Tamia Nelson's Outside » Beyond the Beauty Strip

Beyond the Beauty Strip for July 2010

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:01:48 +0000

This month Tamia discovers the high altar of an early twenty-first century pyrolatric cult. So join her as she take a walk on the wild side…

Beyond the Beauty Strip for June 2010 Pleasant Mound Cemetery

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:01:36 +0000

Pleasant Mound. That's a good name for a cemetery, isn't it? Conjures up images of a properly bucolic final resting place, with a songbird chorus celebrating each new dawn and a gentle breeze whispering through the treetops. And the view from the road doesn't belie the promise…

Beyond the Beauty Strip for May 2010

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:01:33 +0000

The local dump—it's actually a "transfer and recycling station," but everybody still calls it a dump—is free to residents. You heard me right. There's no charge for dumping your household garbage. But free is still too high a price for some folks. Want a for-instance? OK. Take a look at this little stream, only one half-mile from the dump…

Beyond the Beauty Strip for April 2010

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:01:23 +0000

An unusually early spring warms the Saranac River valley as it flows east out of the northern Adirondack Mountains on its way to Lake Champlain. Snow clings to the higher mountains and melts gradually, maintaining a healthy flow between steep riverbanks. Anyone traveling NY Rte.3 between Cadyville and Riverview is treated to tantalizing glimpses of the river…

Beyond the Beauty Strip for March 2010

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:01:46 +0000

A week of above-freezing days with plenty of sun has begun to erode the thick ice along The River. Each day these natural crystal sculptures look a bit different. But one ice sculpture clung tight. I call it Old Man River…

Beyond the Beauty Strip for February 2010

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:01:37 +0000

Winter along The River is harsh and unforgiving, but that doesn't diminish its stark beauty. Now, as the sun rises higher and stronger, it clears the flanking hills for more than a few minutes and warms the rocky banks. Diurnal shifts in temperatures lead to thaw-freeze cycles which create interesting ice sculptures. Here's a view upstream:

The scalloped ice in the lower right side of the photo is a thick shelf suspended over the water and lower banks…

Beyond the Beauty Strip for January 2010

Tamia Nelson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:01:35 +0000

The temperature hovered around zero Fahrenheit, but the sun struggled to peek through a thinning bank of clouds. My breath fogged before my face and formed a skim of ice on my collar. However cold it was, it was wonderful to feel the sun, feeble as it was, on my cheeks. And the scene was beautiful, too. The River's strong current resisted icing, and the open water smoked in the frigid cold. The hillside beyond the bridge was gilded with hoarfrost from the steam freezing on trees' limbs and branches. Even the wires crossing The River didn't detract from the loveliness.

But then the faint breeze made something glint over the bridge. A tangle of monofilament spanned several of the utility wires, a bobber (and, no doubt, a hook) on the upper end, and a wad on the lower end…