Seneca Lake, NY
A great quiet wind came through town this weekend and the ensuing hush was remarkable.
On Saturday morning we rode our bicycles down to the waterfront and onto the Ontario Pathways trail along the canal toward Waterloo. The number of people was significantly less than just a few weeks before. Not only on the waterfront and at the Farmer’s Market, but also on the bike path. The Saturday of Labor Day weekend and there were only two watercrafts anchored off-shore along the State Park – no party scene as with any other sunny weekend of the summer.
Then, late Monday afternoon, we took the dog for a stroll. Beginning at the Visitor’s Center we made our way down the lake toward Seneca Yacht Club. There were more sailboats on the lake than people or dogs promenading and I could count the number of motor craft on one hand. Quiet, peaceful, a breeze gracing the suddenly humid afternoon, it seemed as though a shear curtain had been pulled over the curtsying summer.
Summer brought a sudden and remarkable paucity of parking spaces at the core of downtown. Many were the occasion since Memorial Day, that I had to circle the block looking for a space, or park in one of the convenient municipal lots when parallel spaces near my destinations were buttoned up tightly. That is an inconvenience to celebrate, and for anyone who has lived in a mid-to-large city, the abundance of free parking in Geneva with the relative convenience of those municipal lots, it is a pimple not a mountain.
It is still three weeks to the day until the autumnal equinox and true end of summer, but last weekend definitely pulled the curtain across the season. Personally, I am looking forward to many more sunny, warm days and watching the colorful thinning of flora as the earth pulls in its deciduous tentacles and bows to winter. Yet the shift is unmistakable now, a slight bend and incline in the road we may miss when driving along but feel if walking or biking.
They say the same is true in politics. Something about Labor Day that winks at everything which came before while picking up intensity and focus toward the season ahead. While I look forward to autumn I would gladly put off the year-and-half of what comes next in politics. Not that I want to put off the chance to change the occupants of the White House, just shorten the process of getting there. But that is as much wishful thinking as it is to look back nostalgically at summer and dream of more.
So, as we bid adieu to one season and lift the veil on another, some public gratitude is in order. Thank you, Sage Gerling and your Recreation Department as well as those who maintain the waterfront, plan and plant trees, and promote tourism. Thank you to BID for the tremendous efforts you extend to downtown businesses and organizations, and for the annual Cruisin’ Night and Block Party. Thank you to the hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers who put on numerous recreational athletic events and festivals that draw visitors and tourists as well as our own residents. The weather will happen without us, but the season we all come to hope for and depend upon called summer, takes place with a lot of work behind the scenes. Thank you.
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