Ada, Arbor

When to begin? It began with Ava. Well, I don't know how far back plans were made to take a trip to Ida. They were going to see Edie there. All I know is that when Ava and the rest of them all made a stop here on their trip south was the first I heard of it. Except that I remember when I first met her I mispronounced her name, I said "Eva."



Not long after, my own travelling plans began to take shape. I knew the route would take me across old Iroquois territories. There was initially some vexation over placenames; was the destination on lake Otsego, in Otsego county? Or was it the somewhere in the city of Oswego, on the shores of lake Ontario, the seat of Oswego county? As the Susquehanna runs south from its headwaters at lake Otsego, it passes first through Otego, then 70 miles downriver through Owego. I prepared a sheaf of maps and set off; soon I was in the clear air and brilliant sun and the trouble with these names ceased to bother me. As I passed to the east of Cortland, heading toward the north country, I was spurred on by thoughts of the great orchards that lay ahead of me.