By CAROL BRODIE
It looks as though the phoebe’s
are returning to various areas since
disappearing after last year’s April
snowstorm. We have a pair of them
that came earlier this spring, and I
believe they are nesting down back
in the barn. My sister, Barb, who
lives outside of Mohawk, emailed
last Tuesday to say their phoebe is
back and building its annual nest
underneath their deck.
I’ve been enjoying watching our
pair of northern orioles as they now
spend quite a bit of time in our
backyard, apparently eating bugs
in the fruit trees. We also have at
least two pairs, maybe more, of
rose-breasted grosbeaks. Last
week, I went to put more sunflower
seeds out for them in the feeders,
and decided I had better wait because
there were two females busily
eating. This is the first time I
have ever noticed the grosbeaks
eating the suet cakes, but they
seem to really enjoy them. It’s neat
to watch them holding on to the
suet cage as they swing around in
the wind pecking on the suet!
Our gorgeous pair of cardinals
seem to be at the feeder all the time
lately. One day last week, as I went
to put more food out, the female sat
patiently in the lilac bush singing
until I finished and then she came
to eat.
I haven’t seen our cute little brilliant
blue indigo bunting since that
first time, but I believe he must be
visiting Pat and Zeke Mabie, as Pat
said they have one at their feeder.
As I was writing this week’s column,
Sharon Thompson phoned to
say they now have two pairs of
rose-breasted grosbeaks.
My brother, Sonny, phoned from
Summerfield, Fla., on Saturday
night, May 17. He was pretty proud
of his two grandsons, Nick and
Chase, as their soccer team won
the championship as they beat two
teams, back to back, in the playoffs
that day.
What a great surprise we received
on Wednesday, May 21,
when Rene and Nancy Foote, of Accomac,
Va., stopped in to visit Dad,
Mom and me. We hadn’t seen them
in at least eight years, so it was
neat to be able to visit and catch up
on each other’s families. They’ve
been spending some time visiting
Nancy’s parents in Saratoga and
had a big surprise 80th birthday
party for her mom on Saturday,
May 17.
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Birthday wishes go out to Bill
Hayes, Taylor Hayes who turns 14
years old, Les Chase, Tim Hotaling,
Harry Kineke, Denise Lundgren
who will be 22, Mark Mabie,
Kristine Warchola, Regina Bateman,
Bradley Bateman who turns
five, and Matthew Moore.
Anniversary wishes go to Bill
and Marsha Mabie and Scott and
Regina Bateman.
Bits and Pieces
John and Stacy Mabie and children,
Tiffany, Brent, and Miranda,
enjoyed spending the weekend of
May 9 to 11 in Jonestown, Pa.,
which is near Hershey. Tiffany is a
member of the Cheerdome Cobleskill
Angels Cheerleading
Squad, and the reason for this trip
was so she and her team members
could take part in the cheerleading
competition. Stacy says they didn’t
do as well as they had hoped. She
said that out of the 12 teams that
played in their division, the Angels
took 10th place. As disappointing
as that was, however, Tiffany and
her brother and sister still had a
great time, as this was their very
first time to go on an out-of-state
trip. They especially enjoyed, and
took advantage of, the pool at the
hotel where they stayed.
They had also planned to visit
nearby Hershey Park on Sunday,
but were called home on an emergency
instead as Cocoa, their dog,
had gotten into a tangle with a porcupine
and needed their attention.
Annie Anderson was one of the
26 sixth-graders from Cherry Valley-
Springfield Central School to go
on the Safety Patrol Trip, along
with other students from area
schools. Their teachers went along
as chaperones. They left on Saturday
morning, May 10, and went to
Washington D.C., where they enjoyed
visiting the Lincoln Memorial,
World War II Memorial, Vietnam
Memorial, and the Washington,
Jefferson, and Roosevelt memorials.
They also visited Arlington National
Cemetery, several of the
Smithsonian Museums, and the
Capitol Building. En route home,
they visited Philadelphia, Pa. After
a tiring but enjoyable four days,
they arrived home Tuesday night,
May 13.
Approximately 50 people attended
the Otsego County Farm
Bureau Rural Urban Event dinner
at the Baptist Church in Middlefield
on Tuesday night, May 13. A
brief board meeting was held prior
to the dinner. Guest speakers at
the dinner included Jeff Decker,
from the Coalition Connection, and
James Ward, who is the lawyer for
the Coalition Connection group.
Don Barber also spoke for a few
minutes on his agricultural background.
Sandie Prokop, who is the
managing director for the New
York Farm Bureau Foundation for
Agricultural Education, spoke and
did a presentation. Bambi Baehrel,
senior field advisor for District 9,
spoke briefly to thank everyone for
the support, prayers and cards,
both before and following, her
mom’s March 18 death.
Local attendees included Frank
Brodie, Elliot Brodie, Sue Schaffer,
Geoffrey Schaffer, Jim and September
Amspacher, Les and Dorothy
Rathbun, Peter Rathbun, Warren
and Mary Stannard, Julie
Stannard, Werner and Beverly
Weigel, Larry Roseboom and Alma
Szeliga, John and Gail Walrath,
and Steve Sinniger, who is the Otsego
County Farm Bureau president.
Annie Anderson and Kaitlyn
Webster went to Norwich to compete
as part of NYSSMA on Friday
afternoon and evening, May 16.
The South Valley Women’s Club
did very well at their first dinner of
the year at the Community Hall on
Saturday, May 17. Everyone thoroughly
enjoyed the chicken and biscuit
meal, and the ladies thank all
of you for your generous donations.
Elliot Brodie attended Sunday
morning worship services at the
Little Falls First Baptist Church
on May 18, and later enjoyed dinner
with Keith and Esther Lesmeister
and family at their Little
Falls home. That night, he attended
the AWANA “end of the season”
banquet, for the kids and their parents,
at the church, where he also
assisted with the meal. Then, during
the evening worship service
which followed, the Double Edge
youth group took charge of the entire
service, including the preaching.
Marjorie French and friend
Doug Hamilton, both of Schenevus,
called on her brother and sister-inlaw,
Leland and Pat Mabie, on
Sunday, May 18.
Nancy Prill, Margaret Mabie,
Marion Schneegas, Betty Brown,
Becky Brown, Jean Roy, Marie
VanSpanjie, and Kristi, Heather,
and Holly Worden attended the
Cooperstown Area Christian Women’s
Club Brunch at the Tally Ho in
Richfield Springs on Monday, May
19. This month’s brunch, “Opportunity
Knocks,” featured guest speaker
Darlene Clark, of Delmar, who
told how she got involved in sign
language. The special feature was
also Darlene as she sang and
signed.
Frank Brodie attended the Schoharie
County Maple Festival meeting
at the Cobleskill Firehouse on
Tuesday night, May 20. Frank also
attended the 4-H Issue Committee
meeting at the Milford Central
School on Wednesday night.
Have a great week, and phone
me at 264-3225 with news.
Columns
South Valley
- Columns
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
Continued ... -
Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
Continued ... -
Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
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From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
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In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
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From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
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In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
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From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
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In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
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In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
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From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
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Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
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In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
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Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
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From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
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In These Otsego Hills: Waiting for spring to have sprung ...
Difficult as it to believe, both January and February seem to have flown by and we find ourselves turning the calendar over to the month of March, which we have long thought is one of the more dreary months of the year. Of course, as in the pastthere are signs of spring as reflected by the tapping of the maple trees. For many years, the trees sprouted buckets to capture their all important sap. However, we now know to look for the sap collection lines that are strung from tree to tree.
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Book Notes: Kennedy: a unique individual
It’s been almost 50 years since the Kennedy assassination shocked the nation. Since then much has been written about President John F. Kennedy and whether he would have achieved his destiny (whatever that may have been) if he had lived. It is said he inspired young people in a way that has never been equaled. And there is the notion of Camelot, espoused by his widow Jackie, that there will never be a time of hope and promise like that again.
Continued ...
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
