Lost in a Fog

Sixty degree weather left fog hovering over the Hudson River until noontime today. Nice to be able to enjoy the River on a late January afternoon without risk of frostbite.

Todd Hill Road Farm

(click here to enlarge)

Just down the hill from my son's school is a lovely old horse farm with rolling hills and tattered fences and the one thing I love most about farms, big open space. Surrounding the farm, out of the camera's focus is another new housing development. I'm not sure if it was the farmer's land or just vacant land that was developed. I talked to one mother there and she doesn't feel as close an affection for the farm as I do. Particularly when they put down the manure in the spring or at the peak of summer's heat when the natural things on a farm greet your nose long before your eyes. She's used to it, she said, she just turns on the central air and keeps all the windows shut. Ah, the country.

The One Tree

Apple tree

Old Post Road, North Highland, NY

When I was a child, we used to pass this tree on the way to Sunday dinner at my grandparent's home in Peekskill, NY. It was striking in its solitude, up on the hill, away from the barn, alone in a field. It always had a beautiful shape to it, carefully pruned throughout the seasons. I've always wondered if this tree had a story. Was it planted on someone's birthday? Was it a remembrance of someone? Was it the last tree from the orchard sold off long ago?

These days, it looks like it could use a trimming and maybe some careful, loving attention to produce a yield, but even without it, the spring flowers will bloom and it will be lovely, as I remember it.

One of these days, I'll slow down long enough to ask about the story of this one tree. For now, I have the picture and a memory from many journeys long ago.

Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church, Fishkill, New York

I went to elementary school across the street from this church. The church housed prisoners of war during the American Revolution including counterespionage agent, Enoch Crosby. Between September 1776 and February 1777, it served as the seat of state government when the British forced the New York Provincial Congress out of New York City and White Plains. The graveyard there is has one of the finest collections of early American folk art in the form of tombstone engravings.

I remember going there as a class trip to collect rubbings from the tombstones. All I can recall is the walk there, shuffling past the Fishkill Plate Glass company (still there) and it's wide open doors and noisy machinery. I remember the church's ominous, squeaking wrought iron gate and the crooked old tombstones. Not a terribly fun place for kids.

Little Christmas

Happy Little Christmas!

Last few days for the tree...it'll come down on Sunday. I'll miss it...but not the needles!

Took this one last night with my Kodak DX7630. I still haven't figured out all the features (after a year of having it) but I took this with the "fireworks" setting, no flash. I like the starry look from the Christmas lights. Appropriate for a Christmas tree, no?