To the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and back. Part 3: Along Route 9 and Scarborough Road back to my house

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There were three parts to my walk. The walk along the Old Croton Aqueduct was the longest. This part was the shortest, but the most difficult. The problem is the my house is on top of a hill and at the end of the walk I always have to go up this hill. On this particular day I had walked the dog for one hour earlier and had walked for 2.5 miles until I reached the church (Scarborough Presbyterian Church) you can see in the background in the second picture. Since there were some benches outside the church I decided to take a brief rest while deciding what to do. I almost gave up and called for an Uber to take me home, but I decided to tough it out and walk up the hill. All told I walked for about four hours on that day. My legs/feet hurt for days afterwards.

Above: The former entrance to to the Frank A. Vanderlip, Beechwood. While Vanderlip was vice president of the First National City Bank (later Citibank), he had two fluted smoked granite columns from the headquarters 55 Wall Street shipped to Beechwood (55 Wall Street was being remodeled and the columns were re-spaced, with two left over). He had the columns placed two-thirds above ground in Beechwood’s entranceway off of Albany Post Road , an entrance which was later closed due to increasing traffic volume on Route 9 (the current entrance is off Scarborough Station Road).

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Historical Marker on Route 9, Scarborough Presbyterian Church in the background. For more on The Battle of the Hampton Roads see here. It was significant in the it was the first battle between two ironclad warships. The Union ship was the USS Monitor. The Confederate ship was the CSS Virginia. For some reason (as in this sign) it’s sometimes referred to as the “Merrimack”. It had, indeed, once been the USS Merrimack, a scuttled steam frigate. But CSS Virginia had been substantially remodeled (Only the original lower hull and engines remained) during it’s conversion that it should really be known by it’s designation (CSS Virginia) at the time of the battle. Note also that the original Union ship was called “Merrimack” and not “Merrimac” as in the sign.

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Sign on Scarborough Presbyterian Church. In light of present circumstances this seemed apt.

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Forsythias. For some reason I have difficulties getting a decent picture of these. This one isn’t too bad though.

Taken with a Canon EOS 5DII and Canon EF20-105mm f3.5-4.5 II USM

To the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and back. Part 1: The Park.

by Posted in Around the Neighborhood, Landscapes, People, Woodland Leave a comment
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It was a glorious, sunny when I woke up so I decided to get out of the house and take a walk. Unfortunately the good weather didn’t last long. Pretty soon it clouded over and got quite dark and gloomy. The weather forecast even suggested rain. Still I’d decided to go out. I took the dog for a one hour walk around the neighborhood and after a brief rest on returning home I caught a ride to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. On the way there I decided I would try to walk back to the house so I walked through the park, onto the Old Croton Aqueduct trail, along Route 9 and then up the hill along Scarborough Road back to the house. All told it took me about three hours. So including the walk with the dog I walked for about four hours in all. Above: Bridge over the Pocantico River. Although most of the trees were still bare, a few were starting to show leaves.

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Pocantico River. We’ve had quite a lot of rain lately and it was in full flow.

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Skunk Cabbage (I think). A low growing plant that grows in wetlands and moist hill slopes of eastern North America. Apparently if you bruise the leaves they present an odor reminiscent of skunks. I can’t confirm this as I’ve never actually tried to bruise one.

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A pair of fellow walkers and their dog. I didn’t take Harley because he’d already had his walk and I was carrying a fairly large, heavy camera. It’s hard to control the dog and use such a camera at the same time.

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Stone wall.

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Mossy stones.

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Patterns in stone

Taken with a Canon EOS 5DII and Canon EF20-105mm f3.5-4.5 II USM

A Unexpected Dessert Discovery

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I was in Briarcliff Manor village the other day when I noticed that one of my favorite lunchtime haunts had its tables back outside. Today was a very pleasant day: sunny, but not too hot so I decided to pop over and have a bite to eat. I had a Greek salad and afterwards decided to have some dessert. I asked the server what they had for dessert and he mentioned carrot cake, cheese cake, tiramisu etc. But then he also said that there was something else, but he couldn’t quite remember the name. Off he went returning with a dessert menu, which he handed to me. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the mystery item was Sticky Toffee Pudding.
For anyone who doesn’t know what it is: Sticky Toffee Pudding is a classic British dessert made of soft and sweet date cakes soaked in a warm toffee sauce. The cakes are served with whipped cream, ice cream, heavy cream, or custard. As you can see from the picture mine had Vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

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Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 35mm f1.4 R