Returning

We walked up the pathway from the Quinn’s lovely old farmhouse in Hartwick towards our car after dinner. Their porch light went off and we were suddenly again aware of the deep black country sky we had lived under just up the road. Orion was high in the sky, and brilliant. I had not forgotten the wonder of the dark sky, but it was still stunning. We’ve lived with the Bay Area’s light pollution for the last eighteen months, and I have missed that big dark sky. I’ve missed always knowing what phase the moon was in, and which planets I was seeing. I’ve missed the awareness of being on a planet that circles the sun turning towards it and away. California has much to recommend it, but a dark sky is not on that list.

We lived up Gulf Road from the Quinns between January of 2018 and May of 2021. They were wonderful neighbors, and will be again in six months. It was like slipping on comfortable shoes to visit with them again. Dinner at the Quinns marked the end of a productive and delightful week in Cooperstown, visiting pals and making plans for our move back. Tamar and Ryder came up and spent the weekend with us, which was an extra treat. With my foot still in the open toed post-surgical shoe, I was grateful that there was no snow. But waking to 11 degrees, we knew it was winter.

We’ve developed the habit of spending our first night in NY in a hotel right near the Albany airport and driving down to Cooperstown the next morning. We could shave a few minutes off the drive by taking the freeway, but it’s much pleasanter to take route 155 to route 20 and have two or at most four lanes all the way, passing through towns where the speed limit drops and easing our way back into upstate. We cross the Schoharie at Esperance, a town that doesn’t look all that hopeful. The great wide views of hills and little towns slide by until, just before Sharon Springs, we enter Otsego County. Home. Looking out to the north over the Mohawk Valley I feel how old this country is, and I think of the people who lived here long before the European invaders came. We called the Europeans “settlers” when I was in school, as if this land had not already been settled for thousands of years. We can’t reasonably give the land back to the Iroquois Confederacy, although they would probably be much wiser stewards. The best we can do is work to learn about them and from them, to make up for the dreadful deficiencies and half truths in our education, and to take care of the land we seized from them. We can drive slowly, cherish the open country, and wonder at the night sky.

We’ve tried out several variations on our plans for moving back to Otsego County, but after this visit our plan feels well settled. The renovations on the main house in Hartwick are very nearly done, and Bea is already hunting up a tenant for me. Jay came up with an excellent design for the one bedroom unit we separated off at the back of the house, and that’s where we’ll live when we move back this summer. The house in Cooperstown is rented to Bassett Hospital for newly arriving nurses, and although their lease ends in July, we’ll offer to extend it to September or October if they need it, since it’s so hard for the nurses to find housing in Cooperstown during the summer tourist season. As soon as Bassett can give up the house, we’ll start the remodel. We simplified our plans for the house, so the work shouldn’t take more than six months. We’ll be living in Cooperstown by next spring.

We have plenty to keep us busy while we’re in California – friends and family to visit, a great granddaughter to get to know. I’ll have another foot surgery. I always want to stay focused on the present, to enjoy each day right where I am. But visiting with James and Lillian, having dinner in the warmth of the Heustis family, having lunch with Silvio at his Hartwick Restaurant, being close enough to Tamar and Ryder for a weekend visit, having breakfast at Stagecoach Coffee, seeing the Mohawk Valley in the morning and the dark sky at night, every minute of the week we spent there made me want to be back as soon as we can be.