Meet Lily "Cloud" Briscoe

Meet Lily, our new kitten. She's a beautiful baby, a little troublemaker, and we love her very very much.

We think she's a Maine Coon--note the tufts in the ears and the big mitts. And yes, her name is a nod to Ginny Woolf.

Bonticou Crag and assorted things

 
 
 
 

So, after getting a four-root root canal on Monday, which was particularly traumatic (and still only half-done as of this post), I took a "mental health day" on Tuesday; after four years in this place, I finally went to the Mohonk preserve. I climbed Bonticou Crag, which, while only a vertical rise of 1,148' above sea level, has a huge payoff at the summit. There's a scramble up 200' or so, and the view from the spine is sublime. I am getting an annual pass to the preserve. click on pics for more detail.

Poker night at the condo

We are stone cold.














Seriously.
















The Flop.

Rail Trail Ride

So I (foolishly) went on a bike ride today, despite having a fairly severe asthma attack that came on last week; I'm on prednisone for it, and I thought I was okay. I was, at least for the first 3 or 4 miles. This is a shot of the Plattekill Creek Gorge, a few miles South of my condo.














The weather was semi-threatening-- here are some Thunderheads drifting South over the ridge.



Hot day-- cows seeking some shade. They were mooing a bit, and the calves came bounding over to the moms and dads.



Overall, it was nice, and I ended up heading back north and then further by a few miles, which proved to be a mistake... I spent the greater part of today trying to recuperate. Hopefully I will be smarter tomorrow, and take it easier. Still, it was a nice ride.

Went to LI for a week

The estuary behind West Meadow beach in Setauket, NY.



Artesian well-- the water comes out of here cold and wonderful, always good for filling bottles and washing off when you're hot.










Flowah.














Due to the beach's orientation, the sunsets here are consistently good, three seasons of the year. (In the winter, the suns path is further to the south, and therefore sets over local land and not the water. We are looking WSW (almost due west) at Connecticut here.









It was a really nice trip-- I bought a 13' recreational kayak from Boréal Design, (the "Ookpik"-- an inuit word for Snowy Owl) and I took it out in the sound a little bit. It was really nice, and I'm now going to look for people to kayak with up here. I'll post pics of the kayak soon enough.

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In other news, I finished my first graduate semester here, to the tune of 4.00, and I thank my professors for a wonderful (if psychosis-inducing) few months. Drs. F, W, and U: thanks. Now on to planning for next semester, making up a syllabus, and steeling myself for my first time teaching Freshman Composition.

I also got a 20' x 30' plot at the "Gardens for Nutrition," a community garden right in behind the condo; it originally started out as a place to grow produce for the less-well-off, and now is open to anyone. They have a shed with all the tools one needs, and an electric fence to keep the deer out (like the sonic fence in LOST). I'm hopefully sharing it with a friend (another Grad student and TA), who is growing flowers and herbs. I will be growing lettuce, spinach, green beans, snow peas (sugar snap), tomatoes, and a bunch of other stuff, including basil and some other herbs as well. I have my almanac flagged and noted for the best planting days, so I'm ready.

Otherwise, I'm working everyday at stripping and sanding and gluing and staining antique and not-so-antique furniture over at HFF. My boss is building a house for himself and his wife and baby, so I'll probably be back and forth, maintaining the shop and helping build the house.

In fact, I have to cut this short, as I have to go get ready to head over there right now. More updates soon. Enjoy the weather!

erf day

The Jolly Green giant and Sprout
at the earth day fair on Huguenot St.











Weirdest mascot ever. It's a cat for UCAT
(Ulster County Area Transit). Get it? CAT for U-CAT? Oh ho, so catchy and clever. And a bit frightening.

skunky skunkster skunkerd

Our night-visitor, the Skunk. S/He likes to waddle around and eat worms. S/He's beautiful and s/he dances around her/his own tail.

There is another skunk that I'd love to get a picture of, we saw her/him last summer, and her/his colors are reversed! Mostly white with a black shock running down his back, I've never seen anything like him/her.

This double-pronoun thing is exhausting. Anyone know how to sex a skunk from afar?

Wallkill River Flood

The road is out, the Flats are completely underwater.
The river crests at ~13' and it must be closer to 15' now.
I'm not sure whether it's still rising.






I considered moving into one of these apartments; the landlord said "of course, you'll have to have flood insurance, as we live on a 100-year flood plain."

Needless to say, we didn't take it. A good thing, too, as there have been two major floods in as many years.
It's terrible though--all the folks that live in that entire building have been evacuated at least until Thursday.

RUNNING TURKEY

A spooked turkey, running into the bushes. (for Mal)
He saw me and ran for his life.

moon

it's a face, alright.

four (and twenty) blackbirds

a murder of crows.








this guy was running the show.

nacht-kirche

police dispatched

image in a puddle.

Happy second day of Spring.

french pressed

hooray
for
coffee.

hallucinatory drive

tall americano, two extra shots

pack of smokes

loud music cycling through

techno, to folk-rock, to jazz--

back again.

green and chrome and

burning stars in the sky

the tread leans tight into

the salted road--

going home.

seen on campus today...

No words for this.