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February 21, 2008: We were indeed sorry to learn of the death of Cooperstown native Pat Taugher. We have known Pat since we moved here in 1982 when she was the administrator of the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home.
February 14, 2008: We are always bemused by those people who think our fair community has little to offer in the way of things to do. We would almost be tempted to say it has way too much to offer. It is virtually impossible to do it all. In fact, we have given up trying.
February 07, 2008: Since we moved back here in 1982, we have noted the deaths of a fair number of long time Cooperstown area residents. And each time a long time resident is lost, we silently lament the community's loss of yet another tie to its history.
January 31, 2008: We blew it! There is nothing else to be said other than we blew it. We knew when we set forth to talk about the newly organized CCS Athletic Hall of Fame that we were on shaky ground. Granted our thoughts regarding Red Bursey were on target.
January 24, 2008: Even though we write this column each and every week, we must admit that we have never really thought of ourselves as being real authors, at least not in the sense that we tend to think of people who have authored a book as being real authors.
January 17, 2008: We must admit that we are intrigued by the addition of a Hall of Fame for athletes at Cooperstown Central School.
January 11, 2008: Difficult as we find this to believe, the college football is finished for the season. And the pro football season is also fast coming to a close. As a result we will no longer be glued to the set to get our football fix, which is probably a good thing.
January 03, 2008: Once again, we have survived the holidays. The weewe, who is not so wee anymore, and the wee-she, who has agreed to be the wee-she, arrived on schedule from Ohio.
December 27, 2007: We have long thought the week between Christmas and New Year?s is somewhat of a lost week in the column writing business.
December 20, 2007: This year, as we prepared to write our annual Cooperstown Carol, which has for many years touched on the events of the village, we assumed, given the wealth of issues swirling about, that the carol would fairly write itself. Alas, that did not seem to be the case.
December 13, 2007: We willingly admit we are getting older. But then, isn't everyone? And the mere fact that last week we ran head on into our natal day is, we think, no reason for alarm.
December 06, 2007: Earlier in the year while attempting to arrange some event, we sent out letters inquiring as to whether or not particular organizations wished to participate. In the letter we basically said, "Please let us know whether or not you will participate and, if so, whom we should contact to make arrangements ..."
November 29, 2007: In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we had to make a monumental decision about which invitation to dinner we would accept. In all we had five options. And we think without doubt they would have all been truly delightful to take in.
November 23, 2007: For a number of years now we have decorated a wreath for the Cooperstown Art Association's Adorn-a-Door Wreath Festival, to be held this year on Saturday, Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Art Association Galleries located at 22 Main St., Cooperstown.
November 15, 2007: We must admit that this is the first year we can ever remember where we did not particularly enjoy voting.
November 08, 2007: We are happy to report that we have once again survived Halloween. Many people believe, given our background in theatrical costume design and construction, that Halloween must be one of our most favorite holidays.
November 01, 2007: This past week seems to have been one in which we have found ourselves completely bemused more than once.
October 25, 2007: We have been asked to note that the 2nd annual Oktober Fest will be held on Friday, Sept. 26 at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church on Elm Street in Cooperstown.
October 18, 2007: We were saddened to learn of the recent death of long time C.C.S. math teacher and coach, Dick White. In amongst all the students that Dick taught during his career were members of two generations of the Ellsworth family as he had the dubious distinction of teaching both the he-we and the wee-we.
October 11, 2007: We have been asked once again this year to mention the upcoming rummage sale at the Presbyterian Church, which will be held on Thursday, Oct. 18 and Friday, Oct. 19 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., and on Saturday, Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. Saturday will feature a bag sale.
October 04, 2007: The next meeting of the Literary Discussion Group, sponsored by the Women's Club of Cooperstown, will be held on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 2:30 p.m. in the Village of Cooperstown Library.
September 27, 2007: We always know the summer is really over when we get our first request to mention an upcoming church rummage sale. We have been asked to note that Christ Church will hold its annual fall rummage sale on Friday, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 6 from 10 a.m. until noon. We understand there will be a bag sale on Saturday.
September 20, 2007: We have received a communication from our trusty Eagle Street Block Party reporter, Robin Lettis, who wrote: "In the community spirit spread by the bicentennial celebrations, Eagle Street neighbors celebrated 200 years of block parties on the best street in Cooperstown on Sunday the 9th.
September 13, 2007: Much as we hate to admit this, our son, a.k.a. the wee-we, turns 33 today. We must say we find this somewhat amazing as we feel we are still a mere 29 and thus are not quite certain how he came to be older than we think we are. It is a mystery.
September 06, 2007: While we are in the catch up mood which we started last week, we are reminded that we have not yet had a chance to mention the fact that Mark Kraham, of the Cooperstown Krahams, was in town for the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction as a member of the media representing NBC channel 4 in Hagerstown, Maryland. In fact, we discovered that we were able to go online and watch a news video which Mark did for the television station while here in Cooperstown.
August 30, 2007: Quite a while ago now, perhaps even back in the spring, we received information from two of our readers relating to a topic we were discussing then, namely the Orphanage of the Holy Saviour which was located where Bassett Hall is today. And while we try to use all information that we receive in a timely manner, we are not always successful. And so this week, we would like to play a bit of catch up.
August 23, 2007: We fear that the long lazy days of summer are all too soon going to draw to a close. And while many might well come to this conclusion by checking a calendar, we always tend to gage the end of summer by the beginning of various fall activities such as preparing a news release for the Women's Club of Cooperstown's annual salad luncheon slated this year for Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. at the Christ Church Parish House located at 69 Fair St. here in Cooperstown.
August 16, 2007: On our recent trip to the NYSHA Research Library to take in the exhibit there on the bicentennial of the incorporation of the Village of Cooperstown, we also had the opportunity to see an equally interesting display entitled "Vibrant Memorials: Stained glass in Cooperstown's two oldest churches." These two churches are, of course, the Presbyterian Church on Pioneer Street, which was built between 1805 and 1807, and Christ Episcopal Church on River Street, which was built between 1807 and 1810.
August 09, 2007: This past week we had the opportunity to take in the 2007 Cooperstown Bicentennial Exhibit at the NYSHA Research Library. And we must say we were very glad we did. Normally, when we head in NYSHA's direction, we tend to be focused on exhibits at either the Farmers' Museum or the Fenimore Art Museum.
August 02, 2007: We are most happy to report that, from our point of view, the Hall of Fame Weekend went very well. Of course, we readily admit that we not only were nowhere near the actual Induction Ceremony, we, in fact, left our property only once during the entire weekend. So our perspective of the festivities is limited, for the most part, to upper Pioneer Street.
July 26, 2007: Every so often it seems that we realize we have just had one of those weeks. And we think this past week falls into that category. Taken separately, the events of the week were actually pretty uneventful.
July 19, 2007: We are beginning to think that we should designate a segment of each week's column for questions and comments that we have received from our various readers. We always enjoy receiving such information and so think we shall have to have a regular "From the Mailbag" section in the column.
July 05, 2007: We are happy to report that we had a Fourth of July visit with the wee-we, a.k.a. Christopher, and his fiancee Annie who journeyed to Cooperstown from Ohio with their two English bulldogs, Barnaby and Bella. To say that it was a working vacation for them is probably an understatement.
July 05, 2007: It's getting very close. Anne and I have only a few weeks more before we must clutch a few belongings and leave our home. We're being evicted. By ourselves.
June 28, 2007: It would seem that we are about to find ourselves in the full swing of summer. The Dreams Park has opened, school has closed and two annual events that herald the summer season are about to happen.
June 21, 2007: We would like to note that the DVD, "Memories of Cooperstown 2007," which was a Cooperstown Bicentennial project of the Fourth Grade at the Cooperstown Elementary School, is available for anyone who would like to own a copy.
June 14, 2007: We must admit that we were somewhat pleased that the first decorated for the Dreams Park vehicle which we saw this year did not say "Cooperstown or Bust." Unfortunately, the second such vehicle we encountered did have the "Cooperstown or Bust" slogan emblazoned on it.
June 07, 2007: We are always amazed at how quickly the weeks seem to fly by, which, of course, means the months are also flying by. But we must admit we had not, until a couple of weeks ago, taken this thought to the next step to consider how quickly the years are flying by until our son Christopher, a.k.a. the wee-we who is not so wee anymore, called to tell us he had been to the Years of Service Recognition Luncheon at Kenyon College as he has just completed his fifth year at the college.
May 31, 2007: Upper Pioneer Street held its fourth annual block party on Saturday, May 26. Unfortunately, we found ourselves unable to partake of the festivities as we were enjoying poor health at the time.
May 24, 2007: This past week we found ourselves having to print a 2008 calendar off our computer as we had to write down dates for two events scheduled for next May. We found this to be a sad state of affairs as we have not yet gotten through this May which has proven to be so hectic that we were hoping to skip next May altogether.
May 17, 2007: We always find the spring to be a glorious time of year. We are particularly pleased if we manage a drive in the country during the exact time each spring when the green haze emerges throughout the countryside.
May 10, 2007: We note that the vote on the school budget, the proposed capital project and the candidates for the CCS Board of Education will be held on Tuesday, May 15 from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. in the Nicholas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School on Linden Avenue.
April 26: We are optimistic that winter has given up its grip and that spring has finally arrived. And if that is not the case, we note that the Christ Episcopal Church is still planning on holding its spring rummage sale next week on Friday, May 4 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday, May 5 from 10 a.m. until noon.
April 19, 2007: We note that the next 2007 Cooperstown Bicentennial event is coming up this weekend, on Saturday, April 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the ballroom upstairs in the Village Library Building, 22 Main St., Cooperstown.
April 12, 2007: A while ago now we received an e-mail with the subject line of "How old is Grandma???" When we opened it we found an interesting little tale about what grandma thought about life today what with all that goes on in the world.
April 05, 2007: Last fall we spent a bit of time researching information about the Orphan House of the Holy Saviour, one of Cooperstown's many lost buildings, for one of our holiday projects. As a result of that research we were able to furnish family and friends the following information about the Orphan House of the Holy Saviour.
March 29, 2007: It has come to our attention, both by driving west on Beaver Street and by listening to various pedestrians who traverse the sidewalk on the north side of Beaver Street, that the street presents problems for both drivers and walkers alike.
March 22, 2007: We have long thought that we had, in our lifetime, encountered just about as many how's that again" circumstances as anyone might well need. However, it seems that we have just encountered still another one.
March 15, 2007: It is not every year that we find ourselves writing a column for the Ides of March. As we know from our high school reading, the Ides of March convey a certain foreboding of doom, thanks in great part to the line from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March."
March 08, 2007: We have several more residents of the area who we are now able to add to our list of descendents of members of the 1907 Cooperstown Centennial Celebration committees. Louise Hulse, of Lakeland Shores, called to tell us that she thought her grandfather, Michael Hanlon, might have been involved in the centennial celebration.
March 01, 2007: We suspect we may have been somewhat hasty in our assessment that the clean up from the recent snowstorm had been handled rather well. Although we have had no problem getting around, we do not, even under the best of conditions, walk about the village. And we gather that while it is quite possible to get around by car, although some of the roads are extremely narrow, walking on the sidewalks is still difficult, if not impossible, in a number of areas.
February 22, 2007: Although we are certain there are people who delighted in our snowfall of last week, we would not be among that group. In fact, we found the three feet or so of snow to be completely unnecessary even thought we personally were not particularly inconvenienced by it.
February 15, 2007: We note that the annual Shove Tuesday Pancake Supper at Christ Episcopal Church is coming up this next Tuesday, Feb. 20 at the Parish House located at 69 Fair St. in Cooperstown.
February 08, 2007: Sometime last fall we encountered someone in Oneonta who told us they knew that there was a lot to do in Cooperstown in the summer, but with fall and winter coming on, we would, no doubt, miss the hustle and bustle of the summer months.
February 01, 2007: We normally conclude our Christmas season with a Twelfth Night get-together with friends. We always enjoy hosting a final farewell to what we consider to be the most hectic and most stressful season of the year.
January 18, 2007: We have decided that this past week was filled with not only the unusual, but also the unexpected. From the county to the school district to the village, the questions, concerns and controversy raged. We were stunned.
January 11, 2007: We must admit that the holidays this year seem to have gotten us off track in terms of the non-holiday comings and goings of the community.
January 04, 2007: Having written this column in various papers under different names for 23 years now, we are well aware that every so often the column does not appear as we would wish it to. And last week was, unfortunately, one of those columns.
December 28, 2006: As 2006 draws to a close, we realize that 2007 will find us here in Cooperstown celebrating the village's bicentennial. Some of us, ourselves included, will remember that Cooperstown celebrated another bicentennial in 1986.
December 21, 2006: Since 1984 we have written, not counting this year, 18 Cooperstown Christmas carols. There are three years, 1999, 2001 and 2002, for which we did not write a carol as our heart was simply not in it.
December 14, 2006: Each week, after we have dutifully penned the draft of the next column, the draft is sent, via e-mail, to our editing/ proofreading team located in central Ohio.
November 09, 2006: We are happy to report that we have made it through yet another Halloween. For those who are interested, the trick-or-treater count this year was 324.
November 02, 2006: We are certain that many of our readers will notice a great difference in this week's column as we have written it on our new computer. We are certain readers will be struck by the improved clarity of thought and flow of words resulting from our computer upgrade.
October 26, 2006: We knew it would come to this. We would sit down at the computer, ready to write the column and the computer would tell us, enough already. Our trusty companion in the writing world for the past five and a half years has bowed out, as it were, leaving us in the lurch for this column.
October 19, 2006: One of the true benefits of today's communication capabilities is that of sharing memories with others. We frequently receive e-mails that are of the "remember when" ilk.
October 12, 2006: We recently received an e-mail from former Cooperstonian Doug Preston, who told us he enjoyed our deer versus bushes story.
October 05, 2006: This week's column has been written at a great disadvantage as our trusty computer has proven to be less than trusty.
September 28, 2006: This past week, we glanced out into our back yard and realized a young deer was sitting in the middle of the yard munching on something. Since deer can be, and have been, rather destructive to plantings in our yard, we knocked loudly on the window in hopes of scaring the deer off.
September 14, 2006: This week's column has been written at a great disadvantage as our trusty computer has proven to be less than trusty.
September 7, 2006: We are not quite certain exactly how we have gotten to September. Somehow we feel it can't really be. And yet it is what our calendar is telling us, even though we do not particularly want to hear it.
August 31, 2006: We have once again had the opportunity to flee Cooperstown for the Midwest.
August 24, 2006: One of the biggest problems with writing a weekly column is writing them when one is going to be on vacation. And while there are undoubtedly people who would have the technology and inclination to write while actually on vacation, we do not include ourselves in that group.
August 10, 2006: One of the decidedly upsides of living in Cooperstown is the utter amazement one can have about the decisions which are made regarding our fair community.
August 3, 2006: We definitely think that a big round of applause and big thank you for a job well done should go to the Village of Cooperstown street crew. For two months in a row we have accumulated a fair amount of yard waste.
July 27, 2006: Earlier this month we had occasion to attend the reorganization meeting of the CCS school board. Our past experience with such meetings is that they tend to be on the somewhat dull side so we were pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of the first reading of a new District Wellness Policy.
July 20, 2006: We have learned that the CCS Class of 1936 celebrated their annual reunion this year by attending the CCS Alumni Association Banquet which was held at the Middle/ High School on Saturday, June 24.
July 13, 2006: Two weeks ago, we bid a fond farewell to "Where Nature Smiles," a column we have penned on and off for a number of years for The Freeman's Journal.
December 30, 2004: In some ways, the week after Christmas is always a bittersweet time for us. We find ourselves busily assessing the year about to end and calculating what might transpire in the year ahead.
December 23, 2004: Hark the herald angels sing. Of this Cooperstown Christmas thing. Every day another event; Holly dollars must be spent.
December 16, 2004: Imagine our surprise when we trudged upstairs to the attic the other day, in search of Santa wig and beard which a friend was desirous of borrowing, to discover that not only was it raining outside, but it was also raining inside.
December 2, 2004: This year we had the pleasure of being invited to partake of a traditional Thanksgiving feast at the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home.
November 18, 2004: Ever since returning from our most recent sojourn to the Midwest we feel every time we have ventured out into the public arena that we have been assaulted by people intent on discussing the previously mentioned new paint job across the street from us.
November 11, 2004: On Election Day we were most dismayed to receive a call from the wee-we who told us that he didn't think he was going to be able to vote.
November 4, 2004: We have once again returned from a trip to Michigan and Ohio where we visited with family and friends. Of course, as is our wont, we also did a bit of sewing, making a number of different window treatments as well as a polar fleece sofa throw.
October 28, 2004: We feel that we have been most fortunate of late to have a number of historical Cooperstown documents come either into our possession or across our desk.
October 21, 2004: In September we had the pleasure of a weekend visit from two of the he-we's college friends, Jon Battle from Virginia and Joe Laveri from Connecticut, both members of the Kenyon College Class of 1968.
October 14, 2004: While we were putting together last week's column on the Cooperstown Concert Series, we sent a first draft off to Jane Johngren for her input.
October 7, 2004: Later this month, on October 22 to be exact, the 35th season of the Cooperstown Concert Series will begin with a concert featuring Teresa Broadwell and Thrivin' on a Riff whose repertory includes swing, jump, big band and 1950's style boogie music.
September 30, 2004
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