Return from Brazil- out of the frying pan, into the refridgerator!

Along with my wife Harriet, son Andy, daughter Emily and son-in-law Shawn, I have returned from a wonderful 11-day trip to visit our friends Bob and Sandy Mangels and their son Alan and daughter Laura in Brazil. When we arrived in Rio de Janeiro On December 26th, the city was coincidentally experiencing the hottest day ever on record, at 43.2 degrees Celcius- that's more than 108 Fahrenheit! The only one who was excited about this was Andy, who has a Master's degree in meteorology. We were so tired from our 9 1/2 hour overnight flight from JFK that we hardly noticed, as we were picked up at the airport by our hired guide Manu Peclat's assistant, Eva. She and Manu gave us a first-class two-day tour of the city, including the favellas (self-regulated low-income neighborhoods) , Corcovado Mountain featuring the 132-foot-tall Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, Sugarloaf Mountain with it's spectacular views, Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, several beautiful churches, and many street scenes. We then flew to Sao Paulo and were met by drivers sent by Bob and Sandy who drove us to their beautiful beach house along the Atlantic coast where we spent a fantastic week swimming, body-surfing, hiking, feasting, boating, snorkelling, and celebrating New Years with our dear friends from our college days at Penn State. We had the time of our lives. Please check out my album of selected pictures from our trip in my Photo Album page.

A tribute to Patrick Sisti

My very good friend Patrick Sisti, who was the brains and driving force of our whimsical group known as the "League of Extraordinary Adirondack Gentlemen", died suddenly on October 2nd, only three weeks after he and I had enjoyed a wonderful day together paddling on and flying over Long Lake in the Adirondacks. A professional guide, fly fisherman extraordinaire, and one of the nicest most generous people I have had the pleasure to know, he was doing what he enjoyed most (paddling his beloved Hornbeck boat) when he collapsed. If he had been allowed to choose the manner of his own passing he would probably have scripted the exact same scene- but thirty years later. He will be missed, but not forgotten. Please look at the pictures I have taken of Patrick which are in my photo gallery, and if you click on the link below you will see a crude video of our flight from Long Lake which was taken from the back seat of Tom Helms' Cessna on September 12, 2012. Pat was in the front seat and you only get glimpses of his back, but you can tell he was having a good time. I will never forget that special day with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbQIHRLH6YY

My visit to the Upstate Medical School yesterday

I had the honor and pleasure of addressing 90 MD and PA students last night at Weiskotten Hall on the campus of the Upstate Medical school in Syracuse at the kind invitiation of David Kolva MD. I presented an illustrated powerpoint talk that shows what it is like to practice rural primary care in the Adirondacks, and what it takes to be a successful rural practitioner. The audience was attentive and asked a lot of great questions afterward. I have already received a nice email from one of the students which I will paste below along with a panorama of the great lecture room and the rural primary care class. I would like to thank Dr. Kolva and the Upstate Medical School for giving me the chance to influence the next generation of rural family docotrs and PAs. Here is what one student said in an email that I received before I even got home:

My name is Danielle and I am an MS1 at Upstate who was at your lecture tonight. I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming to speak with us (I would have come down to the front of the hall to say so but you looked like you had a crowd). Your talk was very inspirational, and as someone who wants to practice family med in a rural NY area it was the perfect message for me. Your pictures and stories are beautiful, and I even ordered your book for my dad for Christmas. He is an internist in Elmira, coincidently he also did his residency on Long Island, but he moved upstate to experience the beauty and lack of dense population! I'm sure he'll love your book. So thanks again for your lecture and for all that you do!

Back into the woods

Well, the second half of my article in Adirondac was published recently, so it's time to return to the woods for another adventure of the League of Extraordinary Adirondack Gentlemen! (Although the publishers of Adirondac magazine ironically left out the word Adirondack  in our title both on the cover and title of the second article!)

Anyway, thanks to Mike Prescott, Adirondack historian and guide extraordinaire and the newest member of our League, we will be able to appreciate the rich history of our destination, Low's Lake, because of a very detailed and interesting description of the history and topography of the area that Mike prepared for our trip. Apparently the weather will be excellent too! Hopefully all members of the Adirondack Mountain Club, who receive the Adirondac  magazine, will be able to read about it next summer.  

The Adirondack Way

Here is where I post new projects, time-sensitive announcements and miscellaneous rants!

May 3, 2012- Look for the first of a two-part illustrated article in the Adirondack Mountain Club's Adirondac magazine about the latest outing of the League of Extraordinary Adirondack Gentlemen! It will be published in the May-June issue, with the second half appearing in the July-August issue. Here are a few thumbnail images from that outing: