Mother's Day in New Paltz

Our first Mother's Day in New Paltz, and we spent it all in neighboring towns.

We started at the Red Rooster in Gardiner. For Manhattanites, that's the equivalent of Sarabeth's Kitchen: not too fancy or expensive (Popover's), not ethnic (Barney Greengrass), not too big (Artie's). Best of all, there is rarely a wait, and if the weather is nice, you can eat outside. We had our usuals and then headed to venue #2.

The Mohonk Preserve is in Gardiner, too, but on the other end. We drove there for a little tour of the trails near the Visitor Center. Maeve loved one of the walks because it had ten marked posts. She liked putting her finger in the numerals at each post, a game I started her on in order to help her learn the shapes of the numbers (teachers always find those 'teachable moments'). She had a great time running from post to post, shouting, "Look, another one! It's a seven!" After this short trail, we drove to a nearby one that we'd visited last year while getting to know New Paltz. By the time we got there, Maeve was asleep, so Shirra took the bigguns in while I stayed back in the car with Maeve.

Shirra had her heart set on getting some plants, and who can deny a mama on Mother's Day (or any other day)? We next drove to Kerhonkshen to a plant nursery where Shirra and the big kids picked out some berry bushes and other plants for our gardens. Maeve and I continued our naps.

On the way home, we stopped in an antique store in Accord. I found an old Coca Cola sign and a tiny fireman-themed tiepin. A few minutes after we got back to New Paltz, I was on the scene of a fire in a home in Gardiner (see below); meanwhile, Shirra and the kids played in the playground and looked for places to plant their purchases.