Here’s a great way to make dining out exciting, fun and aaah-inspiring: do it with year-old identical twin bonus grandsons.
My wife, Shelley, and I recently had a restaurant lunch with the twins, Remy and Leo, and their parents, Allie and Matt. (For the record, I still can’t tell the boys apart. The look identical to me, thus I will refer to them as Remy/Leo in both the singular and plural).
Everyone knows that it’s a common curtesy of civilized society, that anytime toddlers are out i
I’m jealous of people out there who have yet to experience the Beastie Boys, to be able to take a fresh-faced dive into their discography and fully appreciate all of its splendor for the first time. Listening to the Beastie Boys for the first time is like thumbing your nose at gravity or any number of other tenants of polite society. It’s an unforgettable experience. For folks of a certain age (i.e. those getting a little long in the tooth,) we were blessed to be in the catbird seat as the group
I just knew it!! I closed my eyes for a few minutes and suddenly, it’s mitten weather although we have a brief few hours of warmth today before a cold front comes through! We’ve finally had several black frosts and I hope all the mosquitoes have turned into little entomologic ice cubes! There was snow last Sunday evening as we drove home from Pennsylvania; not unexpected, but unwelcome! An upside of this late fall season is that mornings are now made cheerier and warmer with a wood fire, t
The cost of a gallon of gas keeps climbing. The warnings keep coming over significantly higher home heating costs this winter and who knows how many winters to come.
All of this, as well as the fast approaching start of a new legislative session in January, helped make for good timing on last week’s listening session in the Southern Tier on a piece of legislation that, if it’s enacted, could reach into the wallets of everyday New Yorkers and cut into the bottom lines of New York employe
I suspect we’re all beginning to think about Thanksgiving, planning guests and menus…time to spend with family, fun and games… yet knowing we each have so much to be thankful for… every new day. But, if you’re anything like me, some of those blessings tend to be taken for granted… some things are just such an “every-day” part of our life, we forget to stand in awe of how special they really are. Being in contact with those less fortunate than we are, my heart goes out to them while seeking God’s
by Rachel Dworkin
It should come as a surprise to no one that the earliest settlers of Chemung County were Native Americans. They left their mark in place names, arrowheads and pottery shards. The people who settled this region were not a monolithic group. They were different peoples from different parts of the northeast, they came in waves and they did not always get along.
Pre-contact, and for quite some time post-contact, the Haudenosaunee, whom we call the Iroquois, were the do
Here is a generational trivia question:
“What is the name of a sandwich made of peanut butter and marshmallow spread?
If you answered “Fluffernutter,” you are likely a Boomer reminiscing about your favorite childhood food. The Fluffernutter is a gooey, sweet marshmallow spread layered atop peanut butter between two slices of white bread to produce a “roof-of-the-mouth” sticking treat.
Fluffernutter is finally getting the recognition it deserves, as it was recently included in the
New York State governors continue to be full of surprises. Governor Kathy Hochul is the latest.
Early last week, she abruptly announced that the Southport Correctional Facility in the Southern Tier, the Willard Drug Treatment Campus and the Rochester Correctional Facility in the Finger Lakes, two North Country facilities, and a prison in the mid-Hudson Valley are slated to close on March 10, 2022.
Six correctional facilities in total impacting and uprooting more than a thousand stat
To whom do I owe allegiance? In whom do I put my trust? To whom do I give credence? Important words to contemplate for each of us in this world of conflict and hypocrisy. Because, when we are individually or collectively silenced or canceled for our beliefs or opinions, for the sake of those who consider themselves to be “in the know” about any and all subjects, we, as a society, have ceased to listen and to understand. We have lost our empathy, compassion and love, the ability to agree to
Here in the northeast, we are well into Fall. Good weather lasted long this year, so we really can’t complain when the season starts being seasonable. Our cover crops never made it onto the gardens, but the potatoes are in storage and many of the weeds are pulled. Kerm has replaced the broken rails in the garden fence and repaired the dog pen where the bear broke through in July. One ursine youngster returned last week on his fall trek, but managed to get around the yard without breaking a
I’ve read books or stories from virtually every war in which men and women of our nation, including my immediate family, relatives and ancestors, have been involved. Their sacrifices have deeply touched my heart as I live a life of freedom, a blessing either limited or unknown to so many elsewhere in this world. Yet, our families have not known a loss of life in war during this past century.
A few years ago, friends of ours shared some treasured family papers with me before the reign of C
I see that Kanye West legally changed his name again, this time to “Ye,” with no middle or last name.
For real. He said he did it because Ye is the most common word in the Bible, as in “Yo Ye. Thou art a narcissist.”
Most rap and hip-hop entertainers change their birth names, like J-Z, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem and my main man Snoop Dogg, whose many monikers helped him go from rap star to Martha Stewart to the pinnacle of stardom, TV beer commercials.
Snoop was born Calvin Broadus
What is our worth, our value? How do we even measure such an entity? Have we been so downtrodden that we feel like a failure… like we’re unworthy of the love of others? Or do we hold our head up knowing we have inherent worth among the rest?
Feeling unworthy is not new to any of us. We’ve all been there at times throughout our life. Haven’t we at one time or another made a simple mistake, yet were left feeling so ashamed we just wanted to disappear? I have. Frequently belittled in th
This week’s Veterans Day observance could not arrive at a more important time for our nation -- as a reminder and as a reflection. If there is a single national day of honor on the calendar that can and should serve to unite us, it’s this one.
Veterans Day offers a chance to pause to remember the fundamental greatness of the United States of America and those who have made it so, and then to keep pushing forward – pushing forward to find solid ground again during a time that has upended s
As summer’s warmth gives way to the cooler days of fall, our thoughts turn to cold-weather projects, and that of storing food for the coming winter. Without that process, our ancestors would be hard pressed to get through the bitter cold months, unless, of course, you could afford to purchase all your food supplies at the local general store.
Once upon a time, most families cultivated large vegetable gardens and raised a barnyard menagerie to put food by for the coming winter – a vital n
If asked, I would generally recommend both a ghost tour and a ghost hunt. They are the same, but different. In the end, it comes down to what you want to get out of it. You want an experience, you want some history, you want a little bit of both, possibly with a drink in hand? Now, I’m able to speak with some semblance of authority on this matter because I’ve been fortunate enough to have participated in both a ghost hunt and a ghost tour. What can I say? I’m down for such things once October ro
Oh goodie! We now have another number to add to our long and growing list of numbers and passwords needed to survive in our electronically connected world.
As of October 24, when you make a local call in the 607-area code you must include the area code when dialing. The reason: officials don’t want people mistakenly dialing the newly created 988 national Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
I’m all for reducing suicides, but I can’t deal with adding another number to my swirling sea of digits,
In the autumnal season of life, as we age and retire out of the workforce, some of us may begin to feel unwanted and useless. We’ve done our job, and certainly did our best… we put heart and soul into our family and career. But now that we’re a few years removed from a busy active life, and no longer able to do what we once could, maybe some of us feel like we’ve been “put out to pasture” and left to watch time slowly tick away.
I hope you’re enjoying a great autumn season as the leaves t
by Erin Doane
For 125 years, Rosenbaum’s was the place in Elmira to get the latest specialty fashions for women and children. From the early 20th century until it closed in 1989, the business put the newest styles on display for the shopping public in seasonal fashion shows at the store and other locations throughout the community.
Rosenbaum’s fashion show participants, Star-Gazette, October 3, 1933
Rosenbaum’s opened on East Water Street in 1864, just one day before Elmi
“Rain, rain go away.”
“I don’t want to friggin’ mow my lawn again today!”
I’ve been uttering that ditty all summer and fall because of all the !@^%$! MOWING I’m doing because of all the !@^%$! RAIN. (Editor’s note: Upper case letters and exclamation points signify that the writer is really @^%$! PISSED OFF!!!!!)
My lawn has more mow lines then the outfield at Fenway, and they are deep enough to grow corn.
My life revolves around a series of repeated lawn aggravations: Mow. Wa
Anniversaries…I like to think of them as brackets that hold our special memories marking the ever-flowing years. October 26th is our wedding anniversary, and goodness, but how the years have flown! There’s a lot of life lived within those years, a lot of water under that bridge… years that took a young bride and a little older and wiser groom through many stages of growth… years that saw carefree and happy days, but also years which saw many losses and changes that left their marks. Truth is,
I’m sure we’ve all heard of Johnny Appleseed and those apple seeds he planted “everywhere.” The 1948 Disney movie, “Melody Time,” and their 2002 version, “American Legends,” both include a short story about him with a simple upbeat song: “The Lord is good to me, And so I thank the Lord, For giving me the things I need, The sun and rain and an apple seed, Yes, He’s been good to me…”
But who was this legendary man? Not many Americans know the real story behind the myths perpetuated in fi
Corn mazes.
They have become an integral part of any good old-fashioned festive fall weekend, right up there with pumpkin and apple picking, hayrides (both traditional and haunted), and devouring anything pumpkin-spiced. If you’ve embarked on a day trip to a local farm during the pleasant, but flawed fall season then there’s a good chance that the farm has some sort of corn maze. And with that most likely being the case, there’s an even better chance you’ve either dove right in and attempte
