Help the Madison County Office for the Aging support local seniors

Do you receive the monthly newsletter from the Madison County Office for the Aging? Those under 60 (or whatever the age is for receiving it) may not know all of the services they offer.

Most people think it is connected with Madison County and receives county funds, but it’s a non-profit institution that operates within Madison County. They depend on donations.

Each year they raise money to advocate, assist, and provide the many services that enrich the quality of life and promote the independence and dignity of older individuals.

For instance, last month they had a raffle in which there were four prizes of $20 gift certificates to places in Wampsville, Oneida, Canastota and Verona Beach. Another raffle will be held later this year.

This Saturday the second annual “Cycle for Seniors” motorcycle ride will tour through Madison County. It will include a chicken barbecue, silent auction, door prizes, raffles, and live music featuring Matt Chase and Thunder Canyon.

The hub of the event is American Legion Post 54 in Munnsville. Register for the ride between 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

The event is not limited to just motorcycles; all types of vehicles are welcome. If you did not want to participate you could still support the OFA by enjoying the barbecue and the other activities offered at 1:30 p.m.

For those who don’t want to participate, there are other ways of support your OFA. They have pies and cheesecake mixes available at their office. The pies are frozen up to six months and make a cheesecake mix the product with cream cheese, whipped topping and place in a pie crust. The pies are $8 available all year round and cheesecake mixes $6. Pies available are red raspberry, banana cream, apple, blueberry, cherry, peach, pumpkin, Boston cream, chocolate cream, and coconut cream.

So if you need a pie in a hurry, call them. They are available at the Canastota office, plus Earlville SNACK, Brookfield, Oneida, Chittenango, Morrisville, and Hamilton SNACK sites. They have to be ordered in advance at the SNACK sites.

Listing all the OFA services is impossible. There is Alzheimer’s information and referral, legal services, tax relief programs, basic and enhanced STAR, veterans’ and disability tax exemptions. The provide information on the EPIC and HEAP programs. OFA staff members will come to your home to help you complete applications, obtain documentation and act as representatives when applying for Medicare and Food Stamps.

The run contests for school children during the May Older American Month to help them appreciate their elders. All types of hospital and medical insurance problems can be discussed and solved by representatives from the OFA.

In short, if you have a problem, call the OFA; nd if they cannot help they can point you in the right direction. That’s their job. And please donate if you can.

To learn more about the motorcycle run or the OFA, drop by the office at 138 Dominic Bruno Blvd,, Canastota , call 697-5700 or visit:

www.ofamadco.org

Parents preparing children for school

Here it is, the last week of August and where has our summer gone? Vacation time is almost over; school opens soon. Many college students are already on campus.

The pre-kindergarten orientation took place last week and also kindergarten orientation at the Peterboro Street Elementary School. Now you hear moms and dads calling the children in for the evening hoping to get them off to bed earlier, setting the regimented schedule for opening day of school and regular school hours. Up early in the a.m. and to bed earlier in the night time.

There are loud protests, you can be sure, because I don’t think I know of any child who is willing to call it quits in the evening and go to bed willingly especially if it is still light outside. They have been having the time of their lives, playing at all hours and not bedding down until way after dark.

Have you noticed while shopping in late July that school supplies were creeping into the stores? You think to yourself, is it time for that already?

Stores have been promoting their supplies of notebooks, pens, pencils, calculators and backpacks.

And, if you are senior in age, and you take notice of what a variety of items are being offered for students, you wonder how you ever got through with just a pencil box, a tablet with lines on it and perhaps a book bag. Mothers are dragging along their children trying to get them outfitted for school. Parents have a lot of courage and I give them a lot of credit when it comes to buying school clothes in this day.

And sometimes that’s just the beginning. Once they are in school, home they come with papers requesting all kinds of special equipment to use in classes as well as technical pieces of clothing and shoes for whatever extracurricular activities they want to be in. Then the dollars start to climb for all of these items plus money to help for special needs in school.

Today kids are not satisfied with just ordinary clothes. The want designer clothes with trademarks that gave them status. In my day we never wore jeans to school; the only denim we had were plain overalls we wore for chores on the farm

You mother or dad would just take you shopping and you could do it all in just one or two stores and you were satisfied with perhaps a few skirts, sweater or two, a couple of blouses and perhaps one or two dresses, depending on that budget for the year.

One pair of shoes would do, but then later there would have to be sneakers. Sometimes you would get a jacket for colder weather in the fall, but raincoats were something that not many girls would have and boys wouldn’t be caught dead in...back then. Sometimes boys wouldn’t even bother shopping with mom or dad for school clothes. Whatever they brought home they put on for school and that was it.

Things are much different today. In some homes, Mom hands her children a credit card with instructions about charging and the kids go off shopping by themselves. You no longer see moms with children in tow unless they are too young to shop, but as the day wears on they all have that dazed look, trying to match the budget with the wants of the sons or daughters.

College students are even worse. They have so many accessories they need for college and the wardrobe is quite another matter. In today’s world students have to have a job throughout the summer as well as on vacations or even part-time at college if for no other reason to have the proper dress, but to purchase books and all that goes with living in either a dorm or apartment.

Once, the Fourth of July was grand

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Whatever happened to the Fourth of July?

Once that day that brought out the patriotic spirit in so many. We can remember parades and flags flying just about everywhere.

It was a holiday for everyone to take notice of and why it was being celebrated. It was drummed into our heads as children why we were to be proud to be born in America.

It wasn’t just another summer holiday. It was a time for a family get-together, not just immediate family, but a reunion of all the family. A huge picnic dinner followed games with prizes awarded. It was a time for the red, white, and blue paper streamers over the tables, little ribbons for the girls’ hair and tack pins for the men to wear on their collars.

Everyone enjoyed the day, and the anticipation of the evening fireworks. The men in the family collected a wide variety of fireworks to make the spectacular display.

But we go to parks, lakes, shopping malls and other places to see the grand displays. And, then get tied up in traffic to coming home. You sit in your cars and don’t have the old-fashioned camaraderie of your friends and relatives in your backyard after all the oohs and aahs were over.

World War II came along and, with gas rationing and the men in the service, the picnics and fireworks were on a smaller scale or ended altogether.

The patriotism was still there and families had smaller picnics and smaller fireworks displays. Then New York state banned home fireworks because of accidents.

Flags still fly and we realize why we celebrate the Fourth.

When we had our 200th birthday, the patriotic spark was rekindled and bells rang, grand displays of fireworks were held all over the country and the spirit made the public take off again and there was a renewing of our birthright.

But we have sort of regressed again.

Aside from a few large fireworks displays, there is little said of our country’s birthday.

Have you asked a little child why we celebrate this day?

Why not start a trend and serve a birthday cake decorated with red, white and blue frosting with one huge candle in the middle?

There are many decorations available.

Certainly that draw in the children, who’d wonder whose birthday you were celebrating.

Some still celebrate Independence Day in the good old fashioned way. We have noticed families who’ve kept their traditions alive.

If you care to watch fireworks, you so not have to leave your yard.

Turn on the TV and watch the National Symphony Orchestra on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

You will enjoy great music, fireworks and the sound of the cannon firing off the gun salute.

It gives me goose bumps each year as I watch it on the PBS station.

Tasty, pungent horseradish

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Do you like horseradish?

The pungent condiment really spices up your food.

If you use too much, it seeps up your nose and brings tears to your eyes.

Horseradish is a member of the mustard family, and is categorized as an herb.

Grow it yourself in an out-of-the-way spot in your yard.

It’s best confined to a raised bed if possible, because it can becomes very invasive. The one- to three-feet-tall plants will come up every year for your use.

The plant is practically disease-free.

A specific flea beetle may eat a few holes or white rust may appear in the leaves enormous leaves, but very seldom is any treatment necessary.

The Horseradish plant is known to deter the potato bug, so plant a few roots in the corners of your potato patch.

Rich in vitamin C, it was grown for medicinal purposes long before it was popular as a food item.

A massage oil can be concocted to relieve muscular aches and pains and to help break up congestion, by steeping a small amount of freshly grated root in some cold-pressed oil such as wheat germ, sesame or olive oil.

My dad always had several horseradish plants in a far corner of our “north-forty” patch.

It was the duty of the women to grind it and bottle it with white vinegar.

Dad would dig the roots, wash them clean and then it was our turn to complete the process. When we were grinding it, the tears would run down our cheeks; we always tried to do it out-of-doors, where the fresh air would soothe our burning eyes. It was a wonderful spring tonic that we used year-‘round.

You can make your own cocktail sauce by mixing several spoonfuls of horseradish with catsup and whatever other ingredients you want.

Mixing ground horseradish with vinegar and a dash of salt for a pungent taste or mix with stewed apple to make a sharp but sweet sauce for duck and goose.

Add yogurt, mayonnaise, and a splash of lemon, lime and grapefruit juices to some grated horseradish, mix well and serve with beef or fish.

We grew our horseradish for the root, but used the leaves in sauerkraut crock. Large grape or horseradish leaves are important to make good kraut.

Today, I buy creamy horseradish sauce at the supermarket to put on coleslaw, hot dogs, fish and sometimes baked chicken.

Horseradish is just one of many foods that can supplement your food budget.

While horseradish has to be planted originally, dandelions come up by themselves every year.

While many homeowners who spend hours removing those pesky weeds don’t appreciate them, many other people await the warm weather so they can dig them, clean them and cook them up for a spring tonic and free food to serve the family.

Seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and herbs, they make a tasty and healthy addition to the evening meal.

Fathers special people

By Carol Weimer

Canastota Corner

Sunday is Father’s Day; spend time thanking him for being your dad. Whether he is with you where you live, perhaps in another state… or is no longer with you it is time for recognition in some way or other.

Maybe you could go fishing with him. I teased my dad forever to take me; he finally gave in one Saturday afternoon on a really beautiful day, but it didn’t turn out well.

He took me to favorite spot, where he generally would catch a few, but I couldn’t I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. I did try to keep still, but there were too many distractions that I had to ask questions about. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a talker

We didn’t catch any fish that day; he finally gave up and we came home.

Dads like to teach you so many things that they think you should learn. Sometimes that’s good; and other times not so good if you don’t happen to be interested in what he thinks you should be.

But, you learn anyway to please him because that is what children are supposed to do. When you get old enough, you become his helper in putting up the summer furniture on the deck, patio or porch. You sometimes or all times mow the lawn, shovel snow, do other regular jobs each week that dad used to do.

A good dad comes to all of your sports games and tells you that you played well. He helps you build the model car for you to participate in your Scout troop’s race or he might help you build a soapbox car or car for you to race as a kid.

He tries to teach you to drive when you become old enough, and helps you with school projects.

If you had a paper route, he may have driven you around when it was pouring or snowing, because he cared about you even though he might not have said it very often.

Dad is the one who stays up late on Christmas Eve assembling toys to be under the tree the next morning. He is the one who might be spending a bit of time either in the basement or workshop around holiday time building something for you for your eyes to light up on Christmas morning.

Dads help you learn how to ride a two-wheel bike and later you go snowmobiling together as you grow older or if you ride four-wheelers you do that together.

When he sees you are all grown up… he can’t believe it… but he is the one that eventually “walks you down the aisle” when the time comes to hand you over to your spouse, who’s been instructed by your dad how to treat you.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.

Life was good on Muckland

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

I can’t let a summer go by each year without writing about our mucklands and all the good times we had, even though we didn’t know at the time they were good times.

The spring vacation in our schools was always set for planting time, because so many families made their living raising onions.

Otherwise, kids would be taken out of school to plant onions.

If you drove down Onion Town Road (now Warner’s Road), and many other, you would see lines of people on their hands and knees placing the plants in rows in the muck.

It was a way of life. While it was hard work, there were many happy times --times of togetherness -- families, friends, neighbors all gathering to work and enjoying the evenings together.

Sometimes the men would be working on the hand tools and the women would be preparing something for the lunches to be taken into the fields the next day.

But there was also time to sit and visit in the evening, too.

There wasn’t any electricity in the early days, but eventually Niagara Mohawk came along and modernized the mucklands.

Water came from a pump in the backyard and was carried into the house for use. But that water was nice and cold and welcome. Women did their washing in the yard next to the pump and the lines would be filled with the cleanest clothes. The women knew how to get laundry white without all the modern laundry products.

What was their secret? Perhaps it was the soap they made themselves. Also, the sun and even the grass had a lot to do with it. If you really want to bleach something, place it on the lawn in the bright sunlight.
If you take a ride down those roads today, there is something terribly sad about either these buildings ready to collapse or just seem to sit there with no purpose. They used to be such nice homes, barns, and storehouses.

Onion crates would be stacked in fields in pyramid fashion when it was coming harvest time and the onions would be topped and placed in the crates.

The crates would be drawn to the storehouse or up near the road, loaded onto trucks that all the villagers would watch going through the streets. The crates would go families’ warehouses in the village or to the train station on their way to buyers.

When the crops had all been harvested and the work was finished for the season, most of the village families moved back from their “summer homes” on the muck.

All of that life has now passed. Onions are still grown in a very few places in our community, but most of them are grown elsewhere. The summer homes, barns and storehouses are falling down or have been removed. The muck is mostly weeds, save for a small patch here at there someone roto-tills for a family vegetable garden.

The kids grew up, went to college and moved away. Hiring field workers wasn’t profitable for the small farmer, so they stopped growing onions. World War II took a lot of families off the farm, too.

Now it’s just all a memory and we buy our onions in the supermarket like everyone else.

Events highlight Civil War

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Two major Madison County arts and historical organizations are collaborating on a series of events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

The Earlville Opera House Multi-Arts Center and the Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend have developed two historical and musical programs to provide education and entertainment about the War Between the States.

The 20th annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend will be held June 19 and 20.

The first collaborative event took place on May 19 at the historic Madison Hall in Morrisville. Hugh C. Humphreys hosted “John Brown’s Ghost: From Madison County to Harpers Ferry,” which highlighted Madison County’s profound role in the support of John Brown. Greg Artzner and Terri Leonino comprised the musical duo “Magpie,” which entertained in the performance.

On Friday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. the Earlville Opera House presents “Four Seasons, Four Years - The Civil War, A Musical Journey.” Magpie returns with nine other upstate New York musicians performing popular songs of the era (1820-1865).

Tickets for this event are available at the door, by calling 691-3551 and online at :

www.earlvilleoperahouse.com

The Peterboro Weekend will be held June 9 and 10 and if you have never visited one of the weekends this is the year to do so with the 20th annual event and the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. There is something going on those two days to attract everyone. Special programs for the children are planned with participation for those interested. The general admission is $8 for adults, $3 for children 6-12 and younger than 5 free. Family rates are available - ask at the gate. The hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

A mock battle will be held at 2 p.m. both days, music of the times, military camps will be exhibited, costumed historians will be available. A special Saturday evening concert will be held at 8 p.m. with the 77th NY Regimental Balladeers to be held at the Community Center. Tickets are $10 at the door.

There will be food available booth days supplied by various organizations including the Peterboro United Methodist Church and the Smithfield Fire Department. A unique country store in the manner of Civil War days offers a souvenirs and books. Modern day production of clothing, utensils and articles are also offered for purchase.
Each year a Civil War ballroom dance has been held at the firemen’s building with those attending invited to wear period costumes of the times or conventional dress is also welcomed.

The Peterboro Civil War Weekend is a wonderful opportunity for children as well as adults to learn additional information on the War Between the States to be revisited by adults and extra points for school-age kids when they study history.

Proceeds from the Peterboro event are used to preserve and promote the Gerrit Smith Estate, a National Historic Landmark, and the Smithfield Community Center, home of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.

Memorial Day signals start of summer, but also bears a solemn meaning

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Here comes Memorial Day weekend, the first long holiday for the summer. Isn’t it great?

By now you have probably made lots of plans. The camp is open; the boat is in the lake; the garden is planted.

Outdoor grills have been out since March, along with the picnic tables and chairs

The deck is cleaned and you can sit back and enjoy a holiday weekend.

Memorial Day is still an old-fashioned holiday where the ones who have died are remembered and the holiday is celebrated much as it was a hundred years ago.

The festivities begin with the parade in which all of the armed forces are represented and politicians make speeches. All of the veterans’ graves are clearly marked with American flags and cemeteries are all mowed and spruced up for the occasion.

People who have moved away make the trip back to their hometown to take part in the celebration or to decorate the burial places of their loved ones. It is a time when folks who are visiting the cemetery run into former neighbors and it’s just like “old home week,” catching up with old friends.

Fortunately in Canastota we have two veterans’ organizations, the Charles Miller Post No. 140 American Legion and the VFW Post No. 600 that organize a parade and prepare a ceremony at our veterans’ memorial in Clark Park.

There are speakers and the placing of flags representing all the persons from our community who sacrificed their lives to keep our country free.

Our community is fortunate in having these veterans’ groups that perform so many ceremonies at various occasions.
They are always so willing to assist when called upon to help in the community.

So, this weekend your neighbors will have the pool filled to capacity, the grill will be going full steam, the sound system will have music playing the latest tunes and the young people will be enjoying themselves.

The seniors will be watching them enjoying their activities.

Mom and Dad will be doing most of work, running back and forth to the house, standing over the grill and being sure everyone is happy and safe.

Mom or Grandma will be looking after the smaller children, seeing to it that the little ones have their swim suits on and, once in the water, keep watch of them.

But did you ever know a two- or three-year-old who once in the water had to go to the bathroom so out they would come and on the way see the hot dogs on the griddle and would want one of those and wouldn’t go back in the pool again even though that was all they wanted to do originally?

Have a great time and a safe Memorial Day.

Clothes don't grow on trees

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Do you happen to have a clothes tree?

They come in handy when you don’t have a closet or you a place to hang your garments.

We were discussing clothes trees the other day when we visited a shop with no place for customers’ coats.

One of the little children wanted to know what it was because she had never seen one.

They come in wood, brass, stainless steel, plastic as well as wicker. We have seen some modern ones in offices, restaurants and classrooms.

They can solve the problem of where to put your outer garment at work.

They provide a convenient place in the bathroom to hang your robe while bathing.

I came from a family of carpenters, so we has plenty of clothes trees.

We even had some small ones for the children to hang up their own coats.

Today, one of our nieces put a wicker one in her kids’ rooms for their night clothes.

In one of our bedrooms there isn’t a closet; there are two large clothes trees, one on each side of the bed.

There is a large closet down the hall where those who use that bedroom keep their garments.

A corner closet was always going to be built in that room, but it hasn’t happened yet.

In your children’s rooms are hooks low enough for the kids to hang their things? This is something so convenient for them.

When we were growing up, the kids had our own hooks and places for our footwear in inclement weather.

They are still there and when our small relatives come for visits they put the hooks into good use.

This is a wonderful arrangement because you don’t have coats, jackets and caps strung all over the house.

In stores, magazines and catalogs you see small stools decorated to attract children and they are quite expensive.

You can make your own wooden box as a step stool for the small children to place at the sink for them to wash up.

A few scraps of wood can be used to make the box for the children to stand on.

Sometimes a child will move a chair up to the sink, but the chair can slip and the child can fall and sometimes get hurt badly.

If you have a child who belongs to a Scout troop who has younger siblings, they could suggest to the leader they might construct such boxes to be used at home or maybe as a fundraiser

In many homes you might see low shelves holding trucks, cars, games, books, blocks, Legos and the like for the children to play with and then return to the shelves.

The person who thought of that construction was very smart and thoughtful to kids.

Moms amaze me yet

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Aren’t moms wonderful? We wonder how moms do it all. Moms are miracle workers who sometimes do what seems impossible.

Remember when you asked for cookies for the party in school? You forgot to tell Mom about it until the night before!

Or, you needed the right costume and, here again, you didn’t mention it until the day before you needed it; you knew Mom would come through with whatever it was.

My mom didn’t believe in corporal punishment. My sister and I were never spanked, and we weren’t perfect.

The only time I can remember my mom coming close was when my sister and I were scrapping and my sister hit the beautiful enormous fern that stood by the window - my mother’s favorite plant. Over it went with a crash that could be heard by mother. When she came into the living room she had to restrain herself from giving my sister a good slap.

Can you imagine our surprise? Mom was just as shocked.

The only reprimand she was ever known to give us when necessary was, “If you don’t stop it, I will tell your father,” and we knew it was time to straighten up and behave.

Poppa, when told about one of our misdeeds, would only have to give us “the look” as my sister and I called it, and we knew.

Father was of German descent and he could make us shrink when he looked at us sternly, as did our grandfather who lived in the other side of our duplex home.

Do you still remember any of the things you made in school to give to your mom? Does she still have it or them? Sometimes what you made wasn’t all that bad and she would tell you how great it was. Sometimes, even if it wasn’t so great, they would still praise it and place it in a spot where everyone could see it. Sometimes dad would take a gift to the office and place it on his desk. Didn’t that make you proud?

We all know that sometimes we would get pretty upset with our parents when they wouldn’t allow us to do something that we really wanted to do. They had the last word and you had to abide by it. But looking back, usually they were right and had your best interest at heart. You just didn’t recognize it at the time.

Remember Mom on Sunday. Take her out to dinner, buy her flowers, perfume, candy or all three. Take her for a ride to some place she would like visit.

She probably has a few odd jobs that need to be done. Take the time to do do them.

Whatever you do, wish her a happy Mother’s Day.

Unpredictable weather leaves gardeners with questions

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

My bouquet of pussy willows and butterfly bush needed refreshing. The yellow flowers are artificial but the pussy willows come from my own tree.

I didn’t think they’d be in bloom in late March. Wrong.

The tree is not visible from the windows, so I walked to the far reaches of our “ranch” to see how the willows were coming.

Would you believe they had all blossomed (or whatever they do) and gone to seed? No fresh willows for the bouquet this year.

The tulips I’ve had for years came up like they do every year, but no blossoms. Why? I read in the newspaper that other long-time tulip growers didn’t get blossoms this year, either. It was our extraordinary climate. Seems when the bud was supposed to form, the temperature wasn’t right. New tulips planted last fall weren’t affected and those folks had an array of blossoms.

I made up my mind that I would not mow any lawn in the month of March in New York state, so our grass became almost knee-deep before April arrived. I was tempted to find a farmer with goats to help me out, but I held my ground.

My service guy, Matt, delivered my tuned-up mower in March, but I didn’t start it up until April 6. Do you know how it is to mow through grass that high? My neighbor came over a few days after that and good-naturedly chastised me for mowing so early ... he’s waiting until May. Good luck to him.

When I called my lawnmower guy to remind him my machine needed to be serviced I chatted along with him as I usually do before getting to the reason I called. His answer was “when I get home I will be right down to get it, you are talking to me in Daytona Beach, Florida.” And I thought it was Clockville. I guess I will never get used to these cellphones.

Do you realize we will be mowing for at least seven months? That seems like an awful lot of lawnmowing. It’s good exercise, I’m told.

I’ve been asked if I’m going to plant a garden. Yes; I’ll have my tomatoes, squash, peppers and cukes. But what will the growing season be like? I have been in conversation with other small gardeners with the same questions.
Will it be unpredictable like our winter? Suppose we have all the wet rain to make up for the missing snow? Or will it be really hot because our winter was so mild? Or, will we get cool or abnormal temperatures? It’s whatever we get, so we will just have to take a chance and either decide to not garden this year, or plant and hope for the best. Mother Nature is the only one who decides what we will get, not the meteorologists who are as perplexed as we are.

Now, about the bugs. I’ve heard because of the mild winter, they will be out in record numbers this year. Isn’t that great? Mosquitoes are annoying, but can also be dangerous to our health. It’s probably best to stock up on all the sprays and lotions and try not to destroy the bugs that are good for our plant and environment.

I think it’s going to be an interesting summer, don’t you think?

Prices a shade higher

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Do you still have window shades? With all of the new window treatments and all the options available, few still have old-fashioned shades

At our home we have thermo-insulated shades that, along with insulated draperies, keep a room warm in the winter cut down on the National Grid bill.

So, I don’t plan on any changes.

The other morning as I raised the shade, the whole thing came down, practically on my head. After a few choice words (there was no one there to hear me), I gathered it all up. It was a large shade on a large window. The plastic holding it up had broken off.

What was I going to do? I have other shades stored that are no longer in use, not the right size, but perhaps I could borrow the fixture.

To my dismay most of them have already been taken for the same use, or they are made of metal and never break, but aren’t removable.

Time to shop for a new shade.

I don’t remember the price of the last shade I purchased, but it wasn’t too high. My nephew said he’d chip in half, inasmuch as the window is beside his computer.

The price of shades I was looking at was still too high. With a bit more shopping at other places that sell shades, I came up with a $90 figure. Now the shade has been ordered.

Some of my relatives suggested I put the shade on a new roller.

I had already tried that with the shade that the broken one had replaced.

I thought I would be so smart and carefully taped it to the roller but that didn’t work.

The shade I taped to the used roller seemed to work fine, but the next morning the shade was on the floor

The tape was still attached to the roller, but didn’t stick to the shade.

Perhaps I used the wrong tape. They all say duct tape fixes everything.

Wrong.

I once tried shortening one and ruined a perfectly good shade by cutting off the spring or whatever makes the shade go up and down.

I have found over the years to not try to mess with window shades, they are just too temperamental.

Do you have such experiences or am I just the only dumb one?

If I can’t order a shade in the right size for the fixtures, forget it.

Repairing the present shade wasn’t an option.

The price of shades has taken quite a leap.

I used to buy them for $5 or $10 in Gleasons Drygoods Store, Schepp’s Furniture Store, Gelose 5 and Dime Store and now they have to be ordered in a catalog.

Perhaps I should check out some of our nearby variety stores, just in case they carry window shades, but would they cut them to size?

I won’t change my window treatment. The shades do a great job of keep out the icy cold in winter and the hot, blazing sun in summer.

I hope that’s the last shade I have to buy for a while.

Space difficult to find

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

It’s almost time to be putting the air conditioners in the windows again, just after I found a place to store them during the winter months.

The shelf where we used to store them, in the opinion of the person who carries them there, isn’t strong enough for two units.

I think it is, but to please him I decided to go along and find another place to keep them. Folks know I am a pack rat. The new winter spot for the air conditioners were already full of other things. It was a challenge, but finally it has been cleared for them. They were sitting in a spare bedroom until now.

It wasn’t a simple task to make the spot available. Nothing could be thrown out, in my opinion.

When I started making room, I did discover many things I had forgotten were there. For instance, a typewriter — electric, not that old — but it doesn’t work any longer. I saved it because it might come in handy for parts.

OK, it may hurt, but I’ll get rid of that.

There’s also a basket full of things I really need. A screwdriver, two screwdrivers in fact, one Phillips and one regular; a pair of pliers, a small hammer, a variety of miscellaneous nails, clothespins and assortment of sizes of duct tape and Scotch tape.

These are all the tools that I use on the second story of our home. When you live in a two-story home and you run into a fix-it job you can wear yourself out running up and down the stairs for the appropriate tools, so over a period of time I have accumulated extra tools and keep them in the upstairs for use. I have saved many a trip up and down stairs.

Also in the space is my dad’s Skil saw, along with my cordless electric drill. The drill was a Christmas gift and I love it. Have you ever tried to drive a nail into oak framing? I must admit many a cuss word escaped my lips before my electric drill.

Another item in the space was a box of construction paper, many colors, sizes, and patterns of various subjects that were used in my Sunday School classes and my Brownie troop during the days when I was active in these groups. Added to it were a variety of colored stars and pipe cleaners and all of the things that can be used by kids to make gifts for their parents and other relatives. I have now decided they will be passed on to someone who needs them.
Is there more that I haven’t mentioned? Don’t ask. There is now room for the air conditioners when they’re packed away in October or November.

The biggest problem is that it’s going to be hard to keep the space cleared off until then.

Grandma's iron kettle filled with memories

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Spring is here, or perhaps spring has been here more or less all winter.

Hasn’t it been wonderful?

But some experts are concerned. If the next winter is a replay of the last one, it could bring big changes in New York state. Without all the snow melting and coming down from the hills, will we have enough water for crops, industry and homes? What about winter sports?

Most of us don’t think about these things; thankfully we have scientists to worry about them for us. I hope it doesn’t become more than just an academic exercise in the coming years.

I have been thinking about the beautiful weather and talking to friends and neighbors about planting, flowers, trees, vegetables, shrubs and all things to make the place where we live beautiful for the summer.

This all leads up to one of the “planters” I intend to put out on our porch. While cleaning and straightening around the cellar I ran across my grandmother’s three-legged iron kettle all covered up sitting on a table.

It brought back so many fond memories.

The heavy round kettle fit easily on the burner on the wood or coal stove in her kitchen. Whether our ancestors once used to cook in a fireplace, I don’t know, but it was old when it was handed down to her.

Its three legs allowed it to sit on top of the stove and simmer or, when she wanted to hurry something along, she would remove the iron lid from the wood stove’s burner and place it right over the fire. But then we had to watch it closely so it wouldn’t burn.

If it were something she had already cooked and wanted to keep warm, she would move it onto the stove’s reservoir to keep it warm because the reservoir always contained hot water.
Grandma cooked us some delicious meals in her kettle. She always said that certain foods were best cooked in a heavy kettle.

The breakfast cornmeal, cooked long and slow, provided a wonderful morning meal.

There usually was some left, which she put into a bread pan to cool into a loaf. At supper, you might be served a slice of it that had been fried in butter and served with maple syrup or jelly.

Other foods she cooked in the kettle included soup, beef stew with potatoes, carrots, onions, rutabaga and sometimes other veggies with a few spices and brown gravy in the mix.

She would serve this with homemade biscuits.

On a cold winter’s stormy night we would all thank her for such a good meal.

I had forgotten about the kettle; now it will be sitting on the porch with a mix of perhaps petunias or geraniums replacing grandma’s stew.

We’ve replaced her generation’s coal and wood burning stoves with crockpots and microwave ovens.

That iron kettle was really something. And sitting on the table on the porch this summer full of flowers, it will still be.

Easter special for many reasons

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Sunday is Easter, a time of tradition and customs. Much like the Christmas season, the stores have become busy with people shopping for gifts

The stores are decorated with chicks, bunnies, and other characters, such as popular basketball, football, NASCAR and hockey stars. I’m speaking of the men in your family.

Have you noticed some of the things they’re selling for Easter baskets? Take a look!

There expensive toys such as smartphones, iPods, DVDs, video games and appliances I don’t even recognize. But they are there and the Easter Bunny‘s expected to deliver them. Imagine!

And, the selections that you are being offered in candy. If your tongue doesn’t hang out and your mouth doesn’t drool there must be a strong willpower vein in you.

There again, do you remember when there were only chickens, jelly beans and bunnies offered for your baskets? You colored your own eggs to be placed in the children’s baskets. Today, I ask you to take another look on the candy aisle. Every type animal, character and objects are offered encased in chocolate, marshmallow and nougat that the little ones will devour.

Some mothers, I’m told have to fix Easter baskets for their kids (sons mainly) who still expect an Easter basket at age 29 and beyond. They are still their mother’s child and expect their favorite treats that they had when they were just little small fries.

But this seems to be what Easter to some is all about. The pace quickens for some with the beginning of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Depending on your heritage and the customs of your family or country this holy season has much meaning and tradition.

For many families the togetherness starts on Good Friday. If your family is close you move from house to house for Good Friday, Holy Saturday observance with meals and then on Easter Day its home to mom’s for the big celebration dinner.

The Easter worship service is truly what Easter is. When the choirs sing their beautiful anthems proclaiming “He Has Risen,” it gladens the heart and lifts the spirits inside you. Isn’t that what we need in these troubled times?
The members of the clergy take their places in the altar and read from the Bible the story of the Resurrection that we have heard each and every year.

Yet isn’t there always something new that your ears hear when it is told again?

While the Christmas story makes a warm feeling around your heart, the Easter story gives you such hope and renewed life.

When the service is over, the celebration begins with a huge dinner with all the family around. Isn’t it wonderful to have the fellowship of everyone home, catching up on the happenings in the family with each and every one? Don’t you love talking with the children? They have so many things that are so important to their lives to tell you. Little things.

Have a happy Easter.

Time to plan your garden

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Spring’s coming quickly; it’s time to start planning for the season.

Is this the year you start a garden?

Or are going to expand or scale back your existing garden?

Each year I ask myself whether I’m going to have a vegetable garden or not.

My family says “you say that every year and you know you are.”

If you didn’t have those fresh tomatoes picked from the vine, those cucumbers, peppers and string beans fresh-picked from my garden, I guess I wouldn’t be happy. However, we have quite a few roadside stands that offer these vegetables and I guess I could get them from there.

But, what would I do with the garden space? Do I want more lawn to mow every week? The garden some weeks doesn’t require any maintenance, so I always talk myself into a veggie garden. Squash vines take up lots of room and don’t require any care to speak of.

But, back to thoughts of spring. It’s time to get the lawn mower to your mechanic to have it overhauled so it will be in good working condition. Grass is one of the first things to do when the weather turns warm.

Our winter was so mild, many growing things have come to life earlier than usual. I know snowmobilers and skiers weren’t too happy to find they had to travel miles to where there was snow to enjoy their sports.

It’s time to think about getting building materials together; now would be a good time to visit your local lumber yards or supply stores for various projects that you didn’t get done last year. It’s surprising how new “miracle materials” make some jobs so much easier for the “do-it-yourself-er.”

Today's tools are so much easier for people like me, who who once used hand tools without even electricity. Now it’s batteries and gasoline that do the tough jobs.

Does one of your buildings need a new roof? Have you seen what has happened in the roofing industry? There are so many different kinds of materials to use in replacing a roof it’s amazing. Our old barn is in need of a new cover and I’m just beginning to learn what’s available. Decisions, decisions...

While we are thinking spring, don’t forget your winter tools that will need attention before they are put up for the spring/summer.

Yes, I guess it’s going to become a busy year; just go into any building, hardware, nursery or other department store and see the people that are beginning to fill them.

I still spring clean

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Do you do spring cleaning in your home?

Are you a working career gal who doesn’t have the time to do anything like that?

In today’s modern age, people don’t do spring or fall cleaning like they used to 20 or 30 years ago.

Some tell me (if I ask) I only do something like that when a room needs to be “done over;” that would be called spring cleaning in their sense. In other words, when the walls need redoing, floors, baseboards, etc. The windows might get cleaned once or twice a year, but otherwise the room isn’t redone until the lady of the house thinks it’s needed or it’s time. Perhaps that is the best way and you can save a lot of time, which many women who work don’t have and also energy in just keeping up with the everyday things.

Then there are those who still make the practice of going through the house and giving it a thorough cleaning, like their mothers did before them and now with a home of their own they do the same thing. It’s what they do.

Every room has to be torn up, curtains washed, drapes cleaned, windows given a once-over both inside and out, the walls wiped down, baseboard washed and the floor or carpeting having a “going over.”

The bedding is taken care of each week, but the mattress and springs only receive a good cleaning once or twice a year. Then when it’s all done, everything is put back in its place, you survey the work you have accomplished and you are both pleased and proud.

Now, you multiply this by how many rooms you have in your house and it takes courage, ambition, patience and energy to get it all done. Some might only do a few rooms that year and then the other ones you alternate with either in the fall or the following year. It’s up to you.

Years ago this housecleaning was mandatory. Times have changed. Modern vacuum sweepers can be used weekly to keep thins clean. There aren’t the wood and coal stoves with their ashes and smoke that made cleaning necessary. Miracle fibers in today’s carpeting and curtains clean easier.

Remember when window shades were two-faced? One side was cream colored and the other side that was towards the street was dark green? And whatever they were made of, they didn’t wipe clean or really weren’t supposed to be cleaned with water.
Today’s window dressings are available in so many different shapes, designs, colors and more as well as their fittings. What would our grandmas think of them?

And windows. They come in a zillion shapes, patterned, hardware convenient to opening and closing as well as cleaning. Sliding glass doors. Imagine what grandma would have thought of them. Wouldn’t housecleaning have been a breeze for her and her helpers?

Whether you do spring or fall housecleaning or neither, take heart; you’re living in the 21st century

We're all Irish on Saturday

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Will the real St. Patrick please rise? Saturday is Saint Patrick’s Day and it is about as easy to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the dear laddie as it is to find a four-leaf shamrock.

The thirsty would have us believe that he taught his countrymen the art of distillation and that Poteen, the traditional drink for his day, was named for him. Yet, history tells us that Patrick and his followers maintained strict abstinence.

He is credited also with driving all the snakes from Ireland; but experts doubt that Ireland ever had snakes, given her climate and isolation.

Tradition tells us that Patrick planted shamrocks and used the triple leaves to explain the Trinity. Botanists tell us that the plant has been found throughout the world, for centuries.

Even his birthday is disputed - A.D. 367 or 386, 389, 395 have been offered as possible dates - and his place of birth - Bannarem Taberniad - is said to have been located in Scotland, Wales or even France.

Only the day of his death, March 17, seems to be accepted although you can get arguments on the year - 461 or 462 A.D. An unproven but often told legend claims that he lived to 120 years, or as old as Moses.

Indeed, to confuse things even more, some historians believe there were two St. Patricks whose deeds were so entwined that they are now attributed to one man, which would at least explain his long life span.

What has been accepted is that he was born of a well-respected family and that at age 16, he was captured by Gaels and taken to Ireland, where he was sold as a slave. After serving as a shepherd where he experienced visions that he considered divinely inspired, he escaped by boat to Brittany.

For the next 18 years he devoted his life to religion, becoming first a priest, then a bishop. In the year 431 he was named Patricus and sent to Ireland on a mission to convert pagans to Christianity.

All of which is little known and of no concern to those who celebrate March 17 in spirited style. And you don’t have to be Irish to celebrate.
On St. Paddy’s Day it seems most everyone has a bit o’ Irish in him.

The green is seen on so many folks.

The girls in the office where I worked would each receive shamrock plant in a small clay pot from a gentleman who had offices in our building.

They would grow and we’d combine them in a large pot and have a beautiful large shamrock plant.

I wear the green and can honestly claim a drop or two of Irish blood.

My father’s mother’s maiden name was Donnelly and her brothers all had red hair that turned snow white as they aged.

Her name was Isabelle and a true Irish lassie she was.

Enjoy the saint’s day; it’s Irish for sure that you are on that day only.

Have a happy 17th.

Things we say are funny

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

We have a funny language. We were reading about an American who had language problems while visiting England recently because she didn’t speak “English” and this caused us to wonder about our own language and if it really means what it says. We’ve all worked at this game, but why not add to it?

For instance - is baby oil really that?

Are your potatoes really shoe string?

And toilet water. Better not go there.

When you picked the table up after dinner - wasn’t it quite heavy?

When you baste a roasting turkey is it the same as basting a seam when sewing?

Is the car really running?

Is your spider really a frying pan?

And how about these sayings we use every day?

Slower than molasses in January
One foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel

Sharper than a hound’s tooth

Everything but the kitchen sink

Our language is colorful, too. A person will be white with fear, purple with passion, green with envy, black with rage, red with anger, blue when sad and a yellow coward. If we has all these feelings at the same time, we’d be a virtual rainbow.

Is it any wonder our language is often a puzzle to those who come here from other countries? If you watch films or TV shows from the BBC, to have to pay strict attention at times to figure what they are in conversation about. Trucks are lorries, car trunks are boots, bathrooms are loos and so on.

We all seem to get our point across, and the peculiarities in the language always seem to be ironed out when one becomes acquainted - perhaps over a cup of tea or coffee.

Sayings can be confusing also -- “the pot calling the kettle black,” “I’d like to be a fly on the wall,” “it’s the bee’s knees,” “raining cats and dogs,” -- and on and on.

I’m sure you can come up with more; if you are having a slightly boring time and want to get the conversation perked up, bring up some of the above and see how far it can go.

While it may seem everyone knows these idioms, they don’t. We had a nephew by marriage that moved from Buffalo some time ago and every so often when in the conversation one of these would happen to come into the conversation, he would look puzzled and then someone would explain the saying and he would crack up laughing as, in his family ,nothing like that ever came into the day-to-day conversation.

Grandpa's weather predictions accurate

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Everybody is talking about the weather, a lot more than usual. It always has been a good topic for a conversation opener but these days you don’t even have to think about it. Except for the snow lovers who have all kinds of fun machines, everyone else couldn’t be happier. Folks who you don’t even know will strike up a conversation at the check-out corner in the supermarket while waiting your turn in the long line to cash out. “Isn’t this weather great?” or “Don’t you just love it?”, “We can keep this kind of weather all the time.” And on and on it goes. The only other bits of talking are “I just hope the snow doesn’t come all at once and we really get dumped on” or “The man upstairs and Mother Nature are giving us a present and we surely should thank them for it.”

Some weather vanes have been taken form their perches atop houses, garages or barns, put on poles and made into lamps in the yard as night lights and conversational pieces.

But the weather vanes mounted on the roof are definitely not for lamps, they are for telling which way the wind is blowing. The weather is very important to farmers.

Before radio, TV and computers, the weather vane was a key piece of high-tech gear; the wind is a sure sign of things to come.

On the Weimer farm in Union Corners, the barn had a weather vane that stayed with the farm. When the family moved to the village, the house had a small barn, but no weather vane. Grandpa wouldn’t rest until there was something placed on the barn roof so he could tell what the weather was going to be. You can take the boy off the farm - but you can never take the farm off the boy. Grandpa still relied on a weather vane instead of the radio that he bought when he moved to the village.

He knew by the way the wind blew and, of course, other signs when storms were on their way. Mildness told him of the winter ahead and also the spring growing season. Also other signs and weather teasers included crickets, peepers or tree toads and locusts, whose singing noises or their chirps would foretell the weather to come.

He said we couldn’t hear the “signs” because we weren’t listening.

This was back during the ‘50s before we had smog, global warming and other things that have changed our weather so much.

It seemed Grandpa’s predictions were always so accurate; it makes people wonder.

Cure your headache

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

It’s not often that you to run across someone who says he or she’s have never had a headache. They are a nuisance and wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could eliminate them forever?

There are all types of headaches and most are dealt with taking two aspirin and perhaps rest. Allergies, sinus, tension, eye strain, hunger, hypertension, over-exertion can cause them, as well as the classic hangover. Then there are the caffeine withdrawal and cluster headaches. Arthritis contributes to pain in the head and the worst of them all, the migraine, which comes in many phases and descriptions. with so many effects on the whole body.

It is a fact that over 50 million people in the United States alone consult physicians for relief of headache pain. Millions annually is spent on aspirin, acetaminophen and other medicines to alleviate the problem. Migraine sufferers are told to avoid certain foods - onions, figs, chocolate, hot fresh bread, bananas, processed meats, yogurt, nuts, plums, vinegar, sour cream, seeds such as sesame, sunflower and pumpkin (we thought they were health foods), and others. What a bummer; I like them all.

I once had a girlfriend, whose mother who lived with a constant headache. Whenever we would go to her home, her mother was always on the couch with a damp cloth on her forehead, suffering from a daily headache. I often wonder if she ever was relieved of them and lives a normal life.

Have you tested your home’s air? If you get a headache after being gone all day, maybe the dry air is what is giving you pain. A humidifier is the answer.

At our house we have humidifiers both in all our rooms. Years ago, when it was legal to burn leaves in the fall, the smoke would give some folks terrific headaches; for others it was a favorite aroma that signified fall.

Here are some folk remedies from an old-time almanac:

• Soak your feet in hot water to draw blood from your head.

• Run around the house outside three times.

• Sleep with a pair of scissors under your pillow.
• Ask a seventh child to blow in your ear.

• Have mom or someone else rub your head and the headache will be transferred to that person, but will be less severe.

• Put a buckwheat pancake on your head.

• Take an egg and roast it well in the coals and when it is hard cleave it in two and as hot as thou mayst suffer it, lay it to the head and it shall take away the aching (15th century).

• Wrap damp cloths around your head and burn scented wood.

• Heat hillwort (thyme) and aysell (vinegar) and put it in your nostrils that the odor may go to the brain.

• Rub cow dung and molasses on your temples. (It isn’t as bad as it sounds; you can use commercial manure that is odorless.)

• And lastly, tie a leather thong lightly around your head. If this fails, you may tell your friends, “The thong is over but the malady lingers on,” which will give them headaches.

All these remedies were actually used in the early centuries and some in the early part of this century.

Lenten season begins

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Next week is Ash Wednesday, time to think Lenten thoughts. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of 40 weekdays of preparation for Easter season, which are days in Lent, but not days of Lent.

Each year I write to refresh Christians’ memories of the 40 days of Lent that symbolize variously the 40 days Moses spent on Mount Sinai, the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, or the 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert.

Years ago when I was in high school most of my friends seemed to be of the Catholic faith. Our schedule was generally to go to one or another’s home and work on our homework together so we could have time to do other things once our lessons were complete. When Ash Wednesday arrived each year, the friends would go to church; it wasn't every day, but several times during the week following classes at school. If I wanted to work with them on homework, I followed along to church and participated right along with them, even though I was Presbyterian at the time.

Our elders always stress the importance of this holy season and we should recognize this and perhaps discuss topics pertaining to what Lent should mean to everyone - perhaps at the dinner table that evening if your family has the tradition of all gathering each day at the table for supper. If your family doesn't have that tradition or rule, then at breakfast there may be time to discuss the happenings for the day or news of family happenings. Time was when there were sacrifices made such as not eating meat on certain days in some homes or persons offering their own sacrifices during the season personally for the holy observance. Does anyone still do this? Some practices and beliefs have changed considerably since those days.

But, we can still have our own thoughts and try to be more conscious of the season. We could think of the holiday season we celebrated during, Christmas, and renew the feeling we had of being sensitive and understanding to others, praising them, doing kind things for them, giving them encouragement for their deeds and good works. It only takes a few minutes and can mean so much to someone.

You know the person you mentioned during the holiday time you promised to stop by and see or get together for a chat; have you done it? This would be a good time to keep that promise ... let today or tomorrow be that day. Stop by the nursing home, if you don't have someone there, just visit with any person sitting in the hallway waiting for someone to visit them ... it means so much. Remember hot cross buns? They are specially made at this season. And, they are just the thing to pick up at the local bakery or supermarket and take along either for home as a remembrance of why they are available at this time of year, or to a shut-in with a thermos of coffee to share with them. Perhaps it might start a tradition you can do each year to observe this holy season with your favorite aunt or grandmother; you will also be rewarded by your feelings of doing this.

Do try to make this season different in your life.

Making cottage cheese

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

It’s certainly been a mild winter... so far.

I’ve been counting my blessings; no heavy coats, high boots, mufflers or warm gloves. But since I haven’t shoveled much snow, those extra pounds I accumulated during the holiday weren’t worked off.

I hope spring isn’t that far away and I’ll be getting outside for so many projects to help shed the pounds. But, after stepping on the scales at home I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. I needed to buy a supply of “lite”cottage cheese. It can be fixed in so many delicious ways. I make myself believe when I’m on a diet that all of the diet foods are healthy and I should enjoy them.

When I picked up the cottage cheese I marveled at the cost ....it hadn’t gone up any more since my last diet. Depending on where you purchase it, it can range from $3.24 down to $2.19 which isn’t bad, but at one time it was one of the least expensive items in the food case and our family devoured many pounds of it.

I couldn’t help but remark to the family that with a little effort we could save by making our own. I got quite a reaction, and, it wasn’t pleasant.

I explained that the earthen crock pot that Grandma used was still around and I well remember her making it. Our milk came from my uncle’s farm and it wasn’t pasteurized.

Stores didn’t have the neat little 1-pound containers of small curd, large curd, creamed, flavored or any cottage cheese at all. Only the city markets carried it.

I was always around when there was something unusual was being made. Grandma took soured fresh milk (cloppered, when the milk separates and thickens) and put it on the stove hearth or sometimes in the oven while it was still warm leaving the door open. She would turn it around and around (I never learned why; I was told I could watch as long as I didn’t ask too many questions).

She cut the curd into squares with a knife, stirring gently until it was warm as your finger could bear and the whey showed all around the curd. She would pour all of this into a coarse cloth bag (one that sugar or salt would have come in) and hung it atop a pan to drain in a cool place overnight.

In the morning she would turn the cheese out of the bag, into a bowl and season with salt, sweet cream, and a little pepper. She would use her potato masher and make it to the correct consistency. The mixture was put into an earthen crock and kept in the icebox (or on the cellar bottom before she had an icebox).
It was a simple enough procedure, but we couldn’t make it today pasteurized added-to and taken from milk. Fresh milk soured quickly when it came straight from the cow at the farm and that is what is necessary for good cheese. However, have you noticed that unpasteurized milk is now available? There is a farm in Cazenovia that now has a store on the premises licensed by the state Health Department that sells all kinds of dairy products from their own cows’ milk, and we are told business is very good.

January drawing to a close

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

It’s almost the end of January and have you got all of your Christmas put away yet? Some people who get clothing on Christmas wear them the next day, so all can see what Santa brought them. Others piece them out so that everyone doesn’t notice these things, unless of course it’s a diamond engagement ring, and then you are waving that left hand around with finger extended so that you can’t help but notice it and comment on it.

I’m beginning to think it will be well into February before Christmas boxes get put away. Some gifts that I received that need thought as to where I am going to use them. Some need fixtures for hanging, some need to be put away until spring or summer, while others need to go back to the store to exchange.

I’ve been having trouble finding replacement bulbs for my Christmas tree lights, not the tiny ones but the regular size that were once so common. I finally located and purchased some but not in the colors I would have liked. Bummer.

Income tax time’s arriving, and it’s time to pay all those holiday bills. There are also taxes, water bills, perhaps mortgage payment, car insurance or homeowners that comes due in January and you feel overloaded with disbursements on the family budget. If you are efficient and smart you might have already sent in your income tax and have your refund (if you have one) back so it can help pay some of these expenses. Good for you. I’m still trying to collect all of the necessary data to get ready to file a tax with no refund, I guess that is why I don’t rush to get them done. Some of the information I need isn’t ready until February, so we can’t be one of the early birds anyway.

In collecting material for taxes do you run into piles of old paperwork? How far back should you keep cancelled checks, receipts, important papers, auto, house, etc. policies? When the auditor came to the office back when I was working I asked him and he said seven years, but by the same token one of the other auditors who came I asked the same question and he looked at me in horror and said “never throw away anything of importance!” So I have a few more boxes that are ready to be placed in the attic with all of the others. Will I ever need them? Good question, but if I do, I will have them, and that eases my mind.

January is also a good time to get rid of all the magazines, books and other reading material that you planned to read in 2011 and never got around to it. Either read it now in these blah days of the month or toss it. The pile will only get that much bigger if you don’t lower it now.

January is a good time to weed out and start fresh; am I the only one who thinks that?

Kitchen remains heart of my home

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

If you have a sitting area in your kitchen, it should be called the “keeping room.”

The other day while browsing through my Country Homes magazine, I learned that this practical, all-purpose room was called the keeping room in olden times because that was where the heat was in the winter and sometimes it was the only room that was lived in besides the bedroom.

I would like a “keeping room” for watching TV, visiting with people -- a cozy place to spend most of my waking hours.

Our family came from the farm, but never got used to city ways and the kitchen was the place for them. You might say they “kept house” in their kitchen and most their business was done at the kitchen table.

My grandparents had a rocking chair and a black cookstove that burned wood in the kitchen.

Family and friends who came to visit would sit in rocking chairs and the woodbox and around the kitchen table.

Other non-family members were taken to the living room.

The woodbox and stove are gone, but the chair still is used for storytelling when the little ones come for a visit.

I find that the kitchen is the place for everything I do, whether it’s writing checks, paying bills, reading the daily newspaper, cutting out patterns on the table, or fixing whatever needs mending.

In my grandma’s kitchen in the,spring, I believe, there was a box behind the black kitchen stove where covered over with a huge flannel cloth would be baby chicks she was raising.
They would sleep a great deal, but each day they would be taken out and put on the floor while she cleaned out their box and put new paper linings in it. When she was doing this, we would rush into the kitchen to watch the babies as they pecked at the small amount of cornmeal that she would put down for them to busy themselves and not be wandering off while she was cleaning.

We were always sorry when the time came to go to the little chicken house in our backyard to live until they grew bigger.

It was fenced in and had a runway from the inside of the house to the yard where they could run around. Eventually they grew to the size to be moved into a larger house that we had in back of the barn.

It was not uncommon back in those days to have chickens in the village; many folks did and when the Great Depression came along more and more people fixed places to have a few chickens for eggs and a Sunday dinner.

My dad kept the chickens until his retirement. Sometimes neighbors would complain when the rooster crowed early in the morning.

We only ever had one, but he could be noisy, along with the others in the neighborhood.

We had fun in Canastota

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Can you remember when the Canastota High School band and cheerleaders would march through town with the football team after every win? Do you remember our majorettes with their white and maroon high hats with a visors and feathers? When did they change to gold? Leland Wright would play his bugle and everyone would yell, “Charge!”

Do you remember the old high school on Peterboro Street with its entrance on the north side for boys and on the south for girls?

There was a balcony around the upper floor where you could stand and watch the activities below, especially basketball and wrestling. Many a romance blossomed along the balcony as girls watched their fellows play.

Adult basketball teams that played there, too. It was exciting for the fans as well as the team.

A picnic was held at the end of the year either on the school grounds or nearby. Everyone looked forward to it.

Didn’t we have fun?

Can you remember the Feast of Assumption Days when the downtown streets were lined with booths where so many organizations sold such delicious foods?

How about the one-act plays presented by local people who had talent you never thought they had?

The crowds that would come, and not just on Aug. 15. There would also be block dances where traditional Italian bands would play folk songs and popular music.

The Onion Queen contest that began early in the month would culminate with the crowning of the winner and the parade.
There would be fireworks at the airport. Public displays were rare because of the economy, but home fireworks were still legal, so everyone who could afford them would set them off, especially of the 4th of July.

On Easter Sunday, you would go to church with all of your new clothes, corsages and fancy hats.

At Christmas Mass at St. Agatha’s, everyone dressed in their best attire with furs, diamonds and elegant hats. People got to church early just to watch the arrivals in their finery.

Firemen’s Field Days started on Thursday with a small parade for inspection of the various companies that would on Peterboro Street, Center Street and other side streets.

The grand parade would be on Saturday. Everyone went to the field which was up over the Terrace boardwalk to the vacant field, which now has the Southside School on it for the food, rides and entertainment.

There were several stages with tents, with paid performances. Most people walked to the field back in those days.

If you were near the old fire station you would smell the luscious aroma of onions and peppers firemen were cooking ahead to sell at the field days.

These are a few memories of Canastota back in the 30s and early 40s. What did I miss?

Remembering is fun for the soul, especially when they are pleasant memories. Bad ones should be shelved and forgotten.

Christmas continues in my house

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Ever so gradually we’re getting back to normal at our house. The decorations and tree are still up and I’m enjoying them more now than before Christmas.

I have time to look at the tree and listen to Christmas music .

Before Christmas I’m so frazzled I hardly notice the decorations, except to be sure the lights are on when it gets dark. A neighbor his decorations on a timer, so whether home or not, they come on at a certain time. Smart.

I feel I’m lucky to have a switch inside the warm house to turn off at bedtime.

However the house is becoming a little more normal. The Christmas linens have been laundered, ironed and folded into tissue paper, ready for next year.

Today’s linens are so much easier to care for. I can remember after the holidays my grandmother standing for hours ironing the linens that were used for the Christmas dinner; it had to be done perfectly - that was grandma’s way.

She had a linen tablecloth with a holly-and-berry design with napkins to match; the family initial was embroidered into the corner. We still use the napkins, but the tablecloth has finally shown the wear of time and has several holes in it. If grandma were, she would’ve cut it up and made into dresser scarves, towels or napkins. We still use dresser scarves with initials embroidered in the corners; I don’t even know whose initials they are, but you can be sure grandma knew. You might say she was recycling, but didn’t know it at the time.

Some people today have the same tendencies. We can find uses for butter or whipped topping tubs, egg cartons and cardboard tubes. Baby food jars and hairspray lids are in demand from craftspeople, the tops from hairspray cans. There are women who save their plastic bread wrappers to braid beautiful rugs and chair mats. I could go on and on.

I wonder what our grandmothers would think of all of the plastic that comes into our homes with foodstuffs. I can almost hear my own saying “a waste of money using so many containers for foods.” And she didn’t even know about landfills and how they can be filled with such items if not recycled. Girl Scout, Brownies and 4-H members save empty containers for so many uses.

Holiday aprons are popular now that aprons are making a comeback. If you are one of those persons who shops for next Christmas to take advantage of all the bargains, this would be the time to pick up a Christmas apron or two for those ladies who are hard to buy for. Be sure to keep a list with your purchases so you know next December who you purchased them for. Organization is the keyto taking advantage of post-Christmas sales. Have a special place to keep all of the purchases you make throughout the year for Christmas gifts for those people you are buying for.
We have another week or two before we have to take down the rest of the decorations, unless you keep your tree up until Epiphany (The 12th day of Christmas, Jan. 6) like I do. Some folks’ trees stay up until the end of January or even Valentine’s Day, decorating it with hearts and flowers for the occasion.