Relaxin’ at Minnowbrook

Minnowbrook then

In the mountains, there you feel free

And so we do, at the Minnowbrook Conference Centre beside Blue Mountain Lake in the heart of the Adirondacks. The park was colonised a century ago by rich New Yorkers escaping the torrid Manhattan summer. The lake is clear, cool and hospitable to canoes, kayaks and swimmers. There are bears in the woods.

This is the revival by Roy Sykes and Garth Foster of the APL Implementors’ conferences that were held here until 9 years ago. We swim, canoe, eat and talk tech.

Global warming Meanwhile, my sister Joanne has returned to England from her mountaineering course in Switzerland, where other members of her course, while climbing Mt Blanc, found a jacuzzi at the top.