Misty rain on the peaks becoming heavier in the valleys. Humid and foggy with a high of 66F. A muted red glow at sunset.
Daily Catskills: 09/29/23
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Catskill Mountains
Daily Catskills: 09/20/23
Warm and sunny, with wispy bits of cloud like someone didn’t clean up the sky properly and a high of 70F. Overnight lows dipping into the thirties. Frost warning.
Daily Catskills: 09/19/23
An overcast and gloomy morning clearing up mid-afternoon to late evening and a clear blue sunset. Chilly with some sprinkles and a high of 64F. Lows in the fifties.
Daily Catskills: 09/17/23
A chill in the air, and warm in the sun but mostly overcast with a flat swathes of menacing cloud. Late afternoon rain and a high of 67F.
Daily Catskills: 09/16/23
Warm and sunny, mostly clear with a high of 71F.
Daily Catskills: 09/13/23
Gloomy and rainy, with intermittent showers leaving a trail of thick mist in their wake. A high of 71F and humid. The goldenrod is enjoying this late summer.
Daily Catskills: 09/10/23
Muggy, still and overcast with low cloud and a high of 77F. Late afternoon drizzle gave way to some patches of blue. A barely discernible reddening of the landscape. The greens aren’t giving up yet.
Happy Birthday Upstate Dispatch!
Yes, I’m still here! I know some of you can’t believe it. It is, however, the 9th birthday of Upstate Dispatch and this is the 2,355th post. Yes, I persist. The Daily Catskills section began again this year on September 1st for the fall season, but it’s just too much work to maintain it year-round. (BTW, there are a few splotches of red in the foliage here and there, and in small pockets, mostly shady areas, we have piles of fallen leaves, but because of the heat, it still feels like summer. Try telling that to the tomatoes, though.)
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I have mostly been focusing on art, and writing. I’m working on a memoir, not because I’m special, but because there’s a story here that I need to tell. Part of this story was published in Farmerish and it was well-received. You can read it here.
I will be publishing an introduction, some excerpts, and companion pieces to this memoir on Substack: a “new economic engine for culture”, which is a paid newsletter that gives writers a chance to earn a living. For those of you who are interested in paying a very small subscription for my content. Here’s a chance to find out more about who I am. I hope to see you there!
Finally, I often go out for lunch, breakfast or dinner in the Catskills and hear about how Upstate Dispatch has helped local businesses. I really appreciate the feedback and thank everyone for their support.
Jenny Neal 9/9/23
Daily Catskills: 09/07/23
A steamy day. Hot and humid, with plump, fluffy cloud and a high of 89F. Mid-afternoon thunder and rain that took a pause for sunset and then continued with epic house-rattling thunder and lightning after dark. Some epic weather.
Daily Catskills: 09/06/23
Heavy and humid, mostly sunny with a high of 90F, but cool in the shade. Sweaty.
Daily Catskills: 09/03/23
Warm and sunny with a high of 82F. Day 4 of haying: bringing the bales down off the mountain and “tedding” the second cutting.
Daily Catskills: 09/01/23
Sunny and clear with a high of 80F. Tall goldenrod stems swing in a gentle breeze and its Day 2 of a hay window in the Dry Brook Valley.
Catskills Conversations: Gary Mayer
“Are you coming to the drawing tonight?” Gary Mayer asks me. I’m honored to be part of a Catskills figure drawing group with local artists such as Steve Burnett, Gary, Peter Mayer, and Sandy Finkenberg.
“No,” I say. “I’m going to a potluck dinner”.
“Well, you won’t find potluck in here,” he says as he steps up into his studio. “More like shit out of luck,” he laughs, highlighting a disparity between the lightness of his personality and the intensity of his work. He’s quick to laugh, good company and chatty, but this magnanimity belies the intensity of his imagery. “I have a wild imagination,” he frowns, nodding gravely. “I didn’t sleep a lot as a kid”. We have something in common. “Me, too,” I say. It’s a little exhausting. But I’m keen to keep him laughing because all the profile pictures I see of him make him look flummoxed, for want of a better word.
His general demeanor is nonchalance, however, like his image: hey, look at this shit I did. I don’t get it either. *Shrugs* The ad for his new gallery in Margaretville named Art Up is photo of a handwritten note, for example. I get the sense that his reward comes from expressing himself, while painting, rather than the final work being appreciated.
Continue readingDaily Catskills: 05/18/23
Another sunny day: warm in the sun, cool in the shade with a high of 64F.
Daily Catskills: 04/25/23
Cold, with a high of 48F and a chilly wind. A mostly gloomy day with the sun emerging late afternoon like it had spent all day a work. A beautiful evening.
Daily Catskills: 10/29/22
Sunny and warm with a high of 62F. Leaves hanging on.
Daily Catskills: 10/27/22
A cloudy morning, clearing up to a sunny afternoon with a high of 57F. Fall is over at higher elevations, but there are still hardwoods hanging on to their leaves downhill.
Daily Catskills: 10/26/22
Misty and humid with blustery afternoon rain and a high of 71F. Fall is on the wane, but the oaks, beech and ironwood are still hanging on.
Daily Catskills: 10/24/22
Mostly overcast with a low blanket of mist, and humid with the occasional peep of sun, a sprinkle of rain carried over from last night and a high of 65F. 2022 is having a spectacular, drawn out fall and now we are deep into the earth tones of the giant oaks: copper, gold and brassy brown.
Daily Catskills: 10/23/22
Overcast with the odd glimmer of sun and still balmy for the season with a high of 61F. The fall colors are now the golden, brassy, maroon and copper tones of the oaks and ironwood, and some of these trees are still green.
Daily Catskills: 10/22/22
Another clear, fall day with a high of 70F.
Daily Catskills: 10/21/22
Another crisp day under a bowl of clear blue, warming up to a high of 60F. The flaming red oak tree holds its ground with its yellow and green neighbors amidst the brush of a waning fall landscape.
Daily Catskills: 10/20/22
Bright and sunny with a nippy wind and a high of 53F. Big dome of clear blue with the odd remnant of wispy cloud.
Daily Catskills: 10/19/22
An overnight frost coats the last remaining rose and the temperature only rises to a high of 44F. Mostly clear blue skies for the rest of the day.
Daily Catskills: 10/18/22
A frosty morning with dew steaming out of the valleys, a fresh dome of azure sky, chilly but humid, rising to a high of 55F with giant clouds moving in mid-afternoon. Fall is falling.
Daily Catskills: 10/17/22
A dingy start to the week, with a sky like washed ink and a high of 55F.
Daily Catskills: 10/16/22
Bright and breezy, mostly clear skies and a high of 63F.
Daily Catskills: 10/15/22
A frosty morning, warming up to a high of 65F. Clear and sunny with leaves fluttering like confetti in a light breeze. Coral-colored sugar maples line Andes’ Main Street.
Daily Catskills: 10/14/22
Another gorgeous misty, cloudy morning, clearing by noon and warming up to a balmy high of 65F. Warm in the sun.
Daily Catskills: 10/13/22
A gloomy, chilly morning warming up to a humid, rainy day with a high of 62F. Falling leaves tossed around by gusty winds. Torrential rain into the evening.
Daily Catskills: 10/12/22
Sunny and humid, mostly clear skies and a high of 66F.
Daily Catskills: 10/11/22
A crisp morning with thick mist sinking into the valleys. Clear sky for the rest of the day, balmy with a high of 67F.
Daily Catskills: 10/09/22
Peak fall colors, but only brief periods of sun in which to showcase their glory. A nippy wind and a high of 58F.
Daily Catskills: 10/08/22
Chilly and overcast with brief periods of sunshine and afternoon rain. A high of 50F.
Daily Catskills: 10/07/22
Overcast and misty with late afternoon rain and a high of 66F. We’re in the peak of glorious fall here in the Catskills. We just need some sun to show it off.
Daily Catskills: 10/06/22
Sun, at last! Mostly cloudless with a high of 74F. A beautiful fall day.
Daily Catskills: 10/05/22
A rainy morning walk through misty mountains. Another overcast day, with thick foggy cloud and a high of 61F. The sun making a brief appearance mid to late afternoon, brightening the gorgeous fall colors. A lovely half-moon rise though streaky cloud.
Daily Catskills: 10/02/22
Overcast and chilly with blustery winds and a high of 57F. Fiery sunset.
Daily Catskills: 10/01/22
Overcast with ruffled grey cloud, morning mist and a high of 62F. Goldenrod still hanging on.
Daily Catskills: 09/30/22
Mostly sunny with a gauze of cloud and a high of 62F.
Daily Catskills: 09/29/22
Thick cloud cover clearing by late afternoon. Humid but chilly, with a high of 62F. Yellow leaves falling.
Daily Catskills: 09/28/22
More gloom. Overcast, with a slight chill taking the edge off the humidity and a high of 65F. Misty clouds sail through the valley towing their falling rain.
Daily Catskills: 09/25/22
Gloomy and overcast with brief periods of sunshine, but a mostly rainy afternoon and a high of 63F.
Daily Catskills: 09/24/22
A very crisp, dewy morning at 42F, but sunny and clear for the rest of the day with stray wisps of cloud a high of 69F. Perfect weather for cycling to a festival.
Daily Catskills: 09/23/22
A chilly, overcast morning, rising to a high of 53F with mostly clear skies, and a strong, chilly breeze stealing the warmth of the sun. Good drying weather.
Daily Catskills: 09/20/22
A bright, crisp morning, but overcast. A high of 67F, and pockets of sunshine despite stormy cloud cover and afternoon sprinkles. A slight yellowing of the foliage and a few splashes of red.
Daily Catskills: 09/19/22
A high of 77F and humid, with torrential rain beginning in the afternoon. A steamy evening with thick fog settling in the valleys. A low of 66F.
The Farm Stand
I developed a curry sauce made from scratch during the pandemic. Curry is part of Ayurvedic diet in which you eat foods that protect your health, so this year I tried to grow some of the ingredients. There are plenty of foods in this diet that don’t grow well in this climate, but we do have some good replacements. For example, spice bush, native to the Catskills and Northeast America, is a good stand-in for spices because you can eat the leaves, twigs and berries. I’ve never found spice bush when foraging here, but I did buy a few seedlings from Barkaboom Native Plants based here in the Catskills.
Some of what I planted at Lazy Crazy Acres farm did not do well, or even grow at all, but what did grow really well were arugula, red bliss potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, and hot peppers. We have shishito, jalapeno, cayenne, anaheim and exactly one dark green poblano. We got at least 30 shishito peppers from one plant alone, although we had to get it under cover because the deer started to eat the plant. I also planted mint and lavender as companion plants. The mint has kept the tomatoes pest-free except for one lonely, recent hornworm. All these are on the farm stand, except the hornworm who was invited to move across the street. Considering that we’re on dead-end road, this little fledgling farm stand is not doing too badly. Visitors to Tree Juice Maple Syrup are the biggest customers, which is where the farm stand is, and some of the garlic will be going into the syrup.
Whatever does not get sold will get dried or preserved. We grew 300 heads of garlic and the cloves from the biggest bulbs will get planted in October.
The farm stand is open when it’s not raining. We’ve yet to add a roof, but we all have to start somewhere.
Farm Life in the Catskills
I’ve recently been receiving a lot of kind feedback on the writing I do here, and some inquiries into what I’ve been up to since I last posted back in June. It’s the feedback – along with the helpful donations – that keeps me going, so here’s an update. Daily Catskills will resume in the next few days, from the September equinox until Winter solstice and all the snowbirds will shortly be seeing our Fall in all its glory from afar. Stay tuned!
Continue readingDaily Catskills: 12/27/18
Brilliant sun until early-afternoon and another high of 32F with fresh snowcaps on several peaks. A rare bright day. Busy on Belleayre.
Daily Catskills: 11/29/18
Gloomy and dark, with a bitter chill. Enigmatic fog on the peaks with the odd flurry, a shimmering sky and a high of 36F.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am – Usage prohibited without consent
Daily Catskills: 11/22/18
5F at dawn, rising to 19F by 1.30pm. Bone-numbingly cold with an arctic breeze making waves on the steaming Pepacton Reservoir. Ethereal clouds. Update: a plunge into the single digits overnight for a low of -2F or lower on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
Daily Catskills: 11/21/18
A high of 34F and overcast with the mountains blanketed in thick fog. An afternoon storm blows through bringing a few inches of snow. Snow-making continues on Belleayre.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski 2.45pm – Usage prohibited without consent
Daily Catskills: 11/20/18
Thick snow blankets the landscape that’s shrouded in mysterious mist. 37F by 2pm, but humid and foggy on the peaks with a sprinkle of afternoon rain.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
Daily Catskills: 10/18/18
33F by morning with overnight snow on the lower peaks forming a crunchy layer on the ground that lingers until the afternoon. A high of 43F but back to 36F by the evening. The Black Lab Mix salutes these new frigid temperatures with some yoga – he’s ready – but a lot of green remains on the trees. Fall has not finished.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.43am – Usage prohibited without consent