A look at mid-century country life in the Catskills
“Laurels by Laura” is an account of life in Shandaken that will leave readers nostalgic for days gone by, even if they weren’t there to see them.
Posts Tagged 'eg'
Zulma Steele: Gender blender extraordinaire
A renowned beauty and intellect of legendary sensuality and style, she was praised, envied, scandalized, even worshipped (for one, by Byrdcliffe’s founder Ralph Whitehead, who named the domicile he built for her “The Angel.”) But though she was the first great woman artist of Woodstock, her face remains all but unknown to us.
Gender blending in early Woodstock & our first female genius
The idea that a feminine impulse could save testosterone-driven capitalism from itself is not new. In fact the notion was subtly rooted in Woodstock’s first back-to-nature, Arts and Crafts community, Byrdcliffe. Here a bisexual and lesbian sub-culture prevailed unacknowledged, even by itself. Historians of an earlier era remained at best vague in describing it, and at worst silent. That silence ends now.
Yankeetown Pond bought for a dollar! (Part 2)
Rumors proliferate in Woodstock like botulism in an ancient can of tuna fish. So until it failed to go away, I paid little mind to the one in the headline. A single visit to the town offices, however, and the gossip was at least partially substantiated. Someone named Erin Moran had indeed purchased 24 acres of land under and around one of Woodstock’s less advertised treasures (which occupies approximately 125 acres) for a dollar. Part 2 of 2.
Yankeetown Pond bought for a dollar! (Part 1)
Rumors proliferate in Woodstock like botulism in an ancient can of tuna fish. So until it failed to go away, I paid little mind to the one in the headline. A single visit to the town offices, however, and the gossip was at least partially substantiated. Someone named Erin Moran had indeed purchased 24 acres of land under and around one of Woodstock’s less advertised treasures (which occupies approximately 125 acres) for a dollar.
The wolf-like coyote in our backyard
The cunning and adaptable coyote was deified by the Native Americans and persecuted by the U.S. government. But as other predators were killed off, the coyote thrived, mating with wolves and producing a hybrid that now roams the fields and forests of the Northeast- including the Hudson Valley.
Where to swim in Ulster County
Outdoor beaches and swimming holes across picturesque Ulster County
Where, exactly, is “Upstate New York”?
Where does it begin? What are its boundaries? In which part of Canada does it terminate? Nobody seems to know. But everybody is willing to go to the mattresses to settle the question.
Sporting clubs fought to protect Hudson Valley’s rivers and streams throughout the 20th Century
While issues such as gun control, the proposed Belleayre Resort project, and the Ashokan Rail Trail tend to polarize local residents, it’s instructive to be reminded that people on both sides of these controversies have always had a love of the land and nature as their primary motivation.
Today’s strange Sun: Cycle 24 stays weird
Earth’s climate gets cooler when there are fewer solar storms. An extreme example happened between 1645 and 1715, when the normal 11-year sunspot cycle disappeared! This period, called the Maunder Minimum, was accompanied by bitterly cold winters in the American colonies. Fishing settlements in Iceland and Greenland were abandoned. Icebergs were seen near the English Channel. The canals of Venice froze. It was a time of great hardship.
