Christmas in Callicoon - Callicoon, NY
Callicoon, NY
The past few months has really been an endless series of holidays! One adventure closes, and another begins - immediately! And that's exactly how it happened, as we crept out of our beautiful apartment in London at 4.15am, Saturday, December 20. I had seen a 'night bus' notice at the stop a few doors down from Queen's Gate, just outside, and we'd discovered that it was indeed scheduled for Heathrow around 3 times an hour during the night only. It was just an ordinary bus fare - £2.50. With credit still on our Oyster Cards, we decided to try it! (A taxi is around £60) The cold crisp air, and the sighting of a fox crossing Kensington Road from Hyde Park, and making its way down the elegant Hyde Park Gate, past the embassies, kept us alert, and the red double decker bus arrived within minutes. What we hadn't reckoned on was the other people who might be travelling at that time. I had naively thought it would be others bound for early travel, and there were a few, but no provision on the bus for luggage. But the vast majority of people on the packed bus were somehow trying to make their way home from the traditional Friday-before-Christmas office parties! George suggested that I sit in the only vacant seat while he stood with the luggage. I made my way to the seat, but there was every chance I would have been vomited on by any of the others around me, so I beat a hasty retreat, and also stood. The fumes in the air were enough to intoxicate! We survived the long journey with an entertaining passing parade of drunks, mostly happy, sometimes paralytic. A very tall Spanish man held up his short mate like a ventriloquist with his arm up the back of a dummy. Around Hounslow, a succession of high heeled young ladies wearing little but frilly dresses descended from the top deck and alighted into the crisp 2 degree dawn. There must have been a dozen of them. We arrived eventually, feeling good about how much we'd saved, and quite willing to part with it for an airport-priced breakfast. Just as well we did, as our first flight, London to Helsinki only had pre-purchased food. It was a boring 2.5 hr trip, in which we gained 2 hours. We then reversed direction, and flew back north of England, across Iceland and down the east coast to New York, losing 7 hours in the process (an 8.5 hr journey), and arriving at JFK at 4pm. George and I had separate seats on both legs, so we couldn't even keep each other entertained. The cheap round world flight was not really worth the couple of hundred dollars saved, though it had seemed so when we booked it 9 months ago! The immigration process was abysmal too. Of 18 'windows' available for non-US citizens, only 6 at the most were staffed, while there were constantly over 500 people in queues. It took well over an hour, only to be greeted by a grumpy officious man who only spoke mono-syllabically. Until he finally said 'welcome to America'. Hilary had given us excellent instructions on making our way by Airport express and the subway - we took the A Train! We are staying in the apartment opposite my brother Mal and Hilary, in fabulously located Bleecker Street. Susan, an anthropologist who is currently on leave from NYU has kindly allowed us to stay in her apartment till Dec 31, when we will move across the hallway and occupy nephew Sean's room when he returns to Yale. Mal was cooking when we arrived, and he prepared a great dinner, with Sean and Lauren also both there. It has been quite a few years since we've seen all of the family together! It was a really lovely ending to a hugely long and at times trying day. We had not really done any homework on things to do in New York, as we had been too busy enjoying our last holiday! A quick google revealed that St Thomas (Episcopalian) would have a Lessons and Carols Service at 11am Sunday, followed by Mass. We decided to make that our first outing, and arrived on the A Train, surfacing at the corner of 5th Avenue and 53rd Street. It was a very busy weekend before Christmas in 5th Avenue, and George was having a quick cigar before we went in to church, when suddenly we had a camera in our faces. A photographer apologised for startling me, then asked if he could take another photo. He was taking photos in 5 countries 'for a French rail company's campaign.' He introduced his associates who had clipboards, and asked where we were from. As George was being rephotographed, I said 'Australia, Melbourne', the photographer said, ' I have a very good friend there I stayed with him for 11 days last time I was there. You'll know him.. ' 'Sure, ' I was thinking,' 'we know everyone'. NOT. He wouldn't tell us who it was till George had signed the release for the photo to be used. Then he said 'Mick Gatto'! We were still reeling from the shock encounter as we sat down to enjoy superb organ playing before the service. The music continued to be first rate, with the choir of men and boys, and the organist, performing mostly music we know and love and would usually be singing ourselves. A 'Carols for Choirs' kind of service, beginning with Once in Royal.. is one thing, tradition perhaps, but it was also a very out of date English atmosphere, with an old-fashioned prayer book service from the 1920s, and readings only from St James version of the Bible. Hard to believe we were in New York. That was rectified afterwards though as we lunched at Bill's Bar & Burger, and walked the long way back to Bleecker Street, feeling the crispness of the late afternoon air creeping up on us, after a lovely day. We were back in the heart of Manahattan on the subsequent days too, Christmas shopping, and visiting the Guggenheim, where the fabulous Zero exhibition entertained us for hours, and a smaller Kandinsky exhibition as well as their own collection really rounded off the visit. We dined at a local Italian place, lunched at the Trump Centre cafeteria, and phoned all our kids who were celebrating Christmas Eve together at what has become an annual pilgrimage to the Melbourne zoo. I also ventured downtown to Century 21 near the former World Trades Centre site in search of a winter coat, which I found! On that journey, I stumbled upon St Paul's Chapel and Trinity, Wall Street, with advertising for New York City's Early Music Festival ' Twelfth Night Festival'. It was an exciting find, and we immediately planned to attend some of the concerts that continue through to Jan 6th. Christmas Eve dawned soggily in New York. It was grey, foggy and rainy. I didn't even venture outdoors until early afternoon, when we departed in the new white Jeep (yes, my brother bought a Jeep!) with Mal and Hilary, bound for their country house in Callicoon, at the southern end of the Catskills. Mal and Sean had gone on Sunday to begin preparations for our Christmas there, and Mal had returned to drive the rest of us. We collected Lauren and her beautiful peki-poo (Pekingese/poodle cross) puppy Parker, and then slowly, very slowly made our way to Callicoon, in very unsavoury driving conditions, with fog and rain limiting visibility, and a lot of heavy traffic escaping the city for Christmas. It was exciting even in the dark to pass through Bethel, the site of the famous 'Woodstock' 45 years ago, and somewhat poignant to remember that Joe Cocker, who had died the day before had really made his name at that festival. In spite of our long journey, Christmas Eve dinner was a feast of fresh pasta, and Mal's superb home made gnocchi. The feast just kept on going,with Christmas Day beginning with what has been Mal's family tradition of freshly made crepes to start the day. All sorts of fillings, from lemon and sugar, through a whole range of berries, and of course the maple syrup options too. Mal just kept making, and we just kept eating. Fortunately there was a long intermission while presents were wrapped and placed under the superbly decorated tree. Somewhat controversially Mal and Sean had chosen a hemlock rather than a pine. The young pines on their 6 acre property have grown too big, and the hemlock was a perfect size and in fact its branches were also well designed for bearing decorations collected over the years. It was lovely to see the paper Santa made by Sean at preschool, and some of Lauren's handiwork too, still making it onto the tree. A session of Christmas present opening was followed by a great selection of cheeses at lunch. Some of us enjoyed a lazy afternoon and a walk down to the Delaware River (Pennsylvania is on the opposite side), with a perfect sighting of two huge eagles circling low in the sky right above us, and an invigorating walk up the driveway (you can see why Mal bought a Jeep!). Mal spent the afternoon in his kitchen, continuing preparations for our evening Christmas Dinner - see the various photos!! Hilary made the delicious Pecan Pie, and Sean somehow squeezed in a bit more study, at his 'standing desk'. Meanwhile Parker kept us all constantly entertained with her puppy-zeal for discovery, and the opportunity to learn to climb stairs at breakneck speed. She never did manage to get down the stairs herself though! Sean mixed up some superb dry martinis, having pre-soaked the olives in gin for extra effect! Of course Christmas Day is also Mal's birthday, so there was a round of birthday presents too, before the corks were popped on the Veuve Clicquot and the superb Christmas feast was enjoyed by us all! It was good to be wishing each other a Happy Christmas, rather than the PC 'Happy Holidays' that the New Yorkers say without exception. The Hanukkah candles are present in many places, and there is of course a high Jewish population. But the official holiday is on Christmas Day, so why not say Happy Christmas. I wouldn't object to being wished a Happy Hanukkah. The deliberate non-religious obsession seems at odds with a country that, as Sean commented 'has God on its money'! Mal drove Lauren (and Parker) to the bus stop 45 minutes away, while Hilary, George and I took a long walk in superb sunshine on the New York State side of the Delaware. We saw a dead o'possum, some very lively kingfishers, and Canadian geese that must be immune to cold, as they swim up and down the near freezing river. It was a beautiful walk, past quaint typically American large wooden houses, some proudly flying the flag, occasional horses and donkeys, and rustic letter boxes, including one decorated like the flag, and another which was a model steam train. Fortunately Mal returned later to pick us up and take us for a drive along the Penn side of the river, with more superb views of river, countryside and small towns. I was pleased not to be walking further, as my warm waterproof walking boots, purchased in Italy, are still not quite right for walking. I've raised the heel by inserting several layers of insoles, but they had slipped, and again caused a friction blister. Ouch! That's a problem I still need to solve! Back home, lunch was the best mushroom soup ever! It's perhaps my very favourite of all the superb homemade food I've enjoyed this trip - thanks Mal for remembering my childhood favourite food! A lazy afternoon reading, listening to old jazz and interview program replay of the late jazz pianist Marian McPartland, watching the deer grazing in front of the house, and being chased off by about 10 very large 'turkey vultures' ( ugly, large turkey sized colourful birds). Then yet another of Mal's culinary triumphs - a fabulous steak dinner. By Saturday morning, Hilary was ready for a run, which is probably why she looks in such good shape, even though she is on the receiving end of Mal's cooking! In fact she is the current local 10 km champion. While she ran, George and I walked, uphill for quite a way, to get a view over the little town of Callicoon. George had noticed that the Callicoon Brewing Company was open though, so we descended quickly, and paid a visit to taste the local brews. A lovely place, with 2 delicious brews of their own, but they also sell other local beers and ciders, including a Breakfast Stout, at 8.4%, which caught my eye. While we were out, Mal had prepared lunch - delicious chicken quesadilla, with superb fresh guacamole. It was a lovely scenic drive round the river to Port Jervis which Mal and Hil chose as the way to deliver us to our train back to Manhattan, while Sean continued to study for his upcoming law exams at Yale. We were excited to travel on an American train, and the long stopping all stations journey took us through some cute little towns, and some bigger. As we've seen sometimes in films, the train travels virtually through the main streets, with the station right in the middle of the street, and no raised platform, but steps up into the train entrance. As we got nearer to Secaucus, New Jersey, where we had to change trains, more and more people got on at each station. Most seemed to be heading for a big match at Madison Square Gardens. I was excited to see in the distance the out of town Secaucus Hilton Hotel which we've used as our base during Wesley Pop Choir tours to New York. Changing trains at Secaucus was quite an experience, as hundreds of people crowded onto the platform bound for Penn Station. Already crowded trains couldn't take any more passengers, so it was fortunate that there were frequent departures. Eventually we made it onto a train, full of passengers following the match on their wifi, and discussing the moves at were taking place. I was so tempted to ask if anyone knew the score in the Melbourne test match! On Sunday, we decided to attend High Mass at Trinity, Wall Street. We had heard a broadcast of their choir singing Messiah just before Christmas, and they sounded terrific. The music listed the Victoria Motet and Mass 'O Magnum Mysterium' which we often sing at our Midnight Mass at the Canterbury Fellowship, at Trinity College. It was a terrific service - great liturgy, brilliant organ and adult choir, and both the Thurifer and the Celebrant did a 'round the world' with the thurible when censing the altar! We had decided to try and get tickets for The Play of Daniel, a medieval music drama being staged as part of the Early Music Festival by the Gotham Early Music Scene, and directed by Drew Minter. It had been originally commissioned by Concerts at the Cloisters. It was being held at the Trinity Church too, so we had lunch at the local Irish-American pub, and did a spot of shopping at Century 21 before joining the ticket queue for the 3pm concert. Our $25 cheap tickets were actually perfect, and we had excellent sight and sound. It was a very impressive and enjoyable performance, totally from memory, with the instrumentalists and singers all costumed and choreographed. On Monday, still feeling full of medieval spirit, we made our way to The Cloisters, an extension of the Metropolitan Museum, at the north-western tip of Manhattan. It's a place we've really enjoyed on previous visits and it was well worth revisiting. It's a long interesting bus ride through a variety of different New York environments, and the people watching is really fascinating. It seems to have all become a bit more upmarket, and there are many more Hispanic shops and businesses and people than I remember from 15 or 20 years ago. The Cloisters collection is great, and good mix of religious and secular artworks. It was particularly nice to see again Les Belles Heures of Jean of France, Duc of Berry, a beautiful book from 1408, and the fabulous collection of Unicorn tapestries. It was also lovely to enjoy the external cloister areas which had on previous visits been too cold to visit. It's Tuesday today, January 30. After -3 degrees overnight, the maximum today is expected to be 2 degrees. In fact the next 3 or 4 days look similar, or a little colder, though like today, fine weather and sunshine is forecast. Mal, Hilary and Sean are due to return from the country later today, and tomorrow evening we will all celebrate the New Year and George's and Hilary's early January birthdays with dinner, before Sean returns to Yale. Tomorrow we also move out of Susan's 5B apartment, and across the hall to 5A. As I am about to publish, snow has just begun to fall! Wishing you all a very safe and happy 2015! More from me next year!