During Ithaca’s overcast winter months described perfectly in the Horseflies’ tune, “I Live Where It’s Grey,” it’s easy to become isolated, lonely, depressed. Ugh! Meanwhile, the warm cheer of the casual dinner party seems to be gasping its last breaths. What a waste of potential good conver…
It’s early morning deep into December in the Finger Lakes. You are driving along one of the deserted wine routes in the region. The temperature is in the lower teens. The vineyards along the road look barren and desolate in the snowy landscape. Yet in the distance, you spy a few workers movi…
In common with many arts communities, Ithaca’s runs a monthly gallery open house on a set date each month. Run by the Downtown Ithaca Alliance with sponsorship from the Tompkins Trust Company and the Community Arts Partnership, Gallery Night Ithaca hosts exhibit receptions from 5 to 8 p.m. o…
Bird-watching is one of Ithaca’s most popular outdoor activities year-round, as migratory patterns mean hundreds of different bird species are present during different seasons throughout the year and provide the potential for a unique experience each trip.
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“It breathes reassurance, it offers consolation; after a weary day it promotes sociability. . . There is nothing like a bowl of hot soup.”
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We are having real winter weather this year, and, when it isn’t frigid, we can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities locally. Back in the good old days people enjoyed much of the same fun, but outdoor recreation has definitely changed a lot since then. Sledding down the Buffalo Street hill w…
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Ice climbing in Ithaca has long been a hidden treasure of sorts, outlawed officially but not strictly enforced, and the area’s gorges make it an attractive destination for climbers looking for an acceptable spot to ply their trade.
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If talking about the weather is considered to be one of the easiest ice breakers for a casual conversation between strangers, then discussing winter – and whether or not you enjoy it or not – may be the meteorological equivalent of talking politics at the dinner table.
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There’s a certain something special about the solitude nature provides. For the initiated, there’s nothing comparable a jaunt up a desolate hill in the dense forests of the county’s southern expanses.
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Ithaca’s fierce winters can make transportation and outdoor activities a difficult task, having to fight ice, snow and frigid temperatures with a hilly geography to get around from November to April.
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19th Annual Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-off, Saturday, February 11, 11:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
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In the winter of 1899, a group of Cornell students came up with a novel idea for what would become a staple of the university’s winters festivities for decades to come.
The last thing you need when it’s 10 degrees outside with snow on the ground is a bathing suit. Right? Wrong. Thanks to Greek Peak’s Hope Lodge—home of the 41,000-square-foot Cascades Indoor Waterpark—there is good reason to keep a bathing suit at the ready all year long in the Finger Lakes …
Is there a difference between “hot chocolate” and “hot cocoa”? Definitely. Making hot chocolate involves shaving bittersweet chocolate into milk, cream and sugar and then heating it up to melt it. Hot cocoa is made with water, sugar, and powdered cocoa with just a few tablespoons of milk or …
“Dr. Kilgore at Cayuga Ridge saved my life, twice. One day he said to me, ‘Eddie, I have no idea why you’re still alive.”
If you really like wine, winter is the best time to visit the tasting rooms of the Finger Lakes wine trails. During the summer the tasting bars are mobbed by those who are being introduced to wine as a backdrop for a floating party. Limousines and even tour buses full of newbies are driven f…
Ever since cavemen and their mates tamed fire and learned to craft cooking vessels, humans have been nourished and consoled by warming bowls of soup. Nothing’s easier, whether you toss ingredients for a quick turn in a pressure cooker, return home to a slow cooker’s fragrant bounty, or enjoy…
Brrrrrr-r-r-r! Baby, its cold outside! And when the weather inside is nearly as frightful indoors as out, we all have our tricks for chill mitigation. A practical friend warms her sheets with a hairdryer before hopping into bed. Another tosses her towel and day’s clothes into the dryer for a…
The name “port” itself brings to mind warmth, deep color, rich flavors—all the snug-harbor feelings one wants when the weather is cold. Originally from Oporto, Portugal, the fortified, grape-based beverage has a growing New World following, though it is often called something else to avoid a…
When it’s 15 degrees out with a steady presence of wind gusts and flurries, it’s easy to convince yourself to stay on your couch, bundled up in sweat clothes, figuring out what you’ve yet to watch on Netflix. But in Ithaca’s neighboring towns there are destinations that are close enough to w…
It is written that there are two types of people: those who endure winter and those who embrace it. Is it mere nostalgia, or does it seem like winters were more exciting and dramatic years ago? Look at the pictures and winter just seems like it was more fun back in the day. Maybe there were …
Well, it’s winter again in upstate New York. A difficult season at best.
The fields around Long Point Winery appear desolate this time of year, but short-eared owls have wandered south from Canada to hunt for voles and mice in just this kind of habitat. “Even if I'm not getting pictures, they're just so fun to watch,” said Sarah Blodgett, an Ithaca-based photogra…
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