Author Archives: mohawkvalleygirl

The Quest Continues

Posted on December 9, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had already written Tuesday’s blog post about how I could not find a plastic light up snowman for my front lawn when I remembered another place to look: The Thrift Store. I thought of it shortly after seven in the morning, so I had a full day of work to get through while containing my excitement.

The Salvation Army Thrift Store is located at 164 W Main St. in Ilion. It took some maneuvering from my place of employment to get there — late afternoon traffic in Ilion is incredible — but I found a parking space and in I went, hopes high. No luck. Lots of cool Christmas decorations, but nothing big. I walked studiously by the books. OK, I took a quick glance, but did not let myself stay. You know me and books (and if you don’t know: I love books).

As I had contemplated the Thrift Store during work (still paying attention to my tasks, of course), I had bethought me of Collis Hardware (how’s that for a fancy way of saying “I thought of”?), on North Main Street in Herkimer. An old fashioned store like that, I thought, might be the way to go. As I pondered how to get there from here, I remembered Second Time Around Consignments on Mohawk Street in Herkimer. Two more possibilities!

Second Time Around, it turns out, has mostly clothes. Some very fancy clothes. I did not have time to browse, though. I was on a mission. It’s a nice store. I’ll have to return at a more opportune time.

I found a space on Main Street almost two blocks from Collis, and I remembered the HARC Goodwill Store around the corner. No luck in Collis, and then I had to decide: to walk around the corner and down that street, then all the way back to my truck, possibly carrying a plastic light up Santa (I am ever optimistic) or to drive around the block. I drove around the block. Don’t judge me.

No luck at HARC Goodwill, either. I briefly eyed Dollar General across the street, but decided it was too complicated to get to (one way street, no left turn, etc.) and not that good of a possibility anyways. I went home and contemplated the perverseness of fate.

Last night I found a comment under Snowman Rant. A friend, who is much more adept at the internet than I, had found me a couple more possibilities. The search continues! And if I don’t meet with success in 2011, there will be garage sales to check out in 2012. Now it’s a quest. But will my plastic light up snowman be the thrill I am hoping for when I finally find him? A philosophical question to ponder another day.

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Posted in Christmas, decorations, Herkimer, humor, Ilion, local business. Bookmark the permalink.

DePalma’s: All Purpose Eatery

Posted on December 8, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

Saturday my unsuccessful mission to find a plastic light up snowman for my front yard (see yesterday’s post) took me to North Utica, and I got hungry. As I headed back to Herkimer on State Route 5, I saw a big sign that said, “Breakfast,” and pulled into DePalma’s, located right next to Mr. McGill’s.

I was soon seated at a booth in the charmingly decorated eatery perusing a menu. DePalma’s does breakfast, lunch and dinner. They bill themselves as a pizzeria, diner, baker and restaurant. Quite the all purpose establishment.

I ordered a breakfast sandwich of sausage, egg and cheese on a hard roll, with coffee, of course. It was quite yummy. I read a tent card on the table describing Wine Ice Cream and contemplated a return in the evening.

The waitress told me they have been open since June, and many people are still unaware of their existence.

“When I tell them where I work, they say, ‘Where?’ I say, ‘Right next to Mr. McGill’s,’ and they say, ‘Oh, OK.'”

I had actually seen a billboard for DePalma’s as I drove down Rt. 5 toward North Utica, but it was the big sign reading “Breakfast” that drew me in. I was glad it did. I had a couple of other places to check for my snowman, and now I had the energy to continue my search.

DePalma’s is open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information call 315-797-4500.

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Snowman Rant

Posted on December 7, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I suppose one could find a metaphor for life in my problem. One could say, with a philosophical shrug, you snooze, you lose. One could say sententiously that you have to take advantage of the good things in life when they are available, because you never know when they will be taken away from you.

Frankly, I think the last mentioned person is overstating the case, and is a trifle obnoxious to boot. We’re not talking about spending time with my parents or taking my dog for a walk (both of which I ought to do more often, but that’s another rant). It’s just… we want one of those plastic light up snowmen for the front of our house.

These plastic light up decorations have been around for as long as I can remember, which is pretty far back, because I have not lost my entire mind yet. My family never had one when I was growing up. For one thing, the guy that plowed our driveway used to pile all kinds of snow in our front yard. Great for minor sledding, King of the Hill and other fun in the snow. For decorating the front lawn, not so much. And we almost never used our front door, so there was no compelling reason to shovel the front porch and decorate that.

When Steven and I bought our house, we hung lights on the front porch for the holidays almost as a matter of course. I’m pretty sure we didn’t discuss “should we?” Actually, when it comes to Christmas the word “should” rarely arises, unless it’s a the sentence such as, “Of course we should; it’s Christmas!”

We got a plastic lighted Santa when I saw some that looked old fashioned. The one I picked looks similar to a Santa candle my Mom has had as long as I can remember (as I said: a long time). I surprised Steven with it one day when he was at work and I was off. I walked to the store and walked home with Santa under my arm and felt pretty cool doing it. We were content with our Santa for a number of years (probably five; who counts these things?), but this year, Steven suddenly conceived the desire for a snowman to keep Santa company. I liked the idea.

Do you think we can find a plastic light up snowman anywhere? Nobody has them! We’ve checked department stores, hardware stores, consignment stores, thrift stores, every place I could think of. It’s all huge blow up things or wire with little bulbs. Both very nice in their own way, I suppose, but Not What I Want. One place had two plastic light up decorations: Snoopy and a penguin. Neither is right as a companion for our Santa.

As to why we did not buy a snowman when they were readily available, I have no reason. It never occurred to me to want one till Steven suggested it this year. And now I WANT one!!! And it’s not like I want one only because we can’t find one: we got the idea before we started looking.

A voice in my head says, “It’s no fair!” A singularly useless observation. We all know that Christmas is not fair. Look at all the rotten brats that get lots of great presents. And some well behaved angels get crap. OK, I don’t personally know any well behaved angels (I’m certainly not one), but I’ve heard.

I can’t even make a real snowman, because there isn’t any snow. I’ve only made about three snowmen in my life. The most memorable was when I was a little girl. I needed my Mom’s help, because I rolled the snowballs too big. I named him, with no sense of irony, Mr. Snowman. He lasted a long time, especially since my little brother (no angel himself) did not knock him down.

We will not have a completely snowman-less Christmas. We have, in fact, a rather extensive collection of indoor snowmen. And it may snow so I can try my hand again. But for the rest of my life, I’m afraid I will recall 2011 as The Year We Couldn’t Find a Plastic Light Up Snowman.

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Posted in Christmas, commentary, decorations, humor, rant, snowman. Bookmark the permalink.

Oh Christmas Trees

Posted on December 6, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I drive by Weller Library and Weller Park almost every day after work. Weller Library, if you didn’t read about it in one of my previous posts, is a lovely building, the former home of the Weller family. It is surrounded by a park which hosts many community events. I noticed a sign about Christmas in the Park. Eventually information about a tree lighting appeared on the sign, and a couple of Christmas trees showed up.

I drive by the park slowly due to traffic and a four way stop, but also due to traffic and a four way stop, it’s not easy to read signs. So I wasn’t clear on if the event was Dec. 4 at 5 p.m. or from 4 to 5 p.m. Luckily, the OD (that’s the Utica Observer Dispatch) listed it in their Events Calendar in Sunday’s Paper. 5 p.m.

So Steven and I made sure we got all or most of our stuff done by 4:30 or so and headed on over. We brought our dog, Tabby. We figured there could be no possible objection to a dog in a park, and we had faith in our ability to keep her from peeing on the Christmas trees.

A crowd had already gathered, but we found a parking space without too much trouble. There were a lot of trees, all beautifully decorated. Signs told us who had put up each tree. Local businesses, Girl Scout troops, fire departments and other organizations had participated. We walked around and admired. Several young girls admired Tabby, and petted her.

We ran into a gentleman from our church, and he told us this was the third year for trees in the park. He said anybody could put a tree up.

“You could put your tree up here next year,” he suggested.

That sounded like a good idea to me. I have been toying with the idea of not doing a tree this year. One reason is that nobody ever comes over to see our decorations. Of course we’ll still decorate, because we like to look at decorations, but how many decorations do me and Steve need to look at? Now, to put a tree up in Weller Park, everybody would see it. Most of the trees are memorials. I know some people I could make a memorial to. It’s something to think about.

The trees in Weller Park are gorgeous this year, especially with the lights on. Before the actual lighting, a color guard marched and a chaplain said a prayer. Then they played Christmas carols, which I was not the only one to sing along with (I danced a little, too; I love Christmas carols). Hot chocolate and cookies were served in the library. Steven went in and brought us out some (as well behaved as Tabby is, I did not think she’d be welcome in the library). It was yummy cocoa.

People were still enjoying the trees and the music when we left. We drove around a couple of blocks in Mohawk, admiring the lights on people’s houses. We don’t have snow yet, but there is plenty of Christmas spirit in the Mohawk Valley.

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Posted in Christmas, Community Events, decorations, libraries, Mohawk, Mohawk Valley, trees. Bookmark the permalink.

Sunday Run

Posted on December 5, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

Today I’m going to do what I have previously done on some Saturdays: I ran this morning and now I’m going to blog about it.

It was actually afternoon by the time I finished my run and cool down, because it was 11:33 when I started (that’s my time obsession; I can’t say 11:30 when I looked at my watch and it was 11:33). I didn’t feel too much like running. However, I ran yesterday with a sinus headache and it turned out pretty good, so I thought, “Hey, can’t hurt, might help.”

Yesterday I was totally going to let myself off the hook because of the headache. For one thing it was cold and the cold always exacerbates these things. However, I actually felt like running. I ended up feeling pretty terrific. The headache even left me while I ran. It came back later, but whatever.

Today I did not have a headache, but I was lightheaded, which can be worse. I didn’t feel like doing anything but lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. Steven, on the other hand, was dreadfully ambitious. He cleaned the kitchen and was preparing to hang Christmas lights on the front porch. I told him, “I’m going in and I’m either going to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling or put on sports bras and go running.”

I tried the first and it was kind of boring and guilt inducing, so I sought out some running clothes. It had been quite chilly when we went to the grocery store this morning, so I left on my long johns and searched till I found my army long sleeved PT tee shirt. My long johns are a thin silky feeling polyester, not the heavy long johnny looking ones I also wear on occasion. I thought they’d be OK.

It was a bright, sunny day. The sun had gotten brighter, the wind had died down, and it seemed to be quite a bit warmer. Of course I did not realize this till I was actually on the sidewalk running. Damn! I prefer to run in bicycle shorts and short sleeves when possible. Well, my outfit was not too warm for the occasion. I tried to stay on the shady side of the street.

Still, it was not a particularly fun run. Every step was an effort. I’ve had these runs before; I know how to persevere. I persevered, confident I would eventually get to the “I can rock this” stage of the run. And I persevered some more. Finally I thought, “Well, so what? It isn’t going to be that long of a run; if the whole thing’s no fun, so be it. I’m still burning calories and building up my run time.”

I passed a group of young people, maybe college age. I saw them coming a block and a half away and hoped they would go somewhere else. Then again, I thought, why should I worry. They probably weren’t even noticing me. If they did, they were probably thinking, “Look at that old lady jogging. She should be home knitting.” I agreed. I wondered if they thought I should also have a glass of wine and watch Snapped. By now my run was getting to be a little more fun, because I was distracting myself with silly thoughts.

I made note of Christmas decorations, as I hope to take a walk after dark with Steven and Tabby and look at lights. Christmas decorations are not as charming in the bright sunlight with no snow, I thought. But still pretty charming. I was glad Steven was getting our decorations up.

As I approached the house, I hoped Steven would still be on the porch to say, “Go past the house.” You see, Steven told me the story of when he was a boy, riding with his nieces and nephews in the back of his dad’s pick up truck (this was the olden days, when kids rode in the backs of pick up trucks and nobody said anything). When they would get close to the house, they would chant, “Go past the house! Go past the house!” When I run, I sometimes have to go past the house a ways in order to run for the length of time I intend to. I say “Go past the house!” to myself, but I think it would be nice if Steven was on the porch to say it. I thought if he was on the porch today, I would yell, “Say it!” and hope he knew what I meant. Alas, he was not there. I went past the house anyways.

I felt pretty terrific after my run, when Tabby and I were walking around the block for my usual cool down. And I see I have gotten a rather lengthy blog post out of it. Rock on, me!

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Saturday Morning Walk

Posted on December 3, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

Other Saturdays I have gone running in the morning and then blogged about my run. Today I walked to the bank with Tabby, so my post will be about that.

I had a couple of checks I wanted to deposit in my Mad Money account at First Source Federal Credit Union here in Herkimer. I like that bank, because they are dog friendly. They don’t mind if Tabby comes in with me; in fact, they usually give her a treat. I thought they opened at eight, so we set out accordingly. I figured if I was wrong and they didn’t open till nine, I could get two walks in.

It was cold! Our thermometer said thirty-one degrees, and I believed it. The grass was stiff with last night’s heavy frost. I slipped on a little ice in the driveway and told myself I’d better watch it. I quickly put on the headband I had put in my pocket in case I needed it. I was wearing a jacket large enough to pull the sleeves down over my hands. Tabby did not seem to mind the temperature, but then she has a built in fur coat. I kept telling myself, wait till February. Then when it gets to be thirty-one degrees, we’ll be rejoicing in the warm weather. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

We saw a young person wearing pajama bottoms walking a large dog on the other side of the street. I could not tell if it was a young man or a young woman, because he or she was bundled up in a coat and hat, and the pajama bottoms were gender neutral. I mentally deplored again the fashion of wearing pajamas in public. Then again, maybe the person had just rolled out of bed and did not want to make their dog wait for its morning business meeting. Anyways, who am I to judge other people’s clothing? Especially when you consider some of my crazy old lady outfits. Tabby and the other dog regarded each other suspiciously but did not bark. Good dogs.

Tabby did her business, and as we continued toward the bank I kept an eye out for a trash can. You would think some of these businesses would have one by the door. At last I found one. I did not want to carry Tabby’s poop into the bank. I carried it into the post office once, set it down to transact my business and forgot it. I went back to get it and apologized, but how embarrassing. And pretty gross for other people.

After I made my deposit and Tabby got her treat, we went home by a different route. We saw a pug I know across the street but did not get near enough to pet him. He looked at us rather interestedly but kept walking, pausing of course to sniff or poop. Closer to home I got to pet two sweet shih tzu looking dogs (I’m never sure about breeds; I ought to get a book). Tabby touched noses with them but was more interested in heading home.

I have at least one more walk in mind for later today, as well as a couple other Mohawk Valley adventures. This morning’s stroll was a pleasant way to start my day.

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Better Lame than Never

Posted on December 3, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought of that headline two days ago, and I still don’t know what I’m going to write.

Oh dear, here’s an odd thing. Usually once I put pen to paper, words just magically come out. Today not so much. A similar thing happened yesterday. A short post was the result. Not that that’s a bad thing.

I won’t say I’ve got Writer’s Block. For one thing, it’s more like Writer’s Blank. I’ll never forget one time in a restaurant I was reading a book called On Writer’s Block by Victoria Nelson (Houghton Mifflin, 1993) (A really good book, by the way). This kind of scummy looking older woman asked me why I was reading it and I, rather stupidly (I admit), said it was because I had writer’s block.

“The cure for writer’s block is to write,” she said in a smug tone of voice. “You just write.”

To this day I wish I had said, “How many books have you written?” in a respectful, interested tone of voice. I’m thinking she wrote a lot of stupid journals and bad poetry. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that; I write stupid journals and bad poetry myself. It can be fun. But it’s nothing to be smug about.

And that brings me to another memory of a writer (thinking of bad poetry, not being smug). When I was in college about a hundred years ago, I noticed that the school paper often printed poems by this girl whose name now escapes me. I did not admire her poetry. It was the kind of stuff many of us wrote when we were young: basically our thoughts, feelings or observations with the line breaks in poetry-like places. Full disclosure: I wrote quite a bit of it myself. I was not as prolific as this girl, but I thought my stuff was better (it probably wasn’t but as I have no examples of either to hand I can’t say which was worse).

Eventually I met the girl. She was so nice! And very cool, a definite personality. I certainly did not tell her I didn’t like her poetry. That wouldn’t be nice, and after all, it’s all a matter of taste. And it may have led her to say something disparaging about mine. When poetry came up, she said, “Oh, I write all the time. Journals and journals, poems and poems.” I don’t remember the exact quote, but I’m pretty sure of the phrase “journals and journals.” It impressed me. I had never been able to stick with writing a journal (journaling wasn’t a verb in those days, and it was a good decade and a half before the TV Journal). Prolificness always impresses me (I don’t think prolificness is really a word, but you know what I mean). I strive for it and always fall short.

But here is an encouraging thought for me: I am approaching 200 blog posts. That means I have written something every day for almost 200 days. Perhaps I could become prolific in my old age, or maybe even my middle age (where I am now, I think). Even though some of my posts have been pretty lame (Lame Post Friday, anyone?). Now how do you like that? By babbling on and following my stream of consciousness (babbling brook of consciousness?), I’ve come right back and made my silly headline appropriate. Bring on the weekend!

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Return to Vinny’s

Posted on December 2, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

Last summer we went to Vinny’s Pizzeria in Herkimer, and I did a blog post. As I recall, they were about to close for two weeks. So I felt a little silly: here’s this great place to eat, but don’t go there, they’re closed. Last night, Steven and I decided to check Vinny’s out again.

I don’t want anybody to read anything into the fact that we waited so long between visits. The fact is, we don’t eat out as often as we used to. Last night we found ourselves shopping, and I was so hungry I couldn’t stand myself. Go home and cook? Oh, no, I couldn’t. Actually, Steven volunteered to cook, but I needed a blog post.

Vinny’s is just as good a place to eat as I recall. Good service, friendly atmosphere, yummy Italian food. Steven had lasagna, and I had manicotti. We both got garlic bread with our dinner, and we ended up taking enough home for a good lunch the next day.

As I write this, I realize it really has been a while since we went out to dinner. What’s that all about? I had a birthday last month, and we had an anniversary the month before that. Where are my dinners, Steven? Actually, I probably should not nag via blog post. Steven usually reads my stuff, but he will stop if all I do is kvetch. And in his defense, I have not wanted to go out as much either. I go to bed early week nights, and restaurants are usually so crowded on the weekends.

Be that as it may, we had a nice dinner on Wednesday. Vinny’s is good for dine in or take out. For more information, call 315-866-7961.

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The TV Journal

Posted on December 1, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m thinking of starting a feature called Mid-Week Nonsense. Kind of an acknowledgement that Friday is not the only day that I get a little silly.

This by way of introduction to today’s topic: Steve’s and my TV Journal. You see, yesterday when I wrote “I had coffee instead,” I meant to write “I had coffee and wrote in the TV Journal.” But I thought that some readers might be unfamiliar with the TV Journal. Then I thought, “I could write a whole post on the TV Journal!” Then I went back to writing yesterday’s post.

The TV Journal came into being back in 2001 because I thought we were watching too much television. I said, “We’re going to buy a notebook and write down everything we watch.” I figured it would be kind of like a food journal, which some dieters swear by although I have never been able to stick to. I thought that after a week or so of noticing that all we watched were Friends re-runs and E! True Hollywood Story, we’d either turn off the TV or maybe class up our viewing habits.

Well, that didn’t happen. What happened was, we started to enjoy writing about what we were watching. We wrote plot summaries and commentary. We noted headlines on the news. I scribbled recipes from Mr. Food. It was fun! Soon we were also writing down what we did in addition to watching television.

At this point in the narrative, sometimes somebody says, “So it’s a journal,” in a dismissive tone of voice, like they’re tired of hearing the story and I’m kind of stupid for being so fascinated by it. If that is your reaction, you might like to stop reading now, because I am going to continue to expound on the TV Journal.

Another reaction I got once was, “Wow. Glad I have a life.” What an asshole thing to say! Anyways, it wasn’t true. I’d been listening to that guy gripe all weekend. He had no life.

Sometimes I think the TV Journal could one day be a primary source for historians. Steven wrote some rather pungent commentary on that slimy politician who was involved in the Chandra Levy tragedy. And there are pages and pages of what went on September 11, 2001. So the TV Journal has its serious moments as well.

It’s is also a way to communicate, especially when Steven and I work different hours. I can come home and read what he was up to, what he was thinking about, etc. It’s almost like writing an ongoing letter to each other. Other family members have added their two cents to the Journal when they’ve been at our house. It is usually readily available on one of our coffee tables.

Sometimes we slack off of writing in the TV Journal, but we always go back to it. And now that I have explained about it in the blog, I needn’t be shy of mentioning it. So don’t be surprised if on the next Lame Post Friday you read, “All I felt like doing was watching World’s Dumbest and writing in the TV Journal!”

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Walk, Don’t Run

Posted on November 30, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

The headline is from a sign at work. They’re all about safety there.

I ran three days in a row, that is, three out of my four days off. Then I went back to work for ten hours (sweet overtime). I was tired. Of course, every time I don’t run just because I’m tired, I regret it the next day. It rains, or my back hurts, or something else comes up, and then I’m two days without running. That said, I just could not get myself into sports bras and out the door.

I had coffee instead. Then turned on the computer intending to make my blog post. Then started thinking about my poor dog, who had been so happy to see me come home and who I was ignoring to be on the silly computer. The least I could do was take that pooch for a walk.

It was a lovely afternoon for a walk. Gloomy but not raining. I love gloomy days. I admired the trees’ bare branches against the grey sky. I always think deciduous trees are the real artists of nature. Every season they offer something different to admire.

I let Tabby pull me where she wanted to go. Down German Street towards Main. There are some cool older buildings on Main Street before you get into the downtown area. For example, the former Masonic Temple that now houses a tanning business. And of course, the Historic Four Corners. I noticed a wreath hung over the front door of the 1834 Jail and a Christmas Tree in the window. Very nice. Tabby pulled me through the little park near Basloe Library, and I was reminded about their book sale. Maybe I could check that out for a blog post later in the week.

I realized we were headed home after that. Tabby knows the neighborhood and had definite ideas about how long she wants to walk. My only concern was to keep her from jaywalking as we got closer to our street.

As we walked down our street, I saw a man walk, stop, then walk some more. It was almost dark by now, so it took me a minute to see the small animal frisking behind him. We caught up to them as we got to our house. The small animal was a tiny chihuahua. When she saw Tabby, she stopped and waited curiously. The dogs sniffed each other, but when I went to pet the chihuahua, Tabby barked and the other dog ran away. Her person picked her up and I petted her.

I said how cute she was and asked how old, and if it was a she or a he. The man said he thought she was about two. He had rescued her in California, where apparently she had just been dropped off in traffic.

“Sometimes they breed them and all they want is the puppies,” he said. Isn’t that just awful? She was a very sweet dog and so little. The man told me he had brought her back to New York thinking to give her to his grandkids, but they could not have a dog in their apartment.

“What, this cute little dog couldn’t hurt any apartment! Well, she’s lucky she has you,” I said.

“Oh, I just love her,” he replied.

We wished each other good night, and Tabby and I went inside. I hope we see that cute little dog again. I had missed my run, but the walk was nice.

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Posted in animals, dogs, Herkimer, scenery, walking. Bookmark the permalink.
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