A Buck Lodge Guest Post: Rita.

Hi everyone, Greetings from Buck Lodge.

     Well what can I say....it's just wonderful.  I must admit my major disappointment at not being the first one to see the house my boys own, but I'll get them back for that.  I intend to live here.  Now wouldn't that put a crimp in their style!!!!!   HA!

     All kidding aside this is no longer a house, but a wonderful warm home.  It shows Adam and Craig's sense of style and comfort.  The furnishing are certainly comfortable and I just love 'my' new bed.   I did the Jewish mother thing and made chicken soup for dinner on Saturday.  I also made chocolate chip cookies.  So now it's officially a Jewish touched home.

     Craig took me on a tour of the woods behind their house and showed me the 'farmer's wall' that marks the property lines.  It's really kind of neat.  Craig has all sorts of neat ideas .  They also have a Koi Pond.  The water and the fish freeze over the winter and then come back to life in the Spring.  I'm not kidding, I saw them swimming around this weekend.

      It's so nice up here that I really don't want to leave.  There was a lot we did in town too and of course we went to Mohonk Resort.  Very nice place but nothing to compare to Buck Lodge!!

Love Mom 

Two photos we love...

The first was obviously taken here at the Lodge, by the esteemed Matthew Doering...American Gothic redefined. The second was taken in Brooklyn, and has nothing to do with Buck Lodge, other than it was taken by Janey Ridge whom I wish could visit us here at the Buck. Alas, it's a long flight from Aww-stray-lee-ah.

We moved to the country...

...to live in a sea of styrofoam. Setting up a new house brings with it tons and tons of packing materials from items like new furniture and kitchen utensils. So much so, that it almost consumed Rita! 

Craig and Rita have literally spent the last hour breaking down all of the styrofoam and getting it ready to leave out with the trash. I've been busy "working" upstairs...which means blogging for you!

And our first guests were...

...Peter and Colin of course! The proximity of Colin's house in nearby Sullivan County made it easy for a neighborly "swing by." 

Using the new stove, we served our first guests lentil soup, a fritatta, and salad...a lunch we'd duplicate for the D'Obst's in a pinch a few weeks later. Yes, Matthew and Danny were our next guests, stopping by a few weeks after Peter and Colin. The D'Obsts swung by from neighboring Columbia County. Having all these friends near the Lodge is pretty great for us.

Now, do housewarming gifts reflect on our friends personalities? You be the judge. Matthew and Danny brought us gardening tools (check out the American Gothic pic we'll post soon), seeds to plant, gardening books, and cookbooks. All useful stuff we'll use for years. Peter and Colin on the other hand brought us classic union suits, alas without the butt flaps. These will also be useful for years to come. But trust us, you won't find us using the gardening tools in our union suits.

Special guest-star Wally, Colin's dog, confirmed that Buck Lodge needs a dog to make our home complete. Theo, Carlo's dog also confirmed this. Both dogs made use of the full acreage Buck Lodge is nestled on, although I don't think used the pen the previous owners built, nor the zip line attached to the house.

Carlo's visit was about a week ago. While Adam was off in Texas for a conference, Craig convinced Carlo to come to the Lodge to do all the cooking and laundry for the weekend. Carlo made great use of the new stove and gave us some great decorating tips for the Lodge. One tip was to purchase the dining room chairs we had been eyeing for about a month at the Mercantile (local furniture store); another was to purchase not one, but two pairs of wooden antlers we had been stalking at Lounge (yet another local furniture store); another tip was to lower some of the lighting in the kitchen and dining area to minimize some of the poor lighting and shadows we're dealing with...the list of tips goes on and on. As I write this though, I'm sitting on one of those chairs, and the antlers are hanging right above me.

Our latest guest was Adam's mom, Rita. We'll let her tell you about her visit in the next post.

We're going to continue using this blog as our digital scrapbook of all the visits to Buck Lodge. So be prepared to find pics of yourself on the world wide web!