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Leaving Glens Falls on Friday, we took a wrong turn and ended up in a mostly abandoned business complex.
This one is a manufacturer of titanium parts. The company is apparently still active but not this office.
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The complex will have employed many hundreds of people and I couldn’t help but think how sad it must be for those few who still come here and daily witness such emptiness.
As a college kid I worked in a factory that was very similar in appearance, assembling printed circuit boards.
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Noticing the steam, we were soon going back in the right direction!
The area was originally called Chepontuc (“difficult place to get around”) says Wikipedia
Indeed!
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Cities offer plenty to photograph but the older I get, the less I want to be anywhere near one.
The first spring after moving back east, I took the train down to New York City, to visit Tim in his new home.
At the time I was still recovering from my sudden precipitous flight from Washington and the trip was tiring.
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Comparatively, it was short. An hour’s drive to Albany, followed by three and a half on a train.
It would have been better not to arrive in rush hour where procuring a taxi for the journey to Brooklyn was challenging, but Tim had booked it for me believing it was the only way to persuade me to go.
(Tim is city-dweller who forgets that we aren’t all as as able-bodied!)
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But he is one of my oldest friends and we travelled a lot together, so I was keen to see him and his cat Oscar.
Never mind that he is another of those felines that does not like me!
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He wouldn’t even be bribed:(
But one must not take offense!
Tim adopted Oscar at his previous residence,from a neighbour who succumbed to cancer.
Like the rest of us, Oscar is getting on in years.
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My visit was short but sweet as Tim arranged for a couple of other old friends to visit, which was an unexpected and delightful surprise.
Tim lives in a high-rise penthouse which has a splendid view of the Brooklyn docks where he sees big ships coming and going and for him, it is perfect.
While I used to enjoy going to concerts at Carnegie Hall or the Met, I am not happy in tall buildings and the chaos of cities overwhelms me.
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Glens Falls is tiny by comparison.
On the way home, the weather began its collapse into the gloom that remains for the foreseeable future…
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The last day of March brought us almost that warm day I said we needed, but hopefully it will not have encouraged the flora into an unwise showing, considering a further dip below freezing is predicted later on in the week.
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It is distressing to see Spring flowers burned by late frost whic is not uncommon here.
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Instead of driving back down the Hudson, we routed up over the big hill we’d skirted earlier.
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It’s amazingly flat and bare on top.
With numerous horse ranches.
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Then we wound our way down…
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…past Summit Lake…
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…with its old gas station.
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And that was that.
Back in Cambridge, not a soul in sight.
As is often the case.
Good for people like me:)
Non city-dwellers!
Thank you, Carolyn, for the lovely post and photographic update on your journeys. Although I like photos of Tim and his cat Oscar, I too could not be living in the city.
Joanna
Looks like the car at the gas station needs a little work!
You worked in a factory? You have truly led an interesting life, Carolyn! That old car at the gas pumps must be a feast for a photographer – what a stunning photo!
As I get older, I also dislike cities more and more. They feel too ‘fast’, with people moving around me as if I am having to struggle through invisible treacle. But I have also developed a fondness for industrial decay, so the closed down factory and petrol station actually appeal to me a great deal. I think of the time in the future when people will view them as ‘archaeological remains’, and wonder what purpose they served.
Best wishes, Pete.