First Week 2022

 A relatively quiet week as winter settles in. When I walk the roads around home, I usually have quite a bit of heat built up, so I can still enjoy a glass of wine in the garden before the below freezing temperatures seep into me. The crescent moon was lit up by Earth-shine so that all of it was visible. A bit of snow was falling, but it was a lovely twilight.



I hiked two local preserves this week which I had never visited before: Normanskill Ravines Park and Switzkill Farm. Both were around 4 miles of woods walk, with not much elevation change, though Normanskill did have quite a few ups and downs. 


The Switzkill Farm hike started off with one of the mates falling, knocking his head, and being taken off by ambulance. He's OK with just a slight concussion. We ended that hike with a lovely dinner at Maple on the Lake as a brave soul skated on the not yet frozen over lake.


The Catskills barely visible in the distance.
      Maple On The Lake dining room view.

In between hikes, I donated a pint of blood, as the country is in a critical shortage. I thought it would be a bit troublesome, with COVID raging about, but it was simple and uneventful.

One of my house projects got started this week. I'm determined to grow salad greens even though last year's attempt ended in failure. Curse you fungus gnats! I started with new, sterilized soil and planted beets, arugula, lettuce, mesclun mix and spinach. I could hardly believe it when sprouts appeared only 3 days later!



Greens are ridiculously expensive at the grocery store, and we seem to be notified of recalls due to salmonella or listeria on the regular. Hopefully I'll get a nice salad in a couple of weeks. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Rainy Weekend

Image
Another rainy Saturday to contend with, so I decided on a Van Morrison playlist while I cleaned out the garage and danced and sang. My gardening supplies and planters and pots that need sorting and recycling  were cluttering up my space. They are now sorted and the garage is cleaned out for at least another week or so. I think the shed in the back yard needs to be a project to get it into a more useful state.  The amount of rain we've had is remarkable. May was one of the wettest months in eighty years and June is starting to look the same. I would rather have too much rain rather than a drought though.  After dropping around 3 inches of rain, the skies cleared up later in the afternoon. I loaded up my bike for an impromptu ride on the Electric Trail with the thought of dinner or ice cream at Samascott's.  The first of many turtles on the bike path. Now I see just how rough the path was and how I had no business riding on it.  The trail was very wet on the way s...
Read more

Summer Solstice

Image
Vroman's Nose overlooking the valley. Summer has begun! To mark the solstice, my hiking group held a picnic at the top of Vroman's Nose, which is a short little hike up a 657 foot hill. It overlooks the Schoharie Valley and has a beautiful rock 'dance floor' that easily accommodates our group of forty. The weather was a perfect 74 degrees with a breeze to keep any bugs away. A pleasant gathering on the dance floor near sunset. I drove Sue Ellen who had her gall bladder removed last week, and we hiked up with a guy who has spinal stenosis. As I listened to them discuss their ailments, I silently gave thanks for my health and thought about how 'mature' our group is becoming.  Once at the top, the party began with burgers and dogs, salads and desserts, and great conversation.  Most of our group made it into this sunset picture. Saturday started with me being woken up by my neighbors chatting down below in the street - it was garage sale day. I didn't join since...
Read more

Random Thoughts In My Little Life

Image
 The orchids I bought in February (!) catch my attention each day and I have to marvel at their longevity. Four months of continuous flowers? What other plant does this? I just may become an orchid collector. A new stem with buds is forming on one of them too! This long horn beetle was inspecting my snow peas. They have blooms, so peas are not far behind! I drove up to the Plateau to meet a friend for a paddle. The wind picked up for awhile so we got a nice upper body work out paddling into the wind. Then we just floated near the dock when the wind died down and the sun was shining.  This wetland was covered in yellow flag (iris) on the way to the Pond. Enjoying the calm water after the gusts. This is not proper paddling form, but it was so relaxing. This angle makes my kayak look tiny! Thursday was a nice dry day - perfect for lawn garden work. I'm diligently putting the plants I keep buying into the ground. I have a dozen sunflowers I grew from seed that need planting, but t...
Read more