National Volunteer Week: American Red Cross recognizes the crucial support of its volunteers

National Volunteer Week is April 17-23 and the Southern Tier chapter of the American Red Cross of Western New York honors the work of its volunteers who give their time to help people in need.

Across the country, more than 300,000 Red Cross volunteers serve their communities by responding to thousands of disasters; supporting the collection of blood to help patients receive the critical care they need; aiding members of the military and their families; helping communities prepare for emergencies around the globe and much more.

Volunteers make up 90 percent of the Red Cross workforce. Throughout the week, Red Cross staff will hold drive-thru appreciation events at its Endicott and Corning offices, and its location in The Shops at Ithaca Mall to meet with volunteers and express their thanks with a token of their appreciation. 

Across the American Red Cross of Western New York’s 27-county footprint more than 2,100 volunteers help their community. “National Volunteer Week is time to honor all of our volunteers for their constant service and support,” said Nick Bond, Regional CEO, American Red Cross of Western New York. “They are true heroes who give their time day and night to help their local community.”

Last year, Red Cross volunteers provided food, shelter, comfort and hope to 1,597 local families who faced emergency situations. They trained 37,735 people in lifesaving skills and provided 3,487 services to military members, veterans and their families.

TOP 3 MOST NEEDED VOLUNTEER POSITIONS The need for volunteers has never been greater as we experience larger and more intense disasters across the country. Please consider becoming a Red Cross volunteer to help families in need. We’ll provide all of the training you need, visit redcross.org/volunteertoday to learn more.

1. Shelter Support Team: During large disasters, these volunteers support the day-to-day activities such as welcoming and registering residents, helping with meal service, distributing cots, blankets and hygiene supplies, and providing information and other assistance within a shelter. If the need arises, volunteers are asked to commit to multiple local shifts of 4-12 hours each. For those able to travel, a commitment of at least 14 consecutive days, working 8- or 12-hour shifts is required.
2. Disaster Health Services Team: These volunteers use their professional skills as a licensed healthcare provider to deliver hands on care and education to shelter residents during a large disaster. Our free online training can count towards nursing continuing education units. If the need arises, volunteers are asked to commit to multiple local shifts of 4-12 hours each. For those able to travel, a commitment of at least 10-14 consecutive days, working 8- or 12-hour shifts is required. Qualified licenses include RN, LPN, LVN, EMT, Paramedic, MD, DO, PA, NP, APRN. Only RNs have full scope of practice.
3. Disaster Action Team: While big hurricanes and wildfires get the most news coverage, smaller disasters such as home fires are no less devastating to those affected. That’s why we need volunteers to help comfort and support local families in need by providing food, shelter, clothing or supplies, and connecting families to recovery assistance.

Just as disasters happen every day, the need for blood is constant. The Red Cross is also recruiting for critical volunteers to support our work to ensure hospital patients have access to safe, lifesaving blood.

You can help save countless lives as a blood donor ambassador. These volunteers check blood donors into their appointments, answer questions and give out post donation snacks. Got a bit more time? How about joining the team of volunteers who drive the blood from donors to the patients in hospitals? Transportation specialists support hospital patients by delivering blood from Red Cross facilities to local hospitals.

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Thomas Cole National Historic Site Publishes Thomas Cole’s Journal, Never Before Available in Print

The Journal, Which Cole Entitled Thoughts & Occurrences, Exposes the Inner Workings and Private Thoughts of the Seminal American Artist and a New Window into Art, Politics, and Family Dynamics in 19^th Century America 

 

Catskill, NY – April 14, 2022 – The Thomas Cole National Historic Site announced today that it has transcribed and published Thomas Cole’s private journal, making this primary source document available to the public for the first time. Cole (1801-1848) titled the journal, Thoughts & Occurrences, in which he wrote from 1834 until his sudden death in 1848. This period encompasses the peak of his artistic career, including the years when he painted his most iconic works: The Oxbow, 1836; The Course of Empire, 1836; and The Voyage of Life, 1842. Thomas Cole was an American artist and early environmentalist, an economic migrant from England, and the founder of this nation’s first major art movement, now known as the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The text for the new publication was transcribed by Peter Fedoryk, a member of the 2019 Class of Cole Fellows at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, in consultation with Dr. Alan Wallach, Ralph H. Wark Professor Emeritus of Art and Art History & Professor of American Studies, The College of William & Mary, the leading Thomas Cole Scholar and member of the site’s National Council. 

 

Thoughts & Occurrences—published as a 129-page softcover volume—offers Cole’s unique perspective as an economic immigrant who came to the United States from England at age 17, and who rose to become the most prominent landscape painter of the early 19^th century and the inspiration for generations of artists that followed. Cole lived and worked in the significant, but often overlooked, period of social and political upheaval in America between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, when the young country was struggling with putting the constitution into action. Cole opines on emerging industries and technologies such as the railroad and Daguerreotype, exquisitely details hikes with family and friends in the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains, and records his harsh criticism for the Jacksonian government that defined much of his adulthood in the United States.  

 

Regarding the politics of the Jacksonian Era, Cole worries: “I have of late felt a presentiment that the Institutions of the United States will ere long undergo a change, that there will be a separation of the States…every newspaper brings accounts of laws violated…It appears to me that the moral principle of the nation is much lower than formerly…May my fears be foolish— a few years will tell.” 

 

Regularly exploring the surrounding mountains for inspiration, Cole writes of excursions with Sarah Cole, the artist who was also his sister; Maria Bartow Cole, who married Thomas and whose family owned the property now known as the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; and many other historic figures. He writes of one such trip to the South Peak of the Catskills in 1836: “Standing on the topmost precipices and looking South East the View is sublime. The vast valley of the Hudson lies like a sea before and beneath you while the base of the mountain on which you stand rises abrupt…and seems like The Prow of a Stupendous vessel ploughing the Great Deep.” 

 

The Journal concludes with Cole’s final entry, written on his 47^th birthday, just ten days before his sudden death. He wrote a message of optimism: “Last night it snowed, and we are rejoiced to see the black, unsightly landscape covered with the pure mantle. The sun shines, and the heart rejoices in the change.”  

 

“Thomas Cole’s own words tell his story through magnificent phrases and emotionally gripping anecdotes, and we are thrilled to bring this important text to the public,” said Betsy Jacks, Executive Director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. “Cole’s journal is rife with experiences that shine a new light on our contemporary moment and how we’ve arrived here, as well as revelations of delight”   

 

The book is the third installment in an ongoing publication series, an initiative of the Thomas Cole Site to transcribe and publish Thomas Cole’s original writing. The first two publications are Cole’s Essay on American Scenery, which underscores his role as a proto-environmentalist, and Lecture on Art, in which Cole makes the case for public art, the teaching of art, and the industrial arts.   

 

All three books are available for purchase in the online store here. 

 

Thomas Cole National Historic Site  

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site is an international destination presenting the original home and studios of the artist and early environmentalist Thomas Cole (1801-1848). Cole founded the first major art movement of the United States, now known as the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Located on 6 acres in the Hudson Valley, the site includes the 1815 Main House; Cole’s 1839 Old Studio; the reconstructed 1846 New Studio building; and gardens and grounds with panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains. It is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Thomas Cole Site’s activities include guided and self-guided tours, special exhibitions of both 19th-century and contemporary art, print publications, lectures, extensive online programs, school programs, the Cole Fellowship, free community events, and innovative public programs such as the Hudson River School Art Trail—a map and website that enables people to visit the places in nature that Cole painted – and the Hudson River Skywalk – a scenic walkway connecting the Thomas Cole Site with Frederic Church’s Olana over the Hudson River. The goal of all programs at the Thomas Cole Site is to enable visitors to find meaning and inspiration in Thomas Cole’s life and work. The themes that Cole explored in his art and writings—such as landscape preservation and our conception of nature as a restorative power—are both historic and timely, providing the opportunity to connect to audiences with insights that are highly relevant to their own lives.  

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Registration Now Open for Family Farm Day 2022

 

Preparations for Family Farm Day (FFD) are well underway! August 27, 2022, marks ten years of FFD, a popular agritourism event which celebrates high-quality local goods and foods, diverse educational experiences, and fun on the farm for the whole family. FFD began in 2013 as solely a Schoharie County event. Four years later Otsego County farmers joined, followed by Delaware County in 2018, developing into the tri-county event we know today. Dozens of small farms will open their doors to the public, offering a glimpse behind the scenes into the daily life of a local farming operation. Visitors enjoy hands-on demonstrations and educational activities, tours, rides, samples and tastings of local foods and beverages, and of course, plenty of shopping! FFD is a wonderful way to showcase the never-ending variety of farm-fresh products that our region has to offer.

 

If you are a farm in Schoharie, Otsego, or Delaware Counties, Cornell Cooperative Extension cordially welcomes your participation. Take this opportunity to advertise your products to diverse markets, gain new customers, and educate your local community about farming. Farm registrations are being accepted through Friday, May 6, 2022. Information, including eligibility, registration, contacts, and agritourism resources are available online at www.FamilyFarmDay.org.

 

Looking for advertising opportunities? As one of the most important agritourism events in our region, communities near and far come to support our local farms and other area businesses. Our multi-media advertising plan targets visitors from Albany to Newburgh, west to Binghamton, and north to Utica in both print and digital media formats. Sponsorship brings you visibility among an annual average of sixty participating farms from all three counties, as well as the hundreds of local families and thousands of tourists who visit on Family Farm Day. Our county tourism partners strongly support our promotional efforts, helping to maximize your business' visibility. To learn more about advertising with Family Farm Day, visit www.FamilyFarmDay.org. Don’t delay, advertising space for this event fills quickly!

 

We are happy to address questions by phone, email, or on-farm. In Schoharie County, contact Jessica Holmes at 518-234-4303 (x119), jmh452@cornell.edu; in Otsego County, contact Helen Powers-Light at 607-547-2536 (x227), hnp23@cornell.edu; in Delaware County, contact Carla Hedgeman Crim at 607-865-6531, ceh27@cornell.edu.

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Otsego County Master Gardener Plant Sale returns May 21st

Rain or shine, the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Otsego County will hold their annual plant sale on Saturday, May 21, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cornell Cooperative Extension Education Center, 123 Lake Street in Cooperstown.  Please note that the date of the sale is earlier this year, in past years it was traditionally held on the last weekend in May.

 

A wide variety of vegetables, annual flowers, herbs, and perennials known to grow well in Otsego County will be featured at reasonable prices.  Choosing plant varieties not frequently found in local retail establishments, Master Gardener volunteers cultivated from seed heirloom and blight-resistant tomatoes, deer-resistant plants, and a few unusual varieties they love in their gardens.  All plants sold have been planted in sterile potting media. Unlike in past years, Master Gardeners will not be digging perennials from their gardens, in an effort, to avoid the spread of jumping worms.  However, a limited selection of house plants from Master Gardeners’ collections will be offered.

 

Cornell-trained Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions about planting, nurturing, harvesting, and assisting in plant selections.  Customers are encouraged to bring boxes to carry home purchases.  Cash or checks are preferred, although credit cards are accepted.  For more information and continuing updates on plants offered, follow the webpage CCEschoharie-otsego.org/OMG-Plant-Sale.  Gardeners may also leave a voicemail message at 607-547-2536 ext. 228. 

 

Proceeds from the sale will benefit the educational outreach of the Master Gardeners Volunteer Program of Otsego County and the Grow with CCE Campaign, an exciting comprehensive site redesign project to “Create a Place for Learning through Gardening.”  To learn more about this project, please visit cceschoharie-otsego.org/grow-with-cce. 

 

For information about Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego Counties’ community programs and events, go to http://cceschoharie-otsego.org  Stay connected to CCESchoharie and Otsego on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CCESchoharieOtsego/  & follow CCE Master Gardeners’ daily postings at https://www.facebook.com/CCEOtsegoMG/

 

Gardeners may also want to plan a visit to The Farmers’ Museum Heritage Plant Sale which will be held on May 28^th and 29^th. 

 

Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities. Accommodations for persons with special needs may be requested by contacting Cornell Cooperative Extension Schoharie and Otsego Counties prior to a program.

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Advocates for Springfield creates a Field of Interest Fund with the Community Foundation of Otsego County

New Fund Accepting Applications for Projects that Benefit Springfield, NY

 

[SPRINGFIELD CENTER, NY] Advocates for Springfield is a grass-roots group formed in 2000 to promote good land uses in the Town of Springfield. The group encouraged Springfield to adopt a comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance, and other land use laws. As the vision and actions of the Town’s governing bodies aligned with the goals of Advocates for Springfield, the group felt it had accomplished its principle objectives.

 

Advocates wanted to put its remaining financial resources to use for further benefit of Town residents. They turned Advocates’ assets over to the Community Foundation of Otsego County (CFOC) and established a Field of Interest Fund to be managed by CFOC. The fund will issue grants to fulfill the wishes established by Advocates for Springfield. 

 

The Fund will offer support for local nonprofit organizations that add to the fabric of the community, such as the volunteer fire department and the library. Grants may also be used for projects that add to the community’s sense of spirit and its recognition of common interests. Grants of up to $500 will be made. 

Jeff Katz, Executive Director of CFOC, said, “Advocates for Springfield accomplished a great deal in their nearly 20-year run. We're honored that they have chosen the Community Foundation as the 

place to do more good work through a field of interest fund. We encourage Springfield nonprofits to apply. We want to invest the funds in Springfield soon, so the first deadline is May 15.”

 Tara  Sumner, VP of Advocates for Springfield, said, “Setting up a Field of Interest Fund was an excellent way to extend the impact of our group. We had a great 22 year run that will now continue in perpetuity. CFOC designed a fund just for us and we will rely upon them to support good projects within our Town. We have also stipulated that the Community Foundation will make periodic grants in amounts that allow the Fund to maintain its original principal.” 

Applications must be submitted online through cfotsego.org/advocates-for-springfield. If you have any questions about the application or the Fund, we are glad to help. Please email awards@cfotsego.org or call 607-434-5542. The first application deadline is May 16, 2022, with decisions made by June 16, 2022. For further information please visit the Community Foundation of Otsego County website at cfotsego.org.

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SUNY COBLESKILL BASEBALL SWEEPS NAC DOUBLEHEADER FROM CAZENOVIA COLLEGE 6-4 & 8-2

The SUNY Cobleskill baseball team pushed their current winning streak to nine games by sweeping the visiting Wildcats of Cazenovia College in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action on Friday by scores of 6-4 and 8-2 at Fighting Tiger Field. With the sweep Cobleskill moves into first place in the NAC Western Division with a 16-11 overall including a 7-0 record versus NAC opponents while the Wildcats are now 7-17 overall with a 2-5 record in conference action.  

The Fighting Tigers trailed the visitors 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning with the bases loaded and two outs when Head Coach Lance Ratchford went to his bench sending first year slugger Logan Hutter, Smithtown, N.Y. Smithtown West High School, in to pinch hit. Hutter who had arrived to the game the previous inning from a late class and a make-up exam responded by ripping a bases clearing double down the third base line to give Cobleskill a 5-3 lead. He would then score the team’s final run when the Wildcats committed an error on a ball hit by first year pinch hitter Matt Deall, Manorville, N.Y., Eastport South-Manorville High School, which made it 6-3. 

Cobleskill senior starter Jarrod Williams, Baldwinsville, N.Y., C.W. Baker High School/Finger Lakes Community College, went six innings allowing three earned runs on five hits striking our 10 Wildcat hitters while walking three to improve to 2-0 overall on the year with relief help in the sixth inning from senior Manielvic Diplan, Peekskill, N.Y., Peekskill High School, who notched his second save of the year.  

Sophomore third baseman David Flora, Windsor, N.Y., Windsor High School/Herkimer Community College, kept the home team in the contest early twice tying the game with solo home runs as part of a 2-for-3 effort at the plate.  

In the second game Cobleskill senior lefty Devin Lewis, Cobleskill, N.Y., Cobleskill-Richmondville High School, returned from the disabled list to hold the Wildcats scoreless over five innings allowing only two hits while striking out two and walking only one to improve to 3-2 overall on the year. 

Offensively the Fighting Tigers capitalized on three Cazenovia errors and several wild pitches to secure the victory as senior shortstop Eddy Garcia, Bronx, N.Y., World View High School, went 2-for-3 with a pair of triples, a run scored and an RBI while third baseman David Flora continues his hot hitting going 2-for-3 with a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI. Catcher Logan Hutter also continued to play well going 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored with first year center fielder Zach Ducorsky, Oceanside, N.Y., Oceanside High School, going 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI from the lead-off stop.  

The two teams are tentatively scheduled to next meet on Monday April 18 for a NAC single game at Fighting Tiger Field.  

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Permaculture Workshop April 21st

Permaculture is the harmonious integration of landscape and people to meet their food, energy, material, and non-material needs in a sustainable way. In other words, permaculture is a holistic practice as well as a technical approach for how to design your garden for self-sufficiency. Join our CCE Agriculture and Horticulture Intern, Becca Leone on April 21st at noon for a workshop on permaculture. Her presentation will include principles of permaculture, site planning, self-sufficiency, and urban permaculture. The workshop will be provided over zoom and will include an at-home activity to show the advantages of redesigning your garden to fit within the scope of permaculture. Be prepared to dive into all the facets of this exciting land management practice to better help yourself, your family, and the environment. To register, visit https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/permaculture_243

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Team Empie to return to Schoharie County CROP Hunger Walk

The 2022 Schoharie County Aggie Scott Memorial CROP Hunger Walk  will start and end at Cobleskill United Methodist Church on Sunday, May 1. Again this year Team Empie will be part of the event.

Registration will run from 1:15 till 1:30 with the short  program at 1:30. The 2.8-mile in-person  walk around Cobleskill will start soon thereafter. The route will be almost identical to last year's.

The Walk can again this year also be a virtual walk for those who can't participate on May 1. Virtual Walkers collect donations and walk any distance at any time that they like before 1:30  on May 1, when all donations should be turned in at Cobleskill United Methodist Church.

Virtual Walkers do not have  to walk 2.8 miles.

Each virtual and  in-person Walker will get a CROP tee shirt.  

During the program the MC will recognize Aggie Scott and Lee Empie, two senior citizens who passed away several years ago. Both were known for their amazing fundraising skills and for following the CROP route while both were  in their eighties.

Aggie was such a persuasive fundraiser that she once stopped her car when she saw a friend  who was also raising money for the event. She asked him to support her with some cash for a donation. 

He responded, ''But I'm walking too, so I'm trying to collect money, not give it away!''

Aggie replied, ''But if you give me a donation, that money will end up in the same place anyway!''

He said, ''Aggie, you're right.'' He gave her ten dollars. Aggie thanked him and drove away.

Aggie Scott was always the Walker turning in the most money on CROP Hunger Walk Sunday.

Lee Empie joined the local walk after Aggie passed away. Lee was an even more prolific CROP fundraiser, but his method was more technological  than Aggie's direct, personal approach. 

Besides using Aggie's direct approach, Lee used social media to reach out to his friends and supporters.

His children and grandchildren helped him by using their social  media contacts. Lee and his family soon brought in record amounts of money for the local CROP Hunger Walk.

For example, for the 2019 Walk Lee raised $2555. The Walker who brought in the second highest amount of money, John Jarvis,  turned in $535.

In 2017 Lee collected $2254 while teenager Nathalia Mazoff turned in $521 to earn a certificate for submitting the second-largest amount of money.  

In 2016 Lee turned in $2010 while Nathalia Mazoff and John Jarvis turned in a combined $715.

Lee Empie, with help from  his family, was clearly a gifted money raiser for our local CROP Hunger Walks.

After Lee passed away  on April 3, 2019, his fundraising skills lived on.

His family members formed Team Empie, which participated in the 2020 CROP Hunger Walk in person. Team Empie raised money virtually for the 2021 Walk. Both years Team Empie won awards for raising the most money for that year's CROP Hunger Walk.

For the 2021 CROP Hunger Walk, Team Empie raised  $3330 of the $7027 turned in on CROP Hunger Walk Sunday, Team Empie actually raised  47% of all money turned in that day to Tracy Smith during registration.

Team Empie will be part of the 2022 Schoharie County Aggie Scott Memorial  CROP Hunger Walk. 

John Jarvis of the local CROP Hunger Walk Planning Committee is very glad to have Team Empie back for another year of fighting hunger locally and everywhere.

''With Lee Empie's family joining us again this year, I know that the Schoharie County Aggie Scott Memorial CROP Hunger Walk will be a big success by our standards,'' Jarvis added. ''All of us involved with the local CROP Hunger Walk are so proud of the dedication and support of the Empie family.''

A new team will join the local CROP Hunger Walk this year.

A group of SUNY- Cobleskill students, advised by Pr. Ray Richards of Calvary Assembly of God,  will join the CROP Hunger Walk virtually on the SUNY campus a few days before the May 1 fundraiser. 

The local CROP Hunger Walk planning team  is very excited to have SUNY college students involved in the event.  

Members of the local CROP Hunger Walk planning team are Treasurer Marty Blankowitz, Statistician Tracy Smith and Arranger John Jarvis.

CROP stands for ''Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.''

Anyone with questions can call 518-234-2933.

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Word Thursdays 30th Anniversary In-Person at Bright Hill on April 28 at 7 PM

Word Thursdays, Bright Hill Press & Literary Center's legacy program, will celebrate 30 years of readings by presenting an in-person reading on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 7 pm EST, at Bright Hill Press & Literary Center, 94 Church St., Treadwell, NY (next door to the Methodist Church). The reading will also stream live on Facebook. The featured poets and writers are Robert Bensen, Oneonta; Ginnah Howard, Otego; Bertha Rogers, Treadwell; and Sharon Ruetenik, Delhi, all of whom were featured during Word Thursdays' first year, 1992, and who have been long-time participants in Bright Hill's programs. Refreshments will be served during the intermission. Local poets and writers, among them Lisa Wujnovich, Michael Piercy and Teresa Winchester, are invited to read from their own work or work by others for up to three minutes. Suggested donation is $3, and free to students. Donations to Bright Hill are gratefully accepted via Paypal by visiting this link, https://paypal.me/brighthillpress, by check made out to Bright Hill Press Inc, and mailed to 94 Church Street, Treadwell, NY 13846, or by credit card by personal appointment by emailing info@brighthillpress.org. Virtual "donation jar:" https://paypal.me/brighthillpress RSVP to the event on here.

Robert Bensen’s volume, What Lightning Spoke: New & Selected Poems, will be published by Bright Hill Press in June 2022. After retiring as Professor Emeritus and former Director of Writing at Hartwick College (1978-2017), he founded and currently directs the Seeing Things Poetry Workshop for Bright Hill Literary Center. His poems, essays, editions, and studies have been widely published and earned awards and fellowships from the NEA, NEH, Newbery Library, NYSCA, Illinois Arts Council, Harvard University, NY State Fair, Eric Hoffer Award, and elsewhere. He has taught writing and literature at SUNY Oneonta, Parkland College, and the University of Illinois. For more information visit: https://robertbensen.com/

Bertha Rogers's most recent poetry collection is Wild, Again (Salmon Poetry, Ireland, 2019); her translation of all 95 of the thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Poems, Uncommon Creatures, was published in 2019. Her forthcoming collection, What Want Brings: New & Selected Poems, will be published in 2023 (Salmon Poetry). Rogers co-founded Bright Hill Press with her husband (now deceased), Ernest M. Fishman; she retired in 2017 but still leads kid's literary workshops and edits poetry collections. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize nine times, and she has received fellowships to the MacDowell Colony and others.

Sharon Ruetenik, poet and educator, has published in several anthologies and journals, most recently Iconoclast and Evening Street Review. Her chapbook, The Wooden Bowl, illustrates the role of women from Eve to Dorothy. Ruetenik was awarded a fellowship at the Saltonstall Foundation and at Platte Clove. She has taught poetry classes for Writers in the Mountains and functioned as a facilitator for the New York Council of the Humanities directing discussions on such diverse subjects as WWI, the Muslim Journey, and A History of Aging. Sharon Ruetenik has an abiding interest in What Ifs and a natural proclivity for incongruities.

Ginnah Howard taught high school English for twenty-seven years and began writing when she was in her mid-forties. Her work has appeared in Water-Stone Review, Permafrost, and A Room of One’s Own, and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. For more information, visit www.ginnahhoward.com.

Word Thursdays at Bright Hil

On a snowy evening in January of 1992, the Bright Hill Word Thursdays Reading Series was inaugurated at the home of Bertha Rogers and Ernest Fishman, just up the road from Treadwell, NY. So much has happened during our 30 years of operation, including:   * Word Thursdays, the continuing series, presenting open readings followed by readings and discussion by featured authors;    *  Bright Hill Books, publishing anthologies as well as poetry collections, chapbooks and interdisciplinary collections by individual authors since 1994;    *  The NYSCA Literary Map of New York State and the NYSCA Literary Tree: nyslittree.org (since 1999), developed and administered by BHP, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts.   *  Word Thursdays Share the Words HS Poetry Mentoring Program and Competition, affording young poets a chance to write and present their own poetry in a public competition since 1996;   *  Bright Hill Literary Workshops for Kids & Adults, offering, since 1994, innovative programs that celebrate and incorporate the elegant use of words with other disciplines;   *  BHLC Internship Program for College and HS Students, offering, since 1994, students an opportunity to learn the business of literature.   *  Bright Hill Presents: Annual History & Nonfiction Day; Chamber music in the library; and Songs from the Great American Songbook; Great American Poets Day; and Veterans and Communities Day.

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Power Authority Reopens Reservoirs for Recreational Boating

Power Authority Reopens Reservoirs for Recreational Boating

 

New Picnic Amenities at Upper and Lower Reservoir Available

 

NORTH BLENHEIM—The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has opened the lower and upper reservoirs for the season to recreational boating at the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project. Both fishing areas were enhanced in 2021 with picnic tables and portable bathrooms for the convenience of the boating and fishing communities as a result of the power project’s new 50-year operating license.

 

Use of the upper reservoir is limited to rowboats, canoes, and kayaks only, with or without electric-trolling motors. Gasoline-powered engines and sailboats are prohibited on the upper reservoir. Recreational craft, including rowboats, canoes and kayaks—with or without electric-trolling motors—and boats with gas-powered engines may be used in the lower reservoir.

 

The public fishing access along the Schoharie Creek just below the lower reservoir is currently open.

 

For access to the upper reservoir, boaters are required to stop at the south gate on Valenti Road no earlier than 7 a.m. All boats must be off the reservoir promptly at 5 p.m. Shoreline fishing closes at dusk. Daily inspections of the reservoir will be performed by NYPA security.

 

For access to the lower reservoir, boaters are required to stop at Mine Kill State Park’s toll booth or the park’s office on the day of intended use. Boating will be permitted from 7:30 a.m. until the park closes; however, all boats must be off the reservoir one hour before then. The park will remain open until 4 p.m. until the first weekend in May; afterward, it will remain open until dusk.

 

Please visit the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation webpage on tips for Boating Safety and observe all NYS COVID-19 safety protocols.

The reservoirs may be closed to boating at any time at the Power Authority’s discretion.

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