—
Once again this year we had the pleasure of watching the Fourth of July fireworks from the peace and comfort of Grace Welsh’s front porch, which is located just past the Clark Sports Center towards Bowerstown. Needless to say, many people question our judgment as to our choice of location from which to view the fireworks.
However, we have joined Grace on her front porch for what is probably upwards of 15 years and always find it to be a most enjoyable undertaking. Of course, since we started joining Grace for the fireworks, a number of trees have, not surprisingly, increased in height thus obscuring more of the fireworks display.
And this year, we also had to deal with the fact that, for whatever reason, Grace’s flower boxes have really gone to town, reaching heights which also made watching the fireworks a challenge. And while we have little hope of anyone being willing to top a number of trees to improve our view of the fireworks, we are hopeful that the flower boxes will not be quite so industrious next year.
However, in spite of the view, we nonetheless had a most enjoyable time and thank Grace for sharing her front porch with us.
Many years ago now, there was a little sub shop located on the west side of Otsego Lake. And one day when we, that would be both the he-we and the she-we, were out walking on Chestnut Street in front of the Cooper Inn, we were asked by passing motorists if we knew where that sub shop was. The he-we proceeded to explain that they should turn left on Lake Street and continue on that road until they came to Stiles Motel and the sub shop was across from the motel on the lake side of the road.
As they went merrily on their way, we told the he-we that they would never find the place using his directions. When he rather indignantly asked why not, we pointed out that while he might call the motel in question Stiles Motel that was not the name of the place.
Granted, at one time back in his youth it was owned by the Stiles family, but the motel was, and still is, actually called the Lake View Motel. It all comes under the category of never asking a native for directions because such directions will include something like turning at the pink house, which unfortunately hasn’t been pink for last twenty years.
Of course, we now have a very similar situation on our hands now. It is once again possible to purchase subs on the West Lake Road, a.k.a. Route 80, at the newly opened Mt. Wellington Market. And where might the Mt. Wellington Market be? We would tell you it is right across from the Deer Run Motel. Never mind that the Deer Run Motel is no longer the Deer Run Motel and if you plan on finding the Mt. Wellington Market by locating the Deer Run Motel first, your chances of doing so will be nil. Nor will it help you to be told that the Mt. Wellington Market is just past Beaver Cross as Beaver Cross is also no longer there.
Therefore, if you wish to enjoy a delightful lunch on the porch of the Mt. Wellington Market, we suggest you look for their sign, which will be on the left not long after passing the Otsego golf course, which is just across from where Beaver Cross used to be and just south of the former Deer Run Motel. And we would further add that the Mt. Wellington Market is not where TJ's used to be in Springfield Center.
We recently had the opportunity to lunch at the Mt. Wellington Market, and we found the experience much to our liking. Not only was the food very good, but the setting was perfect, far removed from the hustle and bustle of Cooperstown.
Plus, and this is a big plus, there is ample parking, the market is handicapped accessible and the owners are very pleasant.
All in all, we have added it to our growing list of places to eat. The market is open 7 a.m.
to 7 p.m. weekdays and 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. weekends. Because our spring vacation was somewhat more prolonged than we had anticipated, we found ourselves having to cancel a six-month check-up with our dentist. The appointment was rescheduled for last week which gave us great pause as the parking on Main Street is somewhat more doable the middle of May instead of the end of June. And while we had several offers of a ride to our appointment, we were stubborn enough to want to figure out how to get there on our own.
We knew if we could park close enough we would be able to simply use our cane. But, if we had to park further away, we would need to use our walker, the Red Rocket.
And that would present a problem as there is no place to park the Red Rocket at the dentist’s unless we wished to lug it up what we refer to as the stairway to heaven. And since we were not at all desirous of doing that, we hit upon the idea of asking Ellsworth and Sill if we might park the Red Rocket there while visiting the dentist upstairs.
Needless to say, Marti Jex, who owns the store along with her husband Ron, readily agree to help us out. And while talking with her, we discussed the need for walker racks, not to mention bicycle racks, on Main Street. However, we are not terribly optimistic about getting walker racks since the request for bicycle racks has been around for years.
Nonetheless, we do believe the time has come to review the issues facing those of us with physical disabilities who struggle to access Main Street. It certainly is not a new issue. Yet it is one which we think definitely could use a bit of attention.
And we think we would like to start with the Village Library Building which offers able-bodied vehicles the options of fifteen-minute parking, two-hour parking and all day parking while offering the handicapped vehicles the option of one thirty minute parking space. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to attack the issue, please let us know.
In closing, our quote of the week from Plato, ``Necessity, who is the mother of invention,’’ goes rather nicely we think with the old saying ``Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’’ And come fall, we fully intend to use both of them in our quest to improve accessibility to Main Street for those for those of us with mobility issues.
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 email at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com.
In These Otsego Hills
In These Otsego Hills: Travels around town ...
- In These Otsego Hills
-
-
In These Otsego Hills: The losses are adding up ...
It is with sadness that we note the passing of long time friend, and distantrelative, Jane Patrick. Over the years we have worked with Jane in a number of organizations including Women’s Club and the Community Advisory Committee at Bassett. And, of course, in later years we joined her, along with the other Dinner Belles, for any number of delicious meals. But we do think that our favorite memory that we shared with Jane was when we discovered, having both married Cooperstown natives, that we shared Cooperstown Christmas plans.
-
In These Otsego Hills: This and that ...
We have found the weather so far this year to be on the unusual side. And while we have no problem with the fact that we have received very little snow, we are of the opinion that what we have had instead is not particularly to our liking either. In fact, we are very hesitant to venture out much as we live in fear that the rain will turn to mixed precipitation which will freeze into a sheet of ice. And we are definitely opposed to encountering a sheet of ice underfoot. In fact, we are so hesitant that we now have taken to canceling our participation in events based on what just might be a dubious forecast.
-
In These Otsego Hills: ‘Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.’ − John Adams
Last week we were asked if we would be interested in previewing a documentary, “The Empire State Divide,”produced by the Foundation for Land & Liberty. And we were more than happy to do so as we understood the documentary dealt with the problems that continue to face family farms.
-
In These Otsego Hills: Goals of the past and goals of the future
We have long subscribed to the concept that we are always more successful if we, number one, set a goal and then, number two, meet it. And this was our thinking when we decided before Christmas to watch at least part of every college football bowl game. It was perhaps an odd, if not completely nonsensical, goal.
-
In These Otsego Hills: Not to our liking ...
It is with sadness that we note the recent death of Steve Nagel. The son-inlaw of our late husband’s cousins, Alice and Harvey Eckler of Fly Creek, Steve was married to the Ecklers’ oldest daughter, Gail. We had the pleasure of spending Christmas Eve with the Nagels and the Ecklers in Fly Creek, greatly enjoying the delicious food and delightful conversation.
-
In These Otsego Hills: Always a learning experience ...
We must admit that we thoroughly enjoyed our 2011 Christmas celebration. We partook of Christmas Eve dinner at the home of Alice and Harvey Eckler of Fly Creek and Christmas Day dinner at the home of Sandy and Al Bullard of Milford. We had our usual Christmas Day brunch at home on Pioneer Street, although we must admit it was a tad bit later than usual as, what we enjoyed most about Christmas, namely our granddaughter Abby, took a great deal of time opening her Christmas presents.
-
In These Otsego Hills: Coming up ... 2012
Difficult as it seems, 2011 is fast coming to an end. And it is always our hope that as a year draws to a close, the issues which have been in the forefront during the year will be resolved. Unfortunately, we suspect that will not be the case this year. Instead, we are fairly certain that many of the issues that plagued this year, will continue to plague next year. Thus we will find ourselves still musing about the same issues we have spent time with already. And while we have not come toany conclusions about many of the issues, we do think they would all likely benefit from both sides thinking critically about perspective, risk assessment and possible solutions.
-
In These Otsego Hills: The 2011 Cooperstown Carol
Since 1984, with the exception of one year, 1999, we have looked forward at the end of the year to going through all the issues of the paper in order to glean those news items which have been worthy of note throughout the year and which should make their way into our annual Cooperstown Carol.
-
In These Otsego Hills: Dear Santa ...
Although we tend to think Christmas is for children and thus rarely think about what we might like to have, this year we have decided to let Santa know what might be left under the tree with our name on it. Of course, we fully understand if our list is a bit long, a bit expensive and a bitlate. However, we have just finished reading our November issue of Health and so have just realized what we need that we do not currently have.
-
In These Otsego Hills: Another year under our belt …
Belated birthday greetings go out this week to Aline Heller, who last week celebrated one of those notable birthdays that end with a zero. In fact, if our math is correct, this is the ninth such zero ending birthday that Aline has celebrated. Thus we trust that she was properly feted by family and friends and enjoys many happy returns.
- More In These Otsego Hills Headlines
-
In These Otsego Hills: The losses are adding up ...
