Last Sunday was my 3rd wedding anniversary, so my husband and I spent the week upstate, where we got married. It was still too hot to do too many hikes, but we hit up some galleries and did manage to get some hiking in. We also had a lot of time just hanging out at the house.

The first day we were there we stopped at one of the bookshops in the region that I like and I picked up two more additions to Parabola magazine collection. Then we just relaxed at the house and watched the sunset.

Monday we had some chores to do around the house in the morning, but we went for a walk at the Windham Path in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, the weather was really hot, so we went to Howe Caverns, where it was nice and cool. We've been to Secret Caverns which is down the road before, but this was my first time at Howe Caverns.

Afterwards, we went to the Iroquois Indian Museum. The museum had great collections of archeological and historical Iroquois artifacts and lots of really beautiful contemporary Iroquois art. There was a special exhibit called Tonto, Teepees & Totem Poles: Considering Native American Stereotypes in the 21st Century.

I don't usually take pictures at galleries but I really liked this piece.

Afterwards, we made a return visit to Cedar Grove, Thomas Cole's estate. We saw the latest exhibit Picturesque and Sublime: Thomas Cole’s Trans-Atlantic Inheritance. I love Cole's work, so it was great to see some of his works and many of the works of artists who inspired him and his style.

Ruined Tower by Thomas Cole, now on view at the exhibit in Catskill, NY

On Wednesday we took a trip to Albany to visit another Thomas Cole exhibit at the Albany Institute of History and Art. They have a special exhibit on view now called Thomas Cole's Paper Trail which exhibits his sketches and letters. There was also an adjoining exhibit called The Hudson River School: Landscape Paintings from the Albany Institute which displays many of Cole's paintings as well as other Hudson River School painters such as Frederic Edwin Church, Sanford Gifford, Asher Durand, etc.. They also had a small, but great Ancient Egypt exhibit and a lovely exhibit called Nineteenth-Century American Sculpture: Erastus Dow Palmer and His Protégés Launt Thompson, Charles Calverley, and Richard Park

The Hudson River School exhibit at the Albany Institute of History and Art.

Thursday was finally a little bit cooler weather so we hiked to the top of Hunter Mountain. We barely hiked at all this summer because its been so humid- this hike made up for the lack of hikes. We took the Spruceton Trail.

atop Hunter Mountain from the Fire Tower

a shit picture of me on the Hunter Mountain Fire Tower

We headed home after we had a late lunch at Windham Diner. (We call it "anniversary diner" because after we got married, we had breakfast there.) Overall it was really nice to get the fuck away. A family member has been very very ill for most the summer (she is finally making some improvements though) so its been a stressful time. I've been suffering from intense anxiety because seeing a loved one in this state was very disturbing. I really needed this vacation. This coming week I'll be back working on music and art, and trying to figure out some solutions for my erotic collections. I have some shows coming up in October, too. (I left September open because I find it difficult to work on recording new material while spending a lot of time practicing to perform already complete works. Plus, I want to be available to attend some shows as an audience member...so a short break from performing for September...and hopefully more hikes and some weekends back upstate.)