Category: Archeology of Home

  • La Pomme d’Amour

    La Pomme d’Amour

    Today I return to an idea from recent post, “Intermingling”, but with a Taos twist. What, you wonder, is a pomme d’amour? And what could it possibly have to do with a high desert town in the southwest? Both good questions. And here’s another. Aside from the similarly staged snapshot in the previous post and…

  • Hardscape Supervisor

    Hardscape Supervisor

    Supervising stonework is challenging, but somebody has to do it. Fortunately Carley loves hanging out on construction sites with carpenters and contractors of all stripes. Lately she’s been spending much of the day in the icehouse observing Pam, Tony, and Aaron while they’ve been transforming rock piles into the icehouse courtyard. Carley would always prefer…

  • Sunday Morning with Carley

    Sunday Morning with Carley

    Man. Dog. Sunday morning. After a week of early starts, this morning Carley and I slept until 7:00, and then we lingered lazily for an hour and a half. Tea. Reading. Slow breakfast. MUD\WTR. Sun soaking. Cricket listening. Lots of snuggles, belly and ear scratching, even a treat or three. Sunday morning with Carley is…

  • Misty Sundown

    Misty Sundown

    So many variations of a perfect sunrise, a breathtaking sunset, and yet — like spoiled children — we yearn for more. More colorful. More dramatic. More lingering. But, this misty sundown redefined the limits. Moody dome. Warm light, gently filtered. Colors few, but saturation intense. And mist. Ground-clinging, gossamer haze blurring the ground-to-trees transition. Mysterious.…

  • Intermingling

    Intermingling

    Recently we’ve been approaching that liminal space where Essex and Santa Fe obliquely overlap and intermingle. So many subtle signs. Lingering at the limits of liminality, savoring the flickering figments, and occasionally discovering that the mirages are not illusions. They are real. Like portals between the Adirondack Coast and the Southwest. An aperture between lake…

  • Swamped Dinghy

    Swamped Dinghy

    Summer 2023 is perhaps perfectly symbolized with this swamped dinghy photo. Swampy dinghy. Our rowboat. Our beach. Our fallen leaves steeping into leaf tea… Rain, rain go awayCome again another day.Rain, rain go awayLittle Johnny wants to play. But the rain has obeyed, hasn’t come another day. It’s come darn near every day. And our…

  • Hedging

    Hedging

    This summer of rain our evergreen hedges have rioted, sprouting enthusiastically, reaching upward and outward, unruly, wayward. Time for hedging! So much water and months of temperate weather have invigorated our well-established yews and hemlocks. As we’re only a week and a half from flipping the calendar from summer to autumn, we decided it was…

  • Horse Ferry

    Horse Ferry

    I’ve just returned to Essex via ferry from Charlotte, Vermont. This waterway commute is an integral component of our life in Essex, New York. 30 minutes from ferry dock to ferry dock. Sometimes a little less. Sometimes a little more. No longer a sail ferry or horse ferry, but in some ways virtually unchanged across…

  • Heart Rot Haiku

    Heart Rot Haiku

    After the cloudburst, the lightning, the raging wind, a sunny morning. Calm. Calmer. Picture perfect, except for the debris. The damage. The shattered trunk of an immense old maple tree. An ancient maple —gnarled noble, hidden heart rot —hallowed, hollowed husk. Still absorbing the loss of this monumental maple. The second and last on our…

  • Ancient Maple

    Ancient Maple

    Without a doubt, storm damage posts have proliferated in recent years. Perhaps it’s a rubberneck fascination with pathos and tragedy. Or perhaps climate change has amped up the drama and frequency of dramatic happenings. Likely both. And this ancient maple — wise for the century plus it’s stood sentry on Merchants Row observing — is…

  • Persimmons Maturing

    Persimmons Maturing

    In good news, the 2023 persimmons maturing — albeit a decidedly smaller subset of the overall fruit that adorned our three persimmon trees at the beginning of the season — are just possibly going to reach the finish line. For the last several summers… [I’ve gotten] high on the hope that our three persimmon trees…

  • Moonrise, Sunrise

    Moonrise, Sunrise

    Yesterday’s perfect week wrap-up included several encouraging icehouse rehab accomplishments to cross off the punch list; a laughter soaked wake surf session with Susan, our nephew, Erik, and friends followed by a hot tub soak; late night snack-supper celebrating garden-to-table tomatoes; and a supermoon surprise so sensational my nephew and I returned to the waterfront…