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Friday night is not the best night to eat out. I knew this, and yet I wanted to treat myself and Steven to dinner after a week of hard work. Don’t worry, the story has a happy ending.

First we tried Sorrento’s in Ilion. We luckily found a parking space, but they had no table available in the dining room. They offered to seat us in the front, more casual room, but I said we’d just be sure to make a reservation next time. One car had to back out of the parking lot to let us out, while another waited to steal our spot. As we pulled away, a third guy was hopefully pulling in.

Next we drove by The Brass Tack in Frankfort. We had never been there, but have tried unsuccessfully to find a space in their parking lot. No luck tonight either.

We tried the Montana, also in Frankfort, which is only opened on weekends. Apparently it is not even open on weekends any more. A sign on the porch thanked their patrons and said the owners were looking forward to their next chapter.

Before we had turned down the street to the Montana I had seen a sign for The Bistro that said Open. That looked more hopeful. To me The Bistro sounded kind of college student-y. You know, casual and quirky. We walked in and the place was drop dead gorgeous. Gracious dining surroundings and then some. Unfortunately we also saw a sign that said, “The Bistro is not currently accepting credit cards.” The waiter told us they took checks, but of course we did not have our checkbook with us. I liked the look of the place so much we walked across the street to a convenience store that had an ATM. We even paid an ATM fee, a thing we try to avoid, but I was getting pretty hungry.

We sat at the bar and ordered appetizers, one of our favorite things to do. Behind the bar was Sandy, one of our favorite bartenders from the sadly closed Albany Street Cafe. I felt that we had found a new home. Sandy and Kevin Cesarini are the owners. Sandy told us they had been open since January, and that they had been planning the place even when they still worked at Albany Street.

The food was delicious, and the atmosphere was friendly. At one point a group of people came in, and Sandy and one of the waiters both said, “Hi, Aunt Eleanor!” I turned around and said, “Hi, Aunt Eleanor! You’re not my aunt; I just thought I’d jump on the bandwagon.” She was OK with that.

I highly recommend The Bistro. They specialize in Italian cuisine. We had Fried Calimari and Provolone Sticks, but I am definitely going to return to try their antipasto, among other things.

The Bistro is located at 100 W. Main St., Frankfort. They are open Monday through Thursday 11 am to 9 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to 11 pm. Phone number 315-717-9536. You can also find them on Facebook.

Looking out the window at work I observed a fat man walking down the street in the middle of the road. Then I thought some people, including the man himself, might be offended that I called him a fat man. I shall not mention which street, which day or what time, so nobody will know to which fat man I refer.

Another time I saw a young boy with what looked like a yellow and black wig on, only the hair was kind of flat and wide, like ribbon. He was shaking it around and at one point took it off and put it back on. It looked cool. I wish I had one.

Yesterday I saw a young man with an AARP t-shirt on, which I thought was incongruous. Then I saw it was AERO. Then he crossed the street towards Remington but it was only to meet a young lady who was walking towards him. Couldn’t see what her shirt said, but it was tighter than his and sleeveless.

In general I am just glad to be working in a building with windows finally, even though when I’m actually working all I can see are bricks, a little grass, and a very little sky. At least I can tell if it’s sunny. In the Army I worked in a SCIF. I forget what that stands for, but there were no windows. I vowed when I was out of the Army I would work in a place with windows. After a couple of false starts, at last I do.

I took Tabby for a walk yesterday, in hopes it would provide me with today’s blog post. You may have guessed that it did not. It was a short walk, because it was warmer in the sunshine than I had expected. I saw my friend Tobby Dain. He was raking the dirt in the lot that used to hold the house that burned up (I blogged about a fundraiser for the unfortunate residents). I saw a large-ish rock and asked if I could have it for my rock garden. As I carried it away, I hoped nobody thought I intended to throw it through a window or something. It was a handy size for such a purpose. Then I thought if I saw somebody I knew and waved with that hand, it might look as if I was threatening them with a rock. But the other hand held a bag of Tabby’s poop. It was a lose/lose situation. Luckily, the walk was uneventful. I returned home and continue to search for more fruitful blog topics.

I thought of a way to steal my friend Megan’s idea of sentence fragments (incidentally, her blog is called Meg Acting Out, http://megactsout.blogspot.com; check it out). What follows is random observations and thoughts of and about the Mohawk Valley.

I read in the OD the other day that when people think of Ilion they think of Remington Arms. I don’t, really. I think of Ilion Little Theatre (of course) or the Thrift Store (haven’t been there in a while) or Aldi’s (more prosaically) ooh or Sorrento’s which is a good place to eat and would make a dandy blog post.

I like to look out the window of the break room where I work. I can see the street we drive up to get to Ilion Little Theatre and a street that runs kind of parallel to it. Perpendicular to that is a hill. Not a huge hill, but I’d be sure to run up it if I were running in Ilion. Ilion has a lot more hills than Herkimer. If I was serious about my hill running skills, I’d drive to Ilion to run. But I don’t like to drive to run.

I’ve read that people are the same wherever you go. I think that is only true to a point. I agree that you get good and bad people wherever you go. And yet in the Mohawk Valley I find myself more likely to encounter nice people. Working retail in Herkimer and New Hartford was not nearly the burden it was in, ah, other places (no point in naming them; for one thing, they may have changed by now). Oh, you’ll always get the occasional stinker. And I did not keep statistics. But that is my overall impression.

I remember when I was growing up in Rome my Mom remarking that it was a friendly town. People going into a store would hold the door for you (back when not all stores had automatic doors) or say thank you if you held it for them. I think Herkimer is friendly, too. I know I’ve blogged about exchanging remarks or petting dogs when out running or walking.

Hmmm… I don’t think I’ve been very fragmentary, but I have been random. Well, the weekend is coming, and I’ve got plans (and not best laid plans, if you know what I mean). Stay tuned!

Tuesday after work my Mom and Dad came over to do a little gardening. Mom had some Rose of Sharon from her garden for me as well as a few shoots from a plant from my sister Diane’s yard. We don’t know what that one is called, but it has nice red leaves. I think I’ve mentioned that this is not a real gardening blog. We also thought we would finally plant the Black Eyed Susan I bought back in June (see if I was a real gardener, that would be in the ground by now).

After some discussion as to where the plants should go, we got to digging. Dad sat on the deck and petted Tabby (thus keeping her out of our hair). Steven fetched various implements for us. When it came time for the Black Eyed Susan, Mom suggested we put it on the edge of the vegetable garden (OK, it’s seven tomato plants and a patch of chives).

“You’ve already dug up there. It won’t be so difficult making a hole.” This was a good thought, as we needed a larger hole for the Black Eyed Susan. “The other reason I suggested this spot,” Mom confided after we had been digging for a few minutes, “is that it’s in the shade.” My Mom is truly a wise woman.

After we got the Black Eyed Susan planted I saw the plastic information pic, which I had never noticed before. It said “Black Eyed Susan. Rudbeckia.” Back in June I was on an unsuccessful mission to find Rudbeckia, since I had read it attracted butterflies. I was a little embarrassed when the guy at Elizabeth’s Country Garden told me Rudbeckia was Brown Eyed Susans. Now I find out it is also Black Eyed Susans. I really must read some gardening books. I suppose some philosophical soul might find a metaphor in my having what I was searching for all along. Be that as it may (I love that expression), I was just glad to get the plants in the ground.

After our exertions we sat on the deck and visited. Dad and I had a beer while Mom enjoyed some ice water in one of my fancy new plastic deck goblets (I was about to call it a glass, but a plastic glass? Doesn’t sound right).

Mom told us to water the new plants at least three times a day to begin with. Rain was forecast for Wednesday, so maybe the Mohawk Valley wait-five-minute weather will do us a favor. It certainly did us a favor Tuesday. It was lovely sitting in the shade with a nice breeze blowing. A very enjoyable evening. And not a bad blog post, even if it isn’t a real garden blog.

Monday I did not do anything Mohawk Valley-ish. I worked a ten hour day and watched a DVR’d episode of Castle. Then I went to bed early to get ready for another ten hour day on Tuesday. Steven took care of the dog walking and garden watering chores to be done. This did not bode well for my blog.

The other day I was reading the blog of a friend of mine, Megan McCoy Dellacese. Her post was titled “Sentence Fragments.” It was pretty cool. Incomplete sentences gave kind of a mosaic picture of her life at the moment. I thought about stealing the idea: after all, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. Unfortunately, I rarely write in sentence fragments. Well, sometimes. (get it?) Anyways, this blog isn’t about my life per se, but about my life in the Mohawk Valley.

The only business I’ve patronized in the last couple of days is the Citgo where I gassed up. Not distinctly local. (ooh, there’s a sentence fragment) I have observed the truism about Mohawk Valley weather: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. I work facing a window, and I watched the sunlight brighten and dim. My bunions keep promising rain, but apparently they are not reliable. Fine Mohawk Valley bunions I have!

In a recent post titled “This n That” I seem to recall finding I could go on for some time while having absolutely nothing to say. I am not observing that phenomenon tonight. All I can do is apologize. I said I would post every day for a year, so here is today’s. I will try again tomorrow.

Sunday Steven and I headed down Route 5 to the Schuyler Village Wide Garage Sales. Going to the Village Wide on Sunday in Mohawk had not worked out so well for us (although it was a pleasant walk), but we knew of at least one house that was definitely having a sale, so we had high hopes of bringing home some good junk.

As we drove down Miller Grove Road looking for our turn, we paused to allow a couple pushing a baby in a stroller to cross the road. After a wrong turn or two (or three; two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do), we found our friends Jim and Phyllis Mills. The couple with the stroller were there too; it was their son, daughter-in-law and adorable grandbaby.

“Come in! Sit down!” they invited. So we did. They had a canopy set up so we sat in the shade and visited for over an hour. I did peek at their books and found one that interested me. As I dug in my purse for a quarter, Jim said, “Oh, just take it.”

We had a very nice visit. Out dog Tabby was with us and she always enjoys meeting new people. We discussed Ilion Little Theatre’s upcoming season, and Phyllis and her daughter-in-law shared some crazy stories about BJ customers they had dealt with.

We finally took our leave when some real customers showed up and Tabby went a little crazy. She is in general a very well behaved dog, but when new people show up she feels she needs to greet them and run over to be petted. We only allowed her to bark a welcome, so she wasn’t best pleased. We drove by a few sales on our way out (and discovered the turn we should have taken to begin with), but by now the sun was high and hot, and we were ready to head home.

So we’re 0 for 2 with Sunday Village Wide Garage Sales. On the other hand, in Mohawk we enjoyed a nice walk. In Schuyler we enjoyed a nice visit. A great way to spend a Sunday in the Mohawk Valley.

After another Saturday when I failed to take advantage of any Mohawk Valley events (I meant to go hear the Symphony Syracuse at Ft. Stanwix in Rome, but the best laid plans…), I was left without a post to write. I got myself to run by saying, “I’ll blog about my run!” It was a good run. I petted three dogs. But I asked myself, how many running commentaries can I get away with? That led me to do something I have been meaning to do since I passed the landmark of 50 posts: I went through all my posts and tried to make a tally of what all I have blogged about.

Twenty-eight blogs have been about local businesses, twenty-one about community events or attractions, six about walks, five about runs, and eight defy categorization. Well, maybe somebody could make up a category for them, I don’t care to. Remember, there are two kinds of people in the world: the kind that put things in categories and the kind that don’t.

I was encouraged to see that the majority of posts has been about local businesses or community things, although a little sorry that business posts outnumber community posts. In my defense, businesses are open every day while community events may be inconveniently scheduled. I did not go back and actually read the posts, so I did not come up with any statistics of lame posts vs scintillating posts. I like to think they all have some merit, and in any case, most are short.

Speaking of lame but short posts, I think I’ve said all I can about the State of My Blog. I strive for improvement and thank my readers for spending a little time with me in the Mohawk Valley.

Sometimes it takes you a long time to patronize a business that is practically at the end of your street. Friday Steven and I had dinner at Vinny’s Pizzeria and Restaurant, 501 West State St., Herkimer.

I had seriously intended to cook dinner, but you know how that goes some days. As long as we were going out, we thought we’d pick a place I had not blogged about. You see how writing this blog expands my horizons.

When we saw how crowded the parking lot was, we knew we had either made a great decision or, if we couldn’t get a table, an unfortunate one. Luckily there were plenty of tables. Even as we sat there, though, the place was filling up. They obviously do a booming take out business, but you can climb up three stairs to a graciously furnished dining area. I sat facing down the stairs so I could watch the activity in the take out area.

As usual at pizza places, the menu offers many choices besides pizza. Steven selected a Fish Sandwich with Fries, and I ordered a Small Antipasto with Homemade Italian Dressing. I also got a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, which came in its own little bottle. I like that, because you know the wine is fresh. Perhaps there is an oenophile out there who will tell me it is the low class way to serve wine. I’m sure I don’t know, and I’ve noted that this is not a wine blog anyways.

The food was very good, and the service was friendly. The waitress asked if we wanted dessert, suggesting either the Cheesecake Balls or the Chocolate Lava. These were the choices that had tempted us when we perused the dessert list earlier, but we refrained. I think we will return some afternoon in the near future and order just dessert.

Vinny’s had previously been located on Caroline Street, in the building that collapsed under the snow a few years ago. Before that they were at a location on North Main Street which has housed a number of eateries over the years. You can read about Vinny’s history from newspaper articles framed on the wall. We glanced at the headlines and will probably read in detail on a future trip. Perhaps sometime when we take advantage of take out. We took home a menu.

Vinny’s is open Tuesday to Thursday 11 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to 11 pm, closed Sunday and Monday. I should perhaps note now that I’ve thoroughly whetted your appetite for Vinny’s that they are closing July 31 and will remain closed through Aug. 15. But be sure to check them out when they re-open August 16. I know I will.

Today I am giving a shout out to a local business that Steven is actually going to while I am at work, The Velvet Dog, 217 South Main St., Herkimer, NY.

We were introduced to The Velvet Dog when we adopted our schnoodle, Tabby. Lynn Brown, one of the groomers there, was fostering Tabby and looking for a permanent home for her. Lynn’s son, Jason, worked with Steven at the time. When Jason mentioned the dog, Steven’s other co-worker, Evelyn, immediately said, “Steve needs a dog.”

To make a long story short, we met the dog, loved the dog and decided to take the dog. We picked her up at The Velvet Dog one fine Saturday in November 2007.

We bring Tabby to The Velvet Dog to be groomed about every six weeks. If we go longer she gets quite shaggy. In the summer especially she is more comfortable with a short ‘do.

Today Steven will drop her off by ten to be picked up later in the day. She is always so excited when we pick her up. She looks pretty and smells nice. Sometimes they put bows on her ears, which stay there for an hour or two if we’re lucky. Sometimes they tie a little scarf around her neck, which lasts longer.

Theresa, the owner of the business, tells us that Tabby enjoys her time there. After her grooming, she voluntarily goes into a crate and lies there, in her cute way with her front paws crossed, watching what’s going on.

The Velvet Dog takes care of all kinds of dogs, from great big hounds to little purse size pooches. It’s always fun to go in there, and rarely quiet. The staff is very professional and truly loves dogs.

For more information about The Velvet Dog call 315-866-7667 (that’s 866-POOP, I don’t know if they did that on purpose). Or you can find them on Facebook.

I’ve blogged about fundraisers before. I think they show people at their best: helping others and having a good time. I was pleased, therefore, when I saw fliers for two different fundraisers happening in the near future.

I got on the phone right away to offer afghans for the Chinese Auction (another one of my favorite things). My first call was to the organizers of a fundraiser for Nancy Piper. Nancy is a single mother of a five year old boy and is fighting cancer, apparently not for the first time. The event is to take place Saturday, July 30, so I knew I had to hurry.

“That would be great,” said the lady I talked to. “We’re meeting at the Union Hall right now. Can you bring it down?”

I had to admit I did not know where the Union Hall was, and when she told me it was across from Kinney Drugs, I could not seem to remember where that was. In fact, the only landmark that came to mind was Ilion Wine and Spirits, and I just didn’t feel I could say, “Is it near the liquor store?” to someone I didn’t know. We finally referenced it to Remington Arms. I drove by it once but went around the block and arrived without further mishap.

The people there pronounced the afghan beautiful. I wished them luck with their event, which I will sadly miss due to work commitments.

When I got home I called the organizers of a fundraiser for Dustin Maine, a four year old boy suffering from neurofibromatosis, which I confess I had never heard of. He has had one surgery on his brain for a tumor and currently has other tumors on his brain, neck and spine. Poor little guy! I made plans to meet Carlene in the Stewart’s parking lot across from Remington Arms after work. Not right after work, I warned her, because traffic out of Remington Arms at 3:30 is quite extensive. She was familiar with the phenomenon.

I actually got out of the parking lot with little problem and was at Stewart’s before four. I went in and bought a Sobe vitamin water, because I felt since I was utilizing their parking lot as a meeting place I should give them a little business. Carlene came right along, loved the afghan and thanked me profusely.

Both fundraisers are to take place at the VFW on the Ilion-Frankfort Road. The one for Nancy Piper is Saturday, July 30 from 1 to 5 pm. The one for Dustin Maine is Sunday, August 28. I thought I would blog about both these in order to give a little advance publicity to my local readers. As I said I can’t make it to Nancy Piper’s, but I hope to be at Dustin’s. Charity and fun in the Mohawk Valley.