Spring Homecoming, Adirondack Style

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We are back at our little cabin in the big woods, the Adirondack hideaway we refer to as "Beaver Meadow Heights." For weeks leading up to our departure from Florida, North Country friends sent dire warnings. "Got another six inches of snow last night. Driving winds. Bitter cold. Will it ever end?" wrote one. Another penned, "All the snow has slid off your roofs, but the pile is so high you won't be able to get in your door." Just in case we weren't taking the warnings seriously, a stiff wind practically blew us from Florida to Thurman, accompanied by driving rain. Terrible storms flared all around the southeast, but mercifully were not close to our travel route.

We followed the swollen Schroon River out of Warrensburg, awed, as always, by the force of the water roaring toward the Hudson. Familiar landmarks led us home -- Sugarloaf Mountain, Thurman Station, Thurman town hall; then Martin's Lumber, Crane Mountain. At last we were at the foot of our driveway, surprisingly able to navigate the slope, spraying mud all the way up the hill. The snow pile in front of the house had shrunk from its mammoth proportions, and we were able to get into the cabin.

Far from a turn-key set up, our cabin remains unheated during the winter, and the water pipe to our spring is drained. A stack of firewood was waiting for us, however, and within hours the woodstove had taken most of the chill from the living room and had moderated the temperature in the back part of the house. Buckets of snow now melt behind the stove to supply utility water until we can access the supply from our spring again. We have begun settling in and catching up on emails -- albeit by dial-up connection.

Cold, banks and buckets of snow, dial-up Internet--it doesn't matter. There's no place like home. Most of the snow is gone and mud season is well underway. It's spring in the Adirondacks, and we are here, looking forward to a joyous summer.