Beautiful Upstate

This past weekend I went up to Paradox Lake with Betsy and Hal, Bud and Judith and Betsys son Ian. A beautiful house on a beautiful lake. Betsy decorated the house in true Adirondack style, with white birch furnature with the bark still on it, a staircase with branches on the banister, an old stone fireplace, an old log cabin in the woods by the lake, but with three full bathrooms, garbage compactor, all the mod cons. Walking, smoking, drinking, dancing, singing, hysterical laughing...great fun. Heaps of food from Hal, (the meat man)'s, warehouse, Betsys famous crazy delicious highly alcoholic cocktails, good stuff. We went for a long walk through the woods, forgot how full of life the Adirondack woods are. We saw a beaver dam, snakes, frogs, salamanders mating (Ian was with us and noticed all the little things like the salamanders) Deer and Bud pointed out evidence of Bears. Found a spectacular waterfall close to where Betsy lives. Next morning I walked there with Bud and stood under the waterfall...delicious!!! A breakfast of green pepper and spinach omelet and Chocolate trifle (why stop the decadence now??) A walk up Severence Hill for great views of Scroon Lake and Paradox Lake. The woods in a unique light due to the tops of the trees still bare, letting in the sunlight, while the bottoms of the trees had these fresh new delicate light green leaves. Crisp cold spring air. Back for a bar b que lunch (Hals hamburgers, salad, Betsys macaroni and cheese, more chocolate trifle...oy) Yummy well water to drink. And home. Overindulgence to the MAX.
A good antidote was seeing the film "Into Great Silence" A three hour film watching monks walk, pray, eat...the film was silent except for occational chanting. Following is a review from the New York Times:
"The Carthusian monks who are the subjects of Philip Gröning’s documentary “Into Great Silence” do not, as the film’s title suggests, have a great deal to say. Living in a light-filled stone charterhouse (as the order’s monasteries are called) in a picturesque valley in the French Alps, they bind themselves to a vow not of literal silence but of extreme reticence. They pray and sing aloud, alone and together, and once a week the elders take an outdoor stroll during which some chatting is permitted. The idea of removing yourself entirely from the world is a radical one, and Mr. Gröning approaches it with fascination and a measure of awe. You surrender to “Into Great Silence” as you would to a piece of music, noting the repetitions and variations, encountering surprises just when you think you’ve figured out the pattern. By the end, what you have learned is impossible to sum up, but your sense of the world is nonetheless perceptibly altered."

Saw The Crucible by Arthur Miller at Capital Rep. Saw the Tulips at Washington Park in Albany. Sunday off to Connecticut for the Shavuot retreat with Reb Zalman.