Interesting enough, as our driveway was being cleared, we received a telephone call from Katherine Spraker Rohrlack, a former Cooperstonian now of Williamsburg, Va., who began the conversation by asking how we were. We allowed as how we were snowed under to which she responded she knew since she was just two blocks away, wondering if she and her husband Richard might drop in for a visit. Fortunately, they were able to do since by the time they arrived, access to the front door was clear.

In talking with the Rohrlacks we learned that they had made the trip north to see snow. Richard quite willingly admitted that now they had seen it he realized he missed it not at all. Of course, when they set out from Williamsburg, we were not certain they knew just how much snow they were going to see. Fortunately, they arrived in Cooperstown before the storm hit and thus were snowed in with the friends with whom they were staying. We quite enjoyed our visit with the Rohrlacks and trust that they have made it safely back to Williamsburg.

Having had to postpone, because of the snow, our plans on Thursday last for taking the quilt show, sponsored by the Fenimore Quilt Club at the Cooperstown Art Association Galleries, we finally made it to the show last Friday, just in time to be involved with dealing with a seriously leaking skylight in Gallery A at the Art Association. By the time we arrived, a number of buckets had already been put in place to catch the drips which, by some stroke of luck, had missed falling on any of the quilted items. It quickly became obvious that it would probably be a good idea to move the quilt racks to another location in the room. No sooner had this operation started, than a number of village trustees, as well as the mayor, arrived from a meeting being held downstairs to survey the problem upstairs.

Fortunately, they pitched in to help with moving the quilt racks and all of them seemed, as far as we could tell, to be in agreement that the problem needed attention. Of course, fixing a roof in the dead of winter with three feet of snow on it is not an easy task. However, we are hopeful that appropriate attention will be given to roof and skylight repair as soon as is physically possible so that future shows in the art gallery will not be in need of either being waterproof or mounted with umbrellas to shield the art from the possibility of falling water.

And, in spite of the hectic nature of our visit to the quilt show, we nonetheless quite enjoyed the wide variety of quilted pieces in this year’s show. We are always amazed at the choice of not only the quilt patterns but also the fabrics used to create the quilts. And, perhaps most of all, we enjoy the stories that go with the quilts which so greatly add, in our opinion, to the enjoyment of the show. The show will close on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. so there are only a few more days to take it in and then it will be gone, until next year of course.

We have learned that Fran Weeks, a member of the CCS Class of 1957, is searching for a copy of a photograph taken of his sixth grade graduation in 1951. The picture, which was taken in front of the old school on Chestnut Street, has about 20 or so children in it. If anyone has a copy of this picture please give Fran a call at (607) 432-3502. He would greatly appreciate it.

The task of raising something in the neighborhood of $90,000, which represents the local taxpayers’ share of the proposed $425,000 replacement cost of the Kid City playground in the upcoming CCS capital project, continues with a Silpada Jewelry Sale. The sale is a great opportunity to get a new accessory for spring, a graduation gift or a Mother’s Day present while supporting the effort to fund the new playground. One hundred percent of the profits from the sale will go to the Kid City fund.

The sale will be held on two different dates at two different times so that more people will be able to attend. The first one will be on Thursday, March 1 from 4 to 7 p.m. and the second will be on Friday, March 2 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Both sales will be held at the home of Cari Lifgren, 24 Eagle St. in Cooperstown. Anyone wishing to attend should respond either by telephone at 547-2009 or by e-mail at gumdead@aol.com. Plus, anyone wishing to get a head start on the sale may view all of the jewelry offerings at www.mysilpada.com/cari.lifgren.

In closing, we would like to salute all of those individuals in and around the village who manned snow shovels, snow blowers or plows during last week’s dig out. We cannot fathom the number of man-hours that went into cleaning up after the storm. And we suspect, given the narrow streets and high snow banks, that the clean up operation will continue for a while longer. [an error occurred while processing this directive]