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We have found the events of the past week have been such that we are quite tempted to rerun some former column instead of writing a new one, hoping against hope that no one notices. To say that the creative muses are burned out is perhaps an understatement. In fact, we fear that we may be reduced to talking about the weather.
We must admit that we have no qualms about talking about the weather. In fact, it is usually a fairly safe topic of conversation. And no matter what the weather is, there always seems to be some aspect of it which evokes either great joy or great depression.
And, of course, we are always amused by the fact that our great joy or great depression regarding the weather is seen by many as being rather backwards since we tend to enjoy rainy days much more than sunny ones.
And once again this year, June seems to be filled with delightful rainy days, just like the Junes were back when we first found ourselves on the Cooperstown scene in the 1970s. During that time we used to spend much of each June visiting our mother-inlaw, Enid Ellsworth, here in Cooperstown.
And each year it seemed that one of the main topics of conversation was whether or not Willow Brook would flood the basement of the bank building. Fortunately we believe that some years ago now Willow Brook was contained in such a way as to eliminate the flooding of the bank basement. However, it seems that the rainy June weather is still with us. And so is our desire on a rainy day to curl up with a good book.
However, much as we might like to spend our time doing nothing but reading, we realize that is probably not as productive as we could, or should, be. Thus we find ourselves being pushed to do other things, such as helping out at the recent fund raising spaghetti dinner held at the Vet’s Club for the benefit of Patrick Baker. And while we did spend a fair amount of time at the dinner, we hasten to point out that we were not allowed to have anything whatsoever to do with the food. This, of course, was a good decision on the part of the organizers.
Instead we greeted the diners, explained about the dinner donations and sold tickets for the raffles. We were most touched by the kind words of support from many, many of the people who attended the dinner. We were particularly struck by one gentleman who appeared and asked us about the transplant for which money was being raised. We explained what we knew after which he explained he was a double transplant recipient and wanted to make a donation to the cause. We offered him dinner but he explained that he was in town for a wedding and was on his way from the wedding rehearsal dinner to the actual rehearsal.
Nonetheless he took the time to talk with Patrick and his family about the transplant process as well as the network of support available to transplant recipients. We would like to extend our thanks to this gentleman, whoever he was, for his valuable contributions to both the dinner and the Baker family.
We also wish to thank all those people who attended this dinner for their support of the fund raising efforts. We also wish to thank those businesses and individuals who donated goods and services to the dinner. The list includes the Bistro, Cooley’s, Church and Scott, Danny’s Market, DiMaggio’s, Doubleday Cafe, Hellers Farm, Lakefront Restaurant, New York Pizza, Nicoletta’s, Pioneer Patio, Schneider’s Bakery, Winnie Denny-Smith, and Joyce Weir.
A big thank you also goes out to those businesses and individuals who donated items for the raffle, including Cooperstown Clubhouse, CVS, Catherine Lake Ellsworth, Ellsworth and Sill, Essential Elements, Family Dollar, Friendly’s, Diane Howard, Matt Kepner, Kathleen Koffer Allstate, Diane Koffer, Legends are Forever, Polar Scoops, Pioneer Sports Cards, Safe at Home Ballpark Collectibles, Cindy Seward, Seventh Inning Stretch and Straws and Sweets.
And finally, we extend a big thank you to the Vet’s Club which donated the use of its facility for the fundraiser.
Unfortunately, because the need is so great, the fundraising for Patrick Baker will continue.
The next such event will be held on June 22 at Applebee’s in Oneonta. With the presentation of a voucher, 10% of the check, excluding tax and tip, will be donated to the Cooperstown Rotary Foundation to benefit the liver transplant fund. Vouchers are available for this Applebee fundraiser from Jessica Baker. She can be contacted by telephone at 607-435-2671 or at work at the Bank of Cooperstown.
And, of course, it is still possible to make a donation directly to the Patrick Baker Transplant Fund at the Bank of Cooperstown, 73 Chestnut Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326.
In closing, we believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said: ``Do well by doing good.’’ It was good advice then. And it is good advice now.
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: Staying involved and doing well...
- In These Otsego Hills
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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In These Otsego Hills: The losses are adding up ...
