Kaatskills #AtoZChallenge

On K day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, some may object that I am cheating, that I am blogging about the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York and not the Kaatskill.

Kaatskill is a variant spelling of what we know today as the Catskills, but, in 1656, this was called the "Landt van Kats Kill" on a map.

A small part of the Cat...I mean Kaatskills jut into the eastern part of the county (Broome) where I live but most of it lies to the east.  For almost thirty years, we traveled through the Kaatskills on our way to visit my mother in law.  

This past summer we had to make the trip almost every weekend for several months, while we helped to take care of my elderly mother in law after surgery and downsized her so we could bring her up here to be closer to us and a couple of other relatives.

The road stretched before us, an almost three hour trip each way.

Remember Woodstock?  You are probably aware the Woodstock music festival of August, 1969 did not take place in Woodstock but in the town of Bethel, in the Katskill Mountains.  There is now a museum on the property and, sadly, we never had a chance to visit it.  We still hope to, one day.

 A large Jewish tourist population (and a number of year round residents) makes for a fascinating selection of kosher baked goods at a local supermarket.

A bench in the Kaatskill town of Roscoe, which calls itself Trout Town USA.

As grueling as the weekly drives were (especially for my spouse, who did the driving), I have some fond memories of some of the things we learned, and experienced, in those several months.  Strange how life is like that.  The hard work, the tiredness, drop away from memory and what is left are the lessons life has taught us.

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.

Today was "K" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenges.