Tag Archives: Catskills

Catskills Conversations: Todd Pascarella

© Jeanine Pascarella

© Jeanine Pascarella Brian Mulder and Todd Pascarella (right)

Former Mayor of Fleischmanns Todd Pascarella is embarking upon a new effort to keep us all in good spirits. Union Grove Distillery in Arkville is due to open this year, producing vodka to start and eventually offering aged rye whiskey and aged rye bourbon.

When did you move to the Catskills?

I moved to the Catskills in Spring 2001. I was drawn here partly because of my experience of going to college down in Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. I grew up in Long Island and it was quite a contrast from the life in Long Island to the way things were down there: the natural beauty and the niceness of the people down there. I decided to try and move up here by myself as a yearlong experiment and I moved to MT Tremper. And I started meeting a lot of people who I was fascinated by, so I decided to buy a fixer-upper house in Highmount. I lived in that for a couple of years and that’s when I met Jeanine.

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Daily Catskills: 04/12/15

55F and clear skies at 10am. 60F and warm in the sunshine by 1pm.

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm The first new shoots at a 2400 ft elevation

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm The first new shoots at a 2400 ft elevation

Daily Catskills: 04/11/15

40F at 9am and windy. The sun fighting through the grey rolling cloud cover. Stunning cloud cover all afternoon culminating in a gorgeous sunset.

© J.N. Urbanski 6.45pm

© J.N. Urbanski 6.45pm

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Daily Catskills: 04/10/15

44F at 10am. Gloomy, wet and overcast. More rain. Update: 59F and a glimmer of sunshine at 2pm.

© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm

Transplant Tales: Jessica Vecchione

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© Jessica Vecchione Selfie with Drone Camera

© Jessica Vecchione Selfie with Drone Camera

Jessica Vecchione is the founder of the Catskill Mountain Film Festival and is a documentarian, videographer and photographer.

How long have you lived in the Catskills?

I moved up here in 2001, three weeks before 9/11. It was such a shock. We had no cell service and I don’t think we had even gotten our dial-up yet. I had no idea that anything had happened until the afternoon when I heard some phone messages. It really did seem like everything changed after that. [House] prices went up. They were still very affordable but they were much lower before when I was looking in the period before moving, late August.

What made you move here?

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Country Piano

The Steinway at Spillian.

© J.N. Urbanski

© J.N. Urbanski

Daily Catskills: 04/09/15

Jack Frost has cut his expert swathe across the mountains. A frozen, overcast landscape, 31F at 7am and every single bud, blade and branch coated in a thick, icy mantle. Icy granola stuck fast to the entire deck and sides of the house. Overnight thunder, lightning and hail set Spring back again. Update: 36F mid-afternoon with the ice being noisily blown off the branches by the wind.

© J.N. Urbanski 8am

© J.N. Urbanski 8am

© J.N. Urbanski 8am

© J.N. Urbanski 8am

Daily Catskills: 04/08/15

34F, windy and heavily raining at 8am. Overcast and grey, the nascent landscape being liberally spritzed. These mountains will never run out of water. Update: 31F and freezing rain by mid-afternoon with high winds.

© J.N. Urbanski 8.45am

© J.N. Urbanski 8.45am

Transplant Tales: Keith Carollo

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Photo courtesy of Keith Carollo

Photo courtesy of Keith Carollo

Entrepreneur Keith Carollo closed his NYC business and moved to the Catskills full-time with his husband Chris. They are both pursuing careers in the arts, with Chris directing the local school play.

How long have you lived in the Catskills?

We’ve lived here full-time for about a year now and we had our home four years before we moved here full-time. It was just a weekend home.

What made you move here?

It was for financial reasons really. We had a business that we closed and at the same time, they were increasing our rent in the city, so it just seemed like it made sense to come here where our expenses would be lower. And that became the next adventure for us.

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Daily Catskills: 04/07/15

44F at 9am and overcast with light, misty cloud rolling over the mountains. Snow receding into the drying landscape. Rain at 1pm, giving the landscape a good soaking.

© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am

Daily Catskills: 04/06/15 Before & After

We’re having extraordinary weather. This morning was like a Christmas Winter Wonderland and this afternoon snowmelt gushes down the mountains while the thermometer hit 60F at 4.30pm. Here are the before and after shots from today. The first picture taken at 7.45am and the second taken at 3.15pm in exactly the same place.

© J.N. Urbanski 7.45m

© J.N. Urbanski 7.45m

© J.N. Urbanski 3.15pm

© J.N. Urbanski 3.15pm

Daily Catskills: 04/05/15

Alas, we seem to have taken turn for the worse… 36F at snowing at 10am this morning. If it doesn’t warm up, we’ll have snow all day. The only saving grace: Easter chocolate. Update: the snowfall got heavier in the afternoon and into the evening.

© J.N. Urbanski Noon

© J.N. Urbanski Noon

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Daily Catskills: 04/04/15

38F at 11am with high winds and brief moments of sunshine amidst multifarious cloud cover. Despite low temperatures, the snow continues to melt. Update: still 38F at 2pm with fast moving clouds, high winds and bright sunshine.

© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm

Transplant Tales: Tim Trojian

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© J.N. Urbanski

© J.N. Urbanski

“…the mountains feel like they’re hugging you and holding you in”.

Tim Trojian, one of the proprietors of the Foxfire Mountain House in Mount Tremper has, for the past year, been living in the establishment while he oversees its renovation.

What made you move to the Catskills?

I was looking for a place with my wife Eliza, where we could start a business that would allow us to be together. She has been working in television all her life and we were trying to find a good location. I have been a chef and an hotelier all my life. The Catskills are perfectly situated being two hours from NYC, where Eliza could work while we were getting this project up and going. We could have the amenities of the city, but still live in the country, which we love.

Where are you from?

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Daily Catskills: 04/03/15

50F at 9am; the air thick with fog and unexpected birdsong. Overnight rain had rendered the ground sodden and trees dark with damp. Fog on the mountaintops, mist in the valleys melting snow revealing a nascent landscape. Update: a high of 59F with thick cloud and fog all day. The sun made a brief appearance.

© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am

Daily Catskills: 04/02/15

44F at 9am with bright sunshine poking through the hazy cloud cover. The thermometer was reading 52F at 10am and 55F at 2pm. Today seems to mark the point of no return (to winter).

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm

Foxfire Mountain House: Opening June

© J.N. Urbanski The main house

© J.N. Urbanski The main house

Up the hill behind the train tracks of the DURR opposite The Emerson, a new inn is being fitted out with ten rooms, restaurant, bar and lounge named The Foxfire Mountain House. Most of the furnishings are second-hand items found in the Catskills, with the decorative Moroccan tiling found in a warehouse in Brooklyn. There are still chairs to be sanded, beds to be built and raspberry banquets to be fitted, but proprietor Tim Trojan hopes to be open by June. An adjacent cottage has been ready for a while and has been rented for weekends on AirBNB. Tim owns the inn with his wife Eliza Clark a television producer and Eliza’s daughter Arden Wray, a photographer. He’s been directing the renovation for the past year, but the style has come from his wife Eliza who produced renovation television shows.

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Daily Catskills: 04/01/15

18F at 7am. Freezing lines hampering early morning cast-off on the first day of Trout Season at Junction Pool, Roscoe “Trout Town”. Sunny at 8am. Update: 39F at glorious clear skies with light winds at 1.30pm.

J.N. Urbanski 8.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 6.45am

© J.N. Urbanski 6.45am

Daily Catskills: 03/31/15

40F and sunny at 9am with partly cloudy skies. Update: 45F at noon and warm without a coat.

© J.N. Urbanski 11am

© J.N. Urbanski 11am

Transplant Tales: Laura Silverman

© Mark Hanauer Courtesy of Laura Silverman

© Mark Hanauer Courtesy of Laura Silverman

Laura Silverman was a guest on my radio show on WIOX almost exactly two years ago and is a fellow writer of Edible Hudson Valley. Laura has a popular local food blog called Glutton For Life and is Editor of Delaware Valley 8 a new bi-annual newspaper based in the Catskills to be published on Memorial Day and Labor Day this year.

There’s been a rash of articles in the media about the Catskills turning hipster. What do you think about that?

I think that cities in general are becoming much more challenging places to live especially for creative people. I think more people are moving out of the cities and more people are dreaming about moving out of cities.

How long have you lived in the Catskills?

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Daily Catskills: 03/30/15

32F, overcast and lightly snowing at 8.30am. As far as Spring is concerned it appears to be one step forward and two steps back. The windowsill sage continues to bolt regardless. Update: moderate winds for most of the day with a smattering of hail. The clouds parted at about 5pm.

© J.N. Urbanski 4pm Bolted sage

© J.N. Urbanski 4pm Bolted sage

© J.N. Urbanski 5pm

© J.N. Urbanski 5pm

Daily Catskills: 03/29/15

34F at 10.30am with bright sunshine casting vivid, long shadows of the forest in the snow; clear skies stretching down to a hazy horizon. Signs of Spring: your dog finds all the balls he lost in the snow and my obsession with my dead birch tree continues…

© J.N. Urbanski 3pm

© J.N. Urbanski 3pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm

Daily Catskills: 03/28/15

20F at 8am with barest of snowfall. Did we blink and miss Summer? Update: light snowfall continued throughout the morning and was much heavier by the afternoon. Really, more snow? Yes, really. 30F by 1pm.

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm Local, fresh eggs for sale at River Run, from Lazy Crazy Acres $4 in the cooler

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Daily Catskills: 03/27/15

32F at 9am, a light icy rain and the remnants of last night’s fog lazing over the mountains. The snow banks have dissipated and a grungy landscape is emerging. 36F at 1.30pm and no rain.

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm There’s a swimming hole in there if you look hard enough

Transplant Tales: Esther De Jong

© Esther De Jong

© Esther De Jong Self-portrait

“I don’t ever think any more in terms of weekdays and weekends… I don’t ever feel the need to book a vacation any more because to me it’s all here.”

Esther De Jong, model, real estate agent and fine artist lives full-time in the Catskills after relocating from her native Holland via a life and career based in New York City.

How long have you lived in the Catskills?

Since 2006.

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Daily Catskills: 03/26/15

A thrilling 37F at 9am, rising to 45F by 1pm. Mysterious fog thickening heavily into the evening. Spring on the way?

© Margaret Helthaler www.margaretdhelthaler.com

© Margaret Helthaler Rondout Reservoir

Daily Catskills: 03/25/15

25F at 9am and partly cloudy, partly sunny. An enigmatic day.

© Margaret Helthaler www.margaretdhelthaler.com View from the top of Thunder Hill in Grahamsville

© Margaret Helthaler View from the top of Thunder Hill in Grahamsville

Daily Catskills: 03/24/15

14F at 9am, rising to 25F by noon, with overnight lows dipping into the single digits: the arctic torturer rolls up his sleeves, but this time we hope its brief.

© Margaret Helthaler www.margaretdhelthaler.com

© Margaret Helthaler

Catskills Conversations: Margaret D. Helthaler

Margaret

© Chris Helthaler

Margaret D. Helthaler is a graphic designer and fine art photographer living in the Catskills. She is taking the Daily Catskills images for Upstate Dispatch for the next three days.

How long have you lived in the Catskills?

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Daily Catskills: 03/23/15

10F at 8am, partly cloudy alternating with bright sunshine. Update: 23F, clear blue skies and sunshine by midday.

© J.N. Urbanski 9am

© J.N. Urbanski 9am My Monday morning radio show on WIOX

© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am

Dog Dispatch

“When are you getting up? Now? Now? You don’t see me slipping over. It’s not cold. It’s fine. Can you throw the ball from there?”

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

Daily Catskills: 03/22/15

28F at midday, lowering to 22F by 2pm with bright sunshine alternating with fast-moving cloud and high winds. Gloves essential.

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

Macarons in the Catskills

Why go down to La Duree and stock up on Macarons when you can get them here in the Catskills and not tell the difference? Coming soon… the divine French almond meringue biscuit.

© J.N. Urbanski Melissa Zeligman's perfect Saturday afternoon experiment

© J.N. Urbanski Melissa Zeligman’s perfect Saturday afternoon experiment

Punk at the Spills

© J.N. Urbanski Sid & Nancy underneath the candelabra at Spillian

© J.N. Urbanski Sid & Nancy underneath the candelabra at Spillian for Stealing All Transmissions WIOX benefit

© J.N. Urbanski Randal Doane's Keynote Address

© J.N. Urbanski Randal Doane’s Keynote Address

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Daily Catskills: 03/21/15

Second day of spring = glorious winter wonderland. Mud season in abatement after yesterday’s low temperatures. 36F at 10am with morning sun occasionally peeking through the rolling grey cloud cover. An inch of yesterday’s powder remained on the branches. 40F at 1pm: overcast, with only brightness from the snow.

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm Firepit buried under snow.

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm Firepit buried under snow.

Daily Catskills: 03/20/15

28F by 10am with snow beginning shortly thereafter. A dismally grey, overcast Spring Equinox. Update: heavy snow into the afternoon with an inch of powder laying on roads and tree branches.

© J.N. Urbanski 5.12pm View from the Office

© J.N. Urbanski 5.12pm View from the Office

© J.N. Urbanski 3.45pm

© J.N. Urbanski 3.45pm

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Daily Catskills: 03/20/15 Spring Equinox

© J.N. Urbanski Sprouting seedlings planted on 15th March

© J.N. Urbanski Sprouting seedlings planted on 15th March

It feels like spring has been put on ice, but don’t put the cork back in the champagne yet. Today, March 20th is the vernal equinox, with two additional bonus features of a solar eclipse and a perigee moon, in which the sun looks about 15% bigger than it usually does: dubbed a “Supermoon”.

For the 24 hours of the equinox, the durations of the day and night are equal because the sun shines directly at the equator. The suns rays are perpendicular to the earth. When you live in the mountains, you notice the position of the sun more keenly and during winter months it rises and sets much lower than its summer east/west positions. Days will now start to get longer until the longest day of the year, which will be the June Solstice.

So the days may be long, but nothing has sprung except the indoor seedlings planted last Sunday 15th March and sprouting in the spare bedroom. If you don’t have a heated greenhouse outside, you can “start” your seeds inside, but don’t use potting soil: use peat. These cauliflowers are five days old.

Daily Catskills: 03/19/15

23F at 10.30m: face-freezingly frigid.

© Margaret Helthaler www.margaretdhelthaler.com

© Margaret Helthaler The morning sun catches Sugarloaf Mountain while the Roundout flood plain rests in shadow, Grahamsville, NY

Daily Catskills: 03/18/15

21F at 9am with high winds. The snow gets whipped up by the squalls.

© Margaret Helthaler www.margaretdhelthaler.com

© Margaret Helthaler Big Hollow Road, Grahamsville

Historical Art of the Catskills

© J.N. Urbanski The Hubbell Tractor visible from Route 30 near Halcottsville 3/14/15

© J.N. Urbanski The Hubbell Tractor visible from Route 30 near Halcottsville 3/14/15

Poignant relics of Catskills’ history like this antique tractor are to be found all over the Catskills, as much part of the landscape as the forest. Over the next few weeks, as spring begins, we’ll be photographing these enigmatic idols as they sit silently conveying their story like stoic immortal pioneers. May they always be around to remind us of the work involved in settling these mountains. Along Route 28 and other routes, you will find pieces of farm equipment and other machinery arranged into statues. We’ll be documenting those too.

Transplant Tales: Erik P Johanson

© Nicole Vente

© Nicole Vente – Erik at his office in the Catskill Center

Erik P Johanson has lived in the Catskills for little more than a year, but has already developed a business plan for the redevelopment of the Maxbilt Theatre in Fleischmanns, which has resulted in the building being put on State and National Register of Historic Places in 2014: a formidable achievement in such a short time. He now works full-time for the Catskill Center in Arkville. After having lived in New York City for ten years, Erik and his boyfriend tried the Berkshires, New Mexico and looked to purchase property in Los Angeles before buying a house in the Catskills and moving here full-time.

What first brought you to the Catskills?

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Daily Catskills: 03/17/15

34F at 8am rising to 39F. Wet and overcast: mud season continues unabated.

© Margaret Helthaler www.margaretdhelthaler.com

© Margaret Helthaler The Reformed Church in Grahamsville

Hug A Hemlock

© J.N. Urbanski Hubbell Hemlock 3/14/15

© J.N. Urbanski Hubbell Hemlock 3/14/15

There’s nothing more majestic than a towering hemlock, a evergreen conifer that seems to be loosely draped in its elegantly weeping branches that dangle delicately towards the earth. It can live to 800 years or more and grow to statuesque heights of more than 70 feet. Last year’s call for illustrations of the Hemlock for an exhibition ignited interest among artists of the Catskills and once I started looking for hemlock, I found them everywhere. I even found a short sapling on my property and it will outlive me by many many hundreds of years, if it’s not attacked by the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, an invasive species native to Asia. The Catskills Center has a new programme for the pest that’s thought to have arrived in New York in the eighties.

From their website:

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Soup Sundays at Spillian

As I mentioned last week, there was Jazz at Spillian last night, during an event that I dub Soup at the Spills, which was actually a combination of their regular Soup Sundays and their Voices of the Catskills series. In honour of St Patrick’s Day, the Spill’s Culinary Curator Melissa Zeligman made Colcannon, which was delicious. The weather had taken a squally detour down a cold, muddy road by the afternoon yesterday – it had already started snowing again in the morning – so the Irish stew was the perfect wintery feast. By this morning, the sun had come out again in force as if yesterday’s aberrant hail/snow/rain/mud mix had never happened.

© J.N. Urbanski

© J.N. Urbanski

Daily Catskills: 03/15/15

Dense morning snow fall and 34F at 10am. Rather deflating to pull the blinds to yet more snow. *Sigh*

© J.N. Urbanski 10.49am

© J.N. Urbanski 10.49am View from the bed

The Sugar Shack: Tapping Season

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The maples have been tapped and the sap is boiling, old-school style, at the Hubbell Sugar Shack and will be boiling for the next month. This sugar shack runs on a wood-burning furnace and the product, Liquid Gold is sold at Catskill Rentals and Sandford Auto Parts.

© J.N. Urbanski

© J.N. Urbanski

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The Hubbell Cider Press

© J.N. Urbanski

© J.N. Urbanski

The Hubbell Cider Press dates back to the 1880s. The mountain railroad allowed farmers of the Catskills access to heavy machinery left over from the civil war. Chopped apples come down the chute, top left and land in the barrel, bottom left. The mush is then pressed flat between racks on the press in the background. Juice is collected in trays beneath the press running down the centre.

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Daily Catskills: 03/14/15

36F at 9am, rising to 40F by noon. Dreary and overcast, the last of the snow dripping from rooves and melting snow making a muddy mess of the roads. Mud season in full swing, the only advantage being that you can wipe your muddy boots off in the snow. Update: lunchtime rain ushered in mountaintop mist that had sunk into valleys by dusk.

© J.N. Urbanski Noon

© J.N. Urbanski Noon

© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm Hubbell Outhouse

© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm Hubbell Outhouse

Bookshelves of the Catskills

© J.N. Urbanski The Explorers' Room at Spillian

© J.N. Urbanski The Explorers’ Room at Spillian

Transplant Tales: Molly J Marquand

© Erik Johanson/@halcott718

© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 Molly Marquand at her office at CRISP in the Catskills Center

“My muse is always nature.” Molly J Marquand, Catskills transplant and fellow native Brit, photographer, writer, naturalist, and wild flower gardener dishes the dirt to Upstate Dispatch in our new series Catskills Conversations.

How long have you lived in the Catskills? About two and a half years, I moved from New York City where my fiancé and I, Martin, lived for three years. I was born in England and moved to the Hudson Valley just before high school. I did go back to England to get my Masters Degree, in Taxonomy and Conservation of Plant Diversity (Botany) a joint programme with Kew Botanical Gardens and The University of Reading. But my undergraduate degree, which was in Ecology, I did at Bates in Maine.

What made you move here? I’d always had my eye on it, because I knew that I always needed space. We had this dream of having a farm and having wide open tracts of land. At the same time, I wanted to be close to my mother who lives in the Hudson Valley. [My fiancé and I] were both attracted to landscapes like the Rockies and Montana and places like that, but knowing that we were never going that far away because Martin’s family live in New York City.

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Daily Catskills: 03/13/15

40F by 1.30pm, putting temporary brakes on mud season on the higher elevations. Slushy fields, but brilliant sunshine through the gauzy cloud cover. Snow cover reducing to the thin strips of Belleayre Mountain.

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

Daily Catskills: 03/12/15

34F at 9am, windy with clear skies and brilliant sunshine. Yesterday’s slush had hardened into a crust overnight and deep foot and tyre prints in the mud had frozen over. 44F by noon and warm in the sunshine.

© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am

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Daily Catskills: 03/11/15

40F at 9am, mostly cloudy, with glimpses of the sun, with light wind. Icicles drip from the rafters as the cloud clears into wisps by noon and the snow shrivels slowly into the grass. Farmers clear piles of slush out of their gulleys with back hoes. 48F at 1.30pm.

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

First Person Dispatch: Work

© J.N. Urbanski A Tom Otterness sculpture somewhere in Idaho

© J.N. Urbanski A Tom Otterness sculpture somewhere in Idaho

Scrolling through back issues of Brain Pickings this week, I stumbled upon the post entitled “How To Avoid Work” and read it with interest. My eye lingered on one quotation in the article: “Your life is too short and too valuable to fritter away in work”. The artist in me agrees with this sentiment but my other half is too pragmatic not to find it irksome. Frequently paired with this idea is the notion of only “doing what you love” and the pursuit of this idyll. Because Upstate Dispatch is devoted to the city folk who are making the country their home and their business, I decided to ask the question: what is work?

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Daily Catskills: 03/10/15

36F at 9am quickly rising to 40F by 9.30am. Hazy sky being burnt through by the morning sun. Mud season is upon us. Update: a high of 50F in the afternoon, which quickly became overcast and grey for the remainder of the day.

© J.N. Urbanski 9am

© J.N. Urbanski 9am Yesterday’s footprints frozen into the ground