from the water table - and he thinks maybe the mulch will create some water retention that might help. It's worth a shot. I hate to lose that oak tree but there's one ten feet up that is thriving, so if it doesn't make it, we'll use the wood for the wood stove.

He has a plan to mulch the path and create a bed where I can plant stuff or just leave it plain. I'll need to think about some horse-friendly plantings since I do let them in the barnyard! Any ideas are welcome. And we're thinking maybe slate stones on top of the mulch for actual walkway from gate to barn door.

This will get done today and then next week he's going to work on getting the arena topped up for me. Then we'll take a break until early fall when the horses are out of the barn. That project is going to be a much bigger one. We'll be clearing the shelters, stalls, and barn aisle out and putting in gravel, stall grids, and a layer of screenings on top of that. And creating more of a lip on each end of the barn aisle. Re-doing French drains at each end and then hopefully that will be that for many years to come.

My hope is that with fencing done in September and the barn work done early October, this phase of projects will be over just in time for riding and enjoying the season!

Adventures: Ithaca

I'm woefully behind on blog posts, but for good reasons - a series of adventures that started with helping my son move to Ithaca for graduate school. We set off near the end of July. He drove his car and I drove the U-Haul truck.

I was fairly confident - I think this is the largest truck (at 15') I've ever driven, but it was almost brand new and ran well and although I was a little nervous, I was also excited.

With Google Maps set on "avoid tolls" off we went. The initial part of the trip into Virginia was on familiar roads, the same route I take to my beloved writing retreat, the Porches. My destination that first day was Hagerstown, Maryland. The landscapes were gorgeous - lots of farm land and working farms on both sides of the road. It was only the last hour that was stressful - a lot of traffic going 70 mph. Drivers were courteous but I felt very boxed in and my visibility was severely limited in the truck so changing lanes and merging onto the freeway after rest stops was harder.

The hotel was a Ramada and although old and sort of dated, the restaurant itself was good. We had chicken fajitas and I had a homemade blueberry mojito that was amazing and perfect after a day of driving.

The second day Google Maps seemed to have a mind of its own. After the first hour I found myself on "way off the beaten path" roads that were completely devoid of any other vehicle but mine. Normally I love this kind of driving but the roads were narrow, winding, and with stop signs in places where I had to make left turns - and it was impossible to see out the right window of the truck if it was angled at all. A few times I got behind horses and carriages and had to pass them! I was totally worried that the big white truck would spook the horses but all seemed very much used to it.

The landscapes were beautiful. I'm looking forward to driving this route again but in my car!

I have never been more happy to arrive at a destination - Ithaca! - but worried on my way into town that our hotel parking lot might be hard to navigate in the truck. Fortunately for me there was plenty of space to back in and with my son already safely there, all my anxiety disappeared.

We stayed at the beautiful Argos Inn:

I highly recommend the Argos. The rooms are gorgeous as are the public spaces inside and out. And the Argos bar is amazing. I'll do an entire post on the inn but suffice it to say, that night, upon arrival, this bourbon sour was my reward:

The next day we moved my son in. His apartment is wonderful. It was such a great feeling to take this photo at the end of the journey: