Okay, yesterday really made us more decisive to get a small click and shoot camera so I can add pictures to this blahg. It'll be a Christmas gift to ourselves. Our Fall Foliage trip up the Hudson River Valley was so rejuvenating for both of us. The colors were on their way out given that it's so late in the fall but it was still pretty spectacular--mostly golds, oranges, yellows, and occasional brilliant reds. The forests are SO THICK on the far off hillsides from our view points. It's like you could dig your fingers into sheeps wool the hillsides are so carpetted. New York State is so damn picturesque--it's impossible to not be seduced. You add the railroad tracks and trains you see hugging the river along with these tiny little villages dotting the road ways and you immediately want to plan a train trip to Montreal to see the whole valley from that vantage point. We had a most amazing stop at Blue Hill Stone Barn Farm near Tarrytown/Sleepy Hallow (which is where Washington Irving situated his Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane classic story--The Legend of Sleepy Hallow). This farm is so cutting edge with their growing, composting, recycling, animal raising, etc. The animals on this farm were the happiest animals Bob and I have EVER seen, they literally FROLICK about their pastures and pens. We saw turkeys, chickens (laying and for meat), pigs (babies, teens, mama's and papas), geese, and sheep. Whether these animals know it is their dharma to become a feast for consumption is unknown, but wow, up to the day of slaughter, these animals appear to have the epitomy of an idyllic pastoral life. They actually looked like they were smiling when we watched them play about and socialize with each other. Bob even said that if he were ever going to eat chicken ever again, he would want to eat one from this farm. They have a very nice restaurant here (and another in Manhattan) where the vast majority of the food prepared for the seasonally changing menu is raised or grown on this farm. Even though it is a very pricey meal, seeing just how progressive this farm is makes you want to support them in every way possible with their mission and vision. You can walk freely about the farm and the beautiful stone structure/barn that surrounds a courtyard and includes the restaurant, a gift shop, a small cafe, reading and small conference/meeting/exhibit rooms, a small farmers market, and enclosed garden. There are two really cool silos that have been redone for use as small public spaces. The farm connects to a network of trails in the adjoining Rockefeller State Park Preserve. We took a most lovely walk around Swan Lake. The weather was sunny and a crisp fall day. Fantasies grew out of control of wanting a place here too! Ergo, the SEDUCTION part of this blog entry title. We bought a couple dozen of HUGE eggs and a loaf of the restaurant's famous potato and onion bread. We continued our drive as far north up to Newburgh, crisscrossed the Hudson River on a couple of bridges to capture scenic routes on both sides of the river. We were out for about 9 hours on our day outing and came home to Manhattan feeling very rejuvenated....so much beauty so close to our new home.
The SURRENDER part of the title has everything to do with knowing that we will NEVER have an easy time of getting off Highway 9 and being able to easily get to our parking garage on 43rd. We thought we had it down, mapped it out from several previously painful attempts (one time it took longer to get from the freeway to our garage 5 blocks away as the crow flies, than it did to take the trip up to the Botanical Garden 12 miles away) and still we were FOILED by some unforeseen street blocking at Bryant Park when we wanted to turn on 6th Ave. We were so excited as we got off at the right exit, had only one traffic cop yell at us for changing lanes in a no change lane zone (couldn't he see the desperation in our eyes for NEEDING to make THAT lane change), and barely got bogged down or side swiped in the bottle neck going down 40th. We naively thought we were home free as we approached 6th Ave to turn left but DAMN if there wasn't road block sawhorses and traffic cops stopping traffic cold. Bob and I just couldn't help but moan and laugh at the same time. We next sent up a prayer that Madison Ave would be open for a left turn and nothing else would be blocked on 43rd as a result of Halloween so that we did not spend the next hour trying to figure out how to get to the parking space. If you don't drive in NYC, it's probably hard to appreciate this story but our attempts to get to our parking garage have made for memories Bob and I will not soon forget....
Lastly, Bob had never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show despite it being shown for the last 35 years, this last week's episode of Glee was his first introduction to it. I've seen it several times and have been to a couple of the midnight participatory shows in Berkeley and Seattle. So in honor of Halloween, we watched it on Saturday night. He loved it....I was glad because I wasn't really sure how he might react to it. If by chance, you've never seen it, treat yourself, it's wonderfully campy with great music.
It's sunny and cold outside now, I need to bundle up and head out for groceries now.
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