Enter Zayde

So my father has decided that he wants our son to know him as Zayde, so my stepmother Peg will be Bubbie. This weekend, Zayde came to visit us ... or more accurately, my father came to visit Aviva and his future grandson. I am currently a bit superfluous :)

He got in Thursday morning, made it up here by himself on public transit and went with Aviva to a doctors appointment, where he got to hear Baby G's heartbeat on the doppler. He and Aviva made dinner and we all hung out that night. On Friday he spent the morning with Aviva while I was at work, then we cooked and baked in the afternoon, went to services and had Shabbat dinner with our friends Jen, Volkan and their new son Nathan.

Then, on Saturday, we putzed around in the morning, and spent the afternoon in New Paltz, eating at a wonderful, cute restaurant in New Paltz called The Village TeaRoom (wonderful turkey pot pie), before walking across the Hudson on the elevated Walkway Over the Hudson pedestrian park. We ended the day touring Phelps Hospital, where we are going to give birth to Baby G, and then eating chinese from Hunan Kitchen, the ordinary yet delicious chinese restaurant down the street.

On Sunday, Aviva spent the day in the city at a leadership meeting while my Dad and I walked around Tarrytown Lakes and ate lunch at Mint, a high-end grocery/restaurant in Tarrytown, before taking him to the airport. Overall a wonderful weekend, full of good food and family. What could be better?

 Zayde meets Baby G for the first time!!

 

 

Baking Pies with Dad.

 At the Village TeaRoom.

 

 On the Walkway over the Hudson.

Autumn in Westchester (Stuarts Farm and Kitchawan)

Its October, so Westchester is turning various shades of oranges, yellows and reds, apples are waiting to be picked and the air is crisping. Its corny but I really love fall in the Northeast. Two weeks ago we went out to Stuarts farm with our friends Volkan and Jen, their new son Nathan and Volkans mom, and spent a great day apple picking and hiking in Kitchawan preserve from across the Croton reservoir. It was a beautiful day, unseasonably warm and full of early color ....

Life is good

Not too much to report here, life in general is wonderful.

It is summer, so it is by definition too hot and humid, and there has been a lot of work recently, not all of which has worked out - this is to be expected in science - but in general, life is grand.

Last week Ellen came down from NH to stay with us for fellowship interviews (everyone cross your fingers and hope she gets an offer in NYC), so we had Rachel, Scott, Hannah and Rachels parents over for a really nice dinner last Monday. It was a lot of fun, we made a great quinoa salad (truffle salt is the secret) and I got to meet Rachel & Scotts daughter Hannah for the first time. She is adorable ...

Here are Rachel, Ellen, Aviva and Hannah, and below is Hannah letting us know something in no uncertain terms ....

Then, on Tuesday Debbie, Samara and Tal spent the night on their way to NJ ... it is always great to see them and really nice to know that Debbie feels really comfortable stopping over here. Samara is adorable & tough, as always, and Tal is so cute he is almost edible.

The rest of the week was a blur, lots of work, but Saturday we did get to spend some time with Jen and Volkan and their new son Nathan, who is a fantastically adorable mohawked sleeping machine. Volkan and I skated on the South County Trailway while Jen and Aviva walked, and we stopped at Woodlands Lake for lunch ... Aviva made a savory bread pudding that was awesome, and Jen made a pistachio fruit salad which looked like gluck but was actually delicious.

And today Aviva is heading out to another baby shower, while I go to work to get some reading & writing done. On the way out we took some pictures because Aviva was looking so gorgeous - she does not see it, but she is practically glowing with being pregnant right now :) She is so lovely and wonderful, I am not sure how I got so lucky ...

Its after Pesach so its spring ... and that means hiking

And as of this weekend, it is definitely spring. The magnolia trees are blooming, the air is getting heavy with pollen (as judged by my poor wifes allergies) and the temperature is creeping into the 60's and 70's. Yup .. spring is definitely here.

Plus last week was Passover, so that means that it is definitely time for spring. Passover was a bit late this year, mid- rather than early April, but Cherry Hill was still a bit damp and cold, though I did wear shorts most of the time. It was, as usual, a wonderful time, with a big seder on the 1st night (25), the Rappaports (who always make it fantastic) came over, and Arthur Bailey came along with Tom and Barbara, and our friends Jen & Volkan came down from the Bronx for the night - Volkan blew Buckys mind by telling him he was in Betar. The second night was a much smaller (just the 13 family) seder, somewhat tired and subdued but still wonderful food and good company. More than anything, as my nephew and nieces were running around, communicating and interactive and just incredibly fun and wonderful, this passover made me realize that the holiday is really for the kids ... and how important it is for us to make it accessible to and share it with them.

Anyway, back to spring and hiking, today Aviva and I met up with Jen and Volkan and their wonderful dog Maddie to go hiking in Mountain Lakes Park in northern Westchester county, up in the irrefutably cute town of North Salem ... I mean the town and the surroundings are gorgeous, like a Crate & Barrel catalog for farms and street signs. The park itself was great, a bunch of small lakes strung together along a series of small rivulets - the defining feature of many of the trails we went on today was wet and muddy and kind of rich with life - you could see the swamp lettuce blooming all over the park. The park also contains, Mt. Bailey, purported by my trail guide to be the highest point in Westchester county. This is something I seriously doubt, and the mountain, as it was, was not particularly impressive ... in fact I am not sure we noticed when we were on top of it.

Still, the whole park was great - though I am sure it would be even better in the late spring once all the trees have leaves, because the trail we took today would be under a leafy canopy then - we kind of hiked around one side of the lakes along a gravel road, then closed in on the other side and spent some time throwing sticks for Maddie in Hemlock Lake before walking around Spruce lake, through the parks ropes course (which looked cool, I would happily go back) and back to the cars. The hike was short and easy, but it was really nice to be outside and just enjoying the forest, plus there were a number of small waterfalls around the park which I got to photograph ... all in all a pretty great day :)

Snowshoeing

As you almost certainly know, January this year was rough in terms of the weather. We had the snowiest January in New York history, several big storms dropping 56 inches of snow all over the tri-state area. Most people thought it was awful, but I gotta tell you, all I wanted was another 10 inches. The snow stuck in Westchester the way it never does in the city, leaving everything blanketed in gorgeous white ... and most importantly, it left an incredible snow pack in the mountains and parks nearby. The icicles to the right are found in the ice caves up at Sam's Point preserve near the 'Gunks ... more about that later.

Snowshoeing.

So each Sunday for the last two weekends, I have been out snowshoing, first in Sam's Point (just south of the gunks) with Cheo and Jurrian, and then with Aviva at Ward Pound Ridge preserve near Katonah.

The first trip, with Cheo and Jurrian, took in a trail Cheo and I had done two winters ago out to an ice cave and then down to Verkeerder Kill Falls. Both times the we have done it, we have not been able to complete the whole trail, and this time was no different ... again we had to turn around at the waterfall. However, the trail out to the falls was much tougher this time, about 3 feet of snow obscuring most of the manzanita that lines the trail in the summer and fall. The whole day was awesome, deep snow everywhere, with massive icicles everywhere. The ice cave was just as cool as last time ... although the insides were not coated with ice the way they were last time. Still, Cheo brought his snow chains for boots, allowing us to climb up the icy staircase we had not been able to navigate two years before.

After the caves, we trekked out to the falls, only stopping for lunch once we reached the top. After lunch we were about to leave when Cheo walked a bit farther for a look at the front of the falls, and I am really glad he did, because the view was of the frozen falls was spectacular.




Cheo wanted to keep going, but it was already pretty late in the day, so we headed back towards the caves, walked out and took in the frozen Lake Maratanza and headed back to the car, stopping at an overlook on the way back to take in the magnificent views of the Hudson to the east and the Gunks and the Catskills to the north. Even though we did not get close to finishing the trail, we went about 8 miles and were exhausted, soaked and thrilled when we got back to the car.

The next weekend Aviva and I headed up to Ward Pound Ridge State Reservation, near Cross River about 35 minutes north of here. One of the things I love the most about where we live is the incredible access to so many beautiful little parks and preserves that are easy to use for a quick hike or just easy access to the outdoors. On the way into the park, the ranger recommended the brown trail along the river in the far side of the park.

Good choice.

The trail was beautiful and empty, with a gorgeous blue sky, great tempteratures and a solid snow pack it was about as perfect as a day as we could have asked for. The park has good trail markings and the trails are well used, making the trail easy to follow and fun to move on. We only saw one other person (and her wonderful dog), as well as a small group of white tailed deer. The whole trail was only about 4 miles long, which was perfect, because we got a late start (I had to work in the morning) and snowshoing is pretty rigorous, so 4 miles was plenty. We got back to the car, tired and sweaty, around 4 in the afternoon, and quickly headed home to eat the pasta calabria (with shrimp) I had made the night before, and then headed upstairs to watch the Super Bowl with Zeke and Ali.

Red Hat on the River

Last weekend, my aunt and uncle and one of my cousins came up to have dinner and check out our "new" (it is new since that last time they were over anyway) kitchen. So we decided to have dinner at Red Hat on the River, a cute little French place over in Irvington and then come back here for desert. We had heard about the place from our neighbors, who recommended it pretty highly, and they turned out to be right.

Red Hat was a lot of fun, very good food, a limited but excellent drink selection and a very pleasant wait staff. The restaurant itself was a bit difficult to find, at least for us, because it is kind of hidden in an old factory building. They say it is right under the large smokestack, but in the dark, the smokestack being large does not help its visibility (at least this was our experience). I think that the best dish was my own, a luscious pork chop from Snake River Farms
fbut Aviva's mussels and my uncles duck were also delicious. The goat cheese gnocchi and crab cakes we had as appetizers were pretty good too, and the stiff glass of WhistlePig Rye whiskey I had to wash it down was excellent.

After dinner, we came back to our place and ate some of the fabulous toffee blondies Aviva made, as well as some of the assortment of delicious treats my aunt and uncle brought up from Long Island City. Another great night in Westchester.

Mini-hikes near Home

Today we had planned on going hiking, but after I got back from work and Aviva got back from the gym, it seemed like there were going to be thunderstorms, so we elected to do a short hike in one of the parks near our house. We chose Sprain Ridge Park, which is about 4 miles from us, nestled in between the north and south bound branches of the Sprain Brook Parkway. It has a pool and a lot of picnic facilities, but also has a nice little network of trails which we spent an hour or two enjoying this afternoon. I love that we live somewhere so beautiful that even the space between a highway can make a lovely hike. To get to Sprain Ridge Park, head up to Jackson avenue in North Yonkers.

Bicycle Sundays and today's disappointment

So the Bronx River parkway closes on various Sundays during the summer from 10 AM - 2 PM. The first year we moved to Hartsdale we missed all the summer Sundays, and because I love rollerblading and a 13 mile rolling stretch of good road (through a gorgeous forest along the river no less) is a roller-bladers paradise, I was anxiously anticipating it this year. The schedule for bicycle sundays in 2010 is as follows

Bicycle Sundays

May 2, 9, 16 & 23
June 6, 13, 20 & 27
September 12, 19, & 26

And last weekend we went for the first time. It was fabulous, tons of families with adorable little kids on tiny bikes or little skates, fitness bikers speeding by, many rollerbladers, it was awesome!!! I went about nine miles, discovered that the road is far less flat than I thought and got so sweaty that by the time we got home I needed three separate ice-cold showers to cool off.

With that in mind, we were excited to go again this week, despite the ridiculously unseasonable windy/cold (48°F) weather. So we got dressed up and headed down to the highway, only to find it open to traffic, despite the schedule. I know its Mother's Day, and I know that it is probably a good idea to have the parkway open, but I was quite disappointed having been looking forward to it all week. We won't be able to do it next week, because of the AIDS walk, but I guess I will be back on the road on the 23rd ... sigh.

Westchester in the Fall

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who would tell you that the weather in New Yorks beats the weather in California at anytime of year, but if their is a superior season on the East Coast, it has to be the two or three weeks in the fall when the trees put on a show, shimmering and waving deep red and bright gold leaves in the crisp, autumn air.

We are in the middle of that time right now, and I have spent the past two days wandering along the Bronx River parkway near our house in Hartsdale. While these pictures cannot truly express the beauty here in Westchester, they do give a sense of how glorious it is here right now.