Vol.63 A Trip to the Catskills, II

A Trip to the Catskills, II

Being in The Catskills, a three hour drive from Manhattan, makes me
forget the heat, humidity and bustle of New York City. On the second
day of my visit to Susan Dennison’s country house, we went to a Garden
Party at one of her friend’s home. Because each of the houses in this area
has a big lot – at least an acre (that is 4,000 square meters), each garden
is spacious and unique. So we enjoy looking at gardens.

I liked how the house was situated like a cottage. There is no fence,
so the house suddenly appears in the forest. There are many flowers
in the front of the house.

The owner of the house is a musician, so there was a fancy grand piano
in the living room.

His partner loves gardening and
designed the garden almost entirely by himself.

In the big garden behind the house, there were already a lot of people.

About 50 interesting people of various professions attended.
There were sculptors, painters, graphic designers, interior designers,
an opera singer, lawyer, a publishing person, an animal therapist,
fashion models and real estate people, all talking, eating and having
a good time. In this area, there are a lot of artists and creative people,
but unfortunately for a single, heterosexual woman, there are few
“eligible bachelors”.
If you meet a middle aged man who is fit, well dressed
and an interesting conversationalist, he is usually gay.
I enjoyed talking with them and everyone else.

A charming young man and woman served us food and drinks.

There was shrimp cocktail, chicken, crab cakes, cheese and
chocolate-covered strawberries – which are my favorites.
In my novel, “Find Me”, there are chocolate-covered strawberries
in the party scene and throughout the book.
I ate 4 giant sized strawberries…delicious.

The food wasn’t the only treat; the summer garden was in full bloom.

In the garden with the forest just beyond, there were many fancy
chairs everywhere. We could admire the flowers while listening to
the birds chirp. It was a delight to be there.

The next morning, I went to pick blueberries at a nearby farm.
I love blueberries and would eat them with yogurt every morning.
The blueberry field was spread out with the Catskill Mountains
in the background.

The branches had both ripe purple berries and green not yet ripe ones.
I picked the ripe purple berries carefully one by one.

Little children picking berries near me enjoyed it too.
A child dressed in cute blueberry colors, hid her face shyly.

My half bucket cost only $7!

Back home in my apartment, I put half of the blueberries in the freezer,
so that I could capture the taste and memories of picking them.
There is nothing like the very sweet taste of a freshly picked berry.

Later on, I will introduce you to some of the great artists
in The Catskills.