Kombucha, that was a lovely story - until you moved over here. My condolences.
I don't know for sure what it's like now (because I was there only once, back in the late 1970's), but I get the impression that the main area of the Catskills - the part that used to have Grossinger's resort - is now a ghost town. Here's a picture I just found on Google of their beautiful indoor swimming pool -
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It's sad because I have read of how vibrant it used to be there - it was THE place to be in the summer. The menfolk would be working during the week in NYC while their wives and children were playing at the resort, then they would take the train or drive up up there on the weekend for some family quality time. Here's an interesting site about
the rise and fall of Grossinger's, if that sort of thing is of interest to you.
I agree that having time you do not
need can be worse than not having
enough time. Emptiness seems to stretch into eternity during those times, and as you said we're probably in the same "zone": sometimes I get the impression I'm in Purgatory, waiting to see what's going to happen.
It is NOT a nice feeling.
The only weapon that I find useful is my perspective. It's all about how I look at the situation. If I whine and moan too much about being stuck here it only seems to make things worse. I don't want to be a Mary Poppins and run around singing and dancing even when I'm blue - that just isn't me - but if I can find a certain level of
acceptance of my situation I find that following the Path becomes much easier. It is also convenient for me because I pretty much "live" online now, so it doesn't matter all that much whether there are palm trees or piles of dirty snow outside the window.
Now if only I could get my
body online as well as my
mind, I think I'd be a winner.