It seems like winter has come too soon. There are about 4 inches of snow on top of the leaves that I should have raked last week. I'll wait a little longer for Indian summer.

Halloween used to bring eight or ten ghosts, goblins and other images here in the early evening, but that tradition seems to have gone by the way around here.

Phyllis recalled to Dan and Meg the time when "Dad would stay home and make donuts, while she, Meg, Michael and Joseph (Foiadeli), Audrey and Jill (Weiner), Mike Dunham, Kathy and Alice would go trick or treating around the neighborhood." All returned here for cider and delicious home made donuts.

I remember one Halloween night when a truck with a trailer of cows broke down across the street. The driver and his partner came over to seek help. and were treated with a tour of this old house, cider, donuts, and a ride to the truck stop where they were to spend the night. A short time later, the sheriff called me on the phone to find out where those guts went because " they can't leave that rig there over night." Soon the sheriff, and the truckers were back with a tow truck to get the truck moving again. Weird!

Well we are getting socked with water most of the day, and it is now snowing. I noticed that Oneonta was closed early today, as I clicked my school closings link on my web site. The stream in the back has had water all year for the first time since we have been here, and now it is totally full. It goes over in two places... 1. Where we figured it would, at that bend, and it goes into the back field; 2. Just after the bridge, and then down stream a bit more where there is a log stuck in the way... which may float out with this amount of water. So there is a stream in that gully after the bonfire area out to the woods. Yikes!

Campaign cycle

As this election campaign winds down, I realize that there are polar arguments going on. One candidate is telling us how his presidency will change America, and the other is saying that his opponent will do none of it. One is preparing to govern; the other is trying to assure that his opponent cannot govern. One has his eye on the next four years, and the other is laying groundwork for the next campaign in four years.

With election day, the cycle of the next campaign begins, and an attempt is made to make everything that happens relevant to the defeat of the incumbent, rather than the good of the country. What a way to run a country!

One might say that it has been this way for 200 years. I would say that sometimes it has. The bottom line should be, what is for the good of the country, our people, our world. Can we get to the bottom line?

As I see the news about the lines of people attempting to cast an early vote for the candidate of their choice, I realize the folly of an election day on a Tuesday. I would like to see the polls open for two days, Saturday and Sunday, the first weekend in November from 6 am to 6 pm with hours open ended on both days to accommodate people in line. Continue to have absentee balloting for those who cannot physically make it to their polling place. I would also suggest that ballot propositions be placed on a separate ballot on another day, thus leaving only a few candidates on the election days, the presidential tickets, senators, congress people, and a few state legislators.
We have to get this right.

We are on the cusp of seasons now with fall like temperatures and the furnace wanting to go on often. Last night, we discussed the book The Limits of Power by Andrew Basevich. It challenged our commonly held beliefs about the option of military power, the spread of democracy, and the American dream. We have some adjusting to do.

Photo by Phyllis Palladino

Austerlitz Historical Society Cemetery Walk and Calendar

A cemetery walk, during which five spirits who are buried in Austerlitz Cemeteries, attracted about 30 hearty people on Saturday at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Spencertown. The event was sponsored by the Austerlitz Historical Society to raise interest in the 2009 calendar published by the Society and which features photos of tombstones and houses associated with those buried in the local cemeteries.

The ghostly guide legendary raconteur Anna Rundell (portrayed by Connie Mondel) escorted the group to the graves of Hiram Mather(Joe Mondel), an undertaker; May Wolfe Howes (Mitzi Lobdell), former resident of Clatter hall; Clara Blanchard Wadsworth(Sally McCarthy), founder of Wadsworth Park- known as the village green; Jonathan Chamberlain(Phil Palladino), a shoemaker, blacksmith, and farmer; and of course poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (Diane Arduini). Each of the ghostly figures recounted stories about the times and places where they lived back when.

The stories, tombstones, and homes of these five and six others are featured in the 2009 Calendar which is dedicated to Marion Kern the former Town Historian and a charter member of the historical society. Creating and producing the calendar is an effort by the Austerlitz Historical society to stimulate interest in the Town of Austerlitz and engender an appreciation of its heritage. Calendars are available for purchase at the Chatham Bookstore and the Spencertown Store, and at AHS quarterly meeting on November 16th and the Holiday Sing on December 7^th. The price of a calendar is $8 or 2 for $15. You may call (518)392-0062 for additional information about purchasing calendars. Visit www.oldausterlitz.org for coming events.

Phil Palladino

Publicity Coordinator

Austerlitz Historical Society

392-5933

Up and coming

I have been out of touch on this blog for a while, concentrating my efforts on my web page, www.philpalladino.com . This will be used more and will be accessible from a button on that page, so watch out.