Explore Hudson Valley
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When the snow cover melts back we see where the ground heaved, where rocks moved and how founda- tions shifted. There are the dog toys! And there’s that snow shovel that would have been so handy when that late bliz- zard hit, burying the path to the car three feet under. In our forest there’s a tree we always called The Ethan Frome tree. The trunk divides and branches out first in a hori- zontal, east/west direction, then each of FRANCIS X. DRISCOLL those reaches skyward. Depending on From April through June, new blooms appear in a succession of colors, one’s mood at the moment, it may look even at the highest altitudes where mountain laurel dominates on the like “hands up, don’t shoot” or “touch south-facing slopes. down!” This year, the wind and snow acres of woodland, compromised by one shared coffee at the counter, that he had won out. Now it’s a one armed tree, the narrow footpath created by deer and been traipsing on this property since boy- damaged limb a shredded stump. Decades Prescott Curtis. Curtis confessed to me at hood. He knew every stand of berries and ago, when I first saw it, this property was the diner one rainy, gloomy day while we wild apples, every creek, every tumbling rock wall. Curtis’ lungs had been damaged in The Big One. He had cut back on his Table of contents hikes. I didn’t ask him about the tree. I wish I had. Curtis died in 1980. Unlike Curtis, my neophyte explorer’s eyes took A bittersweet season splendor by Ann Hutton .......................32 in that landscape as just one slide show In the high-peaks ski areas, winter departs after another of “tree, rock, forest floor.” sadly by Elisabeth Henry ........................ 3 The perfect spring meal But way back then, I made note of that It’s time to start eating fresh again by tree. That particular tree. Us and them Jennifer Brizzi ...................................... 38 People flock to this region for winter Learning the Hudson Valley’s quirks by sports. Most ski or snowboard. They like Susan Barnett ......................................... 6 House hunting is us the cold, they like to feel speed, they must Real-estate changes define the Hudson have a cracker-jack sense of balance. Then Festivals, festivals Valley by Vinnie Manginelli ............... 40 we have the cross country skiers, who like Everyone’s ready to get outside now and to sweat, I guess. The snow-shoers must party by Sparrow .................................. 12 Quench those thirsts! crave silence. All of this is understandable. A roundup of Hudson valley beer, cider Then we have ice climbers. A puzzling lot. When the art is public and spirits by Chris Rowley .................44 I suspect they pray for what I loathe most. Roadside culture in the Hudson Valley Ice. I must give the devil its due. Battling by Lynn Woods .......................................20 Rambling season ice as I do has made me fearless about It’s okay to simply get outside and walk falling. I fall all the time on the damned Back to campus by Lissa Harris ......................................52 stuff. Recently I slipped on the wet floor The Hudson Valley’s rich with academic of a restaurant, puddles left there by ski- 4 • April - June, 2018 Explore Hudson Valley ers boots. Adolescent bus rant owners get ready boys sprang to the rescue, to paint their porches. cheeks pink, babbling Landscapers are fine about how their own tuning their mowers grandma had recently and weed whackers, and broken her hip. I assured master gardeners are them I would not be assembling their seed bunking with grandma packets, pots and bags of anytime soon, and got potting soil. The heaters myself up rather handily. in the green houses must As much as I hate inter- be serviced. Farmers acting with ice, I love to remove plows from their look at it. We are lucky, tractors and fit them here, to have at least two with other attachments. wonderful landscape Lumberjacks check their photographers, Francis chainsaws and pulleys X. Driscoll and Elaine and ropes, and everybody Warfield. They brave senses that Spring will the elements and the be soon. Tom Turkeys darkest hours to go to extend their wings, fan the secret places, the hid- their tails, puff up their den vantage points. They bodies, turn their carun- capture moments. They cles, snoods and wattles find exquisite shadows in a startling blue and strut moonlight, extravagant in circles, rattling their forests of icicles, and wings. A group of males many more than fifty will strut in a circle and if shades of grey in a sky a young male tries to join that waits for the storm. in, he will be forced out. We also have Larry Gam- Pipsqueak. If the winter bon, who waits patiently was mild, robins remain. in hip deep snow to If it was harsh, and food capture that shot of a fox was scarce, they would leaping in the air, a piaffe have gone off in search that will soon seal the fate of berries. No matter, the of a wee mousey. These sight of a red breasted worlds are precious. And male is always welcome fleeting. FRANCIS X. DRISCOLL against the still barren Now you look at the Jack in the pulpit is a dramatic sign of early spring in the ground. The warblers mountainside and see a Catskills. come back, and so do the pink haze. Those are the hawks. The lambs and myriad buds ready to burst on the myriad a distance. There are so many of them, foals are born, and soon, too, the fawns. trees in this deciduous forest. The skiers and it’s like a GIF of glee, festivity where The predators are hungry and bold. They and riders and climbers will leave. These there would otherwise loom a barren, are parents, too. The bears wake up. The small towns will reveal just how few lonely mountainside. They do leave us, snowbanks recede. Now comes the mud. people keep things going. If we haven’t though. Even now, when the slopes are already, we must remember to thank our thick with snow, many of them are sitting e have so much mud because snow removal guys for the fabulous job in realtors offices on Long Island, or New Wwe have glorious water. So much they do, so superior to that in the major Jersey, signing summer leases on beach water. It will thunder down the cliffs. It cities. It’s a dark and dangerous job. They houses. What do we do? The lift operators will be scary. It will be so abundant that earn their rest. The restaurateurs have make way for the music festival workers. the earth, just waking up, not quite soft, the time to see to whatever particular The maple syrup folks are in the forest, can’t drink it all. There will be mud. This request you may have, especially if you tapping trees. The community theater is especially problematic for fussy house have politely held back demands when people are making their selections for keepers and those who take pride in the they were frazzled and exhausted during the season, and holding auditions in town interior of their cars. This is made all the weeks of “the rush.” halls and church common rooms. Produc- the more so if one happens, in this sea- tion companies arrive in big, box truck full son, to encounter affectionate Labrador (DROP CAP) I like to see the skiers on of camera equipment and wardrobe. Lots Retrievers. Labs love people. And mud. the slopes. They look like speeding poppy of movies are shot here. Plein air painters Nothing soothes that itchy, soon-to-be- seeds on the white trails when viewed from purchase pigments and brushes.