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Today I wonder about all of the people who have lived in this house. What were their lives like? What sadness, what joys were parts of their lives? What memories remain of their time here?

The ghosts of family dinners, school dances, weddings, baptisms, comings and goings, the voices of the old and the laughter of the young, heartbreak and great happiness must remain somewhere.

I clearly remember the 1968 back yard, when young, inexperienced, relatively poor and so hopeful, we moved in with our homemade sofa and refinished dressers and a set of white dinner ware that I had bought at Grants. There were two Rose of Sharon bushes on the hill and four peonies where the hill touched the black top that covered the area that was once the floor of a garage. According to our neighbor, Mr. Woodford, it had to be taken down because of the springs coming out of that hill that undermined its foundations.

We opened up an uninsulated three season porch to the rest of the house with

French doors, flooding the dining room with borrowed light. There was nothing in the yard to filter the sun that streamed in the windows. I dug garden beds and planted flowers in what seemed to be a vast backyard. Some were remembrances of the gardens of my youth, flowers that my mother loved and gooseberries that were a staple in my grandmother’s jams and pies.

When our son was born, the photos show gooseberries in the background behind the little wading pool or the sandbox that sat just outside the backdoor. When he was four, we built an addition to the house, moving out from that porch into most of what was our yard. The four o’clocks and the gooseberries were sacrificed.

When our daughter was born, there was still room for the tiny pools, the child sized wheel barrows and such. How many picnic lunches did we eat on the square redwood table? How many games did we play, snow forts did we build? If I listen hard enough, can I hear adolescent voices calling for sugar and spice cookies or chocolate pudding?

Supports Henry for Manlius trustee

To the editor:

Anny Henry is a brave woman ready to voice the concerns of neighbors who do not see the village of Manlius working smart enough in a fast-changing world. As a first-time candidate for village trustee, Anny faces long-term incumbents who are well-connected and well-funded. Never content to just sit back, she will speak up for those who cannot, and, for those who have given up hope of the village ever changing. Anny knows the village can do better.

Anny is both a real estate agent and a manager of federallyfunded housing for seniors and disabled adults. She is a housing specialist eager to increase the tax base and welcome families relocating here for a job with Micron. More people attract more entrepreneurs. Anny will focus on the empty storefronts which demoralize village residents. She has the expertise to create change.

As a two-income family raising four children, Anny knows very few village of Manlius recreation programs are designed for children with working parents.

Two of the most popular programs, Open Gym and Playground, are just a few hours long. They start at 9-10 a.m. and end at 12:30, 3 or 4 p.m. depending on the day. Children blocked from recreation programs feel excluded. Anny plans to evaluate recreation resources with fresh eyes to ensure equal opportunities for children who do not have someone to transport them during those hours.

Do you know that women hold only two of 15 Trustee positions in the three villages of the town? Combined. Two!

When Anny is elected, there will be three. Still a long way to go, guys. All elected village trustees should evaluate what

They are long gone, like the flowers and berries, existing only in photos and my memory. I wonder who will care about such pedestrian thoughts? Will they live on as ghosts in the masonry, the woodwork, the everyday life of this house, adding to the power of home and family.

Now, looking through the kitchen window, I see the result of almost fifty years of change. The little patio is no longer shaded by blue spruce, planted as seedlings on the hill where the Rose of Sharon and peonies once lived. They grew in their majestic blue beauty and died in less. The aging birch has spread its branches and taken over for the spruce. The branches dip and sway in the wind, reminding me to be as flexible. Underplantings of ivy, Bishop’s weed and sprinklings of Astilbe have fashioned a woodland-like setting. The area exists in the dappled sunlight that makes its way through the delicate green leaves of the birch. The blacktop is covered with running bond brick softened by mosses and dragon’s blood sedum. A strip of cement that must have been they do that prevents gender equity - such as blatant voter and candidate suppression.

You are in good company if it comes as news to you that elections will happen on March 21 st from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the villages of Manlius and Fayetteville. Countless villagers are surprised to find out that their elections are held in the winter – they’ve never heard of them before. Check the home pages of both villages – no election notices yet, less than a month to go. Manlius does not even have the election on its calendar!

Power hoards power. Incumbents hoard power by suppressing voter turnout. Every village board could change its election to any other season, but village incumbents benefit from elections being in the winter, and, nearly invisible.

Seniors head to the south for winter and are not available to vote. Incumbents know well that a blustery winter day will discourage turnout.

Winter elections also discourage candidates from running. It is so cold, icy and windy, voters do not want to open their doors for bundled up strangers. The best way of earning a person’s vote is at their door. Who knows that best? Incumbents. Their choice to hold March elections is dangerous because walkways and steps are often not shoveled and daylight is shorter than in other seasons. Vote for brave Anny Henry – for a change.

CAsEy ClEARy fayEttEvillE

Mayor supports Chapman and McGrew

To the editor:

I would like to urge every village of Manlius resident to get out and vote to re-elect Scott McGrew and Hank Chapman on March 21 st . This election is very important to continue all the progress we have made.

The village has several great

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Creative Director: Gordon Bigelow, ext 331, art@eaglenewsonline com part of the foundation of that long ago garage marks the outside of a slender garden that casts roses up and over the neighbor’s fence. projects going on; Main Street Revitalization, Mill Run Park and Swan Pond Improvements, Village Centre Pond, Amphitheater and Sports Complex enhancements, Rt. 92 and Rt. 173 repaving along with pedestrian and bicycle paths throughout the village. Scott and Hank are a vital part of all these projects.

Those wild roses have found the small metal pergola and bench in the northwest corner of the patio and will no doubt fill its arches with blossoms in early July. The new bird feeder, which has successfully thwarted the squirrels’ attempts at larceny, is host to tens of small avian bodies every day. But the squirrels have to eat too, so we’ve tacked a feeder for the family that lives under the neighbor’s playhouse to the trunk of a spruce on the back edge of the yard. It’s lovely place, a garden of a settled older family, a busy life without children in tow.

I wonder too if my daughter will look out on a garden somewhere on some future date, reminiscing as I have about those who have gone before and the memories that still remain. The circle turns.

Ann Ferro is a mother, a grandmother and a retired social studies teacher. While still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up, she lives in Marcellus with lots of books, a spouse and a large orange cat.

Scott is my deputy mayor and has been liaison to all the village’s biggest departments – Fire, DPW and a crucial member of the inter-municipal Police Committee. Scott has been instrumental in keeping these departments functioning to deliver the great services you expect as taxpayers.

Hank and I work together on the Main Street Revitalization Committee where we have applied for and received grants to improve our main street businesses, pedestrian safety and walkability, village beautification, and highway safety. We have recently received our second Main Street Grant and are currently waiting to hear on the NY Forward Grant that we applied for in the Fall.

Hank also chairs our Parks and Rec Board and has recently completed a Parks Improvement Plan to enhance our village parks.

He sits on our Finance and Budget Committee, where we are proud that to say our tax rate has gone down in recent years and our fund balance that is set aside for emergencies is at a very comfortable level.

I hope you will join me in voting for Scott and Hank on March 21 st . They are such a big part of all the great things we have going on, and I need them to continue on our village board.

If you have any questions about Scott or Hank, please call me at 315-345-6530.

PAul WHoRRAll mayor, villagE of manliuS

Letters l Page 5