We will have to admit that we have found the winter, thus far, to be somewhat more snowy than necessary. And, although we always find new fallen snow to be most pleasant, we do think that six inches of new fallen snow does just as good a job of beautifying the landscape as does 26 inches of the stuff. As with most things, snow in moderation is fine.

Snow in excess is another matter which we would just as soon not get into again this season. We may not, however, be that fortunate.

As we do each January, we find ourselves breaking in another new calendar. We always like the new calendar as it comes with absolutely no commitments on it. The new month's page is so fresh looking. We absolutely love it until we start putting in all those things which keep us busy throughout the year.

For us, January alone has two biggies, the yearly book selection meeting for the Literary Discussion Group sponsored by the Women's Club of Cooperstown and the 13th annual Cooperstown Quilt Show.

The Literary Discussion Group will meet on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 2:30 p.m. at the Village Library. Those attending are asked to bring suggestions for books to be read in 2003 so that the book list for the year may be compiled. Anyone unable to attend the meeting but who has suggestions for the group, may leave the recommended book titles with Cathe Ellsworth by calling 607-547-8124.

And, although the quilt show does not officially open until Feb. 8, a great deal of the work that goes into the quilt show happens in January. Registration for the quilt show will be on Saturday, Jan. 25 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Coopertown Art Association. Following the registration, club members will hang the show, prepare the cards which identify each quilt and produce a brochure for the show. Needless the say, it is no small task to get the annual show up and running. We suspect it will manage to keep us quite busy.

We had the opportunity over New Year's to dog sit for the wee-we and Melanie's eight month old English bulldog puppy, Winnie. We found her to be somewhat more active than we remember our 15 year old Shar-Pei, Boeling, being. Nonetheless, we are happy to report that we had no problems with our dog sitting duties. We both seemed to survive the experience. However, when the car was being packed for the return trip to Ohio, we did note that Winnie stuck to the car like glue. We gather that she did not want to be left behind again. Once was, undoubtedly, quite enough for her.

While we were dog sitting, the wee-we and Melanie went to Princeton and Philadelphia to visit friends and celebrate the new year. And although they were happy to see old friends, we think they were less happy with having to deal with the scorn with which their move to Ohio was met. They were continually asked how they could stand being in Ohio where there must absolutely nothing to do. Ah, the big city mentality at work. Of course, when we asked what all these big city people chose to do we were informed that they liked to hang out in bars, drinking and talking.

We must admit that we were amused by this. Here are these people, surrounded by all that the big city has to offer, who chose to do what can undoubtedly done almost anywhere in the United States. We are relatively certain that one could go to a bar in the thriving metropolis of Mount Vernon, Ohio. In fact, one can go to a bar in little old Cooperstown. It would seem,we think, that the lure of the big city has more to do with what one might be able to do, than with what one actually does.

It reminds us that we are continually amazed at what can be accomplished in Cooperstown these days. While the wee-we and Melanie were here, we mentioned that Cooperstown now sported a shoe store. Melanie's eyes grew large and sparkled. There was nothing for it but we had to visit the Village Cobbler, located at 25 Chestnut St. As we had not gotten to this relatively new addition to the Cooperstown shopping scene before. We were delighted that we were able to replace both pairs of well worn, purchased in Philadelphia, Merrell shoes with new, purchased in Cooperstown, Merrell shoes. We thus conclude that not only can one drink in Cooperstown as they do in Philadelphia but one can also buy shoes in Cooperstown as they do in Philadelphia. And we certainly can easily beat Philadelphia in the "Amount of Snow" contest so far this year. We think we are in good shape here.

In closing, while speaking of contests, we note that the annual Upper Pioneer Street "I-Left-My-Christmas-Wreath-Up-Until-Easter" contest is off and running. And quite frankly, we anticipate a bit of difficulty this year with the contest as two of our three outside wreaths are real. Normally we cheat by putting up only artificial greens which do an amazing job of lasting until Easter. We feel we might not do so well with the real thing.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

Where nature smiles,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at gbecle@wpe.com. They look forward to hearing from you.