Turkeys in the Meadow

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I’d been hearing the distinctive “gobble, gobble” sound for a few days, but hadn’t seen the authors. Then the dog started barking like crazy and I thought he’d seen some deer. When I took a look I didn’t see any deer, but I did see this trio of wild turkeys in the meadow adjoining our property. I was a very long way away and the turkeys were barely visible on the LCD screen of my Sony RX100 so I just pointed the camera in the general direction and hoped. This is a very extreme crop and so the sharpness and detail leave a lot to be desired. I does have a sort of “painterly” almost impressionistic look to it that I rather like.

Tompkins Corners Cultural Center

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Friday marked the opening of the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center in the former United Methodist Church, now to be the regular venue for a famers market. Fruit, vegetables, crafts, wine and entertainment (including the renowned John Cohen of New Lost City Ramblers fame). We missed the dinner and movie in the evening.

According to Wikipedia:

Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church is located along Peekskill Hollow Road (Putnam County Route 21) in Putnam Valley, New York, United States. It is a wooden frame structure built in the 1890s. In 1983 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the only property exclusively in Putnam Valley to so far receive that distinction.

The congregation was founded in 1789, making it one of the oldest Methodist churches in the state outside of New York City. It can trace its roots to early missionary work by Methodist evangelist Freeborn Garrettson. Today it is part of the United Methodist Church. Since 2011 it has been closed.

In 1833 the first church on the site was built. By 1890 it had become outdated, and the current structure replaced it the next year. Its L shape, unusual for that era, was necessitated by the reuse of the original church’s foundation. A nearby carriage house, used in the past for church events and today as storage space, remains from the original church. It is a contributing resource to the National Register listing.

After standing empty for four years the church has recently been purchased by a group of concerned locals so that it can become a badly needed community cultural center. More information can be found at: Historic Church to Become Cultural Center and on the Center’s Facebook Page.

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The band.

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Colorful bags.

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Cherries. A bit out of focus, but my wife tells me that they tasted much better than the cherries she’d bought at the supermarket. We also got some blueberries, which I’ve yet to try.

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Vegetables. We bought some very tasty tomatoes (and yes I know that they are fruits, but everyone seems to treat them like vegetables); and some golden beets, which I roasted last night for dinner.

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Inside the church.

Mayfly on the Water

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This mayfly (at least I think that’s what it is) had somehow managed to end up in the water. I was optimistic about it’s chances of getting out though. Lots of sticks and other objects were sticking out of the water. I felt it was only a matter of time before it managed to move itself closer to one of them so it could climb out, dry itself off and fly away. Didn’t stay around long enough to find out if that was the case though.

Here’s where we live

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No, not in the large house in the photograph – that’s long gone. As far as I can determine our house is approximately where the star is. Vestiges of some of the structures still remain, one of them as a wall on the edge of our property. We were told (don’t know if it’s true) that the other side of the wall was once a rose garden. Our friends Ken and Doreen Cross have a house, which is located where the lawn is in the picture. Their neighbors house was built on the site of the mansion, some pieces (e.g. the front steps) of which seem to have been incorporated into the more recent structure. The whole estate was landscaped by Olmstead Brothers, founded by John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. the nephew (and adopted son) and son of Frederick Law Olmstead the famous architect of New York’s Central Park.

The photograph depicts Waldheim, the 130-acre country estate of New York banker James Speyer. Located in Scarborough, New York, the estate featured sprawling farm lands, a nine-hole golf course, gardens, and a lake. It was purchased in 1946 to be subdivided into residential lots. Source: “Swope Interests Plan Residences on Speyer Land, New York Times, May 5, 1946”

He also had a house in New York City, specifically at 1058 Fifth Avenue. I have been unable to find any photographs of the interior of Waldheim, but the Museum of the City of New York (Speyer was one of the founders) has a number of photographs of the interior of the 1058 Fifth Avenue Residence. If Waldheim was anything like this it would have been quite opulent.

Nepal 1999 – Buildings

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I was looking through some old pictures when I came across these scans of buildings in and around Kathmandu (Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur), Nepal. They were taken some time around 1999 and unfortunately I no longer remember which picture was taken where. Seeing them made me think of the recent earthquake. The cost in human terms was terrible: almost 9,000 casualties in Nepal alone with additional casualties in India, China and Bangladesh. I wonder how many of these magnificent buildings are still standing?

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