It isn’t summer any more. Most of the tourists have long since gone home. The boat liveries are closed, the canoes are up on racks. The beaches belong to coots and sea gulls. The ice cream shops are closed. And here we’re left, in the towns that live and die on the summer trade.

*So what about US? What do WE do, all winter long?

*Well, there’s no reason to stop visiting the summer towns. There’s actually still a lot going on. (Though you should check for winter hours.)

*In HAMMONDSPORT (south end of Keuka Lake), as long as the day’s not too windy you can still stroll the streets and appreciate the dramatic scenery of the little village in the deep cleft… a cleft that it shares with the Lake to the north, and Pleasant Valley to the west and south.

*There are a couple of antique stores still open year-round, and one just outside the village, on State Route 54.

*You should really visit the Glenn Curtiss Museum… 56,000 square feet of pioneering aviation and motorcycling history.

*You can find a comfortable chair at the Fred and Harriet Taylor Memorial Library, and open up a book. Or a magazine. Or your laptop.

*Drive up to the other end of the Lake at PENN YAN, and you’ll find two bookstores (one new books, one used books) just a block or so apart. Besides new books, Long’s also has cards, gifts, and office supplies.

*Penn Yan has a museum complex at Yates County History Center, and an art gallery at the Arts Center of Yates County… both on Main Street. Also on Main is Penn Yan Public Library, where the original part of the building was donated by Andrew Carnegie.

*Take a stroll and enjoy the architecture of the historic business district (blending into fine homes and churches), or drop down to water level and hike (yes, even in winter if conditions permit) on the Keuka Outlet Trail. At times you can watch the ice fishers on the East Branch. There’s a triplex movie theater on the edge of town.

*If conditions permit, you can walk out on the pier and the docks at WATKINS GLEN (south end of Seneca Lake). Watkins has an old-fashioned downtown walk-in movie theater (The Glen), so see if they’re playing something you’d like.

*Even when it’s chilly you can stroll the streets to see memorials for racing drivers, set into the sidewalk, and wall-art murals celebrating the Glen’s ongoing racing heritage.

*You can also stop in at the Motor Racing Research Center, to see which historic racing cars are now on show in the lobby. Go down the hall, and you enter Watkins Glen Public Library.

*Main Street has two antique shops, a fiber arts store, an art gallery, and Famous Brands.

*At GENEVA (Seneca’s north end) try out lunch at the elegant Belhurst Castle. You could also visit Geneva History Museum at the 1829 Prouty-Chew House..

*CANANDAIGUA (north end of the lake of the same name) has a comic book store, a needlework store, a used book store, art galleries, antique shops, Unique Toy Shop, and lots more… the mile-long Main Street is still a thriving site for business and shopping. You can learn a little about “olden days” at the Ontario County Historical Museum. Or you could spend some time at Wood Library… all on Main Street!

*Anyway, don’t mope. There’s still lots to do!