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…
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Friday, November 23rd, 2007
Remember that time I told you about me going up in an ultralight at Randall Airport in Middletown? Well, I have a short video clip of the ultralight pulling out of its parking spot and starting to taxi towards the runway.
I remember this event well. Hmmm…
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Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
I continue to play with the video portion of my camera. I took a few more videos of the cats and dog, but I didn’t think any were worthy of the blog. I did get 18 views of the fat Simon cat one so far on YouTube.
I was going for a drive the other morning and I decided to take out the camera. I thought it would be neat to get a video of me crossing the Newburgh/Beacon Bridge. I am not sure why I did this…perhaps someone will think it’s cool. Either way, placing videos on YouTube is a great way to promote your website.
Here she is…
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Thursday, November 15th, 2007
I went to the auto parts store yesterday to get some oil, an oil filter, some windshield washer fluid and an air tank. I have wanted an air tank for some time because I am getting a little sick of filling things up with a bicycle tire pump.
I went to AutoZone in Beacon, NY because it was pretty close to where I was. They had everything I needed, which was nice. I grabbed everything and the last air tank.
On the way home from work, I stopped off at the local gas station to get some air. I used the self-service air pump off to the side of things. I guess I got about 55lbs of fresh, clean, clear stuff into the tank. That’s ok, but the tank can handle 125lbs. I lost a little because I was fiddling with the attachments. Oh well.
It seems as thought I got this tank just in time, because I arrived home to see two tons of wood pellets sitting in the driveway. Yeah, I would need the wheelbarrow for that. I used my new tank to fill up the tire and went to work.
Adiós.
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Monday, October 29th, 2007
Well, there may have been frost already in New York somewhere. This was our first frost, anyway.
I was looking at the weather forecast yesterday on Weather.com and there was a “Severe Weather Alert” for our town. I was wondering what it was…a hurricane, a tornado…a flood? No, it was a freezing alert telling people to bring their plants in. How nice of them. I wouldn’t say that the first frost is severe, but perhaps for gardeners it is.
I kind of like it. Around this time every year, I think of moving up to the middle of nowhere in Vermont. Poor Laura has to hear about my dreams of being a mountian man or a yuppie couple out of a L.L. Bean catalog. I don’t quite know why I would want to move where it’s colder than it is here. Maybe it’s because there is sort of a tranquility with the cold. People move slower and are less rude. When there is a snow storm, it seems like we are all on the same side. To me, that’s nice. It certainly is better than giving each other the finger as we drive around in the warm weather. Well, now that I think about it, I could probably give someone the finger in a snowstorm.
In other news, we are now almost at the end of Clergy Appreciation Month. I didn’t even know it was Clergy Appreciation Month. I had to hear it on the radio this morning. It would be nice if someone told me something once in a while.
You may have noticed in the past few years that there are holidays sprouting up all over the place. You can search your country’s holidays here. Basically, every day is a holiday. If you don’t see one on the previous website link, they just missed it, that’s all. I am thinking that some of these holidays are people and organizations just trying to promote themselves. If it sticks, it sticks. If not, then oh well.
I am declaring this decade dedicated to Jay.
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Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Wow, what a day.
Laura and I had to get new sneakers, so we headed up to the “Prime Outlets at Lee.” I will tell you, I thought the place was much bigger. It was refreshing to visit something so cozy and nice. People were just walking around enjoying the day. There didn’t seem to be any attitude that usually comes alond with these places…well, the ones in New York anyway. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
We found a good shoe store. Laura bought two pairs of sneakers and I bought one. It has taken such a long time to do this, it feels good to have it done. After that chore was finished, it was time to have some fun. We took Pleasant Street, or Rt. 102 West into Stockbridge. I think everyone else had the same idea for today. After all, the leaves are almost in full effect and the weather was perfect. Stockbridge was a little crowded, but not too bad. We parked our car on the side of the road and headed down towards the Red Lion Inn for some lunch. Right across the street from the car, there was a little park that I never noticed. It’s pretty cool, so I grabbed a photo.
We made it down the road…almost to the Inn, when I remembered that I left the gift certificate Laura got me for my birthday in the car. We had to walk all the way back to get it. Upon our return to the place we were standing ten minutes earlier, I decided to take another photo.
This is the ally that leads to the back of the Red Lion Inn. I wanted to eat lunch in the courtyard. Well, I guess they aren’t serving lunch there anymore, because there were no tables set up. Instead, we went downstairs to “The Lion’s Den.” It’s more of a tavern type deal.
We had a great lunch. We did get a little tipsy because we decided to have a little drink before we sat down.
That was fun too.
After we finished eating, which seemed like a really long time, we headed upstairs to make our Thanksgiving dinner reservations. We have been trying to get in here for a few years, but they are always booked up. This year, they had one table for two open. Yeah!!! We made it. I made the reservation and we are in. That is so cool. After that, we left.
We have been planning to go apple picking for a couple of months now, but have yet to get the chance. Today seemed like a perfect day to head down Rt. 7, a little South of Stockbridge and a little North of Great Barrington, to a place called Windy Hill Farm. We have been here a few times and really love it. They have pumpkins and apples and everything else.
I tell ya, it makes me sooooo happy.
Unfortunately, we showed up at 4:35 and they stop the “you-pick” at 4:30. Good thing our friend Eric let us up to pick a few apples on our own. I climbed a nice sized tree to get two shiny apples way up on top. I handed them off to Laura and we headed back down to the store.
We bought a big bag of mixed apples for $8 and a pumpkin for $8 too. Oh, yeah, we are all set up. Remember last time we got a pumpkin up at this place? Man, I love the Berkshires.
Oh yeah, before I forget, take a look at the picture I took while crossing the Castleton Bridge over the Hudson River.
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Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
Laura and I cruised up to Woodstock again this weekend. I told her that I wanted to go hiking up that big mountain everyone climbs. I am not sure the name of it, because we never actually got to it.
We drove into town with the best of intentions. When we got somewhat closer to the action, we noticed a whole bunch of traffic. I guess it was leaf peeper Sunday. I can’t make fun of them because we were there too. One thing it did do was to make us sure that we don’t want to move to Woodstock. I think when you move to a town, you want it all to yourselves. Not you entirely, but you and the people who live there. Woodstock is a town that people visit, that’s for sure.
We parked out of the way a little bit, in the health food store parking lot. Then, we walked up to Joshua’s Cafe. I was really hungry. I love the food at Joshua’s. It’s different and it’s good. The only problem is that the place was packed. Laura and I had to wait upstairs and drink some Guinness while we waited. That was rough. The reason it was rough is because it was out of the bottle and it cost $9. Even the girl behind the counter had a pained look on her face.
We ate and walked around a little bit. Then we left. We have been there so many times before, I am not sure it holds its luster.
Here is a photo of the soon-to-form drum circle. It started at 4PM, but we were gone before then.
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Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Ahhh…my first audio book. I don’t know how Laura finds these things, but she does.
I like to think of her sitting at her computer, very studiously analyzing and contemplating my psyche. “Who is Jay?” she would ask herself. “What makes this guy tick?” In actuality, she probably sees what is popular that day on Amazon, but we try not to think about that.
I can’t get over the clarity of the new stereo I installed in my car today. Just a moment ago, I walked outside, across the driveway to it. I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The radio came on so I could hear 95.5 WPLJ, down in the city. I changed the channel to 100.3 Z100. It’s remarkable how clear the radio receives the signal. My old one never did that.
I opened the package of the audio book, “Wandering Home - A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont’s Champlain Valley and New York’s Adirondacks,” by Bill McKibben. I really didn’t know what to expect. My mother has been raving about audiobooks ever since she lived back in Brewster. I think they helped make her drive everyday to work in Danbury a little bit easier. She used to say, “My car can steer itself on the trip to work. That’s how used to it I am.” I think she really believed that at times. Well, when she told the story, she sounded very convincing.
I pushed the CD in the brand new slot. Everything is so shiny. The radio stopped and the CD started. A very faint, but clean guitar sound started. It got louder, and then a very soothing voice, that introduced himself as the author, Bill McKibben, began to speak. I though, “Ooh, this is going to be good. I listened for a few minutes and turned the key back, so the sound stopped. I didn’t want to ruin the first part of the story during a time when I wasn’t focusing on it. I turned the key forward, so the CD turned on again. Yup, it picked up right where it left off. This was going to work out fine.
So what’s the story about? Well, Bill’s website tells it like this…
“The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.”
That’s not all, you can read the rest here.
As you can see, I am quite excited about using my frontal lobe even more than I currently am. It is going to be nice to break out of the mold of NPR and bad local radio. Yeah, it’s going to be nice.
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Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
Laura and I had a tough weekend. A lot happened that called for a kind of peaceful getaway. We were in the Copake, NY area, so we decided to visit one of our favorite places, Bash Bish Falls in the Berkshires. I think the Berkshires are just great.
We didn’t actually see the falls…all we did was drive up to the top parking lot and turn around. Laura was wearing heels, so it would’ve been a tough hike for her up the rocky cliff. I wouldn’t have minded helping, but she was pretty straightforward with her resistance. Instead, we decided to stop off at the Depot Deli at the bottom of the mountain.
There was something about this place that I haven’t felt in a long time. It was so peaceful and restful. We pulled into the parking lot and just sat for a few seconds. It felt good to stop. We got lunch in the deli and ate outside at the picnic table. We had a visitor…
This cat was very friendly. I had to shush him/her away a few times because he/she kept jumping up and trying to eat my food.
We discovered something really neat in this area. The Harlem Valley Rail Trail.
This rail trail goes all the way from Wassaic to Chatham (in the future).
In the area is the Taconic State Park.
Maybe the whole area is the Taconic State Park…who knows. I think it is.
After we finished eating, I asked Laura if she wanted to talk a walk down the rail trail. At this point, the whole heel thing was history. The trail is paved. She agreed and we walked down a few hundred feet.
What a beautiful trail. It’s the kind of place you want to sit and enjoy for hours, if not a lifetime…and believe me, we have had that conversation. I couldn’t get over the quiet.
We walked to the bridge and started talking to a woman who lived across the street. She was telling us about the area and the Berkshires. She was retired and was enjoying the weather. What a great place to live near.
I took a few pictures of the river under the bridge, but this one was the best.
I am not sure of the name of this river, but it’s the same water that comes from Bash Bish Falls.
We are going to try to go back soon with our mountain bikes to ride the trail for a few miles. It’s nice because it’s all flat and level and with tons of trees.
Till then…
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Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
I did a little weaving today, but nothing too dangerous.
If I had a really good camera, I would love to pull over to take a picture of the Shawangunk Ridge. There are a few parts along Rt.52 that offer great views. One day I will do that…when I get some guts. Until then, here are today’s pictures of the beginning of Autumn in New York. Believe me, the leaves are changing now…
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Posted in Autumn, Trees & Shrubs | No Comments »
