LOCALadk Magazine

65 Summer 2016 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk Astral Designs Review Finding the proper fitting life jacket can be tricky yet es- sential to a safe and comfortable time in a boat. New York State passed a law in which anyone riding in a vessel less than twenty-one feet between November first and May first are re- quired to wear a Personal Flotation Device (PFD). We believe the safest thing is to always wear a PFD when paddling on the water. Astral Designs is a company that makes, in our opinion, very comfortable PFD's. For the women we tested the Layla. This specific style has been successful for Astral Designs for over 20 years. It is designed to conform to the curve of a woman's body. We found that the fit allowed for freedom of move- ment with each paddle stroke. The panels are hinged which help the jacket conform to an individual body shape. The straps are quick and easy to adjust. We wore it while we pad- dled a few different styles of canoes and kayaks and found it worked best in kayaks with a lower backrest and in any kind of canoe. For men we tested the Norge, it received a thumbs up for fit and durability. Both jackets contain a filling that is organic, Kapok. It is a buoy- ant plant fiber that comes from the seedpod of the Kapok tree. Astral Designs claims it is the most sustainable buoyant material they know of. For the paddler it means a comfortable PFD that is not stiff or rigid but instead conforms to your body shape for maximum comfort and freedom of movement. Many of our local outdoor stores carry Astral Designs PFD's, visit www.astraldesigns.com to find a shop near you. Author Sheila Myers shares some of her inspiration for the first two books in her trilogy on the Durant family history. If you enjoy historical fiction about the Adirondacks and some of the families that lived in the Great Camps, then these two books should be on your list. Hoss's Country Corner in Long Lake will again be hosting an Authors Night on Tuesday Au- gust 9th. This is a great opportunity to pick up some new Ad- irondack books and of course, meet the authors. Adirondacks and the Creative Mind by Sheila Myers A few summers ago I was sitting on a porch watching a thunderstorm sweep across Raquette Lake with my husband and some friends. One friend, Jack, is an artist. I am a writer. He and I spent the entire time trying to describe the weather in both color and emo- tion. "Monochromatic," he said. "Tempestuous," I replied. As the sky across the lake went from a disturbing white to a curtain of gray that veiled the trees on the horizon from our view, the water churned with pelting rain and a wall of moisture came marching toward us. The spectacular sights and sounds the storm created that evening were ethereal, a quality I tend to associate with the Adirondacks. Inspiring. Maybe that's why I wrote a book about one of the men who first saw the beauty of the area and tried to mimic it in his own art: architecture. His name was William West Durant and he was brought to the Adirondacks by his father Dr. Durant in 1874. Dr. Durant had bought up a half million acres between 1865-69 for a pittance at State tax sales and had many lofty ideas for what to do with the land; mainly he wanted to build a railroad that would car- ry people through the wilderness and on to Canada. And he wanted his son William to help him. But in the decades following his father's death William ex- hausted whatever money and time he had available toward building his Great Camps Pine Knot, Uncas and Sagamore. His motivations for doing so are not such a mystery. William was drawn to the natural beauty of this wilderness like so many other artists. He too witnessed the sunsets, storm clouds and sunrises over Blue Mountain and felt compelled to emulate their quality in his archi- tecture. His muse was the beauty around him and it motivated him to create something that others would revere, admire and remember. And they do. Each year people flock to tour his still intact Great Camps on Raquette and Mohegan Lakes in the Adirondacks. They are all considered National Landmarks. William's story doesn't have a happy ever after end- ing. He died a pauper in 1934. Indeed, his second wife was so broke that Harold Hochschild, who was writing his biography at the time, paid for his funer- al expenses. William however knew it wasn't wealth that he would be remembered for, like the men who eventually bought his camps, contemporaries of the Gilded Age: Alfred Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan and Collis P. Huntington. Indeed, in a letter dated 1933, a year before his death, William wrote to an old family friend Poult- ney Bigelow, "I may be poor, but I am happy." Sheila Myers is writing a historical fiction trilogy on the Durant family. The first two books in the trilogy are avail- able in regional ADK bookstores and online. Her website is a chronicle of her research journey. Follow her online at http://www.wwdurantstory.com/ Book Review

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