Catskills - Buddha's Rules

Day 2 - Morning Meditation
I dream of nothing – or almost nothing.  I recall a man in a dark room swinging a hammer, rhythmically, making a high pitch clang-clang-clang.  The camera moves in closer.  The man is hammering a large silver nail.  With each hit, sparks come off the nail but it doesn’t move.  Clang-clang-clang.  The man hammers harder and harder.  I wake up.

Catskills - Buddha's Rules

Day 1 of 3
Jean asked me to join her on a yoga and meditation retreat with classmates from her yoga studio. I thought about it for a moment and replied deviously “Yes, of course, as long as you sponsor me.” I was looking for an angle, trying to use her frugality against her. “Ok, no problem, it’s next month in the Catskills” she said, smiling. This failure to wiggle out is where my story begins. Fast forward six weeks and we’re on a three hour drive to a Japanese monastery in a remote area of the Catskills near Roscoe, NY. You read that right, a Japanese monastery – in the Catskills. Dai Bosatsu Zendo, as it’s formally known, was founded in 1976 on 150 acres of forest by a Japanese zen master. 

Brooklyn - US Open

Hooky at its Finest
The CFO scored front row tickets to today's US Open day session.  Never been so close.  That's my foot in the foreground and Novak Djokovich in the background.

Vermont Road Trip - Solheim Farm

The Best Place in the Trip

Vermont Road Trip - Bread Making

Class at King Arthur Flour Co
King Arthur is a big deal in the baking world, they tell me.  Most of the bakeries in NY use their flour.  I signed us up for an afternoon class on sourdough basics.

Vermont Road Trip - Slowing Down

Shaker Dam Coffee House
The sign across the street from our morning café was either concerned about turtles or was suggesting the people of West Stockbridge cross the street more slowly than normal humans.

Vermont Road Trip - Tanglewood

Tanglewood
Unlike the other 15,000 Tanglewood attendees, we didn’t choose the John Williams’ film night specifically, it just happened to fit our schedule.  We bought tickets to the lawn, outside the “music shed.”  We unpacked at our B&B, took a quick nap and arrived two hours early with our picnic dinner and folding chairs.  I had a sinking feeling while parking, it appeared everyone was already there.

New England - Upcoming Trip

And Now for Vacation
This Saturday we're beginning a week long road trip through New England.

Brooklyn - Back Yard Gardening

Ramping up the Heat
Say hello to our latest addition, a Cayenne pepper plant.

NY - The Borscht Belt

Aka The Jewish Alps
We left Syracuse stuffed - Stella's cheeseburgers, fries, tater tots.  I suggested dessert for the ride back but she slumped in her chair and formed and X with her forearms.  Three hours later, somewhere on route 17 she sat up and said "STARVING!"  She pulled out her phone, tapped at it and announced "The Fat Lady Cafe is not too far from here."  We pulled off 17 and headed for White Lake, near the town of Bethel.  We wound past deserted Borscht Belt bungalows and saw many Orthodox jews walking on either side of the dusty road, smothered head to toe in traditional dress.  I didn't see a fat lady at the Fat Lady Cafe, just a lovely view onto Kaunoeonga Lake.

Brooklyn - The Interloper

Dill Climbing

Brooklyn - Bike Commute Story

The Stork and the Hipster

I was groggier than normal this morning as I pedaled to work along Prospect Park West.  I took note of my fellow cyclists, sizing them up to see if they were worth racing.  I don’t like to be passed - I consider my ride to work a success when the score is something like 27-0, meaning I passed 27 people without being passed.  Just the day before I’d set an all-time record – catching and lapping close to 40.  Today I was mellow, not even perking up when a wiry geezer zipped by, grey beard rustling in the breeze.  He had on black dress pants crudely rubber-banded around black socks and a white dress shirt.  His helmet sat high on his head as if it were a bit too small.  He pedaled with the heels of his pointy dress shoes, leaning forward with a rod-stiff spine.  He looked like a stork. 

NY - Day at the Beach

Adventures with the Car - Episode 1
While we'd previously agreed on a beach day, a certain someone had to go work for a certain company on a certain day otherwise known as Sunday.  I took one for the team, chin high I sallied forth alone into the unknown.  It was a bright clear day, hot, sticky.  Beach-worthy.

Brooklyn - Back Yard Gardening

The Word "Garden" Might be a Stretch
More like an herb garden with a few flowers and grasses thrown in for fun.  We have dill, sage, curry leaf, basil, thai basil, oregano, thyme, spicy oregano and garlic chives.  I've used em all for cooking except for the curry leaf - it's different than the one I used to use in Singapore so I've yet to find an appropriate recipe.

Brooklyn - Another Milestone

First Marriage....
Then a car.  A Smart car, to be exact.  A black two-seater.  I love it.  You can find parking anywhere in NYC.  We got a great deal.  It was used, 23 miles to be exact.  As a result, we got a mark down from $17k to $11k.

Hyde Park - Gardens

Vanderbilt Mansion
Turns out, Troy is on the board of the Vanderbilt Mansion's gardens.  I am not sure what that entails exactly, but it meant we could drive right up to them rather than park in the distant lots.  As most things Vanderbilt, it was over the top, or at least it was when they created them.  On the right is the head gardener's house and on the left the "tool shed."

Hyde Park - Culinary Institute

Menu's Please

We dined twice at the famous institution, which offers 2 and 4 year degrees to those who can stand the heat in the kitchen.  On Friday night we ate at their French restaurant, which is in the main campus building.  All the food is cooked and served by the students under the intense, watchful gazes of their instructors, who hover behind them taking notes in small notebooks.  The kids looked really stressed out.

Hyde Park - B&B

AirBnB Comes Through
AirBnB is the internet's answer to linking up those who want to rent out their bedrooms or houses with those want to rent them.  Jean and I have used it all around the world with great success.  Jean booked us into two bedrooms of this house, just a 1/4 mile up the road from the Vanderbilt Mansion.  Troy, the owner, hosted us for two days and went above and beyond the call of duty.

Queens - Commuting by Bike

How Technology Has Changed...
I bought a bike yesterday evening at a shop next to my office and rode it home.  It's not a racer, nor a mountain bike but rather something called a "commuter" or a "city" bike.  What that means is up for debate but generally I'd say that comfort trumps speed.  What struck me while bike shopping was the technological advances of the past decade that lead to a smooth, quiet, grease-free ride.

Brooklyn - the New "Old School" Apartment

Good Mix of Old and New
We saw a lot of crappy places before we found this one.  I still cannot believe our luck.  I sat right down at the dining table, pulled out my checkbook and asked my landlady how she spelled her name.  Before she knew what hit her I'd handed her a check for first and last.

Brooklyn - The New "Old School" Neighborhood

This Ain't Hipster Brooklyn
This is Windsor Terrace, not Williamsburg, nor Cobble Hill.  No beard-wearing, Converse-sneaker-donning, fixed-gear-bike-riding fools need apply.  Nope, you're not welcome.