26/ Places: Lake Wallenpaupack

I never watched "The Office" on TV, mostly because the jumpy camerawork was uncomfortable for me, But one of the B-level stations offered an Office marathon yesterday, and I turned it on in the middle of an episode. The staff was on a boat, and I'm sure I must have blinked several times when I saw the name of it: The Lake Wallenpaupack Princess. I don't know if there really is a boat by that name, but I know Lake Wallenpaupack very well. It's what brought us to this part of the country 50 years ago. (I just realized it's been 50 years . . . wow!)

Joe and I were living in Midtown, and after visiting friends at their weekend house in CT we decided it would be nice to have a weekend house in the country ourselves. I grew up summering on the saltwaters of Long Island, and wanted to head in that direction. Joe grew up on Lake George, and had a strong preference for fresh water. I said, "Well, at least we can have a boat then." So we got out a map to see what was in a manageable radius of Manhattan, and there was this lovely 14-mile long lake. Lake Wallenpaupack. Without any idea of how to pronounce it, off we went to look at real estate.

I wish I could say we bought lakefront property and now it's worth millions--because it would be. But property taxes surely increased proportionally to the value of the property, and I'm certain I wouldn't own that property anymore. Instead, we bought a little house on two acres a few miles from the lake, and then we bought a boat. A few years later we bought a bigger boat: my dad's, which he towed up from Florida.

We had so many good times on that lake. When my three stepdaughters started spending every other weekend with us we did a lot of water skiing. The boat could pull several skiers, and we had a blast. I haven't water skied in many years, but I'll never forget the feeling of rising out of the water, crossing wake, etc. And intentionally dropping a ski, because I never mastered the technique of a deep-water start on one ski.

I'm laughing about one memory that just surfaced. The girls (all gorgeous teenagers) and I were lying down in the boat, invisible thanks to the high transoms, when some nuisance boater came by and said something nasty to Joe for whatever reason. Immediately the four of us stood up, middle fingers extended. LOL The guy took off like a shot.

Here's Lake Wallenpaupack just a few years ago, in March. I still stop by occasionally.

21 - 25 / Childhood Places

My parents lived in Greenwich Village when I was born, but moved to Queens when I was still very young. They chose an apartment in Woodside because it came with tennis courts. My parents met playing tennis, and loved the game. We lived on the third floor, and our apartment's windows faced the front and side of the 6-story building. It's possible the building was fairly new when we moved in. The lobby was rather grand, and the staircases and hallways were marble. I still remember the woodwork in the elevator, which my friends and I used most of the time.

The sidewalk in front of the building was our playground--the perfect surface to accommodate hopscotch or jump rope. Oh, those jump rope games! Running in . . . running out. Double Dutch. No phones in front of our faces. And we never sat.

For a long time the building had a vacant lot in back of it. We played games sometimes there too, and on occasion the adults would build a bonfire. The lot sat between our apartment building and the movie theater. That's where my friends and I could be found most Saturday afternoons. Back then we were offered double features, usually with a newsreel in between. Of course we ignored the newsreels. And of course we ate popcorn--probably made with real butter.

If you walked out the front entrance to our building, turned right at the corner, and walked past the building and then the vacant lot and the side of the movie theater, you'd come to another corner. If you turned right again, you'd be "down front." That's what we called the strip of store fronts that made up the block. The front of the movie theater was there, as well as a jewelry story, produce market, a bar, and our favorite teenage hangout, the Greeks. The Greeks was named something else entirely, but I can't remember what. We always called it the Greeks.  It was a soda fountain/luncheonette. When we weren't inside drinking Cokes or eating hamburgers, we congregated outside. You know those videos you've seen of teenagers from the 1950s, harmonizing on a street corner? That was us, except we weren't singing.

I went to five schools: PS 151 for Kindergarten through 4th grade, St. Joseph's Academy (a Catholic convent boarding school) for 5th and 6th grades, PS 10 for half of 7th grade, Lutheran school for the rest of 7th and 8th grades, and Bryant High school for the next four years. It was difficult to transition from the sheltered environment of the convent to rude and crude (or so it seemed to me) PS 10.  I did better at Lutheran school, although the thing I remember best about it was the disappointment of the teacher, who had counted on me to be the star of the big, multi-school spelling bee. I was disqualified early on for failing to spell ocean.

In the photo above, the vacant lot has been turned into a parking lot. And there's the back of the movie theater. It all looks so drab and rather barren, but of course that's not how it seemed at the time.

17 - 20/ Places I Could Have Gone

A recent widower whom I've known for years invited me to go to Mexico with him. He's a lovely man, but it wouldn't have worked. So I said no.

A recent widower whom I've known for decades invited me to go to Tuscany with him. He's a great guy, but it wouldn't have worked. So I said no.

A friend-who-was-more-than-a-friend wanted very much to take me to Germany and Scandinavia. He was attentive and generous (plus I have a thing for Norway), but it wasn't working. So I said no.

One of my best friends owns a house in England, and I have an open invitation. But at this point I don't have the energy and stamina to consider it. We continue our friendship on American soil, and the same is true for all the above.