Our New York Trip: Saturday and Sunday
Oct. 12th, 2009 06:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windinthemaplesThis past week, Daniel and I rented a hilltop farmstead in Greenwood, New York and shared it with our much-beloved friends ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rubymulligan, mermaiden, and willow_cabin. It was really a glorious week to be there--surrounded by vibrant autumn-bewitched forests, under the heady atmosphere of mist and fog and priceless blue skies. We had an entire week to tramp through the woods and down roads that saw a car (at most) a day. We drove through and visited the Finger Lakes region of New York, which is as beautiful a place as exists on earth. We had nommy vegan meals--both homemade and restauranted. We shopped and drank tea and watched satellite television and sniffed perfume and otherwise just experienced that rare treat of occupying the same space once again. :)
Saturday was our arrival day. Sarah and Jenn, who live near Buffalo, picked up Rhiannon earlier in the afternoon and headed out to the farm before dark. We, following behind by three or four hours, anxiously scanned the dark-as-dark-can-be gravel road for a sign of our house. Only two places broke up the isolation of that five mile seasonal trail--the caretaker's house and then ours another mile or so on. We have never been so happy to see pagan bumperstickers as we were that night. We'd found their car! We'd found the house! We'd survived the trip! :D
The place we stayed at was a seventy acre hay farm from the 1880s. On one side of the gravel road, a barn and outbuildings were gracefully deteriorating. On the other, on a bit of a rise, was the farmhouse surrounded by wildflowers, grapevines, and fruit trees. The house has been remodeled, a little bit, but maintained a lot of its historic charm. (And by charm, I mostly mean mice.) Both the living room and the kitchen had woodburning stoves. A comfortable mix of Amish furniture, comfy sofas, lace curtains and aged floral papers graced the rooms. In some areas, the wood floors were painted barn red with hand-designed flowers along the edges. It was comfortable like a worn-soft quilt. The black wrought iron woodstoves didn't seem out of place somehow next to the satellite television and the microwave. It was a nice balance. The downside to the house's character, its low price, and its remote location and outstandingly good views was the unexpected houseguests. Rhiannon's intended room, for some unknown reason, had a black fly infestation. They clung silently to the ceiling and cycloned noisily inside the lampshade at her bedside table. Mice scritched inside the walls at night and left tiny pepper black droppings on our kitchen counters. The place felt a little musty, moldy, something so that the air quality seemed not-good. I joked, not entirely not-serious, when we all came down with head colds and other assorted illnesses that we had the hanta virus. It was hard for me as a hostess not to focus on the bad things inherent in my choice of house, but as a vacationer, I couldn't have asked for more. We were in the middle of nowhere, rolling forested hill after hill draped in a changing autumn cloak, in a farm of our own, undisturbed, with chubby groundhogs and families of deer, chipmunks and squirrels and birds all making themselves at home in our backyard, right out the picture window.
Rare sunny skies over the farmhouse.
Photo taken of the farm buildings below from our private pond/swimming hole.
No other houses or people as far as the eye can see--but plenty of fall foliage and wildflowers.
View uphill across the fields to the pond. Downhill, there was nothing but undisturbed forest and a couple winding dirt roads.
The barn from the road.
One of the outbuildings with forest below.
After reunion hugs, a quick house tour, and some sniffing and buying and trading of perfume oils (of whichrubymulligan is the crafter of a new line that is awesomesauce), we girls piled into Sarah and Jenn's car and drove about twenty miles to a grocery store to stock up the house a little. We were lucky to find a store that had an organics/natural foods section, so all our vegan needs were met with ease. I remember that night's major victories came in the form of local apple ciders (including one made exclusively with honeycrisps!) and a round happy bread loaded with apple slices and raisins.
Between the four of us in the car, we had two Garmins and let me tell you, in the dark, it is still a wonder we got home. After some Garmin fails and turning around and taking of sketchy abandoned dirt trails under ominous canopies of trees, glowing animal eyes staring us down, making urban legend hooked hand jokes and otherwise huddling together and saying a few "Holy shit! I don't want to die out here!"s, we did indeed find ourselves back to the comforting lights of the house.
Sunday morning dawned damp and misty on our hilltop home. Graeme was up fairly early, so he and I went out to the yard's picnic table with our breakfast. He's a nature boy at heart. The entire week he was enamored with being outside where he could run around, inspect and sort gravel, collect leaves and pinecones, and just be a boy with sticks and rocks and all those best kinds of toys.
Once everyone else was awake, Sarah and Jenn, Rhiannon and I tramped down the hill road, veering off into the woods to chase creeks and mossbeds and mushrooms. It was the most perfect spot on earth, our very own forested world. We goofed and gaped and wandered and took a ton of pictures. :) Rhiannon looked especially funny in her Lord of the Rings green sweater tunic and oversized walking staff. :D There are photos of her on my flickr pole vaulting with it. Fun stuff. :)
We'd put leaves in each other's hair. Graeme thought that was particularly funny.
We hikers gingerly checked out the barn across the street--falling apart and very, very beautiful.
Not one car passed us as we walked down the hillside on this country road.
Sarah and Jenn strolling. All they need are fairy wings and gowns. :)
Sarah, Jenn, and Rhiannon. :)
A camera-timer photo of us. :)
We slid and picked our way down to this beautiful, musical creek.
Alright Joe. What are these mushrooms? :D
Rhiannon collected this little nosegay as we hiked. It brightened our kitchen up the rest of the trip. :)
Pictures don't do this place justice. It was magical. We'd stepped through the back of the wardrobe.
After hiking back to the farm, we had all worked up a bearlike appetite. Rhiannon (rubymulligan) braved the kitchen, lampblacked her clothes, and whipped up the most nommy and comforting mushroom stroganoff. (Braggs + Tofutti Sour Supreme FTW). With that, a round of bread, a jug of cider and a big salad, we sat outside on the picnic table and had lunch al fresco. After Graeme's afternoon nap, we collected all our vegan cookbooks and hiked to the private pond to sit and hash out our big vegan feast plans for Monday. We piled back into Sarah's car and visited the grocery store, stocking up for serious this time before we headed back and I went to sleep early with Graeme.
It had been an awesome day on the farm. We had one left withmermaiden and willow_cabin before they had to drive home and get back to work. I'll continue that in my next post. :)
My companions and our picnic lunch. :) <3
rubymulligan, mermaiden, and willow_cabin. It was really a glorious week to be there--surrounded by vibrant autumn-bewitched forests, under the heady atmosphere of mist and fog and priceless blue skies. We had an entire week to tramp through the woods and down roads that saw a car (at most) a day. We drove through and visited the Finger Lakes region of New York, which is as beautiful a place as exists on earth. We had nommy vegan meals--both homemade and restauranted. We shopped and drank tea and watched satellite television and sniffed perfume and otherwise just experienced that rare treat of occupying the same space once again. :)Saturday was our arrival day. Sarah and Jenn, who live near Buffalo, picked up Rhiannon earlier in the afternoon and headed out to the farm before dark. We, following behind by three or four hours, anxiously scanned the dark-as-dark-can-be gravel road for a sign of our house. Only two places broke up the isolation of that five mile seasonal trail--the caretaker's house and then ours another mile or so on. We have never been so happy to see pagan bumperstickers as we were that night. We'd found their car! We'd found the house! We'd survived the trip! :D
The place we stayed at was a seventy acre hay farm from the 1880s. On one side of the gravel road, a barn and outbuildings were gracefully deteriorating. On the other, on a bit of a rise, was the farmhouse surrounded by wildflowers, grapevines, and fruit trees. The house has been remodeled, a little bit, but maintained a lot of its historic charm. (And by charm, I mostly mean mice.) Both the living room and the kitchen had woodburning stoves. A comfortable mix of Amish furniture, comfy sofas, lace curtains and aged floral papers graced the rooms. In some areas, the wood floors were painted barn red with hand-designed flowers along the edges. It was comfortable like a worn-soft quilt. The black wrought iron woodstoves didn't seem out of place somehow next to the satellite television and the microwave. It was a nice balance. The downside to the house's character, its low price, and its remote location and outstandingly good views was the unexpected houseguests. Rhiannon's intended room, for some unknown reason, had a black fly infestation. They clung silently to the ceiling and cycloned noisily inside the lampshade at her bedside table. Mice scritched inside the walls at night and left tiny pepper black droppings on our kitchen counters. The place felt a little musty, moldy, something so that the air quality seemed not-good. I joked, not entirely not-serious, when we all came down with head colds and other assorted illnesses that we had the hanta virus. It was hard for me as a hostess not to focus on the bad things inherent in my choice of house, but as a vacationer, I couldn't have asked for more. We were in the middle of nowhere, rolling forested hill after hill draped in a changing autumn cloak, in a farm of our own, undisturbed, with chubby groundhogs and families of deer, chipmunks and squirrels and birds all making themselves at home in our backyard, right out the picture window.
Rare sunny skies over the farmhouse.
Photo taken of the farm buildings below from our private pond/swimming hole.
No other houses or people as far as the eye can see--but plenty of fall foliage and wildflowers.
View uphill across the fields to the pond. Downhill, there was nothing but undisturbed forest and a couple winding dirt roads.
The barn from the road.
One of the outbuildings with forest below.
After reunion hugs, a quick house tour, and some sniffing and buying and trading of perfume oils (of which
rubymulligan is the crafter of a new line that is awesomesauce), we girls piled into Sarah and Jenn's car and drove about twenty miles to a grocery store to stock up the house a little. We were lucky to find a store that had an organics/natural foods section, so all our vegan needs were met with ease. I remember that night's major victories came in the form of local apple ciders (including one made exclusively with honeycrisps!) and a round happy bread loaded with apple slices and raisins.Between the four of us in the car, we had two Garmins and let me tell you, in the dark, it is still a wonder we got home. After some Garmin fails and turning around and taking of sketchy abandoned dirt trails under ominous canopies of trees, glowing animal eyes staring us down, making urban legend hooked hand jokes and otherwise huddling together and saying a few "Holy shit! I don't want to die out here!"s, we did indeed find ourselves back to the comforting lights of the house.
Sunday morning dawned damp and misty on our hilltop home. Graeme was up fairly early, so he and I went out to the yard's picnic table with our breakfast. He's a nature boy at heart. The entire week he was enamored with being outside where he could run around, inspect and sort gravel, collect leaves and pinecones, and just be a boy with sticks and rocks and all those best kinds of toys.
Once everyone else was awake, Sarah and Jenn, Rhiannon and I tramped down the hill road, veering off into the woods to chase creeks and mossbeds and mushrooms. It was the most perfect spot on earth, our very own forested world. We goofed and gaped and wandered and took a ton of pictures. :) Rhiannon looked especially funny in her Lord of the Rings green sweater tunic and oversized walking staff. :D There are photos of her on my flickr pole vaulting with it. Fun stuff. :)
We'd put leaves in each other's hair. Graeme thought that was particularly funny.
We hikers gingerly checked out the barn across the street--falling apart and very, very beautiful.
Not one car passed us as we walked down the hillside on this country road.
Sarah and Jenn strolling. All they need are fairy wings and gowns. :)
Sarah, Jenn, and Rhiannon. :)
A camera-timer photo of us. :)
We slid and picked our way down to this beautiful, musical creek.
Alright Joe. What are these mushrooms? :D
Rhiannon collected this little nosegay as we hiked. It brightened our kitchen up the rest of the trip. :)
Pictures don't do this place justice. It was magical. We'd stepped through the back of the wardrobe.
After hiking back to the farm, we had all worked up a bearlike appetite. Rhiannon (
rubymulligan) braved the kitchen, lampblacked her clothes, and whipped up the most nommy and comforting mushroom stroganoff. (Braggs + Tofutti Sour Supreme FTW). With that, a round of bread, a jug of cider and a big salad, we sat outside on the picnic table and had lunch al fresco. After Graeme's afternoon nap, we collected all our vegan cookbooks and hiked to the private pond to sit and hash out our big vegan feast plans for Monday. We piled back into Sarah's car and visited the grocery store, stocking up for serious this time before we headed back and I went to sleep early with Graeme. It had been an awesome day on the farm. We had one left with
mermaiden and willow_cabin before they had to drive home and get back to work. I'll continue that in my next post. :)My companions and our picnic lunch. :) <3
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:16 pm (UTC)I have to get Regency House Party. I have to know the full extent of the train wreck.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 10:46 pm (UTC)It was a total trainwreck and worth every pound. ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 10:52 pm (UTC)Don't you think there were probably a lot of hookups among the hired servants on the project? (Spending nine weeks cooped up together?) I do. :)