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 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.

Recalling the village’s willow-weaving heyday

One of the world’s leading experts on the weaving of willow wands, British-born artist Bonnie Gale – who now lives in nearby Norwich – has extensively researched the style of German immigrant willow weavers who settled in Liverpool some 150 years ago.

The village of Liverpool is again offering a free willow basketry workshop on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 12 and 13, at the village hall, 310 Sycamore St. Gale will teach participants how to make a Liverpool-style scrap basket.

As an example of Gale’s dominance in the world of basketry, the Mount Vernon Estate decided several years ago to display the love letters that Martha Washington had written to America’s first president. To design and construct a basket to hold the precious correspondence, they commissioned none other than Bonnie Gale.

historic cottage industry

The willow weaving industry began locally in 1852 when John Fischer, a German-born salt boiler, noticed willow bushes growing profusely in nearby swamps. That willow closely resembled the German willow used for making baskets.

By the 1890s, Liverpool willow basket weavers were producing an estimated 300,000 laundry baskets each year, making this small village

Thanks SKARTS

To the editor: Perform 4 Purpose would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to the Skaneateles Area Arts Council (SKARTS) for their support of our P4P Strings Program. In 2023, P4P opened our first studio, Studio A, in order to expand our programming. At Studio A, we offer open jam sessions, as well as group and individual lessons. SKARTS has aided in funding our new strings program at Studio A.

We are grateful to the SKARTS program for their support of the arts within our community!

JENNiFER ChuRCh, PRESiDENT perform 4 purpoSe an international center of basket production. The willow-weaving business was a cottage industry that supported scores of Liverpool families for decades.

Local folks interested in learning how to weave in the Liverpool style, workshop participants must attend both days from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To register, call or email Bonnie at 607-226-0314 or email her at bonwillow22@outlook.co m

“This is an excellent beginning willow basket and provides a lot of the basic techniques used in the old Liverpool baskets,” Gale said. “It demonstrates the intrinsic functionality of willow baskets.”

BTW, the Liverpool Willow Museum on the grounds of the Gleason Mansion at 314 Second St., will be open from 2 to 4 p.m. on both days of the workshop. Museum entrance is free.

Ramble Picnic on Sunday

Seventeen different bluegrass and old-time country acts will perform at Bill Knowlton’s 50th Anniversary Bluegrass Ramble Picnic from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 6, at Dwyer Memorial Park on Little York Lake in Preble. Admission is free.

Knowlton, who lives in Liverpool, has been hosting his “Bluegrass Ramble” radio program for more than half a century on Sundays from 9 p.m. to midnight on WCNY-FM 91.3.

Concerned for the students

To the editor: NSCSD passed Policy 5311.8 aka “Student Gender Policy” on May 30, 2023.

People in opposition to this policy are not anti anything. In fact, they are concerned that this abrupt decision to implement such a policy (without parent or student knowledge) is unsafe for all children.

The fact that disagreeing parties are publicly slandered and harassed is completely the opposite of believing in freedom of speech for all. Which is in fact anti-American. Whatever happened to “agreeing to disagree?”

Allowing children of the opposite com

Picnic performers includes Gospel Way, Larry Hoyt, the Right Bros., the Salmon River Boys, Creek Bend, New Snip City, Group Therapy, The Cadleys, the Down City Ramblers, Off the Wall, the Atkinson Family, Plexigrass, Joe Lamay and Sherri Reese, the Lonesome Road Ramblers, Simmerin’ Stew, Northwater and the Delaney Bros.

‘Dial of Destiny’

I’m looking forward to the new Indiana Jones movie, titled “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but only because of its spunky co-star, the British comedienne Phoebe Waller-Bridge. In the new movie, Phoebe portrays Jones’ estranged goddaughter, Helena Shaw.

Last year, I sampled two seasons of Phoebe’s clever U.K. sit-com, “Fleabag,” on DVDs I borrowed from Liverpool Public Library. Having truly enjoyed Phoebe’s wacky and worldly televised comedy, I’m ready to watch her talent be translated to the big screen. It’ll be interesting to see how she complements Harrison Ford’s tongue-in-cheek stoicism...

Last word

“I wanted [Indiana Jones] to have a relationship that wasn’t a flirty kind of relationship, that was a deep relationship.”

– Actor Harrison Ford commenting on working with Phoebe Waller-Bridge in “Dial of Destiny.” biological sex to be behind closed doors in restrooms and locker rooms as well as allowing them to sleep in the same rooms and physically compete against each other is not a solution. It is creating other and new problems. People opposing this policy simply disagree and feel all children are not being protected in this.

Let us not forget the other thousands of children in our district that no longer feel safe or comfortable in our schools.

How is this policy really preventing bullying and one that supports dignified, humane treatment for all? It appears it has now shifted bullying to adults. You can stand for whatever you want freely