DAY 47 – 10/31/2012 Oh, Dear! Still in Rosendale!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!

Love the ghoul/vampire hanging from a Main Street porch!

This week, Rosendale is dark, dank, dreary, dismal and downright depressing! Nine days ( 9 days!) of clouds and raw, damp air. Please comment if you happen to think of any other “D” words that might describe the atmosphere of a chronically overcast place, like Rosendale is right now.

“But, Jane” says David, “it’s a 700-mile-wide storm system. Of course it’s cloudy.”

Ever the realist, David is absolutely right! Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Don’t misunderstand – we have found nothing but warmth, kindness and sunny smiles from the people of Rosendale. It’s just the darn weather that’s bumming me out. Also, I feel that poor Rosendale is being misrepresented by mother nature right now. Frankenstorm Sandy has made a probably otherwise sunny place into a torment for any sunshine-loving person.

Maybe it would be different if we weren’t waiting for our truck to be fixed. Or living in a house instead of in a trailer.

Sounds like I’m complaining. But, I can’t complain! I’m not working or commuting in traffic. I’m on the Tramper Voyage! With my wonderful David! So, really, it’s all good. I guess I just needed to vent, thank you very much.

Besides, I just discovered  that the Patricia Cornwell book I bought (used, so it was cheap) is Large Type. Which would be great, if I had low vision. But it’s irritating to read. Very few words per line. My eyeballs have to rocket back and forth across the page. Enough to give me a headache!

But enough griping about random stuff. We took a walk in town today and checked out the library and the press. Sorry, my letterpress friends, the Canal Press is offset printing.

I went inside and visited with the owner/operator. We started talking and it came out that he, too, went on an adventure when he was just about my age. He shut down the presses and took off for some months; only, he travelled all around the world, not just the U.S, staying in hostels and backpacking.

One of his best memories? Climbing up a glacier-clad volcano in Chile then looking down inside the giant crater through sulfurous  fumes at the bubbling lava. Wow! That would definitely be one of the highlights for me, too! It’s amazing what you can hear when you have the time to stop and talk to folks.

In the shop today, Canal Press looked to have perhaps three large presses. Nothing modern. Just really nice old-school machines, maybe 50-60 years old.

The owner showed me some of his work; I picked up a cool map of area hikes and activities that he had printed for a local client.

Another stop in town today was the library. I really love libraries and the way they encourage me to stop and stay and read. It was a perfect day for a library. All damp and dreary outside. No better place to be than a nice, warm library!

The Rosendale library used to be a church. An Episcopal church to be exact.

Rosendale Library

Built in 1876 of cement manufactured right here in Rosendale and stone cut from the rocky cliffs nearby. Interesting factoid: at one time, 50% of U.S. cement output came from Rosendale. See the post  http://wp.me/p2HFBQ-ai “The Kindness of Strangers” for some pics of an old cement plant here.

The church was flooded twice, the last time in 1955. The Episcopalians abandoned it and the wreaking ball was all set to come knock it down when a native son, Andrew Snyder, a cement magnate, bought it and turned it over to the newly formed Rosendale Library Association in 1957.

We met one of the librarians, who was happy to tell us the history. It was a busy little library, so we left her with her patrons and their books, to return again to the Tramper.

We await the completion of the 4Runner repair and plot our course for the next chapter of the Voyage.

– Jane

It really has rained very little here this week.  Grey and grey-er.  Spits a little, then an arm of blue ski teases and spirals by.  We have found a few things to do, but clearly not very captivating based on the number of comments and hits.   Don’t worry, we’ll be shiny again soon.

I feel lost without activity.  So far, we’ve found the bike ride to Mohonk and an early morning bike blast, ahead of the storm 4 miles uphill to peer into my Toyota motor.  I need exercise regularly, the halls of Sinai often supply sufficient walks, but now, alas.  The Tramper has little room for any workout, we walk to town for the laundromat.  Before long we will celebrate the spending of money.  The truck will run and we will do a day trip within reach of the shop’s warranty.  I just want to witness two or three warmup and cool off cycles before hitchin’ up and heading South.

The Delaware Water Gap is a likely stop.  Maybe Carbon County.  We will surely stop at home to treasure the family and friends so often taken for granted in normal working life.  We miss you all.  Of course I am also planning the Ski Season, just around the corner!

But, we’ll really enjoy the warm & sunny weather of Florida and Texas before we ski!

-David