Retirement is a full-time job

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

If you see me hanging from a ladder on our front porch don’t be surprised. Old house had to have a coat of paint. Our house is painted with oil-based paint and at one time, with lead still in the mix, the paint lasted many more years than it does now.

Our painter is a handyman who acquires many painting jobs during the summer. This year had to be one of them and inasmuch as our house is a large one it often takes a lot longer to finish, especially when it is done with a brush and not a roller. So, I told him not to worry about the ceiling on the front porch, I could do it as I love painting anyway.

So if you see me hanging from a ladder, just drive on by and say to yourself, “she’s at it again.” Folks who know me know I am quite an independent person and don’t like to ask for help unless it’s absolutely necessary so they are not surprised when they see me with a bucket of concrete fixing steps or the porch foundation. It’s the kind of concrete that is already mixed so it isn’t hard to fix a small job instead of trying to get someone who’s do it. That isn’t easy these days. Contractors don’t want small jobs.

You might, if you are a senior citizen, get someone for small tasks through the Madison County Office for the Aging. They have retirees that will help you.

So far, I have been able to do my own fixings; I had an advantage. My dad was a builder and I would watch him as he worked and I learned from that.

Ceilings aren’t the easiest to paint. Especially when they are ribbed. Painting in those cracks is time consuming, so it will take me several days to complete as the porch goes across the whole front of the house. Not to worry; eventually we can get it done.

Notice I said “we” will get it done. If one of my relatives who gets disgusted with me will come and finish it when I’m away, something I’d never allow if I were home.

When I retired, I thought of all the time I would have and how much I would enjoy not having to be dressed and at work at a certain time.

Chores, when I worked depended on weekends, and evenings and were often delayed by weather. I would have all the time I needed.

It doesn’t work that way, I found out. For one thing, with extra time, you do more than you planned. This increases both the work and the necessary shopping for materials.

You volunteer for a charity organization because you thought you would have plenty of time, but you find that volunteering takes up a lot more time than you thought and you don’t have the heart to say “no” when they call.

You planted a huge garden so you would have freezing, canning and preserving all those veggies. The huge garden is taking more time than you anticipated and yielded more than you thought so you find yourself in the kitchen all late summer and fall taking care with your wife/husband of all the preserving.

Beware of retiring and don’t fall into a trap. Plan your retirement and stick to it and don’t let your time get out of hand.

Muck life was good

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Those who lived here in the 1930s and 1940s remember well the mucklands, the fertile swamp land that was drained around Canastota. Even now there is still muckland worked, but very little.

Some residents who own muck have vegetable gardens there now. I have written about the days when my dad had two huge vegetable gardens on the muckland after he retired because he said, “I like to see the things grow” and grow they did. There is no better soil to grow almost anything in, but there would be nurserymen and farmers who would perhaps disagree.

When my dad had his gardens we traveled those roads almost every night, after supper to go and help harvest what was ready so I knew those roads like the back of my hand. Today I almost got lost. It has been too many years since I have driven along those roads and while my memory helped it didn’t help enough. I got mixed up on one crossroad and as I sat at the four corners trying to figure out where I was, fortunately an old friend pulled up behind me and wondering what my hesitation was, got out and came to my window to ask.

He told me where I was and where I would go if I turned left; then I knew exactly where I was.

Why didn’t I recognize it? You can hardly recognize the houses or shacks. Buildings have fallen down and are hidden by weeds, grasses and all growing matter. It’s sad. As I mentioned the earth is good soil there.

Such happy days they were, even though at the time we thought it was hot, dry, tedious work. But, even though we didn’t realize it at the time, they were fun days when we kids would spend our time weeding in the springtime or topping onions in the summer. The trucks would come into town and pick up all the kids waiting in front of their homes early in the morning and with our cutting knives or shears, our brown bags for lunch and our work clothes together with brimmed hat for shade we would be off for a day on the “black beach” as we called it because that was our summer beach. The going and coming was fun as we talked and sang along the roads and even as we worked on the fields trying to outdo each other as to how many crates of onions you could top that day.

Some romances did begin those summer days and eventually they would be married and soon have a muck farm of their own, perhaps small, but a start.

Some onions are still grown on the large farms as well as other crops such as soybeans and lettuce. In the days when onions were fading, there were carrots, corn, beans and potatoes, but along the years they, too, have passed and the fields have grown up to weeds.

Sunday afternoon was the time for the families to enjoy leisure time. In the evenings the kids who lived in the houses would gather together to play games and have fun time and the adults would finish up chores that needed to be done once they were out of the fields. Women would get their wash done and hung out, they would set bread to be baked in the morning before they went to the fields and it was work until dark but they would sometimes have a neighbor or two come over for a visit and catch up on the day’s happenings.

It was a wonderful way of life, but just memories now.

Summer finally arrives

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

We’ve waited for months and months, but finally summer is here.

You can smell the charcoal burning as he cooks steaks, burgers, chicken, hot dogs, sausage, peppers, onions and shish kabobs and all of that good stuff. When you are hungry and working outside and your neighbor has his grill going with all of that fine food you want to go over for a visit and perhaps he will offer you something. For that matter during the winter months you sometimes catch the scent of food if your neighbor had the garage door up and was cooking on the grill. Some folks don’t ever give up on grilled food.

But, most of us have waited all of those long winter months for this beautiful summer. When it there was sleet, snow, blizzards and cold wet slop, we kept telling ourselves it’s all going to change – summer will return. Well, it’s here!

Don’t you love going to farmers’ markets and fruit stands? The other day I went bonkers. The homegrown peas were in. Don’t you just love boiled new potatoes and homegrown peas? There were also green onions, homegrown radishes and sweet corn (not homegrown yet- but soon). There are plenty of melons, cantaloupe, string beans, cherries, peaches, apricots, nectarines and strawberries. We have had out-of-state strawberries practically all winter, but homegrown strawberries are the sweetest and the best.

You take a basket of homegrown strawberries, wash and hull them. Take a whole berry, dip it in sugar and pop it in your mouth. Yum!

We have a recipe for shortbread biscuits in which you put an egg and a pinch of sugar in the batter which we like to use. They are just great eaten warm with strawberries spooned all over the top and real butter and strawberries together with real whipped cream all those long winter days are forgotten and you just enjoy.

Did you attend a Fourth of July picnic? Isn’t all of that packing, running back and forth to the house to be sure you have everything and the frazzle on the nerves, getting the kids organized in order to get to the pool or swimming park worth it? Be sure you have everything including the catsup, mustard, salt, pepper and all the extras that sometimes get forgotten when you are sure you have the main foodstuffs.

I’m not a water person, but I do love to go and sit and watch the people. Are you a people watcher? I can spend hours in that pastime. They come in all shapes, size, color and type, you know. Myself included. Sunday at the beach can give you pure relaxation, visiting with whomever is sitting next to you and just watching the styles, color coordinations and especially the variety of hats.

And is there anything like having a game of bocce ball, Frisbee, tennis or going 18 holes of golf and coming to the clubhouse for a long, tall, cool drink?

It’s summer – enjoy it and bottle up some of this fun for those months when we can only discuss all of the fun we are having now! Bless it all and you all.

Freedom rings, but bell doesn't

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Imagine it’s July 2, 1776; it’s a beautiful day and the Liberty Bell is rung to announce the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

You wouldn’t know it then, but down the years there’s always been a thrill to hear it ring. Several days ago we celebrated the ringing of that bell in 1776 and we today realize how important it was.

We all know because of the crack in the bell it was decided it couldn’t be rung many years later, but while reading an article in a periodical it listed the time it was registered when it was. I believe we at one time in our school days learned this but how many remember?

On July 2, 1776 the Liberty Bell was rung to announce the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

On Oct. 14, 1781, it was rung to celebrate the surrender of Lord Cornwallis of the English forces, and the virtual close of the Revolutionary War.

April 6, 1783, it announced the proclamation of peace with Great Britain.

Sept. 29, 1824 it was rung to welcome Lafayette, the famous French general who had assisted Washington, to Independence Hall.

July 4, 1826, it tolled to announce the death of Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence.

July 14, 1826, it ushered in “The Year of Jubilee,” the 50th anniversary of the American Republic.

July 4, 1831, the famous bell ran for the last time on Independence Day.

Feb. 22, 1832, the bell was rung to commemorate the birth of George Washington. Later in the same year it tolled to announce the death of the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence – Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Ga.

July 21, 1834, it tolled again for the death of the Marquis de Lafayette.

July 8, 1835, while it was being tolled for the death of Chief Justice John Marshall, a crack developed.

On Feb. 22, 1843, when an attempt was being made to ring the bell on Washington’s birthday, the fracture increased to such an extent that no effort was made to ring it for decades.

But on June 6, 1944 the Bell was struck to commemorate the ending of World War II. In January 1976, the Bell was moved to the Pavilion in Philadelphia where it has remained.

Other little-known facts that I find interesting was the fact that the bell became widely famous after an 1847 short story claimed that an aged bell-ringer rang it on July 4, 1776 upon hearing of the Second Continental Congress’ vote for Independence. While the bell could not have been rung on that Fourth of July, as no announcement of the Declaration was made that day, the tale was widely accepted as fact, even by some historians.

Beginning in 1885 the City of Philadelphia, which owns the bell, allowed it to go to various expositions and patriotic gatherings. The bell attracted huge crowds wherever it went; additional cracking occurred and pieces were chipped away by souvenir hunters. The last such journey occurred in 1915, after which the city refused further requests. After World War II, the city allowed the National Park Service to take custody of the bell, while retaining ownership.

Life's rhythms have changed

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Life had a pattern in “the olden days,” as well as a routine. When grandmother got up in the morning she always knew what she was going to do depending on the day of the week. Monday was wash day, Tuesday was for ironing, Wednesday was a baking day, Thursday you cleaned the upstairs rooms in the house which was all of the bedrooms and bathroom and on Friday you cleaned the downstairs and mopped the kitchen floor or sometimes you did that on Saturdays after the baking was done, depending.

If there was canning to be done or other work that was handled during that particular season, you either got it done first thing in the morning or after you had done your regular chores. Nothing seemed to interfere with the routine if you were a methodical housekeeper, which my grandmother was.

I thought of this the other day when I went to a lady’s kitchen and she had newspapers on the floor. That brought back so many memories of when my grandmother used to put newspapers on the floor after she had mopped her kitchen to keep it clean until the next day, which was generally Sunday. As a teenager growing up I had chores and one of them was doing the kitchen floor. I too, like my grandmother and also my mother, always put papers down until the weekend or Sunday morning, that was just the way it was and they explained it was because there was always so much traffic of people coming in and out. Back then it never was heard of to remove your shoes when you entered the house.

When this procedure stopped I don’t remember, unless it was when we got our new “no-wax” floor which shone all of the time, and I guess didn’t need newspapers to keep it clean. It also could be because we didn’t have as many people tracking through the kitchen with either muddy or wet feet to make it dirty.

It seems as if my grandma was a stickler for covering lots of things to keep them clean and neat until it was time to put them in use. After the dishes at breakfast were done as well as dinner (noon time at our house back then) and after supper dishes she had special cloth napkins she always used to cover up the spoon holder, salt and pepper shakers, sugar bowl, castor set, toothpick holder and whatever else was on the table that was left there between meals on a sort of lazy Susan in the center. It was all neat and tidy, but it had to be covered. In the corner of the kitchen was the wringer washer, which was rolled out every Monday morning. This had its own cover, also. Her kitchen cabinet had doors at the top and windows on which she had white dotted Swiss curtains. They were there to keep the contents from getting dusty.

Also on the cabinet counter was a glass jar like the ones you used to see in candy stores. It had a metal cover. It contained her homemade fried cakes. Anyone who came into the kitchen, generally relatives, knew they could always help themselves to a fried cake, and if there was coffee left from breakfast it was still on the back of the stove, warm enough for them to help themselves to a cup.

We still have the fried cake jar, but rarely are there any homemade fried cakes in it. They mostly come from the grocery store these days. Occasionally there might be a homemade batch in there when the weather is bad and nothing can be done outdoors I might make a batch of homemade ones. They go quickly.

It must be a “family thing” because most of my relatives have a fried cake jar on their kitchen counter for those who visit. The calories, cholesterol and such aren’t practiced there. These jars mostly take the place of a cookie jar, however some do have one for the little kids that come to visit. And, some of the men know it’s there also and take advantage.

We don’t adhere to life’s patterns anymore, nor do we have a routine or schedule like our grandmother had or even our moms, who insisted that everyone be at the supper table at night for the evening meals because that is when we would all sit down together and catch up on our happenings that day. We would all be on the same page.

Today much is different. Children have sports events that are either practiced or played at suppertime; many other children would rather be sitting in front of the TV or computer. Mom or dad may have a meeting they have to attend and it is right during the supper hour. But, supper hours have changed from days of yore. Back then most folks ate promptly at 5 or 6 o’clock, but today the place of employment is just closing at that time and you have a drive of perhaps 30 or 45 minutes home which makes the supper hour later. Times change.

There are no longer certain days or a schedule in getting things done in the home. Automatic washers and dryers make any day wash day and the clothes we wear today need little or no ironing.

We go to the supermarket for all our needs that are almost already prepared or ready to pop in the microwave.

But easier isn’t always better. The fried cake and cookie jars can still make the kitchen a welcoming place for those who enjoy treats, even if they now come from the bakery or grocery store.

Dandelions can be tasty

Haven’t you noticed? All the lawns and fields seem to have large spots of yellow.

Unless you are the type who doesn’t care if you have dandelions all over, the yellow blossoms mean it is already too late for some things, but not necessarily too late for other uses.

The blossoms or buds can be a most delectable dish and it’s very nutritious if you pick the bud, strip off the green and deep fry it for two minutes after rolling it in batter of egg and seasoned flour cracker crumbs. Squash blossoms are prepared similarly and are just as delicious and nutritious.

We don’t need to elaborate on the tonic from the dandelion blossoms, leaves or roots when wine is made. The “liquor” is both sweet, pure and potent when it is made from the right recipe. We have enjoyed dandelion wine served in several homes on occasion and it is indeed most delicious. The wine I’m referring to is the one made with oranges, lemons, sugar and other ingredients that make it fruity and sweet.

The dandelion greens are full of iron and are natural spring tonic, either eaten raw in a tossed salad or cooked, there is as much nutrition as spinach or other greens. Cooked with bits of bacon or pork, a clove of garlic and served with oil and vinegar they make a delicious side dish.

It doesn’t take much time to gather enough dandelions for a meal and they are easy to clean. Years ago you would see housewives going up the Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks in Canastota or alongside the New York Central tracks to gather their morning harvest of clean dandelion greens. This was a great spot, also for trekking along later on picking wild strawberries and blackberries. The taste of wild berries is the best. They still grow in abundance on the line, but the overgrowth discourages many from venturing after them.

This is the time of year when people can use a tonic. The weather is warmer and your blood needs thinning and purifying. My grandmother would have her jar of molasses out that she had mixed earlier in anticipation of the weather and her homemade spring tonic.

Before school each morning we would be made to take a teaspoon of it telling us it was to clean our blood. There are times when I wonder if I shouldn’t go back to trying the tonic in the springtime especially when you are feeling logy.

Other spring tonics are cowslips, which were never too popular with our family. There was also a green that grows on the muck called “wild rappi.”

I remember when the muck was in its heyday and onions grew in abundance all down the roads on every side where it had been cultivated, we would go with other friends and gather this to take home, clean and cook much like dandelions, but it had a much nicer flavor and wasn’t bitter as dandelions have a tendency to be if you aren’t careful in the way you pick them.

Fixed with a little olive oil, a few garlic slices and other herbs, greens are good for you.

Garden club had best flowers

By Carol Weimer
Canastota Corner

Who can remember the Canastota Garden Club? Perhaps you were one of the members of it. On May 1 as you walked/drove to work in the downtown area you would see the most beautiful wicker baskets filled with the most glorious spring flowers hanging on the door handles or door posts of the local downtown businesses. Such as the Key Bank, the insurance agencies (and there were several back then), the Canastota Savings & Loan Association, the lawyers’ entrances and just about every door front in the business section. They would be tied with colorful ribbons swaying in the breezes to attract your attention. It was May Day on the first and our ladies wanted everyone to enjoy its beauty.

The members enjoyed the activities of the club. They would have meetings in various area community establishments but along towards the demise of the club it was the Canastota Public Library, I believe. At one time when the Avon Theater building was still in existence they had rooms of their own up over the theater. There they would work on various projects constructing items for their annual Christmas sale. And, what beautiful centerpieces, wall decorations, door hangings, etc. they would create. I can remember purchasing a dish arrangement that had as its base a 78-rpm record. Seemed you could place them in a form of your selection, put them in a low-degree oven to heat and then form them to your selection. It was sprayed gold with a Christmas arrangement of gold, glitter, greens etc. The ingenuity of these gals was amazing. Their sales were always a “must” to attend if not for something to purchase, to enjoy an exotic cup of tea, coffee, sweets that only these ladies could bake or stir up to serve those attending the sale. I miss all of that as do so many who remember.

The club didn’t only use their talents to use their constructive abilities for items to sell, but they would be seen around the village and area with their tools for gardening, their floppy brim hats, gardening gloves and kneeling pads planting flowers to make the entrance to the village at Route 5 and South Peterboro Street a welcoming appearance of an array of colorful flowers in all sizes and manner.

At Christmas time it was these ladies that assisted the men of the Public Works Department to arrange the Nativity Arrangement in the downtown area at one time and then moved to Clark Memorial Park. They saw to it that the figurines were kept in tiptop shape touching them up with paint and whatever else that needed to be done. Now our employees of the public works do the same and a great job they do.

They would decorate the downtown village streets in the summer and I believe it might have been them who started the planters at various sites on the sidewalks in downtown. Filled with geraniums or other flowers they were the ones who kept them watered and blooming throughout the summer months. The planters are still placed each summer, filled with colorful petunias and kept watered and blooming thanks to our village sponsorship.

The ladies, I don’t believe ever had any men members but one of their most helpful advisors was W. W. (Bill) Sharpe who was the Agricultural and Industrial Arts teacher in our school system for many, many years. Bill was not only advisor to the club, but to almost anyone who would seek his advice and counsel for gardening problems. He was always available and happy to help you, I know I called him my “gardening friend” and was known to be bothering him about one problem or another, whether it was weeds, varmints, production, fertilizer, etc.

Today? Have you noticed the banks that lead up to the overpass on the railroad bridges on both South Peterboro Street and South Main Street on both sides of the hills? The South Peterboro Street is completed I believe and the Main Street is in construction. What an improvement! Shrubs, flowers in the summer and the maintenance have made an unsightly place beautiful. I don’t know if you ever really took a look at it before but it was a place where bottles, cans and other types of throwaways were flung to rid it. There were weeds, leaves, stubs of trees that had depreciated and an unsightly place when entering or leaving the village on either street. The responsibility of the evacuation, cleaning, planting has been done by the work of the Village Department of Public Works, the CSX Railroad and other interested persons.

What has happened to the ladies in our community? Canastota also had an active Canastota Lionettes Chapter and the Canastota Firemen’s Auxiliary. The answer at the time of their disorganization was the lack of not only interest but members who were too busy and didn’t have the time to attend meetings or work on projects. Have other communities had the same experience?