Mohonk Summer
Some Julys we find ourselves in Fire Island or hiking along the Camino.
The beach calls.
Water.
Getting ready to travel, the moment to be home, to enjoy the streets of the city you’ve known forever, local beaches, Chinatown, Lower East Side.
Meeting friends, chatting at the magician, whose turning 55, books coming out, actions, plans for a better apocalypse, on and on throughout a quiet night, the sun fading into the West... with comrades…
A long day after another trip to DC -
Another July, another bust and trip to DC to pay a fine. This time fighting for reproductive autonomy the majority of Americans support, that the top court, of judges nominated by presidents who did not win the popular vote, oppose. This is a rusty, crumbling democracy we have here. Minority rules are not working. I hope we can repair it. Hopefully it springs back to life, govt of the people, by the people. Everyone is shocked.
Looking at the signs.
The world takes, Trenton makes....
Summer hot in NYC.
Yoga in the AM.
Plans for the afternoons.
Up to Mohonk, we drive, via Newark, to pick up mom.
Up to New Paltz, to the Mohonk preserve, 90 miles north, as we’ve done so many times, winding through the curvy country roads, of upstate New York… to the Shawangunk Ridge, in Ulster County.
To the mountain house overlooking Mohonk Lake, walking, scrambling along the Fox Trail, up to the skytop, secret meeting places along the way, the Lily Pond inviting.
Past favorite trees, a watering hole, reading Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, chatting about Oedipus, walking around the lake each morning.
And making our way to the Greenhouse -
Down to Mossy Brook and Stokes trails, watching it all, granite, plates shifting, time passing.
They were not even around when we started coming, well, the 19 year old was a few months here, staying with Gramom.
Each year, another hike through the preserve… winding through the woods, exploring the rock formations, the sandstone, layers of history, “covered by great blocks of sandstone and conglomerate which have accumulated at the base of the cliffs. Numerous springs issue from cracks along the unconformity or from fractures at the base of the sandstone cliffs of the Shawangunk Formation. …Trails connect to a complex system of trails that wind throughout the Mohonk Preserve and the land of the Mohonk Mountain House Resort. A high point marked with a highly visible monument to the northeast of the Trapps area is called Skytop… accessible via a two mile hike that begins at the Mohonk Mountain House.”
Now its rarer, everyone is moving their own way, 16 and 19, mom’s older than that, everyone’s growing, taking in the morning, summer.
Another road trip.
Back home to the city,
Back on the bikes,
Another destination, we rode…
Over the Manhattan Bridge, over to Ave C in the Lower East Side.
Billy was performing:
“Our musical climate camp continues with our gathering TODAY -- SUNDAY 7/10 at 5:00pm -- at 36 Ave C and East 3rd Street. The EARTH CHURCH will feature this week the resurrection of "Forgiveness" in the face of our puritanical habits of late. Can we - with humor and music and nature - get back to the functioning public commons? The greater good? Let's get back to that One Love in today's Earth Church!”
My icons of New York are there,
Dana, the Yippie,
Eileen, the poet,
Donald, the Faerie,
Dasha, the performance artist,
Nora, librarian/ trouble maker,
They were all there, singing away, hot summer, hot night.
Summer alive.
Stopping for Chinese food on our way back home.
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