Fertile flood plain a two-edged sword

The Batavia Kill overflowed its banks, swamping the Lawrence family's farm in Ashland, N.Y. More Photos »

Post-diluvian

A week after the August rains and flood, Stoney Clove Creek is returning to normal. Compare to the video posted below on August 15, and note the significant difference.

By Monday the 22nd the water level was further down, though above what is 'normal' for August.

Chichester floods

After some light rains on Saturday and Sunday, very heavy rains fell overnight into Monday the 15th. These pictures and videos give you a good look at how sleepy Stoney Creek

went from its placid, lazy flow on Saturday afternoon at 1.33pm to a rampaging big muddy

on Monday morning at 9:30. Phoenicia is reported to have received 5 inches of rain, Tannersville 3.7 inches of rain. Whatever the total that fell at the source of our Stoney Creek up in the Devil's Tombstone, there is no doubt of its ferocity and power. Look (and listen) to our little brook gone muddy:

August 13

Pictures of Chichester and West Kill.

Chichester wedding

end of July 2011

Post Office closings

News stories have appeared that the U.S. Postal Service is considering closing 3,700 local post offices. This story, one of many, includes a list of possible choices. Both Chichester and Lanesville appear on the list.

Volunteer day at CPOA

Not all of us got to play in the water (though we did get to take a dip after the workday was done). In fact, a good number of us worked at prettying up the CPOA grounds: the backstop on the basketball/handball court was painted a gleaming white; the grounds were cleared; debris was removed. We broke for a barbecue lunch at midday, and got back to work for another sustained effort.

The place looks great.

Tanbark Trail hike

On 8 July, a group of us hardy Chichesterites met to hike the Tanbark trail. Access to the trail is from the Phoenicia Park (across the street from the new, temporary location of the Phoenicia Library, and adjacent to the Phoenicia Post Office). It is a 2½ mile hike. Two steep trail sections. Two overlooks: down to Phoenicia, and across to the Shawangunks.

Before starting our hike, Arianna Marrazzo, in her cowboy boots, spotted a bald eagle soaring over our heads.

Phoenicia seen from the overlook.

 Off in the distance, the Gunks.

Numerous websites have information on the Tanbark Trail. The Catskill Running Festival, has a PDF map of the trail (in color).

4 July dinner & dance

Thunderstorms boomed at 5 in the morning, and rains fell most of the day. Yet our spirits were not dampened; we held our annual 4th of July weekend  cocktail hour and dinner inside the CPOA clubhouse. Following dinner, square dancing.

(Note the effects of the rains on Stoney Clove Creek: the video is from July 4th, around 4pm.)

Fracking

This story in today's NY Times addresses the controversial topic of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the search for energy supplies.

Rain, rain, rain

We are in Wikipedia! Click on this post's title to link to our Wiki page.

On Wednesday 18 May 2011, Phoenicia received 1.23 inches of rain.

late April 2011

Healty Ulster grant

An item from the Shawangunk Journal:

Imagine your child coming home from school and grabbing an apple or some carrot sticks from the fridge. You just picked up the produce from the Ulster County "veggie mobile" that swung through town earlier that day. Or instead of driving, you ride your bicycle down newly created bike lanes on your way to the library.

Those scenarios will hopefully become a reality as part of a $1.01 million grant award for the Creating Healthy Places to Live, Work and Play (CHP) initiative. The initiative will focus on three areas in Ulster County: the greater Ellenville community, Phoenicia and the city of Kingston. It came about through a partnership between Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and the Ulster County Department of Health.


County and CCE officials announced the grant award at a press conference Friday morning at Ellenville Public Library & Museum. They included Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, Interim CHP Coordinator Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Ulster County Public Health Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, and CCEUC Executive Director Lydia Reidy.


Competitive Grant
Zaczkiewicz said the three communities were chosen for their diversity from a demographic perspective. "Kingston is a small city, Ellenville is a village and Phoenicia is a hamlet," he said, offering a unique chance to measure the impact of the program's success.

The grant is one of only 22 in the state, and earning it was a very competitive process including the metropolitan New York area and Long Island, Zaczkiewicz noted.


Hein said he is excited to see the program begin in the area for three reasons: "It's a wonderful opportunity to work with Cornell Cooperative Extension, an opportunity to impact public health, and most importantly an opportunity to make families' lives better."

Phoenicia Library settles into temporary location

The Phoenicia Library building bears the scars of the March 19 fire in a photo taken just hours after the blaze was extinguished. Freeman file photo

Phoenicia Library employees Molly Kilb, foreground, and Susan Penick work on Tuesday in the library’s temporary quarters, a former medical office in the hamlet. Photo by Jay Braman Jr.

DEC grants permit for dredging in Phoenicia

The permit will allow town workers to dredge roughly 2,700 cubic feet of gravel and sediment from the Stony Clove Creek, extending roughly 690 feet upstream from the Route 214 bridge.

Mid-March in Chichester

A foot,  or so, of snow remains in places in Chichester. There has been quite a bit of melt. Last Friday, 11 March, Phoenicia received 4.9 inches of rain. As a result of all that melting snow and precipitation, the creeks and streams are running fast, and muddy. I took this video (Spike Lee has nothing to worry about) early on Saturday afternoon. Take a look, and a listen, to how Stoney Clove Creek looks, and sounds. [Click on the four-arrow icon to pop out the video viewer to full screen.) Click on the title of this post to see a slideshow of how other parts of Chichester, and Wilson State Park, looked.

After one flood ...

From deep in the archives, these photos appeared, bringing back memories of a flood some years back. In September of 2005, in fact. This piece of abstract art was composed by Chichesterites of items that were washed up in various Chichester properties by the surging waters of Stoney Clove Creek.

Febnruary 2011

Feet of snow remain on the ground, with a thin layer of ice over fluffy snow. Walking in unblemished snow was difficult.

Roads are clear; take a look at Stoney Clove Lane:

January 2011

During the winter season some people go to Wilson State Park, along Wittenberg Road, with their dogs. It is an oasis of open land where dogs can run leash-free. In its starkness, it can seem a beautiful place.

2010 Year end

Only 9 inches of snow fell in Chichester; New York City got 20 inches of snow from the Bloomberg storm.

Haines Falls - Kaaterskill Falls hiking/biking path

This article appeared in the Greene County Daily Mail on November 26, 2010.

Poet's Walk Park

Country Road 103 run north-south on the Dutchess County side of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, intersecting State Route 199 (between Route 9G and the River Hudson). Turning north from 199, up half a mile, sits the Poet's Walk Park. Said to have inspired Washington Irving, it is a lovely spot even in the throes of late autumn.

Ongoing CPOA grounds rehabilitation

Steel beams were back in place, and planking was being added, to make a temporary foot bridge.

Little by little, progress being made in rehabilitating the grounds.

Dining Out: Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia

An article appearing in the 12 November 2010 issue of the Times Herald-Record discusses our favorite and renown local eatery. Its subtitle sums it all up: Order a stack of bliss at this Ulster treasure

Watershed coalition reaches land agreement with NYC

From the Daily Freeman.

Hiking Diamond Notch

Off Route 214, in Lanesville

Onteora Lake and trail

In West Hurley, along Route 28 (just before the Hobo Deli area), there is a New York State DEC site, Onteora Lake: aside from the lake, there is a hiking trail.

October 18 pictures of CPOA grounds

Finally, later on Saturday the 16th, Jerry Ciacciera managed  to start, and move, his truck:

The Phoenicia Times

As Janis Chron wrote in her email of Friday 15 October, a column appeared in the New York Times edition of  Wednesday 13 October, written by Peter Applebome, about the demise of the Phoenicia Times (and of the Olive Press).


There’s often something appropriately operatic about a newspaper’s farewell, but as far as group hugs go, it would be hard to beat the one that accompanied the final edition last week of The Phoenicia Times, with its memorable slogan, “Covering the Town of Shandaken, Wild Heart of the Catskills’ High Peaks.” 

There were farewell columns by the food columnist, the hiking columnist, the farming columnist and most of the paper’s regular voices. There were heartfelt farewells from readers (“Loss does not describe it. I see it as creating a very bleak vacuum”). And there was a quite lovely front-page obituary, with its reference to long-dead Catskill papers: The Hancock True Flag, The Pine Hill Sentinel, The Star of Delaware.

“When newspapers die, there’s no headstone to mark their passing. But I’d like to imagine that somewhere in the Catskill Mountains, in a clearing on a hillside ringed with a crumbling stone wall, there’s a little plot where mourning readers can pay their respects.”

What was most interesting about the tribute was its provenance. It began as a post on a relatively new Catskill Web site, The Watershed Post, and it was written by the site’s editor, Lissa Harris.