Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

So I am sitting here at the dining room table with lucas who is watching one of his shows - actually, an ingenious shows that marries two of his obsessions - choo choos and dinosaurs. It's a show named, what else, Dino Train. So he's over there watching it after dinner on the computer - Lisa is out on the town somewhere, and I go get the ice cream out of the freezer, cover it with a dish towel and sneak it back to the table, and station it opposite of Lucas, behind the laptop screen so he can't see what I am doing because there isn't enough ice cream to comfortably share. Sure, kind of sad, but it was that really good Tom and Jerry's Half Baked, and he's such a glutton.

We stopped by Macy's this past weekend when we were in the City, and Lucas got to meet Santa again. Last year it was in Key West, this year NYC. Not bad for being two yrs old.

So I had no idea that Santa at Macy's wasn't just Santa but actually a maze of Christmas surprises around every corner like Santa Train, the Santa video, the Santa map, etc... You could even send a letter to the North Pole in the red mail box, which I thought was pretty clever. I'm just glad it wasn't frickin' crowded because it was definitely deceiving how long the line could actually be in a worst case scenario crowd. Somehow I got stuck carrying everyone's stuff while they gallivanted off to the elves and santa's sleigh and all the other fun stuff.

I didn't catch it on film, but there did seem to be a fair number of slightly tipsy hotties in line to have their picture taken with Santa. I mean, I didn't have time to do much other than remark about it, with all the carrying and picture-taking and human coat hooking I was charged with.

My blogging has certainly decelerated in the last 45 days but I'm expecting it to pick up again here shortly. We hit the city a few times a year, but our big visit always falls a week or two prior to Christmas. It's a great time to visit the Big Apple and it coincides with our wedding anniversary as well.

We always stay at the W in Union Square, room 1212, the date of our wedding. It's a corner room with good south-western views across the square. The W was really on their game this year, with bubbly awaiting us that evening and the Wall Street Journal each morning instead of USA Today.

We had all these big fluffy pillows so we made a pillow fort, and I did a lot 'airplane crash' with Lucas, launching him from moderate heights onto the bed. I had to stop when Lisa caught a glance in the mirror of Lucas hurtling through the air towards the pillow fort. She's a party pooper like that.

Thursday we hit Chat -n- Chew with my good friend Zach, then Friday the owners of Cottage 23 took us out to dinner near Broadway, in addition to gifting us two house seats to the Scottsboro Boys, a musical satire of some pretty sad events back in the '30's. David, a co-owner of Cottage 23, played a part in the creation and deployment of the music end of this play. Saturday we subwayed it to Brooklyn, to Park Slope, where I used to live, right off 7th Ave on Berkeley Place. I hadn't been back since 2001, when I left the city for good. Also pictured is the place I ate 6 times a week- the local taqueria.

Me in front of my old abode.

And Lucas playing trains in the hotel room. One day we went out and when we came back noticed that house-keeping had put his track and train neatly back together.

I don't know about you, and I definitely don't want to be politically incorrect, but doesn't Lucas in the picture below look like crippled child from Dicken's novel. Spindly legs and neck that can't support his head....

And then our house, above, decorated. We have our big company Christmas party this Friday and we are expecting about 80 people at Baker's Tap Room in Yulan. Should be fun.

Farm House 14 is a great home that sits perfectly on a couple of acres outside of Barryville, NY.

It didn't sell right away, so I turned it into our model home, pulling out furniture that I had stored away, including a disco ball light up the room with terrific multiple lights and colors. Usually when a house isn't presold and we furnish it I pull out my big gun lucky charm - which is an old skool portrait of Abe Lincoln - old Abe, he gets the job done for me.

But now this great home is under contract at a super fair price. Actually quite a deal, so congrats to the owner's to be. You can't go wrong with this one. Having a model home was awesome, and the fact that it didn't sell immediately, like we've become accustomed to, was a great reminder of the reality that success can be dangerous because you forget that things can change quickly, and that fear is a super attribute never to lose since it keeps you humble and conservative in this risky business of mine. Over-confidence probably ranks up there as a real factor for a lot of business failures.

Lucas is looking pretty good in his holiday sweater vest. People say he looks like me. I think he looks pretty seriously single-minded here - probably contemplating some serious choo-choo strategy. He's looking pretty Williamsburg.

So we had 13 people and 3 canines and 29lb turkey for Dinner. The coat racks were the first to suffer from the invasion, suffering under the weight of individual coats of assorted variety. You know it's bad when people stop even trying to find a hook and just throw them on top. That's sort of an antique standing coat rack and probably not engineered for the occasion.

The one below is a favorite of mine - just caught the light right or something - it has that still life perfection to it.

My brother arrived late night Wednesday with his 4 kids and lab/daushound (I don't know how to spell it and can't even get close enough to google it correctly). They arrived at 9:30 and were raucous and kid-like - we kept Lucas awake so he partied down until like 11 which is late for a 2 yr old.

That's Sarah and Eli above, and Marcus below.

And they really kno how to tear up a room.

My dad had been visiting us for 2 weeks prior so we had the heat WAY up, but he was still shivering away. The plant actually moves faster than him at this point. That's my bro in the near-ground.

My Dad went French this holiday, breaking out the standard French hat. All he needed was a baguette and he would be all set.

That's my martini by the plant. Right at crunch time pre-dinner I had Lisa mix my sister and me up a serious martini - and then Lisa was really put off when Cynyth my Sister was off-focus and instead helping in the kitchen went around saying 'I'm just happy, I'm just so happy". Light weight.

There she is - guilty as charged. She's so happy.

Inside the old farmhouse at Crawford Road. The woman who owned it before me was an old school cabaret singer. That's the thing about the Sullivan County section of the Catskill's - it's filled with so much under the radar cool people just doing their thing.

Theresa our neighbor holding court.

"Getting the mail" - actually smoking cigarettes! Where are we? France?

Lucas with the essentials.

And pretty much a great pic of how we all spent the day on Saturday and Sunday, catching up on some zzzzz's in the fully integrated media room. that's right - one of my long term aspirations has been achieved - the surround sound works, the playstation/dvd player works and is internet ready, I can hook my computer up to the TV, and I've extended my wireless network done into the sunken media room, which was always a tough spot for reception before.

The holidays are always a neat time for me, as a business person, because I live in the midst of my 70 homes and nothing is more satisfying than all the cars and lights on and smoke from the fireplace, and decorations at the homes we have all around time. From a solitary kitchen light late night, to the folks who hustled up on Saturday morning after 5 other family obligations, to the stackers of firewood, to the host of the extended clan - it's really what it is all about. Good times, in houses that work. A simple concept in a hurried world.

The above picture was taken by Adam, Amy's man, last Friday while Lisa was out of town. It was the day before deer season opened the town and small restaurants were hopping. If you are not a hunter you don't realize how many people actually hunt - schools close, business slows down. The first weekend of deer hunting is always a bit precarious since it is yahoo-central with a bunch of 'hunters' coming up to drink beers, drive around and shoot stuff. It's actually the month prior to hunting season that can be a bit much since all the hunters pull out ALL there guns and do some practicing all weekend long so gun shots ring loud and close. During the actual hunting season it's a less noisy, since hunters are trying to be sly and quiet and get some killin' done. Adam was just shooting my camera off after a few rounds and these are the leftovers I found in the morning.

Thanksgiving has been held at my various homes for the past 7 years, ever since I moved up to Sullivan County. The first year at the rock house, where my family refused to come unless I put a driveway in and buy a refrigerator and a stove - you know how demanding families can be. And that's an interesting look-back on our journey up here - from heat and water-less 400 sq ft cabin where I used to put stuff outside to keep it cold, to king of the hill, builder of more than 70 getaways, country concierge to many a family, large local employer, major provider of taxable real estate in our local towns. It's a cool story with lots of drama and interesting characters along the way.

Here's the foundation of our resident Dr of Chemistry. She's doing a farmhouse, and a carriage house on 7+ acres outside of Narrowsburg, NY.

Then the house.

Then the clean up and tyvec.

And you all have seen it before - the roof, windows, framing, foundation and just the incredible day to day progress of an organized, lean, non-top heavy little engine that could.