Explore JUNE-SEPT. 2016 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • WWW.EXPLOREHUDSONVALLEY.COM
Summer in the Valley
Summer artists in residence at Woodstock’s Byrdcliffe colony.
“E
ven without eating, and even without that cold beer/glass of wine, the elements of summer delight our flesh and senses. Get in a row boat and drift on a quiet pond. Listen to happy waters at creekside. Swim and sun bathe naked. Watch fire flies wink against a deep, dark sky studded with stars. Remember the Perseids in early August. Go deep, deep into the forest and feel the cool. (Bring something to combat bugs -fly spray, Skin So Soft, swatter, or get palsy-walsy with a guinea hen that enjoys hiking.) Watch how birds and animals love their summer life... As I sat on my upstairs deck, writing, my laundry flapped on the line behind me. All at once a dry cotton sheet swirled around my shoulders, billowing gently, like an embrace from Mother Nature herself. Here, most of summer’s climate notes are like that — gentle.” — from Elisabeth Henry’s “Sun-luscious Summer,” inside