dog on fleas

dog on fleas
Originally uploaded by Cup and Top Cafe

It's a big week for shows in the little Village.

Last night it was Dog on Fleas at the Tivoli Library. Hell of a party wrapping up the Summer Reading Program. The third floor of the Village Hall rocked out with short people hopping from foot to foot and generally makin' mayhem. (One dad, looking on politely at the opener, was down on all fours riding his kid around like a dancing pony before it was all over.) Hilarity is a contagion.

If you haven't yet, you gotta see this band.

"How I got big, I just can't explain.
I was just out there standin' in the clover,
Next thing you know my life's almost over.
How I got big, I just can't explain."

From "When I Get Little (I'm gonna be a boy)."
Kid stuff? No way. Way!

6th Annual Tivoli Pie Contest

The judges of Saturday's 6th Annual Tivoli Bread & Baking Co. Pie Contest had quite a challenge this year, as usual.


With nearly a dozen pies contending and scores of people patiently milling around with forks, the connoisseurs chose five winning pies.


Tivoli resident Jacquie Goss took top honors with her lattice-topped peach pie. Her prize, a $100 gift certificate for dinner at Mercato in Red Hook (next year, better break out the rolling pin and give it a shot!).


As he has for the past five years, ten-year-old Alex Gonnella judged pies along side his uncle Mikee Gonnella (baker extraordinaire), Gerard Hurley ( filmmaker and pub owner), and past contest winners Mary Crinnin and Mariah. Alex's known predilection for peach may have tipped the panel toward Goss, but there were plenty of prizes to go around.


As has become the habit of the good people of Tivoli, the minute the final winner was announced, the polite circle of pie aficionados closed in on the table and cleaned those pie plates! Sweet end to a sweet day.

.....
The Annual Tivoli Bread & Baking Co. pie contest is held each year on Tivoli Yard Sale Day. A sign up sheet hangs in the bakery in the days leading up to the event. No entry fee. And, it's a local fresh fruit sorta contest. In season is always best. The bakery is at 75 Broadway. 845.757.2253.

Yard Sale on Steriods

The 21st Annual Tivoli Yard Sale Day is now just a heap of free stuff at the curb, but if you braved the traffic and the frenzied shoppers in our otherwise peaceful village, you may be in possession of a find or two.

Or, as a friend of the 212 persuasion once observed, you may have hauled home something that will end up for sale on your own lawn next summer.

As usual, Mayor Marc (as we still fondly think of him) was pressing the flesh at the four corners and handing out yard sale maps. The ambitious among us use it to guide their drive-buys.


I made a casual perusal of the highlights on Broadway (on foot and with coffee). My reward? This groovy (late) mid-century lamp table for my living room reno.


AND, "The Magic Music Box" made by the Plastic Injecto Corp. of Union, New Jersey. Includes follow-the-dots sheet music for classics like "Swanee River" and "Comin' Thru the Rye." Only $8. I know. You're jealous.

So... What did you get?

.....
The Annual Tivoli Yard Sale Day is sponsored by the Tivoli Community Association. It is held on the last Saturday of July. To be included on the printed map of Village yard sales, contact the Village Clerk's Office at 845.757.2021. There is a $10 fee for map listings.

Pie Contest!

Biggest event of the summer in the Village of Tivoli. Celebrity judges. Prizes. And an orgy of pie eating when it's all said and done. Bring a fork.


Sign up now at Tivoli Bread & Baking Co. Judging at noon on Saturday, July 25, Yard Sale Day!

Mark Your Calendars

10:00... who are they kidding! The great stuff is gone by 9:17(and the free stuff lays around for much of the following week).

Uke Joint

Hope you caught the show. The tip jar probably hauled in enough gas money to get that Lincoln to aaahh... Kingston.

Big Weekend in the Little Village

The weekend surprised us with a bit more sun than we've grown accustomed to, and a couple of nice little events were that much more pleasant as a result.


On Saturday night, the Tivoli Artists' Co-op held an opening reception for their annual 3-D show. Ten member artists' work in various media, a decent glass of wine and a room full of artists and friends to chat with. It was a full house and a sweet evening.


On Sunday morning, the second meeting of the Tivoli Bread & Baking Co. Wiffle Ball League (kids vs. adults) got off the ground, and we even needed sun block! Balls were whacked, bases were loaded, points were scored, but not in that particular order, of course.


Pitcher Mikee Gonnella was on the mound lobbing big plastic balls into the sweet spot. No one keeping score. Everyone was a winner. (Note fathers relaxing with coffee in the outfield.)



And, to top off the weekend, Chuck Mead's cherries are in at Mead Orchards; and Mikee knows just what to do with them. Piping hot bakery action, and a lovely finish to the weekend. Cherry tarts with Sunday night supper.

June

The unrelenting rain (and drizzle and downpours and sprinkles and mist and showers) of June have made for a long, slow spring. Lovely if you are a gardener. A bummer if you'd like to wear your new orange flip-flops.

The winds of June dislodged this little treasure from my maple. It dropped and rolled and has made it all the way to my credenza. In our little corner of the world, we'd rather decorate with nests, twigs, rocks and peaches ripening on our windowsills than upholstery and curtains. This little gem should fit in just fine.

Tricycle

Living in the Village, there are people you know without ever meeting. They and their habits are as familiar as the water tower in the skyline.

She has intrigued me for a long time, the tricycle rider. She reminds me of another tricycle rider on the other side of the world. I never met him, and neither will she; but they are parentheses around my little world.

Tivoli Day

Due to a lack of ... ahh ... preparation, Tivoli Day has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 1st. Do not despair. It will be worth the wait. As details are dreamed up, we'll keep you posted.

Old House Love

You might wonder where I've been lately. No, this is not a crater on the surface of the moon. This, friends, is old house love. Living around here, you pretty much have to have it. Not so many new houses around worth shaking a stick at and the handful of modern marvels are rarely on the market and priced out of reach. So we satisfy our irrational homeowning urges with remuddled old houses.

Mine was built about 1870. Doubled about 1900. Used to face the other way. Got stripped in 1949 by well-meaning working folks. They tired of the redo in the 70's and went at it again. A car ran into it in the 80's and left behind a lovely picture window. You could say that renovation opportunity knocked. Actually it crashed right through the living room wall.

Lucky for me, they never had much money, so it was all cosmetic.


I don't have much money either, so now it's all elbow grease. I've spent the past month scraping away sixty years of bad taste (with the help of many). I can no longer say it looks like the function room of an American Legion Hall. All the paneling, dropped ceilings and wall-to-wall are gone. I'm now down to the flesh of the place. Wood. Actual wood. Oh, isn't it going to be nice.

Yard Yachting

Last Saturday was Germantown's Yard Sale Day, a minor event if there ever was one. Being a former Gtowner and quite partial to the place, I'm not one to criticize. However, it was few-and-far-between. That didn't prevent us from finding treasure. No sirree.


Dumped in a big floppy cardboard box along with some hideous old curtains, I found the mother load of vintage fabric.


I made a big pile of the stuff and tentatively asked how much, hoping I had enough to take it all. The answer, "Free." I guess when you're selling your husband's ex-wife's stuff, it's not worth a hell of a lot to you. Lucky me.


Which isn't to say I didn't lay out some cash. I, of course, needed a red Scotty dog door stop. Cost 25 cents. I did my bit.

A few of us have been of the opinion that this is the year to buy second hand. With every manner of vehicle parked on someone's front lawn this spring, it's a buyer's market. Snow plows, camo trucks (two of them), boats, campers, cars, motorcycles. I've even seen kids' bikes. Everyone's lightening their load and looking for cash. (Except in Germantown, of course, where they just break in and take it. If we still had local newspapers, you could read all about it.)

If you missed Gtown's Yard Sale Day, do not despair. Tivoli's own Sale-ing event is July 25th. Mark your calendars and come early. The Mayor will be handing out maps at the intersection. Gtown could learn a thing or two.

Baked Goods Mania

In the category, "weirdest employee benefit," this little entry.



Mikee apparently now sponsors company logo manicures for his employees. Any, yes, that is a flying baguette.

Blossom iCandy

The apricots are in bloom in my friend Jane's old orchard on the north side of the Village. Apple blossoms in a week or so!

Foraging Ramps

Last week, my friend Mark came by with an armful of ramps. He foraged them from the banks of the Roe Jan Creek in Germantown. I grew up among foragers, so this bundle of beautiful wild leeks was an utter joy.

My Maine relations are out this season of the year gathering dandelion greens and fiddle heads, and we've spent hours together digging clams, chopping muscles off rocks, picking wild raspberries and crawling around for blueberries. So hunting for ramps seemed like a good activity for the week. With the two-year-old asleep in the back seat, I figured a quick drive around the Village would yield a patch or two.



Mark and our friend Arno have found big patches of ramps along streams this spring. Ramps like dampness, but don't like to have their feet in standing water. My friends found theirs about 10 feet above the water line growing just a little higher than the skunk cabbage. My foraging needed to happen a little closer to the road (with sleeping toddler in tow). About five minutes into my adventure, I struck it lucky.

Ramps are wicked easy to spot, it turns out. This time of year, the spring sunshine pours right down through the open canopy of trees onto their bright green leaves. They are lit up like a beacon. Slightly deterred by a No Trespassing sign, I bypassed the first patch, but a short drive on, I hit the brakes at patch number two. Looked like ramps. Picked one. Smelled a little oniony, but could have been some woodland wildflower. Only way to know for sure, a big ol' mouthful. BINGO. Ramps.



Raw ramps are sharp and oniony, but sauteed they become sweet and mellow. I ate the first batch from Mark lightly sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with a little Celtic sea salt. Twirled them on the end of a fork and loved them. A little stringy, but not enough to deter me.



I julienned my second bunch of ramps and sauteed them gently then stirred them into hot pasta with minced anchovies (not being a girl afraid of a little flavor). A big grind of black pepper and some sea salt made a mighty fine spring dinner.

If you're intrigued, you can buy ramps this week at Adam's for $12.99 per pound. Makes my little patch an even sweeter find. And, thank goodness we're not living in Quebec, because ramps are a protected plant there and selling them is a punishable offense. Poachers abound, because Quebecois love their ail des bois.


Oh, and the first spring shiitake are in too! They don't exactly qualify as foraged food, but when you have a pal who is a former shiitake grower, every now and then a little brown bag of them finds its way into you kitchen. If I hadn't devoured the shiitake within minutes of getting them, they'd have been lovely with my ramps. Oh well, there's always next spring.

Garden Variety iCandy

Between the raindrops this week, I managed a little garden clean-up. Hope yours is looking equally vibrant at close range.


There's been a lot of neighborly chat over the winter about new vegetable beds going in this spring. If the White House is doing it, why shouldn't we? So, what's growing in your garden this year?

The Loop

Around Tivoli, we just call it The Loop. A 2.5 mile circumnavigation of the square-mile Village's north side. Simply put that's Broadway to North Road to Sengstack Lane to Woods Road to Broadway. We keep the water tower over our left shoulder and walk counter-clockwise. Don't ask me why. But, we do. If you go the other way, it's just, well... wrong.

The Loop will take you less than 40 minutes. For me, it's a bit longer. You know me, always stopping for a closer look at some electric green moss or varmint bones. I've seen wild turkeys, a piliated woodpecker, deer (spare me), a couple of snakes and a painted turtle.

All this is lovely, but it is not why we go. You see, this little Village has eyes and ears. Not much goes unnoticed (and if we wanted unnoticed, we'd live in the city). Get yourself out onto Sengstack Lane with nothing but meadow around you. Let the sun shine on your face and the wind whip around your coat hem and your mind opens up. You can say anything out there. Who's to hear?


And then there's the Hemlock Woods. At the end of the meadow. Out of the sunshine and in to woody twilight. Your pace will slow, and your eye will be drawn to the spaces between the trees. You'll hear more clearly than out in the open. And here you will distill the essence of your open air thoughts. This is why we go.

Tapping Tivoli

On a walk around the Village these days, you'll find taps on a few of your neighbors' maples. With the cold earlier this week, there was just a smidgen of sap in the bottom of the buckets, but the 10-day forecast has daytime temps above freezing all next week. With a little boiling, this means maple syrup in our near future. Life is worth living again.


And, this being Tivoli, you will find all manner of taps. With our can-do attitude (and a little plastic twine and an old water jug or two), we can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, or sap into syrup, anyway.


Do I even have to say it? I love this damn make-do bucket.

iloviT iCandy

When it's rainy outside, it's always warm in the bakery. Didn't get there today? Enjoy this little morsel for now, and get on over there tomorrow.

Joel Griffith, Painter of Tivoli

Tivoli has a few painters, but none more identified with the Village than Joel Griffith. You've probably seen him beside the road under a big straw hat with his easel and brushes. You may even have wondered - how could he be painting... that? He is engaged by the details of this place, and not just its obvious postcard shots (which abound).


Joel's style is documentary and experiential. Yes, it's realism, but with a point of view. His canvases are quiet and still. That stillness makes you see the beauty of a landscape and its all-too-human interventions. Having grown up on Broadway, Joel has had the luxury of time in observing his subject. Rusty train tracks are as beautiful as the Catskill sunset they frame. Utility poles and worn black top enliven views toward the river.


If you have a keen eye, you will have noticed a deepening of his technique as time has passed. His rendering has become so sharp that it is hyper-real. His more recent paintings of trailers fit uncomfortably within the genre of house portraits. And, the discomfort works. The shipping container quality of these little boxes plopped on their lots catches you off guard. This is Joel at his best.


These days Joel is as likely to complete an entire painting in his studio as out in the elements. While he loved having us peer over his shoulder and make inane and witty comments, he has tired a bit of painting in public. You will still find him contemplating a view, perhaps sketching a detail, but his painting is done largely in his studio. He's often working on six or more paintings at a time. He says, "It's like dating a bunch of people. You get tired of one and move on. When you come back, you remember what you liked about it in the first place." His studio is above the Black Swan, pub extraordinaire. It is tiny and smells of oil paint, Lestoil and last night's beer (the last two contributed by the pub). His palette is just an old pizza box, which he flips over and uses twice.


This would be a good point to mention that Joel makes his living largely with his art. When I visited, he was nearing completion of a lovely wedding gift commission, a big canvas of farm fields where the couple were married. Over the course of two mayors' terms of office, the Village of Tivoli commissioned seven paintings which are on display in the entry of Watts DePeyster Hall. On your next trip to the Library, take a closer look.

Joel has just come to the end of a two-year period of intensive painting. He hints at a possible stylistic change, which has happened before in his 20 years of painting. For now, he's packing his bags for a month in Brazil. He may paint while he's there, but as he says, "I could paint one church, or visit ten; and I'd rather visit ten." Have a great trip, Joel. We'll be looking for you under your straw hat again in spring.