Package Fill

In Hudson this weekend I was anxious too see the progress on my house. I actually hadn’t seen it in person since the walls went up. I knew that my contractor was using a new Styrofoam building material, but I was surprised to see that it really is Styrofoam. The house is like an enormous cooler.  It was disconcerting to see my 12 year old dog (without a full set of teeth) pick up this energy and cost efficient building material and playfully tear it to pieces.  Just think how this material could have changed history had it been discovered earlier.  Rome could have been built in a day, and the Pharaoh Khufu could have ordered his pyramid prefab. No slavery!  Always striving to be environmentally correct, my conscience can rest easy knowing that my house can have a second life as package fill.

Writing this blog has brought me, fighting and screaming, into the internet age, but it does have some perks. RuralIntelligence.com, a website for the latest haps in my new neck of the woods (and a great source for events, homes, gardens, and local restaurants in the four-county area), has written a little piece about my blog. My first write-up! Before you know it, book deals will be streaming in. 

Rural intelligence is another sign that Hudson is a growing town in a growing area. To avoid rural sprawl one must look for signs — signs that might warn of an impending Hamptonization.  Some might say that a clear indication of this is when New York interior designers start moving there, building homes, and writing blogs about it. I wouldn’t say that, but there are signs to watch for. 

Such as…

A Lilly Pulitzer outlet store opens just outside town.

Ralph Lauren introduces the new Hudson Valley furniture collection at his Warren Street boutique.

Starbucks opens and then closes.

Martha Stewart’s niece opens a B&B that is being photographed for the Christmas issue of, what else, Martha Stewart’s Living.

Two hedge fund managers purchase the Hudson Correctional Facility and prepare to have it readied for the coming “Bastille Day” A-list celebration they are planning.

Steve Jobs purchases the Hudson Valley and re-names it Silicon Valley East.

Bill Gates purchases Columbia County and has it annexed to Connecticut for income tax purposes.

Construction begins on the new Madonna Donna Karen A Rod Kabala Spiritual Center.

Please let me know if you have some more.