“We’ve always envisioned a program like this,” says Dan Naistadt, co-founder of Sky Lake Lodge, perched on the northern edge of the Shawangunks outside Rosendale, “serving people in the local area an introduction to a world they already know.” He’s talking about the upcoming weekend of meditation instruction and hiking the grounds of Sky Lake, now in full autumn flush. From Friday evening, October 29 through Sunday, October 31, participants will have the opportunity to explore the 20-acre property of Sky Lake, surrounded by the Mohonk Preserve, with Naistadt guiding and instructing in meditation techniques to enhance perception. Structured for both novice and skilled practitioners of hiking and meditating, the program hopes to deliver an experience of expanded awareness and of extended mindfulness in every step.

“Walking meditation” brings up images of robed monks silently, slowly walking in circles, with eyes lowered and attention directed inward. Forest hiking might evoke anything from a casual stroll without focus to speed-tramping across an uneven terrain. This weekend workshop will match meditative techniques in a progressive approach, from inner mindful to outer awareness, so that even veteran hikers can experience nature with different eyes and senses altogether. Mindfulness helps to quiet the incessant interior dialogue and focus attention. Awareness meditation is used to extend and expand that attention outwards, providing a fuller view of the environment.

Naistadt studied Buddhism at Columbia College in the early ‘70s and became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Now a senior teacher in the Shambala tradition, he instructs students to attune to the energies of nature and how we relate to them. The key point is to teach meditation inside and outside – to bring the idea of “presence” out of the meditation hall and into life. “People have a hard time working with their minds in any situation. Nature has a magic of its own and helps refresh us. Doing this more deliberately helps us discover what’s around us all the time,” Naistadt explains. Beginners and experts alike will find new ways of seeing and experiencing the magical worlds of perception that await us.

A Friday evening introductory talk is open for one and all, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. (donations gratefully accepted). Registered participants in the workshop will meet on Saturday at 9 a.m. for a course of sitting and walking meditation, and will take those tools outdoors that afternoon to apply perceptual exercises on short excursions on the land. There will be talks and discussions throughout the afternoon, ending at 6 p.m. On Sunday, a guided hike along the Shawangunk Ridge will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The workshop costs $175 for non-members and $166 for members, with lodging available for an additional $100, breakfast and lunch included. Dress for the elements and bring all-weather gear!

As leaves fall to the ground, an alternate world emerges, one in which you can see – between the bare trees and

underbrush, down back roads and side streets, close to the shore – structures once vital to the community, now empty and crumbling. Most of us ignore these old buildings; Rob Yasinsac seeks them out, photographs them and resurrects their stories, sometimes just ahead of the demolition crew. His book Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape, co-written with Thomas Rinaldi and published in 2005, documents the region’s past in pictures and text that quietly honor what happened here.

In the past five years, a few of those structures have been restored and put to new use. Many are still abandoned and in various stages of decay, and others have been demolished. Yasinsac’s website www.hudsonvalleyruins.org tracks the changes that have taken place in all these locations, as he continues to search out other sites and structures to chronicle.

From the book’s blurb: “Hudson Valley Ruins provides a record of historic and distinctive architecture threatened by development, vandals and time and exposure to the elements. We hope this website will be a catalyst for efforts to save the neglected historic structures of the Hudson Valley region of New York State.”

The aim to expose and preserve the region’s important mansions, churches, factories and mills is an ongoing process of discovery and education – one in which Yasinsac and Rinaldi welcome public participation. A website feature, “Demo Alert,” allows people to contact them with information about the demise, deterioration or planned demolitions of structures – any structure of historical interest, from a grand architectural building like the Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie to a small remnant of early-20th-century commercial buildings like the Carvel Ice Cream Bakery in Hartsdale and to private homes both grand and small. If it has a story, it’s worth documenting.

Yasinsac credits a couple of teachers for igniting his passion for observation and documentation. A third-grade teacher would walk his class around the village and call the kids’ attention to what was there. Later, a high school photography teacher would point out an aqueduct, a fountain or a foundation as subject matter for shooting, and he says, “I always wondered what else was back there.” A near-obsession was born – one that he has found endlessly fascinating and meaningful.

Driving up and down the Hudson River to witness the ruins of commerce and livelihood, and watching what happens – or doesn’t – to these structures causes him to question: Are we to be known as a “historic place” or not? If a building or a site is not at least maintained, or restored and reused in a manner that doesn’t infringe on the original architectural integrity of the building, then the Hudson Valley cannot continue to claim its historical importance and glory.

His interest in photographic documentation has expanded to include trips that he has made across the country. He lectures and holds workshops – most recently a night photography workshop at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery conducted with Jim Logan. He is site manager at Philipsburg Manor, a National Historic Landmark in the village of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County. And he continues to lobby, through his own work and through collaborations with other organizations like Bannerman Castle Trust (see www.bannermancastle.org), for the honorable preservation of our history.

Robert M. Toole’s 30-year-long romance with the magnificent gardens and grounds of the great estates along the Hudson River has resulted in a comprehensive book describing not only the locations, but also the history of landscape development at each. Landscape Gardens on the Hudson, A History: The Romantic Age, the Great Estates & the Birth of American Landscape Architecture, just released by Black Dome Press, is an exquisite catalog of those estates, replete with original maps and artistic sketches, landscape paintings, portraits of the landowners and historical and contemporary photographs.

It is the first book that addresses the progress of landscape architecture in America from the merely practical to the picturesque, outlining how Romantic European models were incorporated into and assumed by the stunning natural terrain of the Hudson Valley. And it tracks the career of horticulturalist and designer Andrew Jackson Downing, whose commentary reveals the influences and intentions of design that soon impacted the creation of all the significant public urban parks in the new country, especially Central Park in New York City (the creation of his protégé Calvert Vaux and Frederick Olmsted).

Toole elucidates how the great Hudson River, once treated primarily as an artery for commerce and transport by Dutch and British colonists, became the locus of manors and mansions for landowners who sought a particularly grand sort of respite. As Mark Castiglione, executive director of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, has remarked, “The landscape designers…took that special quality of the region and translated it into walking, strolling and sitting gardens for the major estate owners, taking their cues from the beauty of the natural landscape. The gardens were designed to celebrate the ruggedness and the beauty of the landscape, but it was a Romantic design style to capitalize on the natural style and make it as beautiful as possible.” Black Dome editor Steve Hoare explained that when the Hudson River Valley was granted National Heritage Area status, the National Park Service famously dubbed the valley “the landscape that defined America,” and that Toole’s book could have powerful ramifications in continuing efforts to preserve the valley’s landscape.

To that end, the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area initiative has organized a month-long celebration of the historic landscape gardens of the Hudson Valley – a region containing the highest concentration of this type of landscape in the world, and all of it publicly accessible. Two free guided walks by the author and others are scheduled: On Sunday, October 24 at 2 p.m., Toole will conduct a tour of the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park; call (845) 229-9300 for information. And on Saturday, November 6 at 2 p.m., he will lead a tour of the grounds of Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown; call (914) 591-8763. Landscape Gardens on the Hudson, A History will be available for purchase and signing at each event. Also, Toole will give a lecture and sign books on Sunday, November 14 at 2 p.m. at the Albany Institute for History & Art at 125 Washington Avenue in Albany; call (518) 463-4478.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend Levon Helm is known locally as “an unbelievably generous man,” lending his time

and talents – and his band as well – to good causes around the region. When that generosity is combined with love of the land and good ol’ country living and a wooden stage just waiting for a performer to come along, the results benefit us all. Once again, John and Loretta Gill are proud to present a free two-hour concert at the Fall Farm Fest at Gill Farm Stand on Route 209 in Hurley. Ratboy, Jr. is slated to open the festivities for Helm and friends. The concert takes place this Sunday, October 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. and highlights a day of face-painting, delicious autumn foods and pies, hayrides and a hay tunnel for the kids to explore and John’s famous pumpkin-launching cannon.

If you’ve driven along Route 209 when Helm is working out at Gill’s, you know how crowded the venue can be. Parking at the Farm Stand is extremely limited. This year, cars parked along the highway will be ticketed and towed, so the Gills are recommending that visitors park at Hurley Town Hall and take advantage of the free shuttle-bus rides to the venue and back.

The Levon Helm Band will also play on Friday, October 22 at 7 p.m. in Onteora High School’s Harry Simon Auditorium at 4166 State Route 28 in Boiceville. The Paper Planets will do an hourlong warmup for Helm and his band, which includes Amy Helm, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Howard Johnson, Clark Gayton, Steven Bernstein, Erik Lawrence, Jay Collins, Byron Isaacs, Brian Mitchell and Onteora alumnus Jim Weider. This concert is being organized by the parents, students and community of the Onteora School District for the purpose of benefiting the arts programs, and will include a silent auction. Musicians and fans take note: A new guitar signed by Levon is on the list of great items to be auctioned off!

Parent coordinator Maxanne Resnick stresses how fast Helm’s concerts are sold out, and says that the newly renovated auditorium is a small venue, seating fewer than 600. So buy your tickets now at www.levonhelm.com. VIP seating is $100, general admission $65, back-of-the-house seating is $45 and Onteora students can sit anywhere for $20.

In Far and Near, the famed naturalist writer John Burroughs penned, “I was offered a tract of wild land, barely a mile from home, that contained a secluded nook and a few acres of level, fertile land shut off from the vain and noisy world by a wooded precipitous mountain…and built me a rustic house there, which I call ‘Slabsides’…Life has a different flavor here. It is reduced to simpler terms; its complex equations all disappear.”

Such a retreat is the dream of all serious thinkers and writers: a place to delve into Nature and the nature of the mind. While still living, Burroughs welcomed hundreds of kindred spirits to Slabsides, including such notables as Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. The rustic cabin still stands in West Park, preserved as he left it, and is open twice a year to visitors who can witness the cozy solitude in which Burroughs took refuge to write, study Nature and entertain his friends.

The Slabsides Day autumn open house takes place this Saturday, October 2 from noon until 4 p.m. Visitors can enjoy an interpretive tour of the cabin, designated in 1968 as a National Historic Landmark, and then hike the five miles of trails in the surrounding 196-acre John Burroughs Nature Sanctuary until the sun goes down. The varied terrain offers rock faces, wetlands and beautiful woods.

Last spring, more than 100 guests took advantage of this opportunity, and with good weekend weather the John Burroughs Association hopes to welcome even more. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will served at the nearby Pond House.

Meanwhile, this season’s program will feature a special group of poets who have met at the site for inspiration these past several years. Their monthly visits to the John Burroughs Nature Sanctuary have indeed inspired, and now their work is collected in a book: Universe at Your Door: The Slabsides Poets, edited by Alison Koffler and Will Nixon. Earlier this year, the group read at a John Burroughs conference at SUNY-Oneonta and launched their book at the Woodstock Artists’ Association and Museum.

On Saturday at noon, the Slabsides Poets will read from the cabin’s porch and chat with visitors, sharing their poetry and anecdotes in the spirit of the great man. Come join Koffler and Nixon, plus local poets Bobbi Katz (also a children’s book author), Richard Parisio (former educator for the Department of Environmental Conservation), Frank Boyer, Dave Holden, Kathryn Paulsen, Jo Pitkin, Gretchen Primack, Bertha Rogers, Annajon Russ, Victoria Sullivan and Dayl Wise.

A unique collaboration amongst poets, the book comes out of their direct exposure to Burroughs’ cabin, as if they absorbed his essential being somehow. Nixon says, “We’d sit on the porch and write. You really feel like the guy just walked out the door and will be back in a half-hour. We picked up on that feeling.” Copies of Universe at Your Door: The Slabsides Poets will be available for purchase and signing at this event.

Slabsides is tucked off Route 9W in West Park. Take Floyd Ackert Road, then turn left on Burroughs Drive and proceed uphill to the parking area. Look for signs that will guide you on the short walk through the woods to the cabin.

Maintenance of the Sanctuary is funded partially by New York State, but relies heavily on members and volunteers. The Association is currently remaking some of the trails and will gladly welcome new muscle for the upcoming work days, says second vice president Jeff Walker. For further information, see http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/index.html, or call the Sanctuary at (845) 384-6320 or the John Burroughs Association at (212) 769-5169.

In contemporary filmmaking, music is more than mere mood-setting background noise. Music is, in fact, the main point of many films being screened at the Woodstock Film Festival (WFF), which begins on Wednesday, September 29 and runs in theaters throughout the region until Sunday, October 3. And more live music than ever has been scheduled this year, with each performance directly relating to one of the films being screened.

“Ever since the beginning the Festival has had a focus on music,” says WFF co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. “This year we have a higher number of performances, and I think that focus of the Festival has been strengthening. We’re more known for that, so filmmakers and musicians are gravitating towards us; they know this is a strong element of the Festival, and they know there’s a great audience for that. I think it’s a combination for anything successful: when you have a receptive audience and you have the talent that wants to be a part of it.”

So far, five after-screening performances are on the agenda. The Good Listeners with Adrian Grenier (of Entourage fame) will perform around 10 p.m. on Thursday, after the question-and-answer session following Don’t Quit Your Daydream, a film that proves that it’s never too late to head out in search of musical enlightenment. Composer and vocalist Sussan Deyhim will perform a musical homage at 10 p.m. on Friday, in conjunction with the screening of Neda’s Eyes, a tribute film to Neda Agha-Soltan, whose murder in Iran made her a symbol for peace to many Iranians.

On Friday, around 11:30 p.m., singer/songwriter Justin Sane will perform after the Q & A following Sounds like a Revolution, expressing his commitment to social change through the new wave of protest music sweeping America. John Cohen and the Dustbusters will perform after the screening of Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy Kentucky on Friday at 9:15 p.m. in a fitting tribute to the gifted singer, guitarist and banjo player who influenced numerous musicians, from Dylan to Clapton. Also, audiences are in for a surprise when the Don’t Go in the Woods Band presents a special performance on “Fright Night” after the screenings of Don’t Go in the Woods, directed by Vincent D’Onofrio, and Bitter Feast, directed by Joe Maggio. All performances following films are approximately 30 minutes in length, and are included in the ticket price of the film.

In terms of subject matter, films that cross through a variety of categories while maintaining a primary musical connection are Arias with a Twist: The Docufantasy, directed by Bobby Sheehan; Don’t Quit Your Daydream, directed by Clark Stiles and Merritt Lear; Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune, directed by Anthony Waller and Ray Kurzweil; Sounds like a Revolution, directed by Summer Love and Jane Michener; Ray Charles America, directed by Alexis Manya Spraic; and two shorts: Five Variations on a Long String, directed by Peter Esmonde, and Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy Kentucky, directed by John Cohen.

Additionally, a special panel titled “Music for Change” will showcase prominent and emerging musicians and filmmakers who use music as a tool for social change on Saturday, October 2 at 4 p.m. at Utopia Studios. Moderator Doreen Ringer-Ross (vice-president of Film and TV Relations at BMI) will conduct the discussion among panelists Kenneth Bowser, Summer Love (a/k/a Naomi Preney), Ron Mann, Justin Sane, Sussan Deyhim and Woodstock’s own John Sebastian as they examine the roots of protest songs and the recent upsurge in music that provokes and enlightens.

Certainly, the thread of cultural, social, environmental and political issues runs through the entire Festival, so that the lineup of events creates a tapestry that demonstrates who we are and how we are all interconnected. Films and panels relate and reflect back on each other, amplifying the human condition. For example, the film about the life of Phil Ochs, who campaigned for the Sandinistas, points to My Life with Carlos, directed by German Berger-Hertz, wherein a son remembers his father, killed by the Pinochet regime. Films that highlight the self-realization of individuals within their cultures, like Rock Steady, directed by Mustapha Khan, My So-Called Enemy, directed by Lisa Gossels, and Inuk, directed by Mike Magidson, expand on the critical ethnic issues that they each encounter. Others, like Windfall, directed by Laura Israel, and SoLa: Louisiana Water Stories, directed by John Bowermaster, expose how our machinations with the natural world work – or don’t – for better or worse.

Some films cause us to question the morality of our choices, such as Inhale, directed by Baltasar Kormakur of Iceland, and One Lucky Elephant, directed by Lisa Leeman. There are films produced in exotic territories, like Journey from Zanskar, directed by Frederick Marx and shot in the Himalayas, and others shot in less exotic places, like Delaware County and the woods outside Kingston. With directors and actors coming in from all over the planet and an amazing number of choices, too many to do justice to here, this year’s Festival reflects the complexity of modern life and the many ways in which art imitates it.

For a complete roster of films, panels, events and ticketing information, visit www.woodstockfilmfestival.com or stop in at the box office on Rock City Road in Woodstock.

Innovative, outrageous, world-class… It has always been difficult to focus on one adjective that adequately describes the gathering of filmmakers, actors, musicians and artists who congregate each year in Woodstock to share their work. The Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) brings in superlative talent – and the audience is none too shabby, either. Running this year from Wednesday, September 29 through Sunday, October 3, the event will bring in a record number of filmmakers, ranging from established, award-winning A-list directors and industry professionals to young, emerging indie filmmakers from underserved areas and underdeveloped countries.

As always, subject matter covers the full spectrum, including films of social responsibility, music, documentaries, animation and of course, flat-out entertainment. It’s reported that there were more than 1,500 submissions – from Greenland, London, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, literally from all over the globe – which speaks to the fact that WFF has established itself as one of the foremost regional independent film festivals in the world.

The 2010 lineup has been unveiled, with more than 150 films (of which 60 are premieres), panels, performances and special events – way too many to mention here, but to name a but a few: Henry’s Crime, directed by Malcolm Venville and featuring Keanu Reeves and Vera Farmiga (Reeves being the recipient of WFF’s Excellence in Acting Award); Lennon NYC, directed by Michael Epstein; and Stone, directed by John Curran and featuring Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton. Music programming is especially outstanding this year, with live performances by the Good Listeners with Adrian Grenier, John Cohen, Sussan Deyhim, Justin Sane (lead singer of Anti-Flag) and the Don’t Go in the Woods Band.

Indeed, films in the music swirl explore biographies, musical styles, historical and cultural influences – many cross-pollinating with political themes as well. The lineup includes Ray Charles America, directed by Alexis Manya Spraic; Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune, directed by Kenneth Bowser; Sounds Like a Revolution, directed by Summer Love and Jane Michener; Don’t Quit Your Daydream, directed by Clark Stiles and Merritt Lear; Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy Kentucky, directed by John Cohen; Neda’s Eyes, directed by Planet Pictures; Don’t Go in the Woods, directed by Vincent D’Onofrio, with musical score by singer/songwriter/producer Sam Bisbee; Rocksteady, directed by Mustapha Khan; Arias with a Twist: The Docufantasy, directed by Bobby Sheehan; Five Variations on a Long String, directed by Peter Esmonde; and a special film shot in 1968, possibly the first music video ever, Tarantula, directed by Barry Feinstein.

“We have an extraordinarily diverse program this year that challenges the way we perceive and think about the world,” said Meira Blaustein, WFF co-founder and executive director. “We are proud to present a lineup that explores our innate desire to make personal connections, while reflecting on the cautionary aspects of the changing technological and environmental landscape. We need these talented filmmakers to illuminate the dark waters, helping us see beyond current perceptions and, like so many of our films, find hope and inspiration in the future.”

Screenings and events take place in Woodstock and the neighboring towns of Rhinebeck, Rosendale, Mount Tremper and Kingston. Advance single admission tickets can be purchased beginning Wednesday, September 3 at the secure website www.woodstockfilmfestival.com and in person at the WFF box office located at 13 Rock City Road in the heart of Woodstock.

A full schedule of events is now available on the website and will be published here in the coming weeks. Reserve early! Shows tend to sell out quickly. Ticket prices range from $8 to $75, with panels ranging from $15 to $20. For more information contact the box office at (845) 810-0131.