The Phenomena of Spring (Especially in the Hudson Valley)

A solitary red tulip outside our kitchen window.

Happy Spring, everyone!

So, I’ve taken a break from blogging for a longer period of time than I actually blogged regularly; I know this. But I’ve been gaining fans on Facebook, and our busy-ness and beautiful spring weather lately has propelled me to start up again: I like documenting events, foods, and my observations. After a long hiatus, I’ve also gotten my picture-taking itch back, but I am frustratingly without a working camera (must get my G12 fixed soon or I’ll go crazy!). However, the desire feels good, after many long months of not really wanting or caring about much at all. 

Look at those brilliant colors!

The last few days have been amazingly beautiful: you know how there’s a peak time to see the brilliant fall foliage in the Northeast? I think the same thing goes for the spring. In the past week it seems as if all the flowering trees have popped and the green leaves have triumphantly marched onto the scene: WE’RE  FINALLY HEEEEEEERE!  Spring may have officially began in March, but now it truly feels like it’s here. March and April here in New York were still cold and mostly gray. We had snow this year from November to March; I drove to and from school bemoaning the bleak, bare landscape. The appreciation for the return of BLUE SKY! and GREEN!EVERYWHERE! never fails, year after year. It’s just so lovely to behold, isn’t it?

Andy’s sunflower shoots in our garden. They’re so much bigger already!

Andy and I have been trying to get out and do as many activities as possible since the weather warmed up (and, let’s be honest, since I’ve mostly come out of my depressive hibernation on the couch): visiting different parks, mountain hikes, early morning rises, and generally being more active. In the last couple of weeks, we hiked both Mount Beacon and Woodstock’s Overlook Mountain (neither one easy at all, but it feels good to wake my muscles up again), we toured the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, and yesterday we marveled at the cliffs, fossils and waterfalls of John Boyd Thacher State Park up in Albany County. Soaking up the fresh air and sunshine feels so gratifying!

Our surprise patch of daffodils in the garden

Meanwhile, there is still school! It’s easy to get carried away with spring fever and PLANS, but I must remind myself to rein it in and concentrate on finals this week. And in just over a month, I have a little trip to California planned that I have looked forward to since February. At last, some traveling! It will have been two and half years since I’ve been on a plane, and for someone who gets as restless as I do, that’s just too long.

Thanks to those of you that are here reading. I won’t make any promises, but I do want to keep this blog up. I’m not sure if I’ll feature as many food posts, or what direction I want to go in. But we’ll see! Spring is, after all, a time of transformation and new beginnings, is it not?

A vulture soaring over Kingston’s Rondout district

• I’ve been fantasizing about camping trips. So far this year, we’ve had one campfire in our yard, which is sort of like a teaser to actual camping. Here’s 10 Campfire Games You Have to Play.
• Silliness: The Most Comprehensively Honest Wedding RSVP in the History of Marriage
• We made the Smitten Kitchen’s Broccoli Parmesan Fritters last week and I was pleasantly surprised. Sort of can’t wait to make them again…
• Love Made Visible is my friend Danielle’s Etsy shop: “One-of-a-kind clothing sewn from upcycled fibers”. And I can tell you from personal experience: everything she makes is flippin’ awesome.

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It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what.  –John Galsworthy

[All photos above courtesy of Andy Milford. See more of his work here.]