At Home in the Huddle 2013

It's Garbage Day

32.9 degrees and gray at 7:20

The Forecast from WKTV: "Morning snow showers may yield a coating of accumulation in spots before drier and colder air builds into the region by afternoon.  Early highs in the upper 20s for Thursday but temperatures fall into the teens during the evening.  Light snow opportunities this weekend as a series of weak disturbances pass through the area.  Temperatures in the 30s.

A blast of arctic air is in the forecast for early next week.  Highs in the teens with overnight lows near zero."

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IN THE NEWS

"More Football Honors"

From the Utica Observer-Dispatch

"Holiday Drawing Winners Announced"

From the MidYork Weekly

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Yesterday

The "thaw" has ended, but the overnight snow did little to take us back into Winter .....

...... and Mary Beth and Michelle thought it was a perfectly fine day for a run!

It had been several weeks since I had driven past "Birdland" on Camp Road and although there were a great many mountain goats and alpacas to be seen, none of them agreed to "smile for the camera."

Somewhere, I passed a clump of Red-osier Dogwood -  or Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea/stolonifera) - that seemed to have its Spring color.

This grand old tree at Peck's Corners is special in any season.

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COMING EVENTS

WCS Sports

For details and complete schedule, please click HERE

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At the Library Today & Tommorrow

eReader HELP - twice this week!

Stop in anytime during 5-7:30 pm  on Thursday and 1:00 - 3:00 on Friday for instructions on how to download free Midyork ebooks onto your device. We'll try to answer any of your questions as well as walk you through the step by step instructions. 

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Saturday - Kids' Movie at 11:00

The Library will be CLOSED on Monday.

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Get Ready for the Annual Clothing Give-away!

Drop offs will begin Sunday 1/20/2013 

and in the mornings 1/21-1/25.  

Sorting will begin Monday morning 9-12 and continue each day through Friday. 

The give-away is sponsored by the Waterville Food Pantry, Waterville Senior Citizens and the Social Action Committee of St. Bernard’s Church. The give away is open to the public and there is no limit on the quantity of items people may take away.  In addition to clothing there will also be small household items, bedding, kitchen items, shoes and toys.  You may bring CLEAN gently used clothing, coats etc. We will not accept any exercise equipment, televisions or computers.  If it doesn’t work, please do not bring it.

All workers are welcome, you do not need to be a member of the sponsoring groups to assist.  

If you have any questions please call Mary Beth at 841-4638.

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Thank You!

I have answers to the two questions I posted yesterday.

The first came from Garry Cope who wrote, "In regards to the Old Stone building, in the early 40's when we came to town, I think only the foundation was was still intact. The Gas & Elect. used the that whole area behind the carpet store & over to the creek. It wasn't filled in where the store is now and there was a sub-station down over the bank. 

(O.K. There were two early, stone distillery buildings on "Mill Street.")

 - and he added:  "Bissell's store at that time was a light gray, as I recall." 

Wayne Stanbro backed that up with this postcard. The Bissell store - farthest left, only partially shown - is indeed gray!

Skip Foppes may have been recalling a more-recent time when he wrote, "I think the Bissell store was yellow and the NYSEG at one time was under what is now the laundromat."

Thanks again for helping!

Here's a new question:

A few years ago, Kristen Pumilia, who teaches Second Grade at the Memorial Park School,  asked me to put together some pictures to show to her students so that they could see what Waterville was like "in the old days."  

I've just received this Email from her and it brings up an entirely new question to ponder.

She wrote:  "I just finished showing my Second Grade class the PowerPoint slideshow you created of "Old Waterville".  As with other years, the children were extremely interested and had LOTS of questions.  One very good question came up!  

"If Waterville was such a rich & classy place where there was lots of money, what happened to it?  How did we go from having our own train depot and fancy hotels to just farmland and very little money?"

While I don't thoroughly agree that "just farmland" is undesirable or that there is (by comparison to other years or other communities) "very little money," the kids deserve an answer, and I don't think that there's an easy one - like saying that the hop crops failed -  so I'm hoping that the Historical Society will chime in on this one, and I will do plenty of reading and some writing over the weekend, too!

There have been four sociological studies written about Waterville. This is the most recent:

"Social Change in a Central New York Rural Community."
Anderson, Cornell, 1954.

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FOR THE RECORD

Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

The Schools, Post Office and Library will be closed.

Have a good weekend everyone!