Saturday

It's 45.3 degrees and sunny!

• Saturday: Partly sunny with scattered showers, best chance north of Thruway. High 74
• Saturday Night: Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 46
• Sunday: Partly sunny & cool. High 68 Low 47

It's going to be a great day for Graduation Parties, Golfing, Paddling - whatever suits your fancy. An article in the morning's Observer-Dispatch in which Dr. David Petrie is quoted - gives some good hints for Staying Safe in the Sun and Heat.

After two very humid days, yesterday - 'tho sunny and hot - was a good day for being outside.

Residents of the Schoolhouse Aparments gathered to chat, and some cows on Sally Road -


where someone has mounted a thermometer on a tree! - appeared to be lying down on the job!

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West Bacon Street was busy!

There were half-a-dozen or more Garage Sales!

Paving continued on Buell Avenue and Route 315, with single-lane travel as far as the Sewage Treatment Plant causing traffic to back up even onto Main Street. My last trip uptown was around 3:30, and that was such a nuisance that I decided not to do a final sweep and, therefore, I have no idea whether or not the roadwork has been completed. The "lips" on my driveway and front sidewalk have been done, but the "shoulders" are pretty rough.

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More flags and buntings have appeared. Here, on Osborn Avenue, the Misiaszek residence is brightly decorated for the Fourth, and .........

on Main Street the rows of Linden Trees are in bloom.

I've always remembered what a great fuss my grandmother made over Linden Trees and the sweet aroma of all their tiny blossoms.

As I grew older, and found myself being dosed with courses in Greek Mythology and Renaissance Art, there was "the Linden," again and again.

The Linden Dance - 1565 woodcut.

I found this photograph of linden flowers on a very pretty, and informative, web page .

The trees on East Main Street are small, but there's a really big one on West Bacon Street just west of where Babbott comes in, towards the Upcrafts'. If you're near it you can smell it! And you can hear it, too --- it's playing host to lots and lots of honey-loving bees!

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I'm going to take a break from blogging for a day - or perhaps even two! - just for a change of routine. (I might even sleep late!) I will, however, be taking pictures and talking to people -- especially those who will be going on the WCS Marching Band trip to Washington, D.C. And if any of those who are involved have pictures of their own that they're willing to share, I'd welcome input! I'm hoping that cell phone photos taken during the bus ride and at the Fourth of July Parade will be sent to me, too! (That means you'll have to put my E-mail address on your 'phone contact list and it's easier for me if you use <PBrown3686@aol.com>.) Thanks!

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In fact --- why don't ALL of you with cell phones that take pictures plug in that address: you might be going to a baseball game, instead, or boating on Oneida Lake or climbing a High Peak or seeing that eagle, again!

Have a Great Weekend!

Friday

It's 57 degrees.

• Today: Mix of sun & clouds. Cooler. High 75
• Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 51
• Saturday: Partly sunny with scattered showers possible. High 74 Low 46
• Sunday: Mostly sunny and cool. High 68 low 47

Happy Birthday!

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and

CONGRATULATIONS!

to

The Rev. Ann Stillman

whose Ordination took place on Wednesday evening at Grace Episcopal Church.

Byron Stuhlman said that the sanctuary was "filled to overflowing," and Ann, herself, described the event as: "the affair of a lifetime. The church was packed with members of the parish, people from St. Bernard's and from the Methodist Church, friends from my teaching days at New Hartford, and even some friends from high school! The music was glorious and the Bishop is such a humble and spiritual man. " Her official title, now, is "Assisting Priest."

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(Photos by Ann's grandson, Ryan Ross.)

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Ryan and Heather Langone's little boy, Jonathan, was born on Wednesday evening in Rome. This not only makes Rock and Chrystal first-time grandparents, but gives Louie and Shirlee great-grandchild #1 and Jim and Sylvia Crandall great-grandchild #6!

Congratulations to All of You!

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The Garden at the Waterville Public Library is lovely, now.

Work will continue, today, on Route 315. Yesterday it was "smooth sailing" from Deansboro southward to Brothertown Road but then "single-lane" traffic - with waits of about ten minutes - as far as Steve Cleary's driveway.

Lunch break at the bridge.

Activity began here in Whiskey Hollow at a few minutes before six o'clock this morning!

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Not that we want it to rain at any time over the weekend, but everything is very dry. What looks like a muddy little "ditch" is really the creek that flows beneath Osborn Avenue and, eventually, becomes "Big Creek."


The gray skies that we'd had for a couple of days turned, yesterday, to "Mackerel Sky" -

"Mackerel sky, mackerel sky - never long wet, never long dry."

In the days of sailing ships they have been rightly viewed as likely forerunners of stormy weather:

"Mare's tails and mackerel scales make lofty ships take in their sails."

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Rain or shine, there are lots of things gpoing on, this weekend. The O-D list several:
Parades, Celebrations and Fireworks plus Things to Do and Area Attractions

Boston plays Texas at 7:05 this evening.

The NBC Sports website is a good place to get the latest news from WIMBLEDON

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Have a Great Day, Everyone!

Thursday

It's Garbage Day, again!

67 degrees; gray.

(In Hanover.)

Yesterday started out hot and hazy ......

(On Daytonville Road.)

....... and farmers rushed to get their hay in before it rained.

It thundered and grumbled and the sky was dark. Everyone waited. Someone phoned from Utica to say it was "pouring!" Another person, arriving from Sherburne, said he'd driven through a "deluge." WKTV NewsChannel2 reports that "Humid Conditions Give Way to Severe Weather." And in Waterville? Nothing but one brief power outage that set clocks and coffeepots blinking. This morning it's lowery - or loury - meaning "overcast" and/or "threatening" - and I really do hope that the WKTV forecast is right:

• Thursday: Morning clouds, showers and thunderstorms giving way to breaks of sun by afternoon. High 71
• Thursday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 51
• Friday: Mix of sun and clouds. Cool. High 73 Low 50

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Yesterday was one of those days when I needed to stay at home all afternoon and evening and wait for the annual furnace-cleaning visit and then some very important 'phone calls and so I was only out and around in the morning, but in the Observer-Dispatch there's an interview with Army Pvt. Steven Smith for whom a welcome home party was held last night at the Waterville American Legion. I also received word, last evening, that Ann Stillman's Ordination was "just grand!" and was very well-attended.

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At about 8:30, yesterday morning, an excited resident of Sanger Avenue telephoned me to say that there were flags on the telephone poles "all the way to CVS!" and Pauline Barnes sent E-mail saying, "You will probably note they are installing flags on electric light polls on Sanger Ave. this morning. Three in view of my house, (and I) assume there are many more."

It's a grand sight!

But now there's a problem:


Stafford Avenue looks naked!

If all of the residents displayed flags that would help.

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Wednesday

It's Recyclables Day!
66.6 degrees; muggy-feeling.

• Wednesday: Hazy sunshine, hot and humid with showers and thunderstorms likely by afternoon. High 89
• Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy and muggy with showers and thunderstorms. Low 66
• Thursday: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms. High 77 Low 51

FARMERS MARKET 1 - 7 in the PARK

ANN STILLMAN'S ORDINATION - 7 P.M. at Grace Church

LEGION MEETS PVT. STEVEN SMITH 7 P.M.

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The DOT is working on Route 315, again, adding a super-smooth layer of "Black Top."


Yesterday afternoon, traffic was single lane all the way from Roger Bugbee's - in Forge Hollow - to just this side of California Road. If you don't want to deal with a long wait, devise a different route to Deansboro.

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It was very quiet on Main Street, yesterday. There was plenty of time and space to stop and take a picture of the elegant D. B. Goodwin house to compare with one taken in April.


Nice, isn't it?

(Thank You, Mr. Whipple!)

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The needle on my vintage "WICKES" thermometer made it to the 100-degree mark, yesterday, but baling went on, nevertheless, down on Loomis Road.

I did go out to Chittening Pond yesterday morning, hoping for another sighting of the Bald Eagle, but no luck. D.B.H. says that he's heard of an Eagle being seen in the "Stillwater" area near Brookfield and thinks it's probably the same one.


Elderberry Bushes are blossoming and there are little flashes of orange - Day Lilies are just starting to bloom!

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It's going to be another really hot day. I thought that this picture of snowy fields might make nice "wallpaper" to stare at, this afternoon. (Click to enlarge.)

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And don't forget: there's always Tennis at WIMBLEDON!

Have a great Day!