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too soon for curry
Monday, August 4 2025
setting: rural Hurley Township, Ulster County, New York
There was an unusual amount of wildlife along the various roadways as I drove to work to morning, and some were mildly suicidal. A baby rabbit ran out in front of me at the bottom of Dug Hill Road and I had to slam on the brakes. Later on Hurley Mountain road a deer leisurely crossed the road in front of me. Then I saw a mother deer with two large (but still speckled) fawns who had just crossed Bogart.
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Back home in Hurley, Charlotte and I went on another down the Gullies Trail and then back on the Stick Trail, where I saw a number of new mushrooms tearing through the mossy carpet of the forest floor.
Gretchen was eating dinner with our friend Falafel Cathy, so normally I wouldn't have to make dinner. But our friend Fern, who has been on the west coast for months, had returned to the east and was up in the Hudson Valley to retrieve her truck and would be spending the night. Expecting she would be hungry, I decided to make an Indian-style curry based around onions, mushrooms, potatoes, cauliflower, and a tomato puree. It ended up spicier than I would've preferred, though the Indian spices in it (from curry powder) were weaker than what I would've wanted. I also suspect my desire to eat curry is still somewhat depressed after the Sri Lankan trip, which ended more than three weeks ago.
Indeed, when Gretchen got back from dinner, she declared it "too soon" for curry. But Fern had no such hangups and had some when she arrived.
We all sat in the living room, where Fern mostly told us about the idealistic back-to-the-landers in the Columbia River gorge whom she'd studied for her PhD thesis and whom she'd just been visiting. Apparently their intentional community has already collapsed and mostly vacated the homestead they'd set up and shared, which is, I was surprised to learn, only three acres in size. Fern also told us about another group of back-to-the-landers on a bigger 200+ acre parcel, but their intentional community has also collapsed and the buildings fallen into ruin, quickly rotting away in the humid, rainy climate.
Russula emetica punching up through the carpet of moss. Click to enlarge.
Some other mushroom punching up through the carpet of moss. Click to enlarge.
Charlotte today on the Gullies Trail. Click to enlarge.
The Chamomile Wall with the Stick Trail passing through it. Click to enlarge.
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