Home improvement entails physically fixing up one’s house. But what about the emotional work of homeownership? One way to improve your home is through gratitude and acceptance. Does everything constantly need to be “fixed?”
Spring often brings a trail of small ants into the kitchen. They are easily dealt. I place sprigs of fresh mint or tansy leaves from the garden, placed at strategic points along the anrs’ path. (Note: Tansy is not good for cats or small children.) Apparently, the strong odor of these plants confuses the ants’ sense of smell, which pilots their peregrinations. The ants may crawl over the leaves at first, but by the end of the day they are always gone.
Just as peas are the vegetable of spring and tomatoes are the vegetable of summer, so Brussels sprouts are the vegetable of fall. They need a long season to grow, starting life in early spring, growing through the summer, and then flourishing in cool weather, ideally with a few frosts. This seasonality brings out the best in them, flavor-wise.
The story of lumber’s startling rise to a blazing-hot commodity begins just a month before. In March 2020 the price of lumber sank to a dismal $231 per 1000 board feet while the pandemic captured national headlines. New-home construction abruptly fell off. Supply chains behaved uncertainly, as industry attempted and failed to forecast future demand.
Sangi van de Nouweland said that “color is a language some do not speak.” A broker at Coldwell Banker Village Green, Sangi was a professional painter and color consultant for 35 years. Color speaks to her. She speaks its language fluently. For her, color is something that “can make a home sing.”
Like most old houses, the bathroom was probably created out of what was a closet. A wall was moved to make it a little bigger, creating a weird jog in the upstairs hall to access the bathroom and the nearby bedroom.
Like the Catskills themselves, the local real-estate market has its ups and downs. Right now, prices for single-family homes in Ulster County are on a strong upward slope.
Do you own a bucolic piece of land that you hope will remain bucolic long after you’ve passed? Do you wish that you could get a tax break on the parts of that property that you have no intention of ever developing anyway? A conservation easement or purchase of development rights may be for you.
Delaware County’s northern border is less than two hours from Kingston via Route 28. There are lots of opportunity to wind down and connect with nature. Maybe that sounds good to you, too. Here are a few suggestions along a circular route easily done in a day, and tailored to a world still somewhat pandemic-restricted.
Ecologically, the “ideal” lawn is not much better than an asphalt parking lot.