Outside, snow is falling, big, thick, wet flakes of snow, falling and covering the ground, making roads treacherous and the landscape beautiful. It started shortly after I drove into Hudson to deliver Holiday quiches to Alana Hauptman, proprietress of The Red Dot. I had some for her earlier in the season but when I went to deliver them, I couldn’t reach her and they stayed with me so long I felt the need to rid myself of them and to bake fresh for her, which I did this morning.
It was cold this morning in the cottage and shortly after rising; I set a fire in the Franklin stove to help warm the cottage and have used its wonders to keep a soft warmth flowing through the cottage all day.
After delivering the quiches, I returned home, following in the wake of one of the big, bruising snowplows that seem to relentlessly patrol the roads of Columbia County to keep them passable. We crawled along at half the speed limit as the roads are deteriorating rapidly. I’m home now for the evening. And tomorrow it is supposed to climb up into the fifties!
Ah, right on schedule! The deer are crossing in front of the window where I write, headed off toward the field beyond my woods. They stand proud on the tip of the hill before it slopes down to the farmyard.
It is a quietly good afternoon. Jazz plays, snow falls, deer roam, the cottage is full of the smells of a good day’s baking. In total, young Nick and I whipped up five quiches today in record time while doing some much needed straightening of things after the busy Holiday season.
For the first time all day, the cottage feels warm. I’ve just put another log into the stove.
Outside the safety of the cottage, the world continues its pace, full of tragedies and miracles. A seven year old survived the crash of her parents’ plane and walked through rough terrain to seek help. Everyone else on board perished. The story brought tears to my eyes.
As they did when I got a text from my friend Nick Stuart, letting me know that his long anticipated Green Card had arrived in the mail today and when I read it, my eyes watered up. It has been a long journey to getting one.
Things here seem piercingly close when I read about them or watch news on my laptop, having now been a cord cutter for three years now. I think it is the landscape with its raw beauty that makes all things seem closer to the heart.
It is what I have treasured about this time in the country. I have been closer to nature than I have ever been in my life, with time to notice the changes in the seasons and in the tenor of the days themselves.
Like noticing that the family of deer always seems to cross in front of my window when I sit down in the fading light of day to work on this blog. I have taken time to notice the snowflakes falling and the raindrops splattering into the drive.
Next week I will begin to go back to the city more often and am hoping that I don’t lose my sense of connection with life in the burly bustling that is New York.
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Tags: Claverack, Columbia County, Mathew Tombers, New York, Nick Stuart
This entry was posted on January 3, 2015 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 01 03 15 Snowflakes falling; tragedies and miracles
Outside, snow is falling, big, thick, wet flakes of snow, falling and covering the ground, making roads treacherous and the landscape beautiful. It started shortly after I drove into Hudson to deliver Holiday quiches to Alana Hauptman, proprietress of The Red Dot. I had some for her earlier in the season but when I went to deliver them, I couldn’t reach her and they stayed with me so long I felt the need to rid myself of them and to bake fresh for her, which I did this morning.
It was cold this morning in the cottage and shortly after rising; I set a fire in the Franklin stove to help warm the cottage and have used its wonders to keep a soft warmth flowing through the cottage all day.
After delivering the quiches, I returned home, following in the wake of one of the big, bruising snowplows that seem to relentlessly patrol the roads of Columbia County to keep them passable. We crawled along at half the speed limit as the roads are deteriorating rapidly. I’m home now for the evening. And tomorrow it is supposed to climb up into the fifties!
Ah, right on schedule! The deer are crossing in front of the window where I write, headed off toward the field beyond my woods. They stand proud on the tip of the hill before it slopes down to the farmyard.
It is a quietly good afternoon. Jazz plays, snow falls, deer roam, the cottage is full of the smells of a good day’s baking. In total, young Nick and I whipped up five quiches today in record time while doing some much needed straightening of things after the busy Holiday season.
For the first time all day, the cottage feels warm. I’ve just put another log into the stove.
Outside the safety of the cottage, the world continues its pace, full of tragedies and miracles. A seven year old survived the crash of her parents’ plane and walked through rough terrain to seek help. Everyone else on board perished. The story brought tears to my eyes.
As they did when I got a text from my friend Nick Stuart, letting me know that his long anticipated Green Card had arrived in the mail today and when I read it, my eyes watered up. It has been a long journey to getting one.
Things here seem piercingly close when I read about them or watch news on my laptop, having now been a cord cutter for three years now. I think it is the landscape with its raw beauty that makes all things seem closer to the heart.
It is what I have treasured about this time in the country. I have been closer to nature than I have ever been in my life, with time to notice the changes in the seasons and in the tenor of the days themselves.
Like noticing that the family of deer always seems to cross in front of my window when I sit down in the fading light of day to work on this blog. I have taken time to notice the snowflakes falling and the raindrops splattering into the drive.
Next week I will begin to go back to the city more often and am hoping that I don’t lose my sense of connection with life in the burly bustling that is New York.
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Related
Tags: Claverack, Columbia County, Mathew Tombers, New York, Nick Stuart
This entry was posted on January 3, 2015 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.