Nature at your doorstep – Thompson Pond Preserve
On my recent spring walk at Thompson Pond, at the foot of Stissing Mountain in Pine Plains, I was able to savor all of the elements and qualities that I associate with the word “preserve.” Primary among these perhaps is tranquility. As I rounded the marshy shoreline, past reflections of swamp maples broken up by...
Wallkill Valley Land Trust sets date for historic house tour
The Wallkill Valley Land Trust (WVLT) will present its third annual “Houses on the Land” house tour on Saturday, June 1 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s tour will feature a rich variety of homes and gardens spread across the Town of Esopus and highlight the town’s distinctive terrain. Visits are planned to...
WWII Navy vet recalls 46 days lost at sea
Fresh out of high school, Albert Becker left his family to work at a newspaper in Lawton, Oklahoma. He wasn’t much more than an Iowa farm boy when, at 19, he decided to leave that newspaper to join the Navy and serve in World War II. “I saw I was going to get drafted —...
Mid-Hudson Cross-Fit wins Bed Race at Highland SpringFest
Hundreds of residents and visitors braved the Irishlike weather this past Saturday for the second annual Highland SpringFest. The weather held until just before the signature events of the festival, the Waiters’ Race and the Bed Race, both of which had everyone cheering, lining the sidewalks and enjoying some old-fashioned community fun and competition. “There...
“Hackerspace” Squidwrench sets up shop in Highland
Studio 81 is a small workshop occupying a space accessible by an alleyway on Vineyard Avenue in downtown Highland. Recently, a group of programmers, artists and electronic wizards — calling themselves Squidwrench — have started to meet there. They’re what’s called a hackerspace, or makerspace — a creative collective of young professionals who meet to...
Elijah Santner organizes Young Writers’ Program gathering
Elijah Santner, 16, is spearheading a poetry gathering, workshop and open-mic session titled “Bridging the Gap” on Saturday, May 18 on the Springtown Road pedestrian bridge that spans the Wallkill River along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, as a fundraiser for the Hudson Valley Writers’ Project (HVWP) Young Writers’ Program. “I do a lot of...
Nature at your doorstep – Dickie Barre
What does one make of a hike that begins at a graveyard? Only that the human lives, and deaths, that transpired here cannot be disentangled from the life of the place we enjoy on a perfect spring day, with the forest awakening around us. The graveyard is a small family plot, surrounded by hand-laid stone...
Personally speaking – Livia Vanaver
Ever since she and her husband Bill Vanaver and their dance/music troupe the Vanaver Caravan moved from Queens to the Hudson Valley, Livia Drapkin Vanaver has become a renowned dancer/choreographer/educator here and abroad. Just this past week she was asked to choreograph a five-minute dance routine to the tune “I Love New York,” which more...
Under new ownership, Hudson Valley Wine Market spotlights local wineries
Hudson Valley Wine Market on Main Street in Gardiner has the greatest inventory of homegrown Hudson Valley wines of any wine boutique. Owner Perry Goldschein, who purchased the business (formerly known as Enthusiastic Spirits) in January of 2013 from town supervisor Carl Zatz, said that he has “always enjoyed good wine.” But it was when...
Angels ‘n Earth offers local grave landscaping
For Rebecca Glaser planting flowers and landscaping around the gravesites of relatives has been a family tradition. “I would say the idea was instilled by my parents, because every year my parents would plant flowers at their family members’ sites over in Poughkeepsie,” Rebecca said. “I took somewhat of a backseat to that initially. I...
Wallkill Valley Land Trust’s walk and talk about box turtles
The Wallkill Valley Land Trust’s (WVLT) annual walk and talk will take place on Saturday, May 11 from 10 a.m. to noon on the Smith property in Gardiner. Anne Smith, with the help of biologist Joe Bridges, will discuss monitoring the Eastern box turtle. They have been monitoring the box turtle population on the Smith...
SpringFest 2013 in Highland on May 11
SpringFest will be held in the Hamlet of Highland on Saturday, May 11 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. This all-day event will feature live music, blessing of the bikes, a kids’ bike parade and bike rodeo, local food and merchant vendors, bed races, waiters’ races, water-4-life relay, a local art exhibit, pet show, jumpy...