While I Was Out

While I was away, I had peace and tranquility, and I was sure, thanks to the Library System, that I would be able to update my blog and read blogs in an air conditioned library. I was so wrong.

Remember when I said that there is "No TV" in my mountain retreat? What I really meant is that all programming comes out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Scranton is the nearest big city. Besides the local Scranton news, and "Eye on Scranton" type programs, we also get entertainment like "Pennsylvania Polka." This show seems to last for hours and hours and hours. Once I have spotted the woman dancing with her mother-in-law, and the teenaged boy who looks like he wants to die, I am satisified and ready to change the channel. Other choices include "Outdoor Life" and "Hunting & Fishing". Last Sunday there was a pelt auction on one of the few available stations. Exotic furs were shown, with little legs dangling. On another station a woman cooked up "wild game recipes." Groundhog tastes better than squirrel, so I am told. I switched back to the pelt auction to see a man proudly displaying a wolverine pelt from Michigan. There was also a documentary on anthracite coal, which I have seen many times over the years.

This kind of programming insures that I will only watch maybe 7-9 minutes of Television per day while standing in front of the set. Then you turn it off and go outside. Outside everything is pretty, so that is a big plus. There is no noise at all, except for the sound of the wind in the trees and some birdsong. Some people find this boring, but it feels like bliss to me, because it invites total relaxation without having to work at it in any way. Kind of a country nirvana. Sometimes I feel I am inside Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony when I am walking around.

Tangled Up In Morning

"Full many a glorious morning have I seen flatter the mountaintops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy."
~ William ShakespeareThere was one very foggy morning in The Catskills last week, but most mornings gave me glorious views.


One morning a new friend stopped by. She got into the habit of hovering right by my face as if to say "I want to know you better." I looked up Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in a book and discovered that single mom hummingbirds raise the babies. They need nectar for energy, but they eat spiders and bugs too.

Every morning was a new adventure. Without internet access, TV, or any desire to hang out in bars all day, I found myself hiking, doing some fun projects, taking sneaky pictures of Hasidic Holy Dudes, riding horses, picking and eating fresh berries--no additives can improve the taste of a fully ripe blackberry au naturel! And they were everywhere this year thanks to a couple of very, very wet years following a long drought in the mountains.

"I long to see you in the morning light."
~ Bob Dylan

Perfume Performance Art

This lovely perfume salesperson is my favorite fragrance devotee. She agreed to pose for a series of saucy shots.

This one is called The Goddess of Givenchy.


Here is the Frisky Maiden


And finally we have the Coy Damsel



Next week, if she is still speaking to me, we may add the Duchess of Dior, the Femme Fatale, and the Noblewoman.

The Goddess of Givenchy sold me a bottle of Hot Couture, which she loves. I love it too, & have spent a few days wearing it.

Hot Couture ~ a play on Haute Couture
The House of Givenchy

Citrus, Green Leaves, Iced Magnolia Blossom, with a touch of Musk, in an Amber Sandalwood base.
An unusual, almost nonchalant scent that works well in daytime as well as under the stars.
Hot Couture is not a typical floral Givenchy, here the floral aspect is very subdued. It has a very light pleasant, crisp 'berry sweetness' without being sugary at all. More like fruit warmed on the vine, in the sunshine. It stays close to the skin. It has warmth and lasts a long time without being at all soapy or powdery, a well-blended freshness with a lovely long drydown.

Audrey Hepburn was a close friend of Hubert Givenchy. He designed the key pieces in her personal wardrobe and the costumes for many of her films, most notably "Breakfast at Tiffany's" I loved the way Audrey pronounced Givenchy when she spoke of him. Jhzee - Vahn - Shee with a very slight accent on the last syllable.

Guardian of the Grape

Chedwick was not happy to find several bottles of his wine had gone missing. He isn't about to let it happen again.

Everyday Reality

Sometimes you walk around, and even in familiar surroundings things feel completely imaginary. Life is a puzzle you just can't solve.
This photo reminds me of old drive-in theaters for some reason. Maybe because my truck looks as if it is parked close to a screen with a scene on it, rather than in a real place.




Sometimes the news is just bad and bad again. It takes you to places you've never been and has you worrying about people you've never met.



Sometimes you have to be a little creative to make it through the day. Stepping cautiously around mindless bullshit, avoiding encounters with ignorant, fearful, intolerant people, and just trying to deflect some of the sad and surreal stuff you might find in your path.


Sometimes you have to remind yourself to stop and understand, to value your intuition and appreciate all of the good that there is in the world. It helps to know that love is real.



"I see the morning light
I see the morning light
Well it's not because
I'm an early riser
I didn't go to sleep last night."
~Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan & Habit Rouge

In 1965 Guerlain introduced Habit Rouge and Bob Dylan's hit 'Like A Rolling Stone' was released. Both were wildly popular. As for the actual Stones, Mick Jagger wore Guerlain's Jicky, and Keith Richards quickly claimed Habit Rouge as his signature scent.

Habit Rouge is still on the world's top ten list of best scents for men & 'Like a Rolling Stone' tops the list of the best songs of all time. As great today as they were 42 years ago.


Like A Rolling Stone

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel? How does it feel...
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Tangled Up In Red

Since I missed a red-theme post day, I've decided to make up for it with a few red posts. I designed a little red sign for this post.





Chedwick is seeing red also.


I was in Vienna in late summer, 1989 with a friend who wanted suddenly to go to Hungary. We waited for visas in an incredibly long line. An official shouted out, "Are there any Americans here? Show yourselves!" She and I were the only ones and we meekly raised our hands, not knowing why we were being singled out. We were instantly given visas and were on our way, down the Danube. When we got to Budapest, we were stopped by passport control. They stared at our passports and at us. "This can't be right! American women with so little bags!" It was true, we were vagabonds, each carrying a simple handbag. We believed in traveling light and no power shopping while wandering. But this made us look suspicious and we were detained for over an hour. What kind of American woman travels with just one pair of shoes (the ones on her feet) and one change of clothes? They didn't believe us. Budapest looked like an army camp. There were soldiers everywhere. We had difficulty finding a place to stay. We wandered from hotel to hotel for hours. Even the hostels were full. The next morning, the whole city seemed to be celebrating-- the border had opened, and a few months later, the Berlin Wall would fall. We had a lot of little adventures, predicaments that we can now laugh about, looking back.

Bob Dylan & Chedwick

This weekend Bob and Ched are spending some quality time together and sampling some Guerlain products. Ched will report in on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Chedwick College

Chedwick College
Cultivating Individuality, Excellence, and Awesomeness.

Founded early last month, Chedwick College is a liberal arts college offering bachelor's degrees in blogging, cat care, idling, meditating, song & dance, shamanism, going green, fingerpainting, honeybeeology, organic perfumery, and much more.

Our Actual Campus is in the Catskill Mountains of New York, exactly 100 miles from NYC. Our Virtual On-Line Campus is currently under construction and will be up and running by September 2007.

Last week we were recognized as one of the most relaxed colleges in the northeast, Chedwick's motto is "Don't Think Too Hard." Chedwick recently won awards for "Tidiest Campus" and "Smallest Faculty." The amazing lack of on-site faculty is one reason students are planning to attend Chedwick College in the autumn of 2007.

Our Campus:
1. Campus Drive
2. Main Parking
3. Student Union, Cafeteria, Dorms
4. Fingerpaint Building
5. Beekeeper Parking
6. Song & Dance Building (Future)
7. Zen Center (Future)
8. Nature Center (Future)



Our Future Song & Dance Center may or may not resemble this lovely building. Chedwick College is currently seeking faculty for the Virtual College. Chedwick College is an equal opportunity college. Chedwick College is not a licensed, certified college and guarantees that it will remain unaccredited. Chedwick College promises to graduate in the most gradual manner. Chedwick College is not responsible for any student eaten or mauled by bears. Chedwick College adheres to the highest standards of standards of excellence of the highest level of quality education.

Summer Surroundings

I have started to enjoy the season and benefit from my surroundings. The heat wave drove me indoors for a few days, but the river and mountains have done wonders as far as keeping me cool and more active this summer.


There is nothing much to do besides enjoy the leisurely pace and the fact that friends are much more available now too, with their short work weeks and vacation days. I've noticed that even my most manic friend has calmed down and is able to stare at cloud formations for an hour. Now if I could just get Kurt to take a day off from the OPE grind to spend a day watching the river flow, my summer would be complete. One friend just called to say how enjoyable work is now that the boss has gone away on vacation. Everyone seems to be enjoying some particular feature of summer and making the most of it.

I used to always think something was missing in summertime, or that it was an interruption of the usual. As a kid I missed not going to school in summer, because I was a nerd.

This is my first summer of unlimited appreciation for summer. Usually my least favorite season, it has gotten me to warm up to it by being filled with wonderful friends and unusual treats. The heat wave had me visiting interesting libraries, and my reading list has stayed light; mainly short stories. I seem to have found more places to hike and a way to 'think summer'.

Summer Sense

Interviewing thousands of people around the world, researchers found that people born before 1960 were much more likely to associate scents found in nature with their happy youthful summertimes. They spoke of freshly mown grass, earthy smells, beachy smells, the salt spray of the ocean, the scent of a certain flowers on the breeze. They also mentioned scents like pine trees at a favorite campsite or stable smells of horses and hay.

People born after 1960 tended to think back to smells like cotton candy, grill smells (meat being barbecued, the lighter fluid or charcoal starter) and the strong smell of chlorine from pools as favorite childhood summer scents.

People born after 1960 often said they didn't care all that much for the smell of freshly cut grass, or had no memory of it being a part of their childhood "reminder" scents. They preferred the chlorine smell of the swimming pool to the 'fishy' smell of the beach. They also recalled exhaust-fume smells as a positive reminder of a trip to an amusement park, which meant highway traffic jams and large parking lots.

1960 is just a rough cut off point. I conducted my own interviews with people born in the late 50's and some of them listed the fond memory smells attributed to the younger group of "post 1960 people". However most pre 1960 people did describe all natural scents and never mentioned food or exhaust fume smells at all.



The two perfumes pictured above capture some of the more natural notes of summer. With Voile d'Ete, Guerlain tried to capture sun baked earth, wild growing spearmint, a whiff of carnations, and the sun on the terracotta rooftops of the south of France.

With Herba Fresca, Guerlain wanted to bottle the scent of freshly mown grass. They blended several grassy notes with vetiver and spearmint.

Both perfumes are a success when it comes to capturing the spirit of a summer day in the country. They are light and fresh.



Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
~Hans Christian Anderson

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.
~ Gertrude Stein

(painting in photo: "Summer" by Chedwick)

A Summer Place

Many summers ago in the Catskill Mountains.


Nothing says summertime more than cones and swimming pools.

Stripes of sun under the deck on a hot summer day.






"This must be the day that all of my dreams
come true
So happy just to be alive
Underneath the sky of blue
On this new morning, new morning
On this new morning with you."
~Bob Dylan

Watching The Hudson River Flow

If I had wings, and I could fly...




"If I had wings and I could fly,
I know where I would go.
But right now I'll just sit here so contentedly
And watch the river flow."
~Bob Dylan

"Fly silly seabird
No dreams can possess you
No voices can blame you
For sun on your wings
My gentle relations
Have names they must call me
For loving the freedom
Of all flying things
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach out of cry."
~Joni Mitchell

Bob Dylan in Woodstock

The Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era at the Whitney Museum, 945 Madison Avenue, NYC. To listen to a podcast on the Summer of Love exhibition, visit www.whitney.org

Thank You, Steve for the poster, it was a lovely surprise. The photo is an Elliott Landy pic of Bob, taken in Woodstock, NY, which was later used for the cover of the Nashville Skyline album.

This art exhibit, which includes many films, follows events from the early days of the Vietnam war to the killings of students at Kent State University by National Guardsmen. (roughly a 5-6 year period) It will run thru September 16th.

View from the blue gate. We rarely use this entrance, but since old logging roads run through the property, we decided to keep one of them at least functioning as a road. Mother nature has taken over somewhat, and we have to mow the road now. This view looks west, towards Pennsylvania.

Catskill blueberries (aka wild blueberries) Perfection... & they are everywhere.

My close up of a glass ornament, sort of pyschedelic.

Our Black Bears

"All I wanted was a cookie."
Fuzzy B. took this picture. This bear was caught after knocking over trash bins and breaking into a home.



Catskill Mtn. Bear Facts:

Our Bears~

1. can see and smell a blogger from quite a distance.

2. are good at tree climbing, hiding behind bushes, stalking.

3. are intelligent and very curious; would love to hear about your blog.

4. can run up to 35 miles per hour.

5. weigh an average of 130 to 600 pounds

6. eat mostly carrion, insect larvae, the limbs of bloggers, nuts and berries.

Miscellanea

A New York City Photo. Nice clouds that day, and who doesn't love a well-placed sticker?

I forget this artists name, but he is cool. I watched this film where he lounged on a big rock while the snow was falling. Then he leapt off the rock (he was agile like a cat) and this is what remained.

Suzanne Vega's new album will be released in about ten days. I heard two songs from it so far, and those were really good songs, so I am thinking the critics are right when they say this is a great album. It is called "Beauty & Crime" (The title inspired by Dylan's 'Love & Theft' title) but it is all about NYC as a woman ~ a femme fatale at times. It is meant to be listened to "all in one go."When Suzanne Vega and her husband listened to Bob Dylan's latest album, "Modern Times" she laughed about how her young daughter came into the room and asked what they were doing.
"We're listening to an album."

"A What?"

"A CD, a whole CD."

"Huh? Not a... mix?"

"Just listening to an entire CD/album --one artist--all at once."

"Wow."

(People used to do this in the olden days.)

What a concept.

invisible prayer

Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around...
~ Bob Dylan




I was walking yesterday morning and came upon a picturesque chapel in the woods. I took a few pics from the roadway, and was starting to walk on when a furious little church lady came out and demanded to know why I was taking photos. There was no way I could placate her without throwing down my camera and stomping it to bits, which I was not about to do, so I just rudely walked away while she continued to rant. I won't be attending services at her friendly little church in the woods anytime soon! Note to builders: If you make something picturesque, some fool is going to come along and take pictures of it.

Maybe the clouds are more full of prayers than boxes like these. they must be.

Summer Instructions

I don't know about the rest of you, but I need an instruction manual to help me amuse myself and others. Otherwise I would just spend my summer walking around aimlessly, eating, and napping.


There are instructions for making paper fans, oil paper parasols, and string hammocks. So you have quite a lot to do before you nap. Too bad I totally suck at making crafts--I'm sure my parasol would not open and close properly, and weaving a hammock? I'll just nap on the ground someplace.



This I could do.

How do you plan to amuse yourself and others this summer?

Bob Dylan Dreamscape

This is a painting I started a few years ago, and it seems to represent the dreaminess of the Catskill Mountain Region. I never finished it, and probably will leave it unfinished. The Bob Dylan concert in Bethel on Saturday night had a lot of dreamy moments. The setting could not have been more beautiful. Sixteen thousand people gathered together could not have been more friendly and easygoing. It was incredible. Before the concert began, we walked around the beautiful site, looking at the panoramic views. George Harrison songs were played over the speakers, and it seemed so right that George's voice should be floating overhead. It seemed like a very good mix tape of his work.


Bob played a lot of great songs, and I like to hear lively new intrepretations of old classics. His performance of "It's Alright Ma" was hypnotic, and he seemed to be having great fun performing "Tangled Up in Blue" and adding some fun lyrics. A selection of harmonicas were sitting on a speaker, for bluesy solos, and his Oscar from the Academy Awards was resting on an amplifier. Bob looked happy and the show was marvelous.

I will just give you part of Adam Bosch's review:
Bethel — When the legendary songwriter Bob Dylan played Bethel Woods Center for the Arts last night, the parking lot was packed with a lot of things you might expect.
There were plenty of eclectic T-shirts, one Volkswagen bus and soft notes played by acoustic guitars.
But there was also something surprising in the crowd — young people, and a lot of them.
So what would make the American Idol generation have a hankering for some Dylan?
"Nobody can string words together like he can," said Jon Weir, 25, of Albany. "It's music that stands the test of time."
Oh, but there's a little more to it. Many 20-somethings in the crowd said they can relate to Dylan's lyrics. After all, he wrote songs about an unpopular war and others tunes about environmental problems.
"His song 'Licensed to Kill' was all about people wreaking havoc on the environment," said Bob Early, who drove from Syracuse where he's getting a Ph.D. in English. "It's from a 1983 album, and things have gotten even worse since then."

Setlist:
1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. The Times They Are A-Changin'
3. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
4. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
5. Just Like A Woman
6. The Levee's Gonna Break
7. The Lonesome Death Of Harrie Carroll
8. High Water (For Charlie Patton)
9. Spirit On The Water
10. Tangled Up In Blue
11. Blind Willie McTell
12. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
13. When The Deal Goes Down
14. Highway 61 Revisited
15. Blowin' In The Wind

(encore)
16. Thunder On The Mountain
17. All Along The Watchtower