Posted by Delfina
on 6/26/2009, 7:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Hot Summer Days - a Grumpy Reminiscence"
I didn't do a whole lot of swimming in Ballston Lake - it was so deep that it scared my mother, so my father and I went swimming there only when she went to town - the Lakeview Inn had a wooden float anchored about 1/3 of the way out that was big enough for probably 6 people to sit on. Besides - that water was COLD!! Mostly we went boating - we had an old wooden boat with an outboard motor - great fun to zip around and around the lake, and then to stop here and there so I could pick water lillies. We kept the boat tied up at the Inn's dock all summer long. If we wanted to swim we either went to the private beach at Brown's Lake - you paid for a season pass, it was a gentle slope rather than a glacially-carved dropoff, and there was grass to sit on and trees to shelter from the sun - a MUCH more pleasant way to spend the day rhan being grumpy at Jones Beach. Or we'd go to the pool at the Gideon Putnam Hotel - my grandparents had worked out some sort of deal with the management because the family had summered in the area for generations and knew everybody. Again - the water was COLD - but I always had a ball there.
There was a dime store near the Ballston Spa liberry - almost right across the street - in those days. I still have the sampler I bought there and dilligently embroidered in the evenings (no TV reception out where our cottage was). SO much better than spending time shaking sand out of everything (and everyWHERE).
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