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Gifts for a lake house owner7/25/2023 ![]() “At least half of North Elba and much of St. At last week’s APA meeting, Stager showed maps of those plots around the region. Stager has been plotting where exactly those Black settlements were in the Adirondacks. That ambitious settlement became known as Timbuctoo. “The basic idea was to bring people of diverse backgrounds onto the land, to live together and build communities out of mutual respect as neighbors and facing common challenges, which I think actually fits the theme of the Adirondacks now, but it was much more ambitious back then.” Paul Smith’s professor Curt Stager has been researching Black history in the Adirondacks and presented some of his findings to the Adirondack Park Agency board last week. By giving away parcels of that land to Black American men, those men could then gain the right to vote. He owned 120,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks. In the 1840s, a man named Geritt Smith set out to change that. The friendly competition resulted in night after night of superb meals for all.Ĭheryl Stritzel McCarthy is a freelance writer.NCPR A map of various Underground Railroad routes that traversed New York and Vermont. At vacation’s end, everyone votes for the most unique meal, most creative, etc., rating them from “best ever” to “let’s eat out next time.” ![]() One year, my husband had the teams riff on the Food Network show “Chopped,” and each team had to incorporate a particular ingredient into the meal (gummy bears, pistachios, Grand Marnier). Mix up generations and families - except for new boyfriends or girlfriends, who should hang with their partners. How do you feed that many people night after night? How is that fun and not fraught? Think goofy themes and competition.ĭivide the massive group into dinner-prep teams of three or four. Overfull vacation homes are not unusual: The National Association of Realtors says vacation homes are, on average, 20 percent smaller than full-time residences. These days, during our annual two-week sojourn there, it shelters up to 20 of us. My own in-laws’ much-loved, much-rustic cottage in the vacation hamlet of Sister Bay, Wis., was built a century ago for two parents and four children. ![]() Come to have fun.” Pro tip: Lake house dinner prep As for hosts, “let guests know you appreciate and treasure their company.”Īs Ault looked toward the painting of her great-grandmother, the first owner of their beach house, on the living room wall, she said, “There’s great history here. “We made it clear everyone should do what entertains them, and people did,” Blais says. But neither Ault nor Blais mentioned that. They can bring a few groceries, write a thank-you note - I’m old school.”Īs the visitor, it never hurts to be mindful of Benjamin Franklin’s quote about guests, fish and both smelling after three days. “If we don’t teach them how to be a good guest, they’re not going to know. If millennial offspring host friends at your vacation home, gently communicate what’s expected, Ault says. Tidying a bathroom before you leave is likewise appreciated. Multiply that task by several guests per weekend, all summer long - you do the math. … Even a bottle of dish detergent isn’t a bad thing.”Īult, who with her husband hosts guests more summer weekends than not, wouldn’t mind if guests stripped their beds Sunday and took the extra step of getting out fresh linens and remaking the bed. The amount of toilet paper you go through with lots of people in the house is crazy.” All gifts are appreciated, she says, including “a nice bottle of scotch, a gift certificate, cheese or chocolate, a book or flowers or wine or food. After all, mundane household items do need replenishing. Ault remembers one guest who showed up with a gift basket containing toilet paper, paper towels and paper napkins.
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