Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’ve mentioned before my love of polka music. I know I blogged about how fun it was to hear the music and watch the dancing at St. Anthony’s Festival. So when my friend Diane Engell invited Steven and me to go to an open air concert at the Folts Home featuring Fritz’s Polka Band, I was eager to accept.

Steven had noted in the paper that there was to be a concert at Folts, but the group was not specified. We had planned to run several errands in New Hartford, which we did not like to put off. Well, we did not literally run our errands, but we hurried along and met Diane shortly after seven. The band was already playing, so we quickly found a space for our lawn chairs and settled down to enjoy.

A large part of the audience was residents of the Folts Home. Many were clapping along, all were smiling. I saw the Volunteer Coordinator Linda Geno (at least, I don’t know her whole official title, she wears a lot of hats; I know her from volunteering). Linda danced with a few of the residents, but only briefly. I was disappointed that there was not more dancing.

The music was wonderful. They played a variety of songs, not just polkas. But they rocked the house on the polkas! They were on a gazebo, so I could not see them all very well. Some hanging flowers obstructed my view. I could see the drummer all right. He was just so obviously enjoying himself, and you could tell by the sound that the whole band was as well.

The audience was loving it too. I went right home and liked Fritz’s Polka Band on Facebook. That was how Diane heard about this concert. Now I’ll hear about their gigs, too. I’ll probably blog about more of them.

It seems to be feast or famine with blog post topics. Tracy’s visit gave me two in one day. Right now I’m kind of blank.

Steven suggested that I write about my new job at Remington Arms. That is a business — alas, no longer locally owned — that has been in Ilion for over a hundred years. I agree it is well worth a post, but I intend to research the company a little better. Otherwise my post might consist mostly of my adventures wandering around the factory trying not to get lost (then again, that might be humorous).

Today I met with the optician, Chuck Mishalanie, to order my safety glasses (I did not get lost going to his office). I noticed his email was jazzmish. I naturally asked him about it, and discovered he is indeed a jazz musician. He promised to email me regarding future concerts. Another blog post waiting to happen.

Another blog post I’ve been meaning to get to is a shout out (I love that expression) to YNN. YNN, in case you don’t get Time Warner Cable, stands for Your News Now. It is basically a 24 hour news network for Central New York. When we’ve missed WKTV News at Daybreak, we tune into YNN for our morning fix. They do various features, including Your Home Town, which may suggest future blog posts for me. I’m particularly fond of Cooking at Home with Dan Eaton.

I hesitate to give YNN a full blog post, however, because it is not the local home grown sort of thing I search for. It’s a big network, carried exclusively (maybe even owned by, I don’t know) an even bigger cable company. Obviously there is room in the world for large corporations. But this is not the focus of Mohawk Valley Girl. Still, YNN has a local slant. It’s worth checking out.

So lacking a real topic, I fear to be thrown back on something I’ve blogged on before: a walk with my excellent dog, Tabby. I’ve been taking her for a lengthy walk most evenings lately. Often we walk by the Historic Four Corners, with the Reformed Church, the Courthouse, the Historical Society, and the 1834 Jail. I’ve blogged about the church. I guess it’s time for me to work on the other three corners.

Well, it looks as if I’ve written the amount of an average blog post. It seems I can talk a lot without a topic.

Last Thursday I had occasion to patronize an establishment I’ve driven by many times but never entered, Melfe’s Shoes, 64 Central Ave., Ilion.

Melfe’s is a full service store that carries a good selection of work boots and also offers shoe repair. My mission was to obtain steel-toed work boots for my new job at Remington Arms. The staff at Melfe’s is quite familiar with our shoe allowance and happy to work with us to meet our needs.

Fourteen people, two of us females, were hired at the same time. We did not have to purchase our work shoes at Melfe’s, as long as they were safety shoes, but most of us did. We needed them by 7 a.m. the next morning, so a large group invaded the store late in the afternoon. The staff was not fazed in the least.

I always like it better when someone brings me my size and can tell me about the shoe and make a recommendation. For kick-around shoes or something I’m only going to wear for a few hours, I’m quite competent to make my own selections. For running shoes and work shoes, I like to consult an expert.

I was delighted to discover that steel toes also come in sneakers. Vicki helped me select two pairs that kept me within my allowance. She told us if we had any problems with the shoes we should bring them back, as they also offer shoe repair. I asked if they did other leather repair. I have a purse with a broken strap. Vicki was not sure but invited me to bring the purse in to be looked at.

I have not done that yet, but I will. I want to check out what else Melfe’s has to offer. Another excellent business in the Mohawk Valley. For more information, you can call them at 315-894-4049.

Saturday we went to the Town Wide Garage Sales in Ilion. I was very happy to go, especially since I had missed the Town Wides in both Herkimer and Mohawk (as I believe I mentioned in previous posts).

We did not bother purchasing a map, trusting rather to our luck at driving around and looking. That usually works out pretty well at these things. First we looked for a place Steven had seen advertised in the classified as the biggest sale in town. It was a large sale. I found two rhinestone pins I liked. I had talked the guy down to $1.50 when he mentioned it was to feed children in Thailand. We gave him $2.

Our method was to park where we could walk to two or three at a time. We also hit the sale at Cornerstone Consignments and one at the Masonic Hall. At the various sales we found a few tins, a fancy velvet purse, a Gone With the Wind Game, and a couple of knick-knacks. We also stopped by the Farmer’s Market at Clapsaddle Farm. A couple of weeks ago we had chatted up a lady with a booth there who had said she and her husband would be switching off between the market and a garage sale. I saw a man at the booth.

“Your wife must be at the garage sale,” I observed. He told me they were to switch out at two. That way he could eat lunch at home.

We purchased a jar of dill pickles and two donuts from Jim Parker. I started eating mine before Steven had paid for them.

“There’s an extra charge for that,” Jim told me, and promptly waived the fee.

We did not stay at the sales far into the afternoon, though, because it was too hot for me. It was a beautiful sunny day, such as summer worshipers love. I have a sensitivity to sun and have found it better not to spend all day exposed. I don’t usually burn, because I slather on the SPF 30, but I start to feel ill.

I felt pretty OK Saturday, though, as we returned home with our treasures. I’ll have to start looking around my house, though. I’ll need to get rid of some stuff before the next Town Wide Garage Sales.

I have not done a blog post about one of my runs in a while. Actually, I probably should look and then I might see that I just did one and forgot, but this was kind of the way I talked myself into running this morning: run so you can blog about it.

I just started a new job with awesome hours: 7 am to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday. Not such great hours for finding time to run, but I’ll have to work that out. I started Thursday, so I had only missed two days when I ran Saturday. I ran up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the back way (I know I blogged about that once). Today I had determined to run up to HCCC the front way, which, incidentally is part of the Dare 5K run in August. I have declared my intention of participating in that run and even invited a nephew to join me. I thought I’d better get on the ball with my training.

I started running down German Street toward the college and passed a man walking. We exchanged greetings. Half a block later I stopped briefly to pet Nicky, one of the neighborhood dogs I often encounter. At first Nicky was more into sniffing than being petted.

“Don’t you like to be petted today?” I asked.

“He’s on a scent,” his owner told me. “He loves to be petted.”

Nicky graciously allowed me to pet him.

“You even stopped special for him,” his owner approved.

“I always do,” I said.

Meanwhile the man walking had passed us, so I ran by him again.

“I always stop to pet dogs,” I explained. He understood.

Up the hill I went. Near the bottom someone had spray painted the one mile mark. Good to know. At the Dare Run, I’ll have a mile warm up before tackling the hill. I looked at my watch. I’d been running about ten minutes. If I was doing a ten minute mile, I was right on schedule. Of course, I have no idea how fast I run. I set out to run for a specific length of time. Periodically I get in the car after my run and see how far I ran that time, but I have not done that in a while.

Love the view from the college. I looked down over the village and tried to pick out buildings. Was that my church? Was that 5S or the Thruway? No time to stop and ponder, though; I kept going, and ran down the back way. I passed two girls running up.

“Good job, you’re almost there!” I encouraged them.

One waved and one said, “Good morning!” I ran on.

Of course I stopped at the spring for a drink. That is almost always my reward for making it up the hill. As I turned onto German Street, I saw another runner.

“Are you going up the hill?” I asked. I didn’t catch what he said, but he was headed in that direction.

I made it back home with a little voice in my head saying, “I love, love, love to run!” Tabby walked my cool down with me. A great beginning to another beautiful day in the Mohawk Valley.

I felt oh so cultured Thursday night when Steven and I drove to an artists’ reception at Remington Gallery in Ilion Free Public Library. We had never been to the library in Ilion, so that was a welcome expansion of our literary horizons.

The exhibit is of Recent Works, pastel and stained glass by Marjorie Balder and Joan Balder Cook. I enjoyed the art work very much. We did not meet either artist, but I read the brief biographies that were on display. The stained glass lamps were lovely; Meyda Tiffany has got nothing on Marjorie Balder Cook. We spent some time admiring the pastels as well. I especially liked some small ones, maybe 2″ by 2″. We also partook of the very elegant refreshments that were offered.

After we’d enjoyed the art, we spent some time looking at the books, always my favorite things. I found a regency romance by one of my favorite authors. Yes, I know, very shallow and girly of me. Well, what’s wrong with that?

The exhibit will be on display through July and may be viewed during regular library hours, as long as the room is not in use. Remington Gallery is a graciously furnished room that is available for meetings. The room is also available for other exhibits of area artists. Stop by or call the library, 315-894-5028.

Of course it’s old news that libraries offer more than books. I personally am more interested in the books than anything else. However, I have been known to check out DVDs and videos, or get on a computer (before I got my own). In Massena, many years ago, our theatre group took advantage of the library’s meeting room. This was the first artist reception I’ve attended at a library, and I enjoyed it very much. When we used to live up north we went to the occasional art opening at St. Lawrence University. That too made me feel oh so cultured. But then I had to go elsewhere for my romance novels. Let’s hear it for art exhibits at libraries!

For more information about Ilion Free Public Library visit midyork.org.

When our friend Tracy visited, we thought we’d like to go someplace fancy for dinner, so we went to Karma Piano Bar and Restaurant, 158 E. Main St., Frankfort.

We heard music right away and saw the piano, but we did not see anybody playing it. It was Tracy who noticed the keys were depressing themselves. I had never seen a player grand piano before. Some sheet music with a picture of Ray Charles was on the piano, so we though maybe Ray Charles’ ghost was playing.

The dining room was crowded, but they found us a table. We ordered drinks and perused the menu. Tracy especially liked the smell of Steven’s coffee. The waiter also brought a basket of bread with a dish of seasoned olive oil for dipping. That was a welcome sight, because we had worked up quite an appetite deciding where to go.

We decided to order all appetizers, one my my favorite meals. We picked Sicilian Rice Balls, which I had never heard of but which sounded good, chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks and kalamari. Everything was delicious. It got a little noisy after a while, because the dining room was crowded and everybody seemed to be having a fine time. No matter, we had a fine time too. We left with plans to return, perhaps to sit at the bar and enjoy a cocktail.

You can reach Karma’s at 315-894-8683, or by visiting their website at http://www.karmapianobar.com.

Wednesday our friend Tracy visited. “While I’m there,” she had said when planning the visit, “we have to go to Hummel’s.”

Hummel’s Office Plus, on Albany Street in Herkimer, carries a full line of office supplies plus a Hallmark Gift Shop. It was the gift shop section Tracy particularly wanted to check out. At a previous visit she had found a magnetic mail box cover with cardinals. She wanted to buy another one for a friend.

“Hmm… where do you suppose mail box covers are?” Tracy mused as we climbed the stairs to the gift shop portion of the store.

“We can ask somebody,” I suggested. “They’re very helpful here.”

Tracy said that it was more fun to wander the whole store looking for them, but a clerk overheard what we were looking for and took us right to them. Alas, no cardinals. The clerk, who truly was helpful, wrote down the information for the company that made the mail box covers, so Tracy could potentially find what she wanted online.

We wandered the rest of the gift shop anyways. Steven pointed out various things he had sent his sisters over the past year. Tracy and I admired some earrings. Tracy liked some sculptures. We did not see anything we had to have, though, so we took our leave with many thanks.

Normally I would have spent some time in the office supply section as well. Their selection of notebooks may not be as extensive as I’d like, but the pen section is excellent. I hesitate between rollerballs and ball points, or try to find something with green or purple ink. To me, you can’t have too many pens.

Hummel’s corporate headquarters is in Mohawk. They have retail locations in Rome and Utica as well as Herkimer. They also do a thriving online business. You can check out their website at http://www.hummelsop.com.

Tuesday Steven and I finally patronized an establishment that has fascinated me for a long time: Voss Bar-B-Q on Oriskany Boulevard in Yorkville.

I have driven by this small walk up eatery many times. It sports a neon sign with a hot dog and a large milk bottle on the roof. There is almost always a line of people at the window, no matter what the weather. I understand it is considered something of an institution in the greater Utica area (doesn’t that sound metropolitan? The Greater Utica Area). People wait with anticipation for opening day, and people who have left the area make sure to go there if they ever return.

We had tried to go there once before but were unable to find a parking space. The obvious popularity of the spot made me all the more intrigued. I was very happy on Tuesday when we managed to find a space. The line was not even too intimidating. We both ordered hot dogs and coffee. I always figure if they have a hot dog on the sign, they must be pretty proud of their dogs, right? We were given a magnetic letter B and stood aside to wait.

I got mustard, onions and sauerkraut on my dog. Steven had mustard, mayonnaise and relish. They were pretty good. In general I like my hot dogs more burnt, but with the business they were doing, I don’t believe they had time to achieve the level I like. The buns were buttered and grilled. They were YUMMY! Yes, I have to put it in capital letters with an exclamation point. We asked if we could share a picnic table with another couple, to which they graciously agreed. It is all outdoor seating, and I could have used a little more shade. No matter, it was a fun lunch, and a real Mohawk Valley experience.

Voss is open April through November. You can find The Voss’ Appreciation Society on Facebook.

Monday Steven and I went to the used book sale at Frankfort Public Library, 123 South Frankfort St.

The library is in a stone building located near a park. The book sale covered two tables. Several boxes of free magazines were on the floor. I almost got excited when I saw the name A. Scott Berg, my favorite biographer, on three books. Alas, it was three copies of Kate Remembered, which I recently bought at a rummage sale (which I may have mentioned in a blog post). Excitement returned when I found a hard cover copy of Murder for Christmas, an anthology which I have in paperback and read every December. A glance at the table of contents confirmed my hope that the hardcover contained stories not found in the paperback. I informed Steven that he was buying it for me, to which he graciously agreed.

While I perused the rest of the library, looking for something to borrow for free, Steven decided to purchase a DVD of Zorro and an old fashioned post card. Having thus spent all our cash at the library (we only had three bucks between us), we hurried back home to the fans. I mean the electric fans, although I guess you could say that our dog is our number one fan.

It was so hot Monday I actually though of not venturing out at all and writing my whole blog post about the temperature and humidity. It doesn’t sound like much fun, although I like to say, “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” I say it in a really air-headed voice. One time my dad pointed out to me, they do so do something about it: they stay inside with the air conditioning or they put snow tires on their car, depending. I stand corrected.

Come to think of it, going to the library is a great thing to do on a hot day. You can sit in the air conditioning and read about Antarctica. Or do what I did and buy a a nice book about murder to read next Christmas.

Franklin Public Library is open 2 to 8 pm Monday and Wednesday, 11 am to 8 pm Tuesday and Thursday and 3 to 7 pm Friday, 11 am to 2 pm Saturday. Closed Saturdays June through August. Movies are offered Thursdays and Fridays at 6 pm. For more information call 894-9611.