Pulaski, NY

July 16, 2007

Pulaski, NY

Dear Self,

Greetings from Pulaski, which the locals mispronounce as "Pulasky", like "Blue Sky". We're at a ramshackle camp on the edge of a pond that feeds into a lake that leads to Lake Ontario and freedom (Canada). We arrived the day after the wedding when all the family was here- seven cousins, including the bride and groom, some kids, and my girlfriend's mother's boyfriend. The camp is next to abandoned and every cousin (age 30 to 16) remarked that they hadn't been here in seven years.

They say not to drink the water and that it reeks of sulfur, but I think it smells like sewage.

There's lots of food, and I'm looking forward to fasting in Cuba so I might as well fatten up now.

I have this grand idea that I need to practice writing every morning, I oughta write things for this silly blog, and I need to write letters to folks like I used to, so every morning I'm going to try writing a letter to someone and post it on my blog. This first one is to me cause I start out with a threat to kick my butt if I didn't write more, so here I go.

Syracuse was fine. They claimed it's surrounded by slums and use the word "ghetto" liberally, but I actually didn't see much to back it up. I did, however, see Lake Onondaga, the most polluted lake in the country! Health officials limit consumption of fish caught in the lake to one a month, but locals know better. Despite this status, nor evidence of large industrial polluters like those surrounding Lake Union, Lake Onondaga is brimming with summer activity, though they also say when it gets hot, the lake stinks like raw sewage.

Briana's mom is very nice and I met her once last summer when she came to visit and Briana kicked me out of the apartment and I had to sleep in my van for a week. (The top of Queen Anne is an excellent place for summer urban car camping, especially alongside the park next to the middle school and community center -there are plenty of trees and a strange vehicle -even a bright, hand-painted VW bus- doesn't stick out too much. Plus there are plenty of cafes to hang around in).

ANYway, looks like right now we're going to go on a little road trip to Old Forge. I'm s'pozed to go to Plattsburgh on Tuesday to visit my old friend Paul, but I haven't figured out how. Then I'm s'pozed to go back to NYC on Thursday but I haven't figured out how. Then I'm s'pozed to fly to Cancun and then to Cuba on Friday but I.... you get the point. Hope you're doing well, say hi to the misses, love, chris