A little less uprooted
Also, how dangerous is paint water??
Greetings from Bushwick! Two weeks after the big move—which E and I did ourselves, with help from my brother who flew in from Kansas to do some of the heavy lifting—and we are still unpacking boxes and feeling out our new neighborhood.
The apartment is starting to feel a bit more homey and less like warehouse storage. We bought huge new shelves from Global Industrial (shout-out to Dung Ngo for the Strategist recommendation) to replace the ‘built-ins’ at the last place, and I’ve lovingly arranged my books by topic. I have an entire shelf of nature books and another for adventure stories. I enjoyed debating, for example, whether to put books like The Walking Adventures of a A Naturalist and my two copies1 of The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons in nature or adventure, but both ended up in the former, in part because it worked out best spatially, but also, I decided, thematically.
We lost backyard access in the move, but traded it for a largish ledge out the front window where I was able to set out a potted parsley plant and a tiny volunteer tomato and pepper plant—both too small to ever fruit but nice to look at for now (and I might try to overwinter the pepper plant inside). But I should be able to grow some things out there next summer—not a lot but enough to get my green thumb a little damp and dirty. Our new bathroom has a window, which was on our list of nice-to-haves. And there was a hook already installed so I was finally able to hang my pothos plant up like I’ve been wanting to do for ages (and use the cheapo macrame plant hanger I bought years ago at Home Depot and never put into service).
Speaking of that parsley plant—the apartment above ours at the old place was repainted shortly before we moved out, and I’m pretty sure they dumped the paint water over the handrail and onto some of the plants. So um, do we think they’re safe to eat if well-rinsed?? Surely there’s no lead in modern paint any more, right?? I’m worried about chemical residue in the soil as well…if you’re in the know, please let me know in the comments. (I’m loath to dump the soil because it’s 95 percent compost that I put a lot of backbreaking labor into making and won’t be able to repeat because I don’t have a place for my composter2 any more…)
I’m only now—like, today (Monday)—feeling a little less uprooted and discombobulated. Getting the shelves up and filled really helped, so we can see more of the floor now. I’m trying to be sanguine about not yet being completely back in a good routine yet—hence this somewhat belated newsletter. I’m cooking little (we’ve had frozen pizza rolls for dinner twice since moving). I’m not journaling or even keeping up with my daily planner (whoops). I haven’t practiced yoga or gone for a run in weeks, except for one laborious jog back to our old neighborhood to get my bike. As a result my body feels pretty awful—stiff and awkward and weak, and sore from moving boxes and furniture. But I’m trying to be gentle and patient with myself…there’s plenty of time for routine and good habits when we’re more settled.
If any readers live in or near Bushwick, I’m eager to hear your neighborhood suggestions: favorite grocery stores, restaurants, holes-in-the-wall, vintage/used furniture stores, yoga studios, running routes, the streets with the best bike lanes. I plan on checking out some of the community gardens in the area—I’m particularly curious to know if any of them still accept food scraps for compost (or were those collected and processed by the GrowNYC compost program the mayor defunded?). If you know, let me know!
Reading list
Has the fall foliage frenzy gone too far? There are some wild photos coming out of New Hampshire, as wannabe leaf peepers swarm small, narrow trails. At least a dozen ill-prepared hikers had to be rescued over the weekend. One hiker reported seeing people out wearing “slippers, short shorts, and go-go boots.” At higher elevations, temperatures were in the 30s, with wind gusts up to 80 miles per hour.
“Just hear me out”: The ‘but’s in this piece are doing a lot of work. For example:
President Joe Biden has managed this national divide by marking both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day in separate White House proclamations. But rather than divide up for rival civic holidays, Americans should come together for a compromise celebration: World Explorers’ Day.
Emphasis mine, obviously.
This paragraph had two of them!
Admittedly, Explorers’ Day would encompass multiple humans who conquered and enslaved. But Indigenous Peoples’ Day similarly encompasses all of the New World peoples who enslaved others long before 1492, tribes that traded in African slaves into the 1800s, and brutal hegemons such as the Aztecs, who warred with neighbors, sacrificed humans, and ran extractive empires. These facts in no way excuse the atrocities that Columbus and other Europeans perpetrated. But they underscore that no past civilization upheld modern human rights, enlightenment universalism, and anti-racism.
This article, on the other hand, was absolutely worth giving the Atlantic yet another email address to access: Point Nemo, the Most Remote Place on Earth. Too sprawling and all-encompassing to summarize, but it includes a yachting competition, sediment cores, space trash, albatross attacks, and plenty of explorers. An excellent yarn.
From my day-job desk: There was a nice profile of John Morales in the New York Times last week. You might know him as the Miami-based meteorologist who got choked up on air last week when he saw how quickly Hurricane Milton had strengthened into a Category 5. My interview discussing that moment with Morales is here, and his latest article for the Bulletin, on Hurricane Helene, is here.
Backpacking itinerary:
I recently received a request from a reader and a friend for a ~20-mile, three-day, two-night backpacking itinerary near NYC. This friend has a car, so wanted a loop hike, but they wanted something closer to the city than the Catskills or Adirondacks because they wanted to spend more time on trail than in the car.
I sent him this loop hike in Harriman State Park, starting and ending at Elk Pen parking lot.3
All the usual disclosures: You need a map, and appropriate gear, and common sense!
Day 1: Park at Elk Pen, follow AT to Brien Memorial Shelter (a little less than 9.9 miles)
Day 1 Total: 9.9 miles or slightly less
Day 2: From Brien Memorial Shelter, take yellow Menomine Trail (South) to Red Cross Trail (.85)
Turn right (West) on Red Cross Trail (1.25 + .75 + .55 + 1.45 + .2) to red Arden-Surebridge Trail
Turn left (South) on Arden-Surebridge (.45) to teal Long Path Trail
Turn right (West) on Long Path (1.3) to Dunning Trail
Turn left on yellow Dunning Trail—briefly overlaps with Long Path before braching (1.35) to Bald Rocks shelter
Day 2 Total: 7.3 miles
Day 3: Continue West on yellow Dunning Trail short distance, crossing Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail to White Bar Trail (.35+)
Continue on Dunning/White Bar Trail (.25)
Continue on Dunning Trail (.7)
Turn right (North) onto white-blazed trail (.25 + .65)
Right onto red-blazed Stahahe Trail to Arden-Surebridge (.75)
Left (North) on red-blazed Arden-Surebridge (.35)
Left on AT to Elk Pen parking lot (.2)
Day 3 Total: ~3.65 miles
TOTAL TRIP 20.85 miles
SHORTER ALTERNATIVE:
Day 1: If you get on trail and 10 miles feels too ambitious, stop on AT at Fingerboard shelter (~4.5 miles)
Day 1 Total 4.5 miles
Day 2: From shelter, take Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail South (turn left) (1 + .5 + .7 + .45) to yellow Dunning Trail, turn left (East) short distance to Bald Rocks Shelter
Day 2 Total 2.65 miles
Note: There are ways to make this a slightly longer day, if you want to take a more roundabout approach to the shelter. A map will make this easy!
Day 3: Retrace route on yellow Dunning Trail short distance, crossing Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail to White Bar Trail (.35+)
Continue on Dunning/White Bar Trail (.25)
Continue on Dunning Trail (.7)
Turn right (North) onto white-blazed trail (.25 + .65)
Right onto red-blazed Stahahe Trail to Arden-Surebridge (.75)
Left (North) on red-blazed Arden-Surebridge (.35)
Left on AT to Elk Pen parking lot (.2)
Day 3 Total: ~3.65 miles
TOTAL TRIP OPTION #2: 10.8 miles
If any local readers want my Penguin Classic copy of Exploration, let me know and we can arrange a pick-up!
Which I wasn’t able to part with, so I gave it a clean and brought it with us!! Not sure what I’ll do with it now…
If you take the Short Line bus to Harriman (buy a ticket for Harriman train station, but ask the driver to let you off at “Arden” by the “Welcome to Harriman State Park” sign) you can do this using public transportation, too. To return to the city, return to the sign and flag down the bus on the other side of the road. That said, if you’re using public transit, I might suggest some of the point-to-point AT/Long Path section hikes through Harriman that I’ve posted about previously.
Good to read you again. Congrats on your exciting move. You know, weight / resistance training is more and more recommended, even over aerobic and especially for women. Strong muscles built and maintained in youth and midlife are supposed to protect against muscle wastage (sarcopenia) later on. All that lifting and hauling boxes and furniture = weight training without a gym subscription. Perhaps you pushed your body further than it really wanted to go, leading to soreness and stiffness, but once recovered from the DOMs you should be stronger. A stronger body plus all the gratifying progress in arranging your new place will be a great win-win. Good luck!