http://icrapoport.com/?fbclid=IwAR0fKmPhHQURnMatw6qWGPdlC_yDB7II9xgVysydcnM8Ce7ACuUFm3guDa4 The view from the north flank of Slide Mountain, towards Cornell and Wittenberg Mountains. Up here, the balsam fir grows and it smells like Christmas all year long.
Tag Archives: Catskills
Christmas All Year Long
12-Dec-18Zeewolde There’s a town board meeting tonight at 7 p.m., and one of the items of business will be our petition to get a stay on the decision to build a 177′ wind turbine here in town. I’ve heard complaints from some of my environmentalist friends – we need renewable energy sources – but I still […]
Persimmons.
30-Oct-13I’ve been eating a couple of persimmons a day – another of the odd pleasures of a Catskill autumn. The American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is native only about as far north as Staten Island – where they are relatively common, though I’m not sure they occur anywhere else in New York City. But they are […]
Bald Eagles on the Rondout.
06-May-13I stopped by the bald eagle nest on the Rondout a few days ago – a bald eagle male has been nesting just north of Grahamsville on the reservoir every year for over a decade now – and there were some big chicks in the nest. For a sense of what they look like, see […]
Beech Bark Disease.
14-Feb-13The bark of beech is famously smooth, providing a space for people to carve their initials. But most beech in the Northeast, and almost all in the Catskills, is infected with beech bark disease, an imported European pathogen to which the American species has no resistance. The young trees grow fine, until they reach about […]
Hurricane Sandy.
04-Nov-12I was at the cabin for the hurricane, which counts as one of the more impressive experiences of my life. I was on high ground, and all the trees within striking distance of the house are healthy and rather distant threats, all in all. That said, I was aware of their presence and experienced a […]
Catskill Ruins Porn.
28-Sep-12I’ve written before about the Detroit Safari, and the taking of pictures in ruined Detroit places; now the Catskills gets the same treatment.
Old Growth.
25-Sep-12Admit it, that’s the biggest yellow birch you’ve ever seen! From a stand of old-growth trees on the Devil’s Path in the Catskills.
Timber Rattler Sighting.
02-Sep-12I am aware that there are timber rattlesnakes in the area – my high-school girlfriend managed to grab one while climbing in the Catskills, thinking it was a root, and feeling its warm soft flesh threw it away from her before getting a bite. I’ve done a few landscaping jobs in the Shawangunks where I […]
Catskills Political Commentary.
19-Oct-12Since I showed a picture of my own empty chair, I thought maybe I’d include another empty chair. From the Rondout Valley, just outside the big state prisons north of Ellenville: