However, we do take heart that we are not the only ones who have found May to be hectic. One friend mentioned that she could not believe how quickly everything is coming out. She even noted that she was positive that she could actually see the leaves on the trees coming out before her eyes. Frankly, we think she was feeling that she couldn’t keep up with all the attendant spring gardening and was trying to justify that lack by blaming it on an over eager spring. We, of course, have long since given up any gardening what so ever as we are of the opinion that come January, it won’t matter whether we did any spring gardening or not. Our yard will look just like everyone else’s under January’s mantle of white.

We are happy to report that the winner of the Christ Episcopal Church fund raising quilt is Kathy DeLaney. Her winning ticket was pulled from the magic basket at the church’s recent annual meeting. The quilt, which was made by the late Doris Sieme, was donated to the church by her husband, Norman Sieme, shortly before his death. He asked that the church raffle the quilt, donating the money raised to one of the church’s outreach programs. We note that over $700 was raised by the raffle and that the money has been earmarked for the Cooperstown Food Bank.

We received a call earlier this week asking us if we knew when the Cooperstown Native Sons banquet would be this year. We must admit, since the Native Sons are decidedly off our radar screen, that we were really clueless about the answer to this question but thought it was probably sometime in June. We assured our caller that we would see if we could be more specific and would get back to her. Fortunately for us, we only had to make three calls to confirm that the dinner is indeed coming up in June. We thought our sleuthing was not bad although it certainly took more effort than the question we can definitely answer off the top of our head.

Of course, we must admit we never know when we are going to be asked something for which an answered is expected. While dining recently at a local eatery with a friend, another friend appeared at the booth, explaining she wanted to ask a question. She was trying, without success, to remember a somewhat old fashioned name of a light weight, decorative bed covering. We suggested coverlet but that was not the answer for which she was searching. And try as we might, none of us could come up with another answer. However, we assured the assemblage that our ace in the hole, the trusty computer, would no doubt be able to answer the question.

And sure enough, when we got home, we consulted Merriam-Webster Online, where, using the Thesaurus, we were directed from "bedspread" to "counterpane." We instantly knew that counterpane, whose definition is "a decorative cloth used as a top covering for a bed," was the word we were looking for. And a quick telephone call to our friend confirmed we were right. More and more we are convinced that the best education is indeed the one that teaches the process over the product. There is no way anyone can know everything. But, knowing where and how to find everything tends to make people think anyone does.

We have long used the MSNBC website as a source for news when, and if, we want it. We generally check it first thing in the morning to see what has transpired in the world overnight. Recently, however, we were so annoyed by an ad on the website that we seriously considered never looking at the site again. For some unknown reason, GE felt visitors to the site would enjoy an ad featuring videos of their sustainability efforts. In our opinion, they would be wrong. We found it most disconcerting to suddenly, in the wee hours of the morning, when we opened the MSNBC website to have an unknown person suddenly talking in our bedroom. We nearly jumped out of our skin.

Not only did we not like the invasion of our space, but we also did not appreciate the noise at that hour, or any hour for that matter. We of course, being us, took it upon ourselves to fire off an e-mail to GE expressing our displeasure at their advertising campaign. We were somewhat surprised when we received an e-mail back saying "We’re sorry you don’t enjoy the current GE advertising, which features our sustainability efforts. GE is like any other advertiser on MSNBC and must pay to participate; it is not a "freebie" of any kind." We must admit that we were somewhat puzzled by the answer as we had in no way suggested the ad was a "freebie." In fact, it never occurred to us that they were not paying to assault us in our own home. What we could not figure out is why on earth they actually thought it was a good idea. Fortunately, for the time being at least, the ad seems to have disappeared. It would, no doubt, be too much to hope for that they might have run out of advertising money.

In closing, in our haste to get through May and into June, we note that the June meeting of the Literary Discussion Group will be held on Thursday, June 28 at 2:30 p.m. at the Village of Cooperstown Library. The book for discussion will be The Loop by Nicholas Evans. The meeting is open to the public, will be free, relatively quiet, hopefully without questions and not held in May. All in all, it will, we think, have a lot going for it.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer St., Cooperstown, N.Y. 13326, by telephone at 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.