Hummingbird Happiness

Ed Frampton Hummingbird Photo

In the next few months, our area will have a number of visitors known as Leaf Peepers who come to see the spectacular colors of autumn as our trees prepare for winter. However, those who visit Mountaindale now will be in for a very special treat. Our resident ruby throated hummingbirds LOVE their neighborhood, with the numerous hummingbird feeders on Main Street and hummingbird attracting flowers in town,

This month, the 'hummingbird ballet' will particularly delight our Hummingbird Hailers because the immature babies that hatched this summer are now able to seek their own food, and are doing it in droves. Certain feeders in town are especially popular and it's possible to see several feeding simultaneously while others are chirping, hovering and jockeying for position. A deliveryman who was visiting Eddie's Mountaindale Inn was quite impressed recently and remarked that Mountaindale seems to have more hummingbirds than he sees anywhere else on his Mid Hudson route. The other day at Upstate Karate of Mountaindale, a child exclaimed, "I see hummingbirds!" His mother replied, "Yes, Dear," in that mommy way. So I explained that her child REALLY was seeing hummingbirds so they sat for a bit on the karate school porch to watch the acrobatic antics.

Now that our community has a new business, Mountain Charm Market Cafe & Deli, you can now pick up a delicious cup of steaming coffee or tea, and even a sandwich while you relax and watch the non-stop entertainment provided all day by these ruby throated jewels. The cafe also offers free WiFi to customers so you can even enjoy nature outside while you work comfortably on your laptop. We hope to see you in town to enjoy our wonderful hummingbirds before they start their big trip down South in early October. Then you can come back and enjoy our fall foliage,

Shlemiels & Shlimazels

Paramount's "Dinner for Schmucks"

I was recently trying to explain the Yiddish meaning of the words Shlemiels & Shlimazels to a non-Jewish friend. He wasn't familiar with the expressions so I guess Laverne & Shirley must not be any of the reruns he watches. The terms could be explained by the recent movie, "Dinner for Schmucks," in which Steve Carell does an amazing job of portraying a lovable Shlemiel with Paul Rudd as the unfortunate Shlimazel whose life is irrevocably changed by their chance meeting.

The comedic value of Shlemiels & Shlimazels will be further explored on Wednesday, August 29, at 7:30PM at the Ethelbert Crawford Public Library at 393 Broadway in Monticello. They will host a special evening lecture by Ruth Adler, entitled "Faces of Jewish Humor: The Saga of the Shlemiel and the Shlimazel."

Humor has served as an effective tool for addressing adverse circumstances. Jewish writers have availed themselves of it in good measure. The shlemiel and the shlimazel - the clumsy oaf and the hapless fool - have been favorite prototypes of Jewish humor. The three famed classicists of Yiddish literature, Mendele, Sholem Aleichem, and Peretz, have made extensive use of these prototypes to pinpoint human foibles, sometimes with empathy and compassion, at other times, with a satiric edge.

In this presentation, we will describe the travails of the shlemiel and the shlimazel as they have been depicted in the writings of the three major East-European writers, and also explore their appearance in earlier periods. In our journey, we are sure to detect echoes of the shlemiel and the shlimazel in contemporary society, and perhaps learn to laugh at our own foibles as we go about our mundane activities.

This lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state-affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This program is free and opens to the public. For more information call the library at 845-794-4660.

Support Trails Funding

The O&W Rails to Trails linear park is a very valuable recreational asset for Mountaindale, Woodridge and the Town of Fallsburg. We are a Healthy Trails, Healthy People community, who has received funding and support from Parks & Trails New York. We have been advised that future funding may be in jeopardy unless we help to secure New York State’s federal funding for trails and bicycling and walking.  The new federal transportation bill allows New York State to opt out completely from the Recreational Trails Program as well as transfer half of the funds that can and should be used for trails, complete streets, and other bicycle-pedestrian infrastructure that supports active transportation to road building. 

Please join with scores of other organizations and local governments across the state by signing the letter below, asking Governor Cuomo to:

a.      Continue the popular Recreational Trails program – a program that has pumped more than $19 million into our economy, aided 280 motorized and nonmotorized trail projects, and leveraged $12 million since the program began in 1993.

b.      Preserve all eligible funding for trails and active transportation funding and not transfer any to road building

c.      Make existing, unspent Transportation Enhancement dollars available immediately to communities for another round of grant applications. 

We must make ourselves heard by August 15.  September first is the deadline for the Governor to decide the future of the Recreational Trails program. 

It takes two clicks

1.      Read the letter
2.      Sign on   (I just did)

Thank you for standing up for trails and active transportation!