When James came to The Point to help me out, we tossed a coin to see who would be responsible for what. I got bed-making, he got the kitchen.

After a while, we decided I should concentrate on our guests, and James became the General Manager and Head Chef. Every day after breakfast, he drove our pick-up the 45 minutes into Lake Placid to see what he could find to make for lunch and dinner.

The only choice was what was in the cases of the local Grand Union, and many a day, when the only vegetable was carrots, he had quite a challenge. Back he would come, prepare lunch, join our guests at table, water-ski the 65-mile sinuous shoreline, prepare dinner, and host one of the two round tables.

Many of our guests were highly-recognizable figures from the world of government, medicine, business, and the law - what a rewarding experience for us all!

This is not the place to go into the depths of my mother's family; suffice it to say they were canny Scots from the Sutherland Highlands. I wore the kilt every day we lived at The Point; it seemed appropriate in the wilds of the Adirondack high-lands. On Saturday nights, black tie was the norm. This is the kilt equivalent.