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We have decided that the role of grandmother is quite to our liking. As we have been told any number of times, as a grandparent it is perfectly acceptable to hold, play with and fawn over the grandchild until such time as said grandchild becomes fussy. And then, and this is the best part, it is completely within the purview of the grandparent to return the fussy grandchild to the parents. We love it.
And we also loved our Fourth of July visit with The Widge, a.k.a Abby, who was here to take in the church service in which her grandfather, Gerald B. Ellsworth, was remembered as a notable of Christ Church, to dine, although she got nothing to eat, at the Blue Mingo, and attend a Fourth of July gathering at the home of Mary-Jo and Wolf Merk. And, not that we are in any way the least bit prejudiced, she was the model of five and one-half month old perfection at each event.
We were of course amazed at the amount of stuff with which she travels. She brings her own bed, high chair, stroller, clothes, diapers, toys and food. While in Cooperstown she was dining on homemade rice cereal and butternut squash. She has since added sweet potatoes to her plate. And we understand that all of her solid food will be homemade. None of that store bought stuff will pass her cute little lips which thus far seems to be just fine with her. In fact, if the food is not forthcoming at a rate to her liking she pounds her hand on the high chair tray as if to say ``more please.’’
And while The Widge’s stay in Cooperstown was ever so brief, we were invited by her Higby grandparents, Judy and Hal, to join them on Martha’s Vineyard for a few days after the Fourth of July while The Widge would be visiting there.
It was not an opportunity to be turned down and thus we were quite happy to motor off to Woods Hole, Massachusetts to catch the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. Of course, we made that trip on what was perhaps the hottest day of the year thus far.
Consequently, we were extremely happy to be able to find handicapped parking on the dock at the Steamship Authority, which runs the ferries to the island. Doing so meant we could load our luggage on our faithful walker, the Red Rocket, and then transfer it to the ferry’s luggage cart before boarding the ferry. We boarded using the auto ramp which then allowed us to take the elevator to the very deck on which we were able to purchase our trip’s first taste of New England Clam Chowder.
All in all, we must give the Steamship Authority high marks for their accommodation of handicapped passengers. All of the crew members were extremely solicitous of our needs, making certain that we were able to negotiate our ferry crossing with a minimum of difficulty. Of course we must admit that we found it rather disconcerting to have them stop loading the vehicles that were to make the crossing so that we could make the much easier walk up the auto ramp instead of the much longer and much steeper pedestrian ramp. But we are nonetheless most grateful for the treatment accorded us and salute the Steamship Authority for a job well done. And, of course, we love their clam chowder.
And we also loved our visit to Martha’s Vineyard. And while we might be tempted to say that much of our visit consisted of waiting endlessly in traffic and sitting hopefully in front of a fan, those two somewhat unpleasant undertakings were far overshadowed by other events. We quite enjoyed our two trips to the beach which we hasten to point out is about two more beach visits than we normally make in a year.
Granted, the Red Rocket has issues when it comes to sand, but The Widge’s father was able to simultaneously pull both baby stroller and the Red Rocket through the sand.
And while we sunburned our knees, we are most happy to report that The Widge, who had enough suntan lotion on her to qualify for greased pig status, was able to maintain her creamy complexion. We also greatly enjoyed breakfast at the Black Dog and yet another tour of the Martha’s Vineyard Campmeeting Association in Oak Bluffs.
All in all, it was yet again another wonderful visit to Martha’s Vineyard and we thank the Higby’s for inviting us. This was our fourth trip to the island and we do believe that we have decided, at least in our opinion, that the best time to visit Martha’s Vineyard is the same best time to visit Cooperstown, namely between September 15 and May 15. But this assessment is made based on our desire to avoid crowds at all costs. However, if that is not a concern, we hasten to note that both Martha’s Vineyard and Cooperstown have much to offer during the summer season.
In closing, while musing over a possible quote for this week’s column we came upon one by Bill Laurin who said: ``If I would have known that grandchildren were going to be so much fun I would have had them first.’’ We must admit that we are not quite certain how that might work, but we must say that we absolutely understand the sentiment.
PLEASE NOTE: Comments regarding this column may be made by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com.
In These Otsego Hills
In These Otsego Hills: Travels with The Widge...
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In These Otsego Hills: Still more from 1986
Early August found us asking the question, “Does anyone know when Edgewater was builtand by whom?” The answer, much of which came from Ralph Birdsall’s history of the village, appeared in the Aug. 13 column as follows:
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In These Otsego Hills: Continuing on from 1986 ...
We continue this week by answering the question we asked if anyone remembers the old Cooperstown National Bank? On May 13, we wrote: “Martha Dickison, Delaware Street, called to tell us about the Cooperstown National Bank where she worked at her first ‘real job’ after her graduation from school.
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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.”
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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?”
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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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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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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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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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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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In These Otsego Hills: Still more from 1986
