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12-13-2007 Granted we were recently somewhat distressed, and actually thought we were losing our mind, when we discovered while reading an on-line article entitled "How depressed is your state?" that there appeared to be 51 states. This, of course, was news to us as we have long operated under the assumption that the United States is composed of but 50 states. How, we wondered, did that 51st state get by us? We always thought we were keeping on top of things, but maybe we actually weren't. According to what we were reading, the least depressed state, number one on the list, was South Dakota. The most depressed state, Utah, was number 51 on the list. We found that we had to read the entire list twice before we realized that the District of Columbia was included on it. We then had to wonder when the District of Columbia had become a state. We didn't seem to recall that having happened. On the contrary we long remember all the concerns about voters in the District of Columbia who did not share the voting rights of other citizens who actually lived in real states. We tended to find the whole thing rather depressing which depressed us as we feared New York might well be in jeopardy slipping from its spot on the list at number 19. We then found ourselves puzzling over the new Christmas lights on Main Street. We know from our reading of the paper that they are deemed to be much more energy efficient than the lights of years past. And that is to the good. But what we don't understand is, that if we are concerned about saving energy, why the lights, as well as their attendant street lamps, are on all the time. Logic would then seem to tell us that the full benefit of the energy saving lights is not being fully realized. Or have we missed something here? Perhaps our mind is not what it used to be. We then discovered we had great trouble using the Verizon telephone directory. We hunted and hunted in our new December 2007 edition for the telephone number of the Cooperstown Post Office. We never found it. Nor can we locate the number for the local branch of Key Bank. We thought we were really slipping until someone else mentioned they too were having trouble finding numbers in the telephone directory. Fortunately, we still have our 1999- 2000 edition of the Bell Atlantic telephone directory which contains the numbers for both the post office and Key Bank. We are not certain, but we think this problem is the telephone directory and not us. Or has someone been able to locate these two numbers in the recent directory? Please let us know so we judge our impending decline. After all of that we became concerned that our hearing was going. We discovered the day before our birthday our sister had left a message on our answering machine which featured her singing "Happy Birthday." Unfortunately, we thought she sang "Happy birthday dear Lee" which we found puzzling as it was our birthday and not our brother Lee's birthday. When we quizzed her about it, she claimed that she had actually sung "Happy birthday a day early," as she realized midsong that she was indeed recording this concert on our answering machine the day before our birthday. But we must say that what she sang is not what we heard. The following day, however, when she reprised the concert, she was very clear to sing "Happy birthday dear Catherine, that's C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E" which we must admit we understood quite plainly. So we are hopeful that our problem was really her singing and not our hearing. Then of course, the Ohio contingency sent us a card which was addressed to "Mater ‘I'm 60!' Ellsworth." This we thought was not helpful at all in trying to keep our natal day under wraps. Nor was the card inside the envelope particularly uplifting. Next to a drawing of a gecko, it said "He," with an arrow pointing to the gecko, "can save you a bunch on car insurance!" Inside the card read "But he can't do squat about your age." Of course, since that is true, we decided we could but laugh as it definitely beats crying which we thought to be our other option. Fortunately, the rest of the cards we received were most pleasant with our favorite having to have been from our brother and sister-inlaw who sent a card which said, "Don't be ridiculous. Of course you don't look your age." He has always been our favorite brother. The fact that he is our only brother is beside the point. In closing, the one area in which we have decided we are definitely not slipping is our ability to recognize good food when we eat it. The highlight of our natal day was a party, hosted by Diane and Joe Koffer of Hartwick. Family and friends alike were treated to a sumptuous repast followed by what can only be described as dessert overload. Never in our 60 years have we been feted by such a feast. Our thanks go to Diane and Joe for their delicious generosity and to everyone else for helping us eat 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. |
Copyright 2007, Cooperstown Crier, Cooperstown, NY All rights reserved