Catskill Cottage

Home Sweet Home

Laundry Brook

Mud Room

Sleep

We went to Jeffersonville Saturday for the home inspection which took hours but turned up little in the way of surprises. There's a carpenter ant problem which we'll ask the owner to fix. Otherwise, the house is very solid considering its age.

The first photo shows the front of the farm house, built in the 1880's. The second floor is for Randy Newman types, ie. short people. Sorry, Mark. Behind the original box are two sections added on which include the kitchen, dining room, laundry and mud room.

Out back is a small rock-dotted stream called Laundry Brook. I kid you not. The houses built along this babbler used the brook for, you guessed it, washing their clothes. Fortunately, we have a back-up system should we need it.

The mud room is a feature every house in the country should have. Our mud room is quite nice and also serves as a screened-in porch. No more piles of shoes and boots to trip on as you enter the side door.

The house has four bedrooms. Pictured above is the master on the second floor. There's another bedroom downstairs for the tall or handicapped.

We hope you'll come stay with us, no matter your height or physical challenges. The house is walking distance to the town, and we've already checked out the Turkish-American restaurant. I'm excited about the soft-serve ice cream stand around the corner, next to the defunct bowling alley. Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes madly licking a cone, sprinkles flying everywhere.

Lax Landscaping No More

A Rolling Stone Gathers Some Moss

Out Back

Serenity

Soft Focus

Our neck of the woods is so private we barely spend time landscaping it. I hate an overly manicured look, and it shows. I'm more of a naturalist, which is why we have lots of moss and areas that we've allowed the flora take over.

Not everyone buys into this semi-anarchistic philosophy. But when your house is on the market, you play by the rules and mow the foot-high grass now and then. Yesterday we added our share of gasoline-driven noise and poison to the neighborhood. Today we'll do a little weed-whacking, although I prefer scissors.

Snow

I'm not a big azalea fan, but when this old-growth specimen blooms, I forget about the old knobby bones beneath the pure white canopy. When I catch this from the corner of my eye, especially from inside my house, I'm jolted by its resemblance to snow.

There's a fuchsia azalea out back, but it's not nearly as beautiful. It's a newer bush, and the flowers are smaller. When the azaleas start to fade, the astilbe will be shooting their pink flames into the air. I will subject you to this loveliness next week.

Turbo is oblivious to nature, but it makes a gorgeous back-drop for his highness.

New Yawk

Marty relaxes in front of the TV. He's pretending to be comfortable.

PJ doing what she does best.

Saint George's Chapel

PJ naps after taking too big a bite out of the Big Apple.

These pics give you an idea of what we've been up to lately. Yes, we now have a 212 area code, not much furniture, and Saint George's Chapel across the street, now the site of Moran's Pub. The apartment's small but nice, and we have lots of amenities: gym; concierge, roof deck with Statue of Liberty views. The apartment is very quiet because we are in an interior court yard on the 8th floor. The floors are wood/tile and the kitchen is nicer than the one I have in Rhode Island. We also have central air and two walk-in closets, plus a coat closet.

In the five days I was there, I had two interviews, saw a Broadway musical, went shopping with my son Mark, drove to Sullivan County to look at country properties, ventured into Brooklyn to find Fairway, the newest market in town. We natually got lost and had to make a phone shout-out to Jeffrey who patiently guided us to our destination. Then we drove to Sandy and Dianne's to pick up the Saab and park it in a garage in Manhattan. I never want to drive in Manhattan again.

Speaking of parking, we spent $145 to park the van near our building. Ka-ching. $200 monthly parking fee to house the Saab, a bargain. Ka-ching. $115 ticket for parking my van in an unauthorized zone. Double ka-ching.

I'm back in the land of free parking.