resolved: 2010

2009 was not the best year.  We won’t get into the details, but let’s just say the economy took a direct toll on our household(s).  After many months, things appear to have stabilized, but we’re proceeding with caution.  The passing not only of a calendar year, but an entire decade, helps us feel like we’re really starting afresh.

Before I launch into my list of non-resolutions for 2010, I thought I’d take a brief moment to recount some of the gifts the last decade has brought me.  In no particular order:

1. My graduate school education.

2. The New York debut of two of my full length plays – with pretty sweet casts.

3. My sweet, spirited niece and nephew.

4. Our Harlem apartment with killer party terrace.  It’s a rental they’ll have to drag us out of.

(that was our first summer when we were using the fold-up picnic table my grandmother made.)

5. Two amazing trips to parts of the world I never dreamed I’d visit and now dream of returning to: Japan and South Africa.

(pictures are on the computer that died last year.  someday, we may scrape together the four figures we were quoted to resuscitate it.)

6. Meeting…

…then marrying

my husband Anuj, whom I love stubbornly, dramatically and emphatically.

Update:  Anuj doesn’t understand what loving him ’stubbornly’ means and wants me to replace it with another word.  Does anyone else understand what I mean by stubbornly or is it confusing?  I stand by the word choice, but will happily add a fourth, more commonly used descriptor of my love: Deeply.  And lest anyone mistake my love as common, I’ll throw the poetic Steadfastly into the mix.  All good?

7. My family that continues to grow through marriages and births.

8. Our first real home and only true escape.

Discovering Columbia and Berkshire county has become an obsession of unmatched pleasure and excitement for both of us.  Our friends and family can attest: we won’t shut up about it.

Now that I’ve just listed the most important people/events/moments of the last decade, I feel less crabby about the past year.  In fact, my lip is quivering and I’m feeling downright sappy.  Perspective, it’s a beautiful thing.

Happy New Year & Decade.

Oh, and as for what’s in store for 2010…I will post soon.  Right now I’d like to ride out this glow.

These are the people in our neighborhood: “For the ‘Orchid’ Lady, a Design Hothouse”

This piece on Susan Orlean and her husband John Gillespie, Jr’s custom built home in southern Columbia County is a few years old, but the slideshow with guided house tour-voiceover by Orlean is worth a visit.

The stone, glass and wood architecture is stunning and inviting.  This is a house to be lived in (and entertained in).  The windows!  The fireplace!  The built-ins!  The 100-person birthday parties!

Views of the Taconic and Berkshire hills can be seen from every room.

Check it out.

Pottery Barn in Hudson

Thanks to The 12534 for posting this video and this video on art + antiques destination Hudson, New York.

Pottery Barn ’style expert’ Jeffrey Moss made a recent trip to Hudson to explore its farms, architecture, antique and curio shops, and watering holes.

We haven’t been to Hudson since the summer, but I’ll be there next Friday picking up Anuj at the Amtrak station.  These pieces have inspired me to pop into some of my favorite shops like Foley & Cox for some browsing and fantasizing about my two-hundred-year-old Dutch colonial on fifty rolling acres…

Photo with Havens article on Hudson, The New York Times

FilmColumbia

This weekend is the 10th annual FilmColumbia Festival.   The festival is one of the most highly anticipated cultural events of the county (that’s county, folks, not country).  It was started in 2000 by the Chatham Film Club and is currently run by journalist and cinephile Peter Biskind.  This year they’ve got over 30 screenings, panels, readings and parties.

Here’s a peak at some of the lineup:

• Precious, early Oscar buzz, starring Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe.  Look for a HUGE feature on it in this week’s NYTimes Magazine.
• The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Heath Ledger’s last (half-completed) film, directed by Terry Gilliam.  Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law complete Heath’s role in the second half of the film.
• The Men Who Stare At Goats, starring George Clooney.   What is this film? Is anyone as confused as I am? 
• The Maid, this year’s Grand Jury Prize winner at Sundance.
• The White Ribbon, the latest from Michael Haneke, one of my favorite foreign filmmakers.
• An Education, Dogme 95 meets Nick Hornby.  Literally.

There’s also the Coen Brothers, Barack Obama, Queen Victoria and Doctors Without Borders. 

Anuj and I had a great time last year – we saw a few films, including The Class, one of our favorites of the year.

Screenings for this year’s festival start tomorrow night.  Go!  (Or should I say, “Come!”)

gone pickin’

Fall festivals are in full swing, and the leaves are near peak color.  The air is crisp and cool, fresh apple cider’s in the fridge, I’m even wearing flannel.  This all means it is officially my favorite time of the year.

Two weeks ago we did our first apple picking of the season at Golden Harvest Farms.  No baked goods came of it – just some tart, sweet snacks for the next week – but rest assured there are more apples to come, and hopefully a crisp, crumble or even pie along with them.

If the apples look a little worse for wear, they are.  The area was hit with a bad hale storm which damaged a lot of them.  There were still good ones to be found – you just had to venture deeper into the orchard and push through some layers of branches to find them.

i’m just sayin’

“The Wettest July in 70 Years“.

And the third coolest June and July on record. 

Now, I don’t exactly need a newspaper to tell me it’s been raining nearly every day this summer, but it’s nice to have a statistical report that explains my droopy hydrangeas, my spongy backyard, the weeds infesting my driveway, and my nonexistant tanline.