We live in a beautiful area of the country. As I look out my front window, I can see the mountains known as the Shawangunk Ridge. They extend from Northern New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains and are a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains. The locals call the mountains ‘The Gunks.’ The Gunks are stunningly beautiful, with layers of bedrock and spectacular vegetation. They are protected by several preserves, one of which is the Mohonk Preserve. We got wind of a special offer for a month-long free pass to the Mohonk Preserve, which has beautiful hiking trails, so we snapped up some passes over the weekend. Yesterday, we took our first hike.
The area we hiked in is popular with rock climbers, so we stopped and watched them as they did their thing. Me? No. Afraid of heights.
Trees seemingly growing out of the bedrock. Do you see the rock climber?
Here you see Don starting his own arduous ascent.
Oh wait. I lie.
The view from high above the Hudson Valley.
It was absolutely gorgeous. We’re going back as soon as we can.
In the early evening yesterday, Scout let me know she needed to go out, so I headed toward the kitchen door. Hold on. Not so fast! There was a pair of mourning doves on the birdbath. I didn’t want Scout to disturb them so I held her off. The doves stayed on the edge of the birdbath for at least thirty minutes. They were just hanging out, I guess.
I love mourning doves. I love their haunting calls. They are gentle, sweet birds.
These photos were taken from inside the kitchen. I was entranced. The one on the right spent a great deal of the time preening. The one on the left occasionally hopped down to the bench and then back up to the birdbath.
A catbird joined them. They weren’t fazed by him.
Then a robin stopped by. The other dove is on the bench.
And yes, there was a bunny just to the left of this photo.
I’m telling you, it’s a Disney world around here.
Eventually, the doves flew upward from the birdbath, landing in the catalpa tree. There they stayed for several minutes until they took off and soared into the trees at the edge of our property.
And Scout, tired of all the waiting, was finally let outside.
Having you been watching 24? Oh my goodness, we are so happy it’s back! I love that series. And in another installment of Claudia’s Former Students Who Are Doing Incredibly Well Out In Los Angeles, my former student, Kim Raver, is back as Audrey, Jack’s former love interest and daughter of the President of the United States. Kim has had a great career; she was in Third Watch, along with another former student, Anthony Ruivivar, as well as Grey’s Anatomy and a host of other series. She’s beautiful, not to mention very talented, and the camera loves her. She’s also a lovely person. She and her fellow classmates were part of a group we took to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, where they performed two plays by playwright Craig Lucas, a BU alum. It was an incredible experience and lots of fun, to boot.
Kim can cry on screen like nobody’s business. I’m in awe of her crying skills, and believe me, it isn’t at all easy to conjure up tears again and again while the director does several takes. It’s a gift.
That’s all for now.
Happy Tuesday.
Hi Claudia, I love that you and don went on a hike. He has the right idea, start climbing low first.LOL. Hope you have some good weather this week. xoxo,Susie
Well, we’re supposed to have rain off and on every day this week.
What an awesome place to hike, I’d be in heaven! The view of ‘The Gunks,” breathtaking! Thanks for sharing your party of Disney!! No, I don’t watch those shows, not much into TV here!
Have a great day~
Nancy
The views are incredible up there!
I enjoy birdwatching but haven’t tried rock climbing though I’d love to. The birds in our area were amazing this year.
Harvee
Book Dilettante
Rock climbing isn’t for me, but I sure love watching those climbers.
Didn’t know Don was a rock climber! I like his plan of attack! That’s my kind of rock climbing. On terra firma! I love your stories, Claudia, about your former students and “where are they now”! I’m sure you have a lot of fascinating stories.
That’s my kind of rock climbing, too!
We have a robin nest on the ledge of one of the spare bedroom windows. We have had high wind and heavy rain the past couple of days, but she sits on the nest, and so far all seems to be well! We have 2 mourning dove nests. One in the front yard pine tree and one in the pickets of the fence in the back yard, and a cardinal nest up high in a maple tree. Quite the season of babies here!!
It was quite warm and humid the past 2 days and now we are in the upper 50’s the rest of the week. Spring does squash one’s dreams quite frequently with the fickleness (word?) of the weather. Kind of a boomerang effect.
Rock climbing! I am not a person who enjoys heights. My son and DIL do love the “sport” though. I stay home and worry. :-) I wish you many more fun hiking experiences. It really is the little things we do so enjoy, isn’t it? Love the pictures, and thanks for sharing them with us!
We had one nest that was being built by robins but I noticed it was tipped to the side (still in the tree) so I suppose they abandoned it and found a new place.
Don’s quite the ham isn’t he! How wonderful that you have a nature preserve so close by! Your birdbath survived the winter…that alone is cause for celebration! Mine broke (resin), due to the weight of the snow….go figure. You do have an animated backyard….we now have hummingbirds…they returned once again. And now…orioles….gosh they are beautiful! And, we had a fox in our backyard last night…so pretty….never saw one before here! Enjoy your Disney backyard! ;)
Aren’t foxes beautiful? I’ve seen one in yard twice. Once up close and once when he was running through the yard fairly quickly.
Oh yes, they are! You know we’ve lived here for over 30 years…and have never seen one before. Our neighborhood is surrounded by a protected marsh…we have deer and have heard coyote…but this was a nice surprise! ;)
What incredible photos Claudia! I, too, love Mourning Doves. They nest in our big pine tree every year in about the same place. When I did some research it said that they most often nest in the same vicinity year after year. They let me get right up in the tree and take photos and never move. Our little babies have flown off. It’s so much fun to watch them and every time I see one on the highlines, I wonder if it’s one of the babies! Tell Don he needs a helmet on while he’s rock climbing. LOL
Have a great day!
Judy
He’d probably wear a funny helmet if he wore one at all – some costume piece that he found somewhere!
What a beautiful place for a hike! So glad you got to experience this. I love mourning doves, too. I love their haunting, gentle coos. I’ve never watched 24 but you’re probably not surprised. It’s rare that I even turn the TV on. The only show that’s a must-watch for me is Jeopardy.
We watch Jeopardy too. Ken Jennings seems unstoppable, doesn’t he?
A truly beautiful, North American oasis you have up there in the Hudson Valley, Claudia! The mourning doves and the robin, I’m sure, are great morning compnay to have that fist cup with every day!
xo
Poppy
Sorry…typo: should say, ‘…great morning COMPANY…’.
I really love seeing the birds at this time of year. It’s like welcoming back old friends.
What a beautiful hiking trail..That is about as high as I want to climb too Don..And what an amazing view from up there..I love to see the Mourning Doves also Claudia..I always throw some bird seed on the ground for them below the bird feeder because I know they are ground feeders..
They used to eat out of a raised feeder we had in San Diego. I guess it was about 5 feet off the ground. Sometimes 20 or 30 of them would be feeding at once. It was amazing.
LOL..Don is so funny! I was thinking, “Oh no, where’s his ropes?” I have several Mourning Doves and they sit in my bird feeder, keeping all other birds out…they do the same thing in the bird bath when it’s hot out. But I love them. I love all my birds.
Claudia, have you seen the Fairy Gardens everyone is doing now? I’d been wanting to start one and for Mother’s Day my daughter made one for me. I was so excited! They are something I thought you’d enjoy with your love of miniatures and flowers. I’m looking for bunnies, a couple of deer, birds and an old rusty metal fence for mine. Will have to research miniature flowering plants for it too.
I know you were sad on Mother’s Day. I lost my mother 35 years ago on May 7th and my first Mother’s Day w/o her was very hard. They have gotten better but still not my favorite day to celebrate. Just think about funny things your mom did to help you thru it. My mom and I used to stuff our mouths with peanut butter and bread and try to talk. We’d laugh so hard we almost choked but every time I think about it I laugh out loud. That’s what they’d want us to do…remember the fun times.
Yes, I’ve seen the Fairy Gardens. I like them, but I have so many garden beds to take care of already, plus hanging plants (eventually) and planters, oh and all the seeds I planted yesterday….I can’t take on anything else!
Those mourning doves just sat on the birdbath for the longest time, not at all intimidated by the robin or the catbird. In fact, the robin and the catbird left rather quickly!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Cheryl.
What a fun hike! Cute! I love 24 but didn’t get to watch this new series while at my Mom’s and so I’m hoping they repeat it. I’ll look for your former students.
Linda
What a fun day :) I am cracking up at that photo of Don rock climbing LOL. I have never heard of the show 24??