Shovels to the Ground

Yesterday they broke ground for Edge on Hudson, the new development on the former General Motors site in Sleepy Hollow. It's been dormant for almost 20 years (to the day) and the question of its next incarnation has been the subject of much speculation among us, worried that our property basis would never be robust enough to keep our taxes from continuing on a skyward trajectory.

The property changed hands December 2014 during my term on the Board of Trustees so I am well versed in the plans of the new owners. Yet the Village has been awaiting the stirrings of actual construction while enduring meetings, experts and reports followed by motions to the Town (unbeknownst to the Village) inciting mild accusations flung in one direction with protests of good intentions only returned.

The distinguished notables assembled on camera to create this symbolic moment. Here's hoping that what is to come will succeed on more levels than anyone thought possible.

(and yes- five white men in suits.)

New York City Spring

Uptown version.

Adorning the Nest

I've been on the go and neglecting my to-do list so a trip to a favorite nursery with my friend Liza spurred me to purchase some annuals for the upstairs window boxes. This time of year errand running beckons to freshen things anew. Nothing like the return of better weather.
(and I love double impatiens)

Motherhood (4 Me)

For years I had an urgency to be a parent. I was busy and productive and living on my own, in and out of relationships maintaining my independence pretty well. But when my friends began to sport offspring I felt a tormented desire to feel the flesh of my flesh, nestled in my lap and leaving their cookie crumbs all over me while prattling on. It's true that I rarely imagined my progeny as teenagers, but more the fleeting interval of childhood that required my fierce engagement.

We're over that hurdle alas, my kids see me to the varying degrees to which they require, which can be remarkably minimal these days given their respective young adult ages. All as it should be, and most of the time I'm good with that. There's other needs that occupy me and I have plenty of interests above my acute interest in my offspring.

I'm a motherless mother having lost my mom over 20 years ago. On this day I thank her in my thoughts and wonder what she would have made of everything that happened. Perhaps she's seen some of it from some place beyond and is secretly pleased with a decent measure of wincing thrown in. I'm glad motherhood found me and opportunity knocked. It's presented a level of connection that I didn't know existed and made me, I hope, a better person.

The Pink of Spring

At some point in the season, the neighborhood cherry tree's blossoms descend, blanketing beds and yards with silky petals and installing a temporary sea of pastel color. Yesterday's rain flattened their delicate presence and rusted their hues. Always glad to have committed these moments to memory before time and events effect their change.