Tuesday afternoon

Guess who's been listening to his very own Singing Balloon!

BOB TREEN!

********

If you stop in at the Home Shoppe he'll
probably let you sing a chorus or two, too!

Tuesday morning

It's 46 degrees and gray. We did have some rain, last night, and I heard the wind blowing a little, but according to this morning's O-D, we were lucky!


"Storm Knocks out Power for Thousands"

I was going to ask, "I wonder who will be the first to mow their lawn?" but that question's already been answered by the sight of the straight green swaths on the lawn at Municipal
Hall!

(photo from Google images.)

As soon as hepaticas bloom in the Fuess-Cleary Road woods, the tiny little Spring Beauties follow.

In his classic culinary field guide, "Stalking the Wild Asparagus," Euell Gibbons wrote a charming chapter on the edible tubers of this plant, which measure anywhere from half-an-inch to an inch or more in diameter. He remarked that the "spuds" don't really taste like potatoes at all but rather are sweeter in flavor, like boiled chestnuts, though with a softer, smoother texture.

However, even back in 1970, Gibbons sounded a note of caution and restraint. He warned against overharvesting the tubers in the wild and diminishing the plants' flowering display. "The tubers are good food for the body," he wrote, "but after a long winter, the pale-rose flowers in early spring are food for the soul."

(I did try digging and cooking a very small amount, once: and once was enough!)

I found Diane and Kevin Bancroft putting a new sign on the Bulletin Board in the Park:

SATURDAY, APRIL 28

the

MUSIC BOOSTERS

will sponsor a

BOTTLE DRIVE
from 9:00 'til noon

and a

SPAGHETTI SUPPER
at the High School

from 4:30 to 7:00


************

I really missed the boat and forgot to promote EARTH DAY, which, of course, took place on Sunday.

At least a couple of people were willing to do their part: Dick and Sandy Martin, down in Sangerfield started at the underpass on Route 12 and worked to the corner of 12 and 20. Sandy wrote, "Just on our side of the street we picked up a wheelbarrow full of cardboard, a large garbage bag full of garbage and a smaller bag full of cans and bottles. Right now it looks good but it probably won't stay that way for long. It was nice to be out in the sun and we enjoyed ourselves but wish it was something that didn't have to be done."

Thank You both!

Fortunately, there's no law that says that this sort of thing can ONLY take place on "Earth Day!" and "It's better late than never!"

Monday morning

It's Garbage Day!

50.9 degrees, aiming for 80+!!!

******* From WKTV *******

Monday: Mostly sunny, very warm with the chance of
a shower or thunderstorm late. High 82.
Monday night: Showers, with thunder possible. Low 48
Tuesday: Partly sunny. Cooler. High 59 Low 44

It's Spring on Madison Street!

Out on Fuess-Cleary Road, there are more and more clumps of Hepaticas showing up and the Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is starting to bloom.

The blood-like juice that can be extracted from this plant's root was used by Native Americans as body paint. Native Americans and early settlers also used Bloodroot to treat medical conditions such as soar throats, skin cancers, and treatment of ringworm, worts, or polyps.

*****

Redwinged Blackbirds are fussing over their puddly, wetland territories.

The Boston Redsox did it again, adding a few pages to the history books with Sunday's 7-6 win, sweeping the Yankees at Fenway Park for the first time since 1990 and tying a Major League record with homers in four straight at-bats.

*********************

And it's a red-letter day for DBH.

Later Sunday morning

At ten o'clock, the temperature just topped 60 degrees!

Just in ..........



Another cellphone photo; this one from Bloomfield, New York, and I think it's safe to assume that one of these racers is Patrick Meszler!


Just on ...........



A new sticker on my car - courtesy of the Waterville Historical Society! You can get yours either at the Historical Society on Wednesdays from 10:00 'til 4:00 or at the WHS Satellite Store in the front office of The Waterville Times, during Times' office hours! (Lots of other good WHS stuff there, too!)

Sunny Sunday!

It's about 34 degrees.

The sky is blue; the sun is shining;
WKTV predicts:
Sunday: Sunny and warm. High 75
Sunday night: Clear. Low 42
Monday: Mostly sunny, very warm with the chance of a shower or thunderstorm after sunset. High 77 Low 48

(And I promise that I won't complain of the heat!)

Remember what it looked like on Osborn Avenue last Monday and Tuesday?
Jeff Reynolds took this picture ......

.......... and, without knowing that he'd be sending me that view, I took this photograph yesterday morning - just to celebrate the joy of being able to see a reflection of blue sky in open water for the first time in a long, long time.

There is something special about seeing familiar things in a new light!

If we had all been in New York City yesterday with Lori and Dale Meszler, this is what we'd have seen in Central Park, but we weren't, and so Dale sent this photograph by cellphone!

In our Park, two residents of The Brunswick brought chairs instead of blankets.

Tank tops and "flip-flops" were in style. Sharon Stiles can wear her "flip-flops" now, too !

The Car Wash was busy and it looked as if all of our Fire Engines were being washed and polished, too.

Out in the countryside, there were coltsfoot, corn stubble and a "castle"
all on Bogan Road South,

and at the Kanes' - the first big, bright patch of daffodils.

And, finally -



***********

Have a wonderful day!

Saturday morning

A note to Bill Beldan in Shirley, Massachusetts, and other new blog-readers: you can almost-always enlarge photographs by clicking on them, and if words in the accompanying text are in a dark bluish-gray, click on them, too - they'll link you to more information.

***********

Look at what I just found!

Click here!

Great job, Kristi!

****

It's 32 degrees on the nose and, according to the O-D, we can expect "more blue skies, sunshine and temeratures in the low 70s for the next few days!"
with a caution that, once again, there's fear of flooding in Herkimer County.

Yesterday was Magnificent!

It was hard to believe that just last Monday there was a 13" frosting of snow on the picnic tables at "Roc's!"


If you're walking on Babbott Avenue, peer through the fence on the East side, overlooking the creek, and you'll spot a bright patch of Blue Scillas (Scilla siberica)! Watch for more on lawns throughout the village, especially at the Burbacks' on Sanger Avenue where it will soon look as if buckets of blue paint had splashed all over their side lawn.


The first Hepaticas have bloomed in the Fuess-Cleary Road woods.


In many areas, this little plant is called "Liverwort."

Purple and black bunting hangs on the Waterville Fire Department in honor of Alan Jamieson, whose funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning at Grace Episcopal Church.

I'd like to offer my condolences to his family and also to that of Doris A. Cross who passed away on the 15th.

************

I've received a note from Audrey Welch, in Florida, who writes:

My husband Robert Welch, went to school in Waterville with Shirley Hart. That will give you a guess as to our age. We still have family and friends in the area. I've said all of this, so that you would remember us. and so I could tell you about the newest addition to our family. Our Granddaughter Elizabeth Camp Lutke just gave us our 7th great grandchild on Monday 4/16.(not all her children). Grace Elizabeth joins big brother Caleb on his second birthday. The proud father is Jake Lutke, an esteemed teacher in your area.
We have another in the basket due out in early June to Elizabeth's sister, Laura Camp Snyder.
We do enjoy your news. I wish we could send you some of our nice weather.

**********

It was a fine night in Boston, for sure!

It's "Riggie" Day at the "Aud" in Utica.

and there's a Spaghetti Supper at the Vernon Center United Methodist Church from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Friday morning

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared Friday a day of mourning and called for a moment of silence at noon to honor the 32 victims in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech. Churches around the country, from California to National Cathedral in Washington D.C., have scheduled vigils and special prayer services. Similar events will certainly take place here, in Waterville, and Nancy Ayala will toll the Great Bell in the Masonic Temple Tower at just a minute after noon.

(Sorry that I'm late posting, this morning, but I had heaps of E-mail and a couple of very nice phone calls that I didn't want to cut short!)

It's 28 degrees and there's frost on the lawn but, at least there's a LAWN, and the sun is shining!!

WKTV's forecast is bright and shiney:

Friday: Sunny and very pleasant. High 67
Friday Night: Clear and cool. Low 35
Saturday: Mostly sunny and warm. High 70 Low 39
Sunday: Mostly sunny and warm. High 70 Low 45
Monday: Partly sunny and warm with afternoon showers and thunderstorms. High 71 Low 45
Tuesday: Partly sunny. High 59 Low 44
Wednesday: Partly sunny with showers. High 53 Low 35
Thursday: Partly sunny. High 50

********

Morgan's Hardware has their whole Spring/Summer display out: yard decorations, a bench, barbeque, bags of peat moss, etc. What a nice sight!

The temperature reached the mid-sixties, yesterday, and as the last of the snowmen grew shorter and shorter, so did sleeve and pants-legs!

"Lake Hanover" is still quite high, but I swung by the Barker Brook Golf Course in Oriskany Falls and didn't see any water hazards that even came close to this.

I don't know where the event will take place, but Mrs. Newsom told me, yesterday, that the Lions Club is 100% SURE that their Annual Golf Tournament WILL take place as usual - on the third weekend in July!

This is a really poor "screensnap" of Albert Bierstadt's huge and magnificent painting, "Discovery of the Hudson," which he painted in a little studio here in Waterville in the Fall of 1874. He was married to Rosalie Osborn, grandaughter of early settler Amos Osborn.

My reason for mentioning this at all is that the WCS Student Council left either late last night or very early this morning for a trip to Washington D.C. where they will, no doubt, tour the Capitol Building. That's where "Discovery of the Hudson" hangs - right in the huge rotunda! - along with a second Bierstadt painting which may also have been painted while he was in town.


Deb Mayne just sent me this: "If the face on the Faxton-St. Lukes Healthcare billboards and TV ads look familiar, it should! It is none other than Dan Acker, his wife Debra and daughter Ava. The billboards can be seen by the Scheidelmans warehouse (southbound lane) on the North-South arterial, and on Rt 12B between Clinton and New Hartford by the Milk Stop mini-mart. The ad can also be seen on the Faxton-St.Lukes home page."

And, after seeing yesterday's photo of the stone steps leading from the Tower/Harding residence down the hillside toward Big Creek, Sandy Harding wrote: "Now if I can get a shot of the stone work that is behind the houses up the street from you the stone work must be left overs from the mill pond.

Some of the stones have shifted & my Dad has cleared some of the brush so the Granddaughter & I could climb up and down."

The stonework that she refers to is part of the dam - probably built around 1806. I did a drawing of the grand stonework about twenty years ago, and it's in the Barton Room at Municipal Hall. Perhaps, when the water warms up a little, I can send someone up the creek with a camera to take a picture of the stonework, now.

The steps might also be referred to in a paper written some time ago by Hobie Morris called, "Charlemagne Tower at Harvard" in which he cites a letter written by Charlemagne to a younger sister warning her to "be careful when you go down to the garden."