Julie Pecenco’s Life in the Little City

The theme for the most recent World Wide Panorama was “time.”  My interpretation on the theme was “summertime,” those few fleeting months here in the Northeast United States of warm weather.  Intricately tied in with the concept of summer is the growing season, and the few months of the year where local produce is fresh and plentiful.  Leah and I decided to try a small garden this summer, and managed to actually get the plants into the ground in time to hopefully yield some pizza fixings.  For my WWP submission, a shot my VR from the middle of the garden.

Here are a  few photos from planting day at the end of May.  Leah cleared the weeds out of the garden plot I prepared last fall using “lasagna gardening.”  I then planted the lettuce and herbs, followed by three varieties of tomatoes (two heirlooms and lots of Romas)

Leah gave it a good watering when the planting was finished. A month later, the lettuce is growing like gangbusters, and we started seeing our first tomatoes.

Things have grown like crazy in the week since I took these photos.  We’re looking forward to the harvest!

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The website is updated and should be fully operational.  The changes are mostly cosmetic, but there are some new VRs in the gallery, including Object VRs previously available only here on the blog, and new slideshows on several pages.  I plan to continue to update and add content now that the updated layout is in place.

http://juliepecenco.com/

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I’m going to be updating the entire site tonight, so pages other than the blog might be down at various points.  I’ll post again when the update is complete.

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In my previous entry, I wrote of our hike to the summit of Balsam Lake Mountain in the Catskills. Like most Catskill summits, the tree-lined summit alone affords no view. The fire tower at the summit, however, opened up the panoramic expanse of the Western Catskills to view. The viewing platform was closed, but from the steps I was able to get enough images to stitch together an interactive 360º VR of the view. This one is a cylindrical view, not spherical, but captures the view nicely.

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After living in Oneonta for nearly four years, Leah and I hadn’t actually managed to get to the Catskill Park to do some hiking, despite the fact that most location in the park are no more than an hour and half away.  A few days ago, Leah suggested we go for a hike this week, so I handed her the guidebooks, and told her to find a hike that looked good.  She selected several, and we decided on her top choice, Balsam Lake Mountain, in the Southwest Catskills.  It was short enough that it looked possible, despite some nagging injuries and other health concerns.  Balsam Lake Mountain, at 3720 ft, is one of the Catskill High Peaks (anything over 3500 ft) and one of the few in this area of the park.  It also boasts one of the five restored Catskill  fire towers, providing views from an otherwise obscured summit.

The hike itself comprised two trails, started at the Beaver Kill parking area on the Dry Brook Ridge Trail, and then up the Balsam Lake Mountain Trail.  The first is a very gradual incline, but the trail to the summit was quite steep for us, and I don’t think either of would have been able to do it without our trekking poles.  Our slow ascent was well rewarded at the summit, however, by the panoramic views from the fire tower.  Overall, we had a great time, though we’re both going to sleep soundly tonight as our bodies rest from the effort.

Round trip was just under four miles.  It took us three hours, two up and time at the summit, and one to come down, but I had to stop frequently on the ascent, and we spent some time on the summit taking photos and having a snack.  (Helpful to know if you decide to do this hike: we didn’t find any facilities at the trailhead, but there is a “pit privy” at the summit.)

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