I took a few days off work this week. After reading two mysteries and cleaning the house I decided it was time to continue the daunting task of purging. This has meant pulling boxes of photos and memorabilia out of closets and crawl spaces and being as ruthless as possible. The tour books, postcards and duplicate photos- scraps of paper and receipts- none of these are the keepers of the memories for me- those still exist in my mind (at least for awhile longer).
I would like to share a photo from 1961. Yours truly is about 3 years old and seated between Otto and Ernestine, keepers of “The State House” a home that sat at the intersection of a dirt road and the headwaters of North Lake, Atwell, NY. Otto and Ernestine raised their sons there and managed the maintenance of the Black River and dam system fed by the lake.
My family and I spent decades building summer memories at North Lake. In this instance, it only took one photo to open a window on so many other images…
West Seventh Freelance 
Always great memories when you pull out the old photos. The receipts must’ve been fun to look at and seeing how so many things were inexpensive in the “olden days”. I found one diner receipt from 1966 – dinner for four was not quite $8. Today, that barely feeds two persons at BK or McD.
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