Later on....

An E-mail has just come from one of the lady paddlers of "WOW!" (Women on the Water) reporting on what was supposed to be a Thursday trip in Nine Mile Swamp on the Sangerfield River. Instead, she said, "Well- we arrived at the bridge (in Hubbardsville) and a couple of men were working on it .Then as we were checking out the water current one of them said, 'You're not going in there are you?' They said there was a ban by the DEC on all waterways in Madison county. They also said there were a lot of branches floating down under the bridge. So we went to Bailey Lake and had a lovely paddle and lunch in our kayaks near one of the floating bogs." "Better safe than sorry" was good advice!


The village was quiet, this morning, with the most excitement concentrated on Babbott Field, where several six- and seven-year-olds were having their very first T-ball practise! Fun!

The playing fields out at the high school were empty except for a considerable stockpile of materials and equipment waiting for the start of summer construction at the site....

... nor was there any activity at the Memorial Park School, 'though the John Kane Memorial was worth the visit.

The last stop was at the Coiros, on White Street, where the front doorway is a year-round delight.
Joan Coiro saw me and beckoned, saying, "The best part is out here!" urging me to follow her into the back yard. It IS a wonderland garden, with winding walks, a fish pond - complete with resident bullfrog! - fountain, statuary, and several absolutely perfect flowerbeds --- all worthy of a spread in House & Garden! I'll go back there some day next week, at Joan's invitation, and do my best to bring that very special garden treat to all of you.

Sunny Saturday

F55.2 F. with bright blue sky at 6:00 A.M. The AcccuWeather Forecast: Warm with sunshine mixing with some clouds. Winds from the WSW at 10 mph. High: 86° Chance of thunderstorms this evening. (Everyone knew that once graduation party tents were set up on lawns, yesterday, there'd be no rain today. It's like carrying an umbrella, you know!)

Sports Update: Yankees took the Mets 2 - 0 and the Marlins broke the RedSox winning streak 5 - 2.
World Cup Soccer Scores: Jun 30 - Final: Ukraine 0 Italy 3.
Next game: Portugal v. England: 11:00am EDT.

Play resumes at 1 P.M. today at Wimbledon: People will be watching Andre Agassi (USA) vs Rafael Nadal(ESP)[2] and Maria Sharapova (RUS)[4] vs Amy Frazier (USA) as well as Andy Murray (GBR)vs Andy Roddick (USA)[3].

More frequently, TV sets are turned off, cars and campers packed, and villagers head for favorite Campgrounds at the Turning Stone Casino, "Water Safari" at Old Forge, their lakeside camps or cottages at Alex Bay - or - they don hiking boots, shoulder backpacks and head for the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains to find unequalled views like this:



Stay-at-home activities - which are always in good supply - will doubtless include the mowing of lawns and the never-ending battle with Bishop's Leaf (or goutweed) in the flowerbeds.

A drive through the village will be just about as it was a week ago: smooth from Stafford Avenue and the Fire House as far as Karl Davis' Main Street Garage at the point of Monument Park, but then - following Sanger Avenue - a bit of a rough ride. If one drives slowly enough, they'll see that TIOGA has been working at the Park, skimming off some topsoil to bring the Park to curbing level near Madison Street. (It looks as if the opposite will be a requirement along the Sanger Avenue side where the curbing appears to be a few inches higher than Park ground.)

Curbing installation, itself, was completed in front of CVS and Roc's Dairy Creme and solid (but challenging!) entry and exit ramps established for the customers' weekend use of both enterprises.

Sidewalk prep continued to move northward from about that point, and on both sides of Sanger Avenue as well as in front of the stretch of buildings from "Stinkers" to the Hotel.

(To be continued!)

But what about the Trees?

Even with new sidewalks, curbings and neatly-mown strips of lawn, there's still something missing: the trees!

A week ago, several members of the Main Street Committee, along with Mayor Younes and Mr. Ostrander, met with Mr. Dan Kentile, E.I.C. of the Highway Reconstruction Project, and Mr. Paul Evans, D.O.T. Landscaper, to discuss suggested street trees.

This picture shows the varieties designated for planting in Waterville. The Accolade Elms and two varieties of Maple would be planted from Stafford Avenue to the Junction of Route 315.



The State had proposed putting two rows of flowering crabapple trees (alternating pink and white) from the Hotel to Stewart's and from "Michael's" southward to the Park, but the committee has asked them to consider swapping those trees for the same number of ornamental pear trees called "Aristocrat" - a variety recommended by arborist Phillip Sexton - because, in addition to white flowers in the Springtime, that pear tree also has magnificent, long-lasting Fall foliage.



Six Hop Hornbeam trees, the blossoms of which closely resemble hop blossoms, will be planted in the Park.

The large trees along Sanger Avenue toward Sangerfield will include Maples, Pin Oaks and Locust. Spreading juniper, honeysuckle and wegelia bushes will be massed on steep slopes.

The good news is that there are LOTS of plantings. The not-so-good news is that only a few varieties can be planted this Fall - the rest will all have to wait until Spring. They won't be as tall as we'd like them to be, either, but they will be good, healthy, blight-resistant trees that will live to be seen by our grandchildren's children, and that's grand!

Then and Now

I watched as the tree-belt lawns were being mowed at Foodking, yesterday, and thought, "What did it USED to look like?" I knew that if I hunted hard enough I'd find a picture taken over a year ago and, sure enough: there it was, in the last place I looked! But what a nice difference!

Everyone is commenting on how really "sharp" our new curbings look. Yes! They do! And they are "sharp," literally, too, as several motorists have found out!

There was very little construction work going on, today: curbings are being installed across the CVS and Dairy Creme diveways, and that was creating a tie-up, but there should be no problem entering or exiting the parkinglots over the weekend.

We asked one of the flag-girls when paving would resume and she said that it would "probably" be some time next week, but she didn't know what day.






Maneuvering from Point A to Point B in the village, while still avoiding traffic jams, takes us past pretty sights:




the garden on S. Babbott Avenue and Suzette's bicycle on Madison Street are but two.






Out in the countryside, "Black-eyed Susans" - the early variety, I hope! - are opening, and daylilies beginning to bloom.

It's another Friday!

There was more rain, last night, but today's WKTV weather forecast offers a variety of possibilities and tomorrow's includes a pleasant word - short, but important - "DRY!"
That will be wonderfully good news for farmers, whose cornfields are washed and rutted and wheat fields are being laid flat, and to the several families upon whose lawns stand party tents - a signal that a graduate lives there and intends to celebrate, tomorrow!


Today: Sun and clouds. A few scattered showers and thunderstorms. Chance of a brief heavy downpour, hail and gusty winds in thunderstorms. High in the mid 70's.

Tonight: A spotty shower or thunderstorm this evening. Partly cloudy overnight. Low in the upper 50's.

Saturday: Partly sunny, hot and humid..but deliciously DRY. High in the mid 80's.

The aftermath

"Well!" they said, as the water kept rising! By as late as 9:30 last night - a good six hours after the rained had ceased - the underpass at Sangerfield was still a one-way road. It's just muddy, this morning, but makes observers wonder why, with two large, new drains in evidence, we are still having that much of a flooding problem, there.

At least we can be quite sure that it did not preclude any of the Waterville Rotarians from attending their annual "Keeping of the Guard" picnic at the Wicks' home overlooking Bailey Lake.


Everything looks alot drier, this morning, on all of Sanger Avenue. At least one TIOGA crew must have gotten to town fairly early, for all of yesterday's potholes are shallower and the ride is quite tolerable at a sedate 10 m.p.h. But where that crew went, is a mystery: the only activity at all was in the sidewalk area across from Dairy Creme and CVS.

The probable depth and possible current strength in the Sangerfield River were brief subjects of conversation outside of Nice 'n Easy, in Sangerfield, when eight or ten members of "WOW!" (Women on the Water) gathered before aiming South to Hubbardsville for a paddle in Nine Mile Swamp. It was rapidly decided that their canoes and kayaks were designed for whatever the Swamp had to offer them, and they set off promising me - unwilling to risk putting my back completely out of whack, again - that JPEG photos would follow!

Thursday morning

62.2 degrees F. and lowery. The WKTV Weather Forecast is calling for:
Today: Sun and clouds. Scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. High 80.
Tonight: Evening shower or t'storm. Partly cloudy. Low in the upper 50's.

To dispell the notion that Waterville remains totally isolated from the rest of the world, we provide the following ....

The Yankees beat Atlanta 4-3 in the 12th and the RedSox took the Mets 10-2.
Today's top matches at Wimbledon:
Andre Agassi (25), United States, vs. Andreas Seppi, Italy
Lisa Raymond, United States, vs. Venus Williams (6), United States
Maria Sharapova (4), Russia, vs. Ashley Harkleroad, United States
Marat Safin, Russia, vs. Fernando Gonzalez (10), Chile
Florian Mayer, Germany, vs. Andy Roddick (3), United States

UTICA -- Late registration for the July 9 Boilermaker 15K Road Race will take place from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday at Babe's Macaroni Grill and Bar on North Genesee Street in Utica. The entry fee is $40.

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The Deansboro Waterville Lions Club's (tenth or twelvth) Annual Golf Tournament will take place at the Sulphur Springs Golf Course on Saturday, July 15th. If Mrs. Newsom has not already found you, please find her at 841-4619 and make your contribution. (In past years, the suggested amount has been $25.00, but - with a hint that this may be the final year of the tourney - the request is for $50.00: enough to give the organization a jump start on next year's funds.) The Lions Clubs do an enormous amount of charitable work helping people with seeing and hearing difficulties attain proper care and treatment. 100% of the funds raised by the Golf Tournament stay right in this area!

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Mr. and Mrs. Richard Zirkle of Sanger Avenue were in Virginia, over Father's Day Weekend. While there, they attended the graduation of their eldest granddaughter, Jahricca, and said "Goodbye" to her father, Todd, who is scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan next month. (There will certanly be more about Todd in upcoming blogs that will answer, firstly, this question: "Isn't Todd in the Navy?" wondering, facetiously - I suspect - why he's going to Afghanistan!)





If you have time, today, take a ride along Loomis Road (which is probably open, by now) and look into the woods to see if you can spot one of these "Turk's Cap Lilies!"

At the Dugway in Clinton

Holly Davis Brackett sent these pictures from her telephone! They almost have a "watercolor" effect: how appropriate!

More for Wednesday

The rain had stopped by ten o'clock, but there were still spots that could be called "flooded," 'tho not in any degree of severity as has been seen in New England, recently.


Traffic at the Underpass was being monitored by a State Police Officer.


Down beyond Sangerfield, on Loomis Road, this fairly new house resembled an island.


Further in on Loomis Road ---- "Road Closed!"


On Osborn Avenue, Walt Stephenson tried to clear a drain (or pull the plug) on his side lawn-lake.



Of Note on Main Street --- the Pole's Gone!!!



And also of interest:

We’re advised by a reader that Thursday evenings at “Michael’s Fine Food & Spirits” are not to be missed! Live jazz is heard from 7 'til 10 and geographic/regional specialties are served. Last week was “Carribean,” and tomorrow night’s fare features “Southern Barbeque” and - yes! - there will be “ribs!”





Peter DeWitt, the author of “Toaster Pond,” will be appearing on WKTV on July 1st at around 8:45 a.m. and then at Barnes & Noble at 7:00 P.M. on July 7th.








Deb & Doug Mayne will have a house guest for the next week or so. Ryan Acker has has travelled from Florida, where he has lived since last summer, to attend his brother Jason's wedding on July 1st.

Wet Wednesday

WKTV meteorologist Bill Kardas said Tuesday night that 4.14 inches of rain had fallen in two days, with 2.77 inches coming down Tuesday. Rain will continue this morning, heavy at times, before tapering off to showers in the afternoon. Scattered showers are predicted for Thursday and Friday before the sun breaks through Saturday.

(And people ask me WHY I ride around with my kayak atop my little car!)

While I'd thought, last week, that residents of Sanger Avenue should look into purchasing automobiles manufactured by Citroën ....


(From Wikipedia)The Citroën DS was an automobile produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Citroën sold nearly 1.5 million D-series during its 20 years of production.The DS is well-known for its futuristic, aerodynamic body design, and for its innovative technology (including its hydropneumatic self-leveling suspension system with which it could either be lowered to hug the highway or raised to climb over obstacles - like driveway ramps!)

....... I now think that some sort of amphibious vehicle would be more practical.


Choose from several models --- http://www.terrawind.com/index.html

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Donning rain gear for uptown photo tour: daily post to be continued.

I'm Ba - a - a - a - ck!

Thank you for all of your enquiries and "get Well Quick!" messages!

Getting "well" will be problematic: there's this thing about herniated disks and worn-out spine stuff that you just have to live with, but I'll try to adjust: all vacuuming, dusting and ironing will be kept to a minimum; someone else will be doing more of the grocerying and cleaning; and I'll just have to spend more time riding around taking pictures!!!

From all reports, the only thing that I missed while I was being treated like a queen at St. Elizabeth's Hospital was RAIN and MORE RAIN!

At least I have one pretty, dry-day photograph to share: taken last Thursday on Hanover Hill.

A bump in the road

"The writer"developed a severe back pain during the night and consequently was taken to St. E's this morning for diagnosis and prognosis.There will be a temporary dely in keeping the BLOG uptodate.