Jay Gaulard Blog

Phillies Bridge Farm Project CSA

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Laura and I took a walk down to a local shop yesterday for some really neat little candles, lotions and even honey. This shop is run by one of our neighbors, so we were very pleased to give her some business.

During our visit, we started talking about food. We mentioned that our local supermarket doesn’t have the greatest produce in the world…well, not in the middle of Winter anyway. Even in the Summer, there is something to be desired. Our neighbor started talking about the Phillies Bridge Farm Project CSA up near New Paltz. She said they have great produce and that people can buy “shares” of the season’s crop. She also mentioned that they have a great website that offers all sorts of good information on their program.

I gave the website a once over last night and found a very interesting program. Local people (who eat a lot of produce) are able to buy shares of each crop. The benefits of this must be weighed with the risks. People pay the farmers upfront, so the farmers are protected throughout the season. If it’s a great season, there is tons of food to go around. If the season is terrible, people don’t get all that much food. I think it’s a pretty fun thing to do overall.

Wherever we end up, I am definitely going to look for a similar program to this one. I really enjoy getting involved in stuff like this.

Peace out.

Driving Up The Shawangunk Ridge - New Paltz, NY

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

I don’t have much time to write this because Lost is on in twenty minutes. This is going to be a crazy episode. If you are interested in theories about the show, click here to read some. This is my favorite one, by far.

Ok, so Laura and I drove up to the store today, but this time, we took a different way than we normally do. We usually drive up Rt.209, but this time we took Rt.44/55 through the ridge towards Kerhonkson. I wanted to drive this way because of my itch to get out of the normal routine. It worked pretty well because I feel good right now. That may be because I just had a beer though.

I did take some video of the trip. There are so many nice things to see…I just wish I was a better videographer. Oh well, I’ll learn. Here are the videos…

Videos of the Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Ahhhhh…this is my last one.

I am trying to upload all my old videos and this is it. Thank freaking goodness. Now, I can erase this from my todo list. One of these days, I am going to get rid of that list altogether.

One summer long ago, Laura and I decided to visit the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz. You know, it’s part of the ridge. Anyway, I took some video in the back part, near the lake. That’s the best part anyway. That’s the part everyone comes to see. One of these days, we are going to paddle around in one of those canoes.

Here is some video…

Thanksgiving at the Red Lion Inn

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Wow, what a night. Laura and I had a great Thanksgiving dinner at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA.

This is becoming quite the tradition with us. I while back, Laura and I decided to start a new tradition of going out to eat at different inns and restaurants located in different parts of…the area. Apparently, we have developed a few favorites.

I remember the first one we went to. It was New Year’s Eve. We went to the Hudson House in Cold Spring, NY. Since then, we have been to the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA, the Village Inn in Lenox, MA, Old Drovers Inn in Dover Plains, NY, Fife’n Drum in Kent, CT, Bar, Barnaby’s in New Paltz and a few others I can’t remember. We really like the tradition.

Last night’s dinner was great. I was so nice to see the entire dining room full of people all dressed up. Of course, Laura and I looked marvelous, as usual.

Here’s a picture of the Inn at night…

Antigone at S.U.N.Y. New Paltz

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Laura and I went up to New Paltz this past sunday for another show. This time, the show was called, “Antigone.” Now, you may think it’s strange that I wrote it that way, but I have actually never heard of this.

Here is a short description…

“One of the great tragedies of the ancient Greek theatre, “Antigone” is the story of a young girl with the will to rise up alone against the forces of government, culture, and family to live and die for her beliefs.”

It was a good show. I think the students, as usual, did a great job. I did have a little problem this time. We didn’t sit in the front row, like we did last time, so there was no place for me to stretch my legs. I kept having to move around the whole time, because I have trouble sitting still. I think this stems from my childhood, when I was a bad boy.

Oh well. I think we are going to wait until the Spring semester to go up for the next show.

The Pirates of Penzance at SUNY New Paltz

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Last night, Laura and I went to a wonderful show at SUNY New Paltz. We saw “The Pirates of Penzance.” Good thing we did, because last night was the last show.

As you may know, I have a little problem when I get frustrated. I tend to complain about it. People don’t like to hear me complain, so sometimes, they fix my problem for me. Laura is one of those people. The other night, I was complaining that we don’t do enough with the resources we live near. One of those resources in the college up in New Paltz. The college was actually one of the things we were excited to have nearby when we first came to this area. I am always thinking, “How the heck do we get away from the losers who ride out tails on the roads…the ones who just seem to be mean spirited? How do we hang out with people like us?” I guess all we had to do was to go to a show up at the college.

There were all types of people up there, from students to retired to us. I guess we were middle of the road folk. There were a lot of parents coming to see their kids put on a performance too. It felt so good to be on a campus again, feeling the buzz of excitement of all that college has to offer. I really do miss it.

Anyway, about the show…it was really good. I was so impressed by what these kids could do. I mean, it was like they were professionals. I like the casual atmosphere of the audience and the way the performers catered to them. They really seemed to connect.

I think there are two performances each semester, so from now on, we are going to go to them. How’s that for an idea to get out of the house to chill with people like us?

Visiting High Falls, NY

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

On Sunday, Laura and I decided to hop in the car for a drive. We crossed over the ridge and jumped on Rt.209 heading North. We drove through a few back roads in the Stone Ridge, NY area, which was nice. I told Laura that I wanted to visit High Falls, NY, because we had driven through there before and I liked the area. It is tucked in the ridge, near some pretty historic things like the Depuy Canal House and the Old Stone Aqueduct.

Since I am a walking blog, I decided to take some photos…

This is one of those old signs that I love so much. Obviously, I like to take pictures of these things. This one desribes the “Old Depuy House.”

This is the Old Depuy House itself.

After walking around a little bit, we passed another old sign, the “Old Stone Aqueduct” one.

And this is the Old Stone Aqueduct, or part of it anyway. I am pretty organized aren’t I? I am not sure of the story behind this water system and the web didn’t offer too much. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.

We decided to eat because we were hungry. Laura knew of a Sushi place in the Depuy House because she had seen signs while passing by.

Here is the entrance to the restaurant. It was downstairs in the old wine cellar.

I secretly took some pictures from our table. This is what I love about the area…hidden little treasures like this as well as all the history. It’s not as historic as Europe, but I think it will do.

After we ate and left the restaurant, we walked around a bit. There was some sort of a yard sale going on with a bunch of tables. We strolled through. I kept thinking of my parents. They would’ve enjoyed it because they love browsing through these types of things. I also grabbed a few more pictures.

On the way out, we decided to take a road that is less traveled. We drove from High Falls to the entrance of the Mohonk Mountain House and then down to New Paltz. Above is a photo of the Catskill Mountains that I grabbed while driving up the hill.

I would say it was a pretty good day. Anything to get us out exploring the area when the sun is shining is a good day.

Hiking at Minnewaska State Park

Thursday, September 7th, 2006

Welcome to one of the wonders of the world…well almost. It should be anyway.

Early this Spring, Laura and I decided to take our first motorcycle ride through the ridge. It was one of the first nice warm days of the year, so it was perfect for the type of ride we wanted to take. We decided to ride to Minnewaska State Park. I have heard a lot about the park, but from some reason, I always thought it was this big flat field. I was shocked at what I discovered.

We got there by taking Rt. 55 from New Paltz towards Kerhonkson, NY. It is a really nice ride on a motorcycle. When you get to the bottom of the ridge and start climbing the mountain road, it gets pretty intense. There is a sharp hairpin turn there that will scare the hell out of you if you don’t follow the 5MPH speed limit. We kept riding up the mountain and saw the best view over the Hudson Valley on the left and rock climbers on the right, through the trees. About 5 miles in on the left hand side is the park. There is a dirt road with a small booth run by New York State Parks. I rolled up and gave the lady $6 for the entrance fee. I asked where the waterfall that everyone talks about was (Awosting Falls). She said to follow the dirt road about two miles to the parking area (it was really about 25 feet in on the left. I am surprised she didn’t hear the water falling). Anyway, we followed the dirt road all the way in and arrived at some spectacular views. There were people playing in the field and the most tranquil lake you would ever see, just sitting all the way up at the top of this mountain. I was really impressed by it.

We decided to park the bike and hike to the other side of the lake, where you could see the Catskill Mountains as a backdrop.

We passed a really nice little wooden bridge with the path going underneath it and some quiet picnic areas.

When we got to the top of the area, where we could get the best view, we found a great field for football, baseball or whatever. The breeze was great up there, so you would be fine on even a hot day.

We must have asked about 5 people where the waterfall was. No one knew. They were all probably looking around just like us. We wandered back down the trail to continue our quest for Awosting Falls. With no luck up in that part of the park and with it getting dark, we decided to hop back on the bike and head for the gate. On our way to the gate, we noticed a little trail with a small sign on it: Awosting Falls. Ah ha! We parked the bike and walked down the path for a few hundred feet. The setting sun was so nice glistening off the river water. It is things like that I will remember forever. We finally got to the falls and were pretty excited. They had a very nice drop and reminded me of the falls up in Ithaca, NY