ShARing My DAyDREAM

There is a place that I go when things get grabby … you know … that feeling that things outside you are dragging you in different directions or holding you fast in a malignant inertia? It’s both real and fictional. It’s our summer cottage at the end of Benem Road, just off Sanctuary Lane in Borodino.

Even when snow fills Benem Road, not much more than a wide path running next to a deep ravine, I seek the solitude and comfort of its simplicity. Accessibility then would be limited to the young with snowshoes. I have neither snowshoes nor youth to carry me down to the cottage. I go there in my daydreams.

Even on torrid summer days, when I am held captive by responsibilities or infirmities I resurrect images, visions, day dreams that soothe over the long lists of “to do’s” and bottles of pills and acres of undone promises.

There’s a fire in the wood stove and the scent of apple wood fills the air. A turkey is roasting in the kitchen oven and my family is busy with one of the board games that live in the bottom two shelves of the bookcase.

I am dreaming of a dream that has lingered in the places where such dreams dwell.

What would it be like to celebrate Thanksgiving at the cottage? We have never been able to do this, since we close up the place where we lived for the summer in October. There wouldn’t

From The Empty Nest

Ann Ferro

be any water to wash the dishes or flush the loo and some reality is more demanding than others. Then there is the weather…

Novembers aren’t always very cold, so the fact that the walls of the cottage are one board thick, that is, with no inside finishes, just two-by-fours and the sheathing … that shouldn’t make a difference. There’s a small wood stove with which I have a lot of experience and stacks of firewood culled from downed trees that can warm the main room. Preparation for the feast warms the kitchen and its surroundings.

Just off the porch, the lake, in this reverie, is alive with waves driven by a wind that comes from the southwest. Just perfect. The air is crisp and fresh and alive.

And I do dream this dream in midsummer, an escape from the stresses, the busyness of daily life … most of which I have concocted in my own head. I’ve been there in this daydream so many times, each time modified to accommodate the changes that have occurred in the real world.

Now there are two young almostmen, Emily’s children, one 12 and one 14 playing Clue or Mastermind, begging more us to join them. Twin two-year-old boys, also known as Ben’s boys, are enthralled by a miniature cabin we built … how many summers ago? More than thirty?

There is music from the old radio which can still play our ancient collection of CDs.

The music of our lives sets the stage.

Everything looks like a magazine spread … the kind where the hostess has picked wildflowers to decorate the table which has been set with a variety of curated (a popular word today) mismatched dinnerware. Everyone’s clothing looks like an ad from Ralph Lauren. Maybe Tommy Hilfiger apparel would be a better choice since he is from Elmira and staying local is good. And Ralph Lauren is from the Bronx … and I am from Brooklyn. Debating this shows why I need this escape.

We may have opened a bottle of wine or made mimosas or concocted a lusciously thick hot chocolate from the hot chocolate box that I put in the closet 20 years ago. Really…remember this is a daydream.

In this fantasy, we never really finish cooking or eating, rather the ambiance of being together as family, of sharing space, even if only in my head, is sufficient. The real world often intrudes before the turkey is done.

Of course, in this daydream, we are all healthy, reasonably not ugly and, did I mention that in this imaginary time and place, I have made myself 40 pounds lighter? Hey, it’s my daydream.

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.

FROM THE MAILBAG Hannaford location a bad idea

To the editor:

It’s extremely difficult for me to understand how the Hannaford supermarket has been even considered for the O’Brien and Gere site. The only way it can succeed is when it has a highway system that fully supports it. Fayetteville’s Route 5 is only a twolane highway that has much difficulty handling its own traffic. Wegmans has both a nearby highway interchange and a six-lane highway for its support. Absolutely no comparison.

While that condition alone should rule out Hannaford coming to that site, there are also two other strong reasons. The huge traffic problems would severely impact the lives of all who live here – Fayetteville would no longer be a wonderful place to live. Also, when the time comes Hannaford no longer makes the profit they desire, they will leave us with a huge structure and a sea of asphalt in the vicinity of the center of Fayetteville. Another point, none of us see a large supermarket near the center of always beautiful Skaneateles.

As a retired architect, I never understood why Hannaford couldn’t locate their supermarket in Towne Center. They might have to find a way to get both Tops and Drive-Up facilities. Huge pluses would be the parking area already exists and they would have access to a four-lane highway. This would enable Hannaford to still provide us with a too quality supermarket that includes a much-needed top quality prepared food department.

But I repeat, Hannaford should never ever be located at the O’Brien and Gere site. It can only hurt, hurt, hurt us here in Fayetteville.

ChARlES MiRuCki Fayetteville

Aquarium

To the editor:

It was great to see Mark Olson’s response doubling down on his support for the aquarium. His reasoning and logic unfortunately does not convince me, nor many others over the need for a 85 million dollar facility.

Jobs, after the construction jobs, the jobs generated by this would not be the kind of living wage jobs that people need.

Sales tax revenue? Malls unfortunately are no longer driving the sales tax bus. Online shopping continues to push forward (as seen by the many closings by major chains). Your dig at the letter writer as “supporting social programs and community initiatives” is unwarranted and not connected to this issue.

Added tourism? I had not seen one independent study that shows you will get the needed 1000 visitors a day to make this facility viable. I hate to see another white elephant, we taxpayers are not a bottomless pit.

Decades of planning for Micron really? The Chip Act was in response to the COVID crisis and the fact that this country was dependent on foreign sources for chips. The same Chip act, which had zero republican support by the way. It was Senator Schumer who was 80% responsible for Micron coming here.

My biggest question to proponents of the aquarium is what is the “quid pro quo” for COR here in developing this land (which by the way is a polluted site)?

Voters, you have a choice to vote on this issue when you vote for county legislator this fall.

BoB WEBBER Fayetteville

Our diversity makes us strong

To the editor:

I feel sorry for the people who felt it was necessary to proclaim that “white lives matter” at the Manlius Swan Pond. Their sense of insecurity and the ignorance of history was and is showing. We are a nation of immigrants. The very fabric of our country has been built and created by immigrants and their descendants.

Whether the immigrants were Welsh, often working in mines in Pennsylvania, Irish working as laborers, Italians coming to NY or Scandinavians settling in the Midwest, they often came with little or no resources finding work and living space where they could. Even Thomas Jefferson had a Welsh background. But each immigrant generation was vilified.

My grandmother came to this country as a 16 year old unaccompa-

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Creative Director: Gordon Bigelow, ext. 331, art@eaglenewsonline.com nied minor, from Eastern Europe in 1905, with little or no resources as did so many millions before and after her. She eventually married my grandfather and they lived over their small grocery store in a poor neighborhood in Richmond, Virgina. The kitchen was downstairs in the back of the store, so that they could cook and eat dinner and peek through the curtain to keep the store open.

But, my grandmother’s grandson went to college. In 1970, Marty was recruited to join the federal government to help build its capacity to meet the new challenges and support the implementation of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as IDEA. He served in the US Bureau of Education for the Handicapped the Office of Special Education for 23 years. He brought young people who had been hidden in institutions, attics, kept at home, back into our communities and schools. He organized a relationship between researchers and practitioners in the field to ensure the viable delivery of services to a wide range of needs. He was the director of the Department of Innovation and Development, guiding 2000 grants to move research to practice. He changed the tenor of our schools and the field of education.

In two generations my grandmother’s immigration, as with so many immigrant families, changed the way this country has extended its democracy and opportunities, to those with disabilities and those who support them.

Over and over again, immigrants have added to this country’s strength, capacity, productivity and innovations. We are greater because of our diversity. The people who held up their frightened and bigoted signs at Swan Pond are not looking at the history and progress of our country’s growth. Hopefully, they will take the time and energy to learn that advancing knowledge is a community and generational effort. Hopefully, they will be able to let go of their insecurities and fears and join our community with good will.

MARy CunninghAM Fayetteville