enjoyment

An Evening Down By the River

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About 8 miles from where I live there is the Henry Hudson River Park in the Town of the Bethlehem. I’m not a big fan of urbanized parks, but this one is fairly rural and sits on the beautiful Hudson River. You can sit down there, and watch the boats and barges go up and down the river, and the people walk around.

Lake Champlain in Evening

It’s a peaceful oasis not too far from craziness of the city. It’s a quick refreshment that is still affordable to go down and enjoy, regardless of the gas prices. It’s some beauty that is accessible with out consuming lots of gasoline. It’s the kind of place one wants go after a long stressful day. I might even have ridden my bike down here, had it not been for my bike being in the shop.

Playing with a Dog

I need a place to go sometimes to clear my head, and enjoy the peace of the river. This is one of those great places. To think, to find some of myself in the river currents as the go floating down and away. To explore. To throw some pebbles to in the river. Just to be myself.

Daylight Saving Time

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This week starts daylight saving time, when we set our clocks back an hour to make the days appear an hour longer then usual. That means that we will have to get up an hour earlier to make it through our usual schedule, but we also will get an extra hour of sunlight in the evening. The first few weeks of savings time promise to be dark in the morning, but the extra light in the evening is greatly appreciated.

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The actual energy savings is questionable with so many Americans dependent on artificial cooling to make their houses cool at night. But the benefit is far greater then less energy use. It means that we have more time in the evenings to get out and explore the natural world. There is nothing quite as comforting as seeing natural light and getting some of that warm fresh air in a spring or summer evening.

It’s terrible that so many of us are imprisoned in fortresses all day that keep as away from the natural world we all are so dependent on. But with daylight savings time, we have more time to get outdoors before darkness overtakes the sky and makes it difficult to work outside without the help of the moonlight or bright flashlights. That extra day light regenerates us and allows us to have more time outdoors, that we might otherwise spend indoors.

Tree line and Sky

If people learned to embrace the heat and avoid their demands for air conditioning all the time, then daylight savings time would decrease energy use. If people where sensible, then daylight savings time would mean less use of artificial lighting, and less use of electronic toys. Daylight savings time is really an asset for all Americans, especially if they choose to embrace it’s benefits.

Camping with Cowboy

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I sit tonight under the stars on the tailgate of my pickup, deep in the woods in Southern Schoharie County. Tall pine trees tower over me as I look at a sky that has finally cleared out and the stars are shining brightly down on me. A nice big campfire provides light, as does my overhead florescent lamp powered by my truck when I turn it on to write.

I yehaw at the moon with my cowboy hat on, drinking yet another Corona. I listen to yet another top-40 country music song, inter-spaced with some obnoxious religious right talk on another station that seems so powerful out here. I cook myself a meal on the old gas stove made of eggs, hash, potato chips, and lots of Corona. I’m in heaven it seems.

I just love being alone, playing cowboy out in the woods around the fire. I’m increasingly drunk, but at the same time I am so much at ease, so peaceful in a kind of redneck-y kind of way. I love my pickup truck and I love the woods. I’m just not sure how I could ever live without such a free life.