He’s Back
FREE as the wind
To celebrate his 175th birthday, Mark Twain and his living twin Hal Holbrook blaze into Elmira for a year of events
Lighten Up At Fleming Antiques A True (Maple) Sweetheart Spring Greens Arrive
Mammograms Save Lives Starting at Age 40
Given the recent controversy surrounding breast cancer screenings, we at Guthrie continue to recommend an annual mammogram for average risk women beginning at age 40, and at 35 for those at higher risk.
If you are due for your annual mammogram, we encourage you to arrange your screening as soon as possible.
To find a mammogram location near you, call 1-888-4GUTHRIE. www.guthrie.org/breastcare
6
Mountain Chatter
By Kay Barrett
We are kidding around with Tedd Arnold in Arnot and taking in a show at the Warehouse Theatre. 11
Looking Back
By Joyce M. Tice
The census 100 years ago was a farmer’s part-time job. 14 The Lunker
By Fred Metarko
When the bugs got too bad, the Lunker’s brother George offered a rank remedy.
16
Tell Me No Lies
By Dawn Bilder
While doctors doubted her symptoms, Diane Keeler refused to believe that her seizures were “all in her head.”
18
The Better World
By John and Lynne Diamond-Nigh In Paris, Corning, or wherever you please, a friendly chat over a cup of coffee is good for what ails you. 19
Yogamama Says
By Kathleen Thompson
Yogamama contemplates what’s in her head — or not — in her Space Chair.
The Tale of Two Twains
By Matt Connor
Broadway’s Hal Holbrook returns at 85 to kick off the Mark Twain birthday bash.
One Fly Guy
By Larry Bordas
Why fooling the fish is a time-honored tradition.
Armenia Mountain Footwear
By Kay Barrett
Traditional cobblers Jen and Kirt Casler are saving soles at Armenia Mountain Footwear in Troy, Pennsylvania.
Top: Mark Twain celebrates his 175 birthday this year. Middle: A “Yellow Ass McGee” Bottom: Cobbler Kirt Casler at his craft.
Cover art by Tucker Worthington.
A Seriously Sappy Pageant
By Nicole Hagan
Beauty, brains, and a love of all things maple are the keys to claiming this crown.
22
Ground Goodness
By Angela Cannon-Crothers
Our writer shares her list of favorite local wild greens, perfect for spring dishes after this long winter.
24
Finger Lakes Wine Review
By Holly Howell
Holly suggests the perfectly fruity wine with Easter ham dinner: Goose Watch Winery’s Bartlett Pear.
26
The Magic Lamp
By Nicole Hagan
The Fleming family business grew from one room to three buildings.
28
Someplace Like Home
By Dave Milano
Dave sings praises for the three-legged stool and other simple things whose magic is not hi-tech and invisible, like the cell phone.
P ublisher
Michael Capuzzo
e ditor - in - C hief
Teresa Banik Capuzzo
A sso C A te P ublisher
George Bochetto, Esq.
M A n A ging e ditor
Kay Barrett
C o P y e ditors
Mary Nance, Kathleen Torpy
s t A ff W riter
Dawn Bilder
i ntern
Cosmo 20
Nicole Hagan
C over A rtist
Tucker Worthington
P r odu C tio n M A n A ger / g r AP hi C d esigner
Amanda Doan-Butler
C ontri buting W riters
Kay Barrett, Dawn Bilder, Sarah Bull, Angela Cannon-Crothers, Jennifer Cline, Matt Connor, Barbara Coyle, John & Lynne Diamond-Nigh, Patricia Brown Davis, Martha Horton, Holly Howell, Rob Lane, Roberta McCulloch-Dews, Cindy Davis Meixel, Fred Metarko, Karen Meyers, Dave Milano, Tom Murphy, Mary Myers, Jim Obleski, Cornelius O’Donnell, Audrey Patterson, Gary Ranck, Kathleen Thompson, Joyce M. Tice, Linda Williams
P hotogr AP hy James Fitzpatrick, Ann Kamzelski
s A les r e P resent A tives
Christopher Banik, Michele Duffy, John White
A CC ounting
Zachery Redell
b e A gle
Mountain Home is published monthly by Beagle Media LLC, 39 Water St., Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, 16901. Copyright 2009 Beagle Media LLC. All rights reserved.
To advertise, subscribe or provide story ideas phone 570-724-3838 or e-mail info@mountainhomemag.com. Each month copies of Mountain Home are available for free at hundreds of locations in Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Union, Clinton, Wyoming, and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania; Steuben, Chemung, and Schuyler counties in New York. Visit us at www.mountainhomemag.com.
Get Mountain Home at home. For a one-year subscription to Mountain Home (12 issues), send $24.95, payable to Beagle Media LLC, to 39 Water St., Wellsboro, PA 16901.
LOOK FOR Mountain Home Real Estate Guide wherever Mountain Home magazine is found.
MOUNTAIN Ch ATTER
A Life in Pictures
The Arnold. No, not Schwarzenegger, but Elmira–born children’s book author Tedd Arnold, whose illustrations are now on display at the Arnot Art Museum. Arnold is a New York Times Bestselling author who has written and illustrated popular
children’s books including No Jumping on the Bed , Green Wilma , and Fly Guy Rick Pirozzolo, executive director of the Arnot Art Museum, says Arnold’s illustrations were the perfect way to highlight the museum’s promotion of art and children’s literacy. “He was born and still lives in Elmira and he is a great friend to many in the area. We were just having a conversation one day about possibly doing an exhibition and it just went from there,” Pirozzolo says.
The exhibition, Tedd Arnold: Reading Pictures, opened to the public on February 27, 2010, just one day after Arnold’s newest book, Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl , debuted at number ten on the New York Times Best Sellers
In the Spotlight
Last month Wellsboro theater company Hamilton-Gibson Productions christened the new Warehouse Theatre and celebrated their twentieth season with the group’s performance of The Miracle Worker
The Warehouse Theatre is located in one of the many buildings that are a part of the currently-under-construction Deane Center for the Performing Arts. “The Warehouse Theatre is the first step in the project of the Deane Center, which we hope to make into a one-stop place for all forms of art in the community,” says Hamilton-Gibson artistic director Thomas Putnam.
The Warehouse Theatre, a temporary space, holds fewer than one hundred people, but Putnam says that the Deane Center will eventually have two more theaters built: the black box theater, which will hold an estimated 155 seats, and the proscenium, which will seat an estimated 430.
Although the Warehouse Theatre, which is located next to The Native Bagel restaurant, holds fewer people than other future Deane Center projects, the lobby of the theater, known as the Gallery, is a larger area that can be booked by businesses and people in the community for receptions and other events.
The Warehouse Theatre and Hamilton-Gibson will be putting on the comedy Love, Sex, and the IRS on April 16, 17, 22, 23, 24 at 7:30 p.m. and April 18 at 2:30 p.m.
~Kay Barrett
What: Tedd Arnold: Reading Pictures. On display until May 22.
Where: Arnot Art Museum, 235 Lake Street. Elmira, New York
Hours: Tuesdays–Fridays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturdays, 12 noon–5 p.m
Phone: 607-734-3697
Website: www.hamiltongibson.typepad.com
List for Children’s Books. “We certainly didn’t plan it to happen that way, but it made for a great opening!” Pirozzolo says.
The exhibition is a retrospective of Arnold’s entire career with more than one hundred illustrations from his high school drawings to ideas rejected by his publishers to his current bestseller. In addition to Arnold’s illustrations, Elmira College students and museum staff will be giving a children’s story reading every Saturday until the end of Arnold’s exhibit.
~Kay Barrett
says that without his wife Carol none of his success would have been possible.
What: HG’s Love, Sex, and the IRS
Where: The Warehouse Theatre at the Deane Center
When: April 16, 17, 22, 23, 24 at 7:30 p.m. and April 18 at 2:30 p.m.
Phone: 570-724-2079
Website: www.hamiltongibson.typepad.com
Arnold
In addition to the temporary Warehouse Theatre, two other theaters are set to be built as part of the Deane Center for the Performing Art.
What is it about Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, that we’re still talking about him and reading his work, ten decades after he shuffled off this mortal coil and was laid to rest at Woodlawn cemetery in his beloved Elmira, New York?
One would be hard-pressed to name even one of his contemporary authors, but Twain continues to fascinate, and indeed seems to be everywhere this month as the anniversaries of both his birth (175 years ago) and death (a century ago) approach.
“I still marvel that what he said 100 years ago, 150 years ago still rings true today,” said Barb Snedecor, Director of the Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College. “He sounds amazingly contemporary, whether it’s the humor, whether it’s the pathos, whether it’s the political commentary, there’s just a timelessness about what he says.
“I can’t get over it.”
Neither can Hal Holbrook. The 85year-old actor has been portraying Twain in his one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight! for over 55 years. As part of the Twain anniversary celebrations in Elmira this month, Holbrook will bring the show to Elmira’s Clemens Center for the Performing Arts April 21.
“A lot of people ask me, why do audiences want to come and see this show after all these years, and I really believe it’s because hardly anybody tells the truth anymore. They just don’t. But this man just stands up
there and rolls it out, lays it right there in your lap,” Holbrook said during a telephone interview last month. “Sometimes it makes you laugh, because very often the truth is funny, and we don’t hear it very often. When somebody actually says something that’s the truth, it makes you laugh.”
Timeless and truthful, like the following Twain quote about an earlier economic crisis that could have been written by a cable TV commentator today: “Vast power and wealth corrupt. It incites dangerous ambitions. It will bring the Republic
down. It will pack the Supreme Court with members sympathetic to its purposes. It will run down the Congress and crush the people’s voice.
“This has been a strange panic. It’s like a blight, a paralysis in which a mighty machine has slipped its belt and is still running and accomplishing nothing. A creepy and awful stillness has given us an atmosphere of apprehension.
“The phrase ‘laying off’ has become common. The laying off of two or three thousand men has become familiar. But
there is a far greater and more disastrous laying off going on all over this land. The discharging of one out of every three employees in all of the humble small shops and industries from one end of America to another. A blight has fallen upon us, and the monarchy of the rich and powerful are the author of it.”
Holbrook recites this remarkable quote over the phone, seemingly from memory. He plans to use it in the Elmira performance this month.
“The man just simply lays it out there,” he says with obvious awe. “He tells the truth.
“There’s another line, probably from another source, in which he said, ‘Money has become more respectable than virtue.’ That line is really a bombshell to me about what has happened to our country. That is a killer blow to anybody who wants to open their minds to what has happened to our country and our people.
“I’ll probably do that number in Elmira because I find it nearly impossible not to do it right now, because it’s so current. It’s unbelievable.”
Elmira’s fervent embrace of the Twain legacy, said Chemung County Historical Society Director Amy Wilson “started really in earnest in the mid-1980s, and certainly it’s caught on. There are all kinds of things around to remind us of Twain’s connection to the area, because people like to name places after Mark Twain or one of his characters. We have the Huck Finn little league, for example. And of course he’s still here at Woodlawn Cemetery.”
There can be little doubt that the city that is playing host to “Mark Twain Days” this month was near and dear to the heart
of the man it is honoring. Twain first visited Elmira in the 1860s when courting his future wife, Olivia Langdon. Like much of his life story, the tale of Mark Twain’s discovery of Elmira – and Olivia – makes for colorful reading.
“He was on a tour of the Holy Land, doing research for his first major novel, Innocents Abroad , and he met a young man from Elmira, Charlie Langdon, who was just 17 years old,” said Mark Del Grosso, who for the last eight years has conducted trolley tours of “Mark Twain Country” in the city. “Langon’s parents had sent him to the Holy Land as a graduation gift, but he was kind of homesick and Mark Twain befriended him.
“And then Charlie showed him a picture of his younger sister, Olivia. Mark Twain fell in love with the picture and kind of finagled an invitation to Elmira to meet her.”
The wealthy and socially conscious Langdons generally did not approve of the upand-coming author, however. Del Grosso said that Twain, with his Southwestern manners and demeanor, was perfectly acceptable as a friend to Charlie. As a potential husband for Olivia, not so much.
“He had quite a difficult time courting her, initially,” said Del Grosso. “She didn’t much like him when they first met. She considered him a crude westerner, and she came from a very well-to-do, very gentrified family. So he had quite a difficult time courting her before he was finally able to win her over.”
Before long the Twains — Clemens and Olivia Langdon were married in 1870 — were spending their summers in Elmira, where Olivia’s sister, Susan Crane, had a study built for her brother-in-law on the
Where to Meet Twain
A limited schedule of events; for more information visit www.marktwaincountry.com
April 21, 2010
Mark Twain Tonight!
Hal Holbrook performs his Emmy & Tony awardwinning performance
Mark Twain Tonight! at the Clemens Center on the Centennial Anniversary of Twain’s death. www.clemenscenter.com
April 21–23, 2010
Like Twain Dinners Hill Top Inn & Restaurant Clemens’ & Langdon’s Family Dinner www.hill-top-inn.com
April 21–24, 2010
Into Twain Country Tours Centennial Excursions
Mark Twain’s Study and Burial Site Tour http://www.marktwaincountry.com/trolley.asp
April 24, 2010 at 11:00
Mark Twain Burial Re-Enactment Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, NY www.friendsofwoodlawnelmira.org
April 24, 2010
Tom Sawyer & Becky Thatcher Day at Harris Hill www.harrishillsoaring.org www.soaringmuseum.org www.harrishillamusements.com
May 26, 2010
Mark Twain: From Caricature to Icon Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College Free and open to the public. (607) 735-1941 twaincenter@elmira.edu.
Facing Page: Mark Twain circa 1907 (left) and actor Hal Holbrook today. Below Left: Twain and daughter Clara playing cards, c. 1900. Below Middle: Twain was a lifelong traveler. In 1902, he was photographed at a train station in Hannibal, Missiouri. Below Right: Twain wrote and journaled until his death on April 21, 1910.
family property at Quarry Farm.
“It is the loveliest study you ever saw,” Twain wrote in an 1874 letter. “It is a cozy nest and just room in it for a sofa, table, and three or four chairs, and when the storm sweeps down the remote valley, and the lightning flashes behind the hills beyond, and the rain beats on the roof over my head, imagine the luxury of it.”
“There are many letters that indicate his longing — certainly his anticipation — to return to Quarry Farm, to get back to work,” said Snedecor. “He said he could work here more effectively than he could in most any other place. He married an Elmira girl, and coming here every summer was a very welcoming time in all of their lives.
“For Livvie it meant she was coming back to the very loving embrace of her mother and sister, and there was a lot of relief in that. For the girls, they were getting away from the really public life that they had to live as little children in Hartford. Out here there was Aunt Sue’s house on the hill, animals, the out-of-doors.
“For Clemens himself there was the study.
He knew he had this place removed from the hustle and bustle of his very public life. It worked its magic on his mind. I think that Elmira is almost the centerpiece of his life.
“It was the place where he was able to summon up the memories of his Hannibal boyhood and all his travels. Life on the Mississippi , A Tramp Abroad , Roughing It , The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , The Adventures of Huck Finn , The Prince and the Pauper , and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court were all written here in this woodland setting in Upstate New York.”
Snedecor said part of Twain’s enduring popularity is that — unlike many of his contemporaries — he wrote in the “American vernacular,” rather in the more formal style typical of his era.
“I think he captured the language of America,” she said. “He was the man who captured us as we are. Before that, I think our writers — Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman — we were a little self-conscious of our speech. Then all of the sudden here comes a
Top Left: Twain with daughter Clara Clemens and her friend Marie Nichols, c. 1908.
Bottom Left: Painting of Twain in bed at his home, Stormfield, in Redding, Connecticut, c. 1908 by Alvin Langdon Coburn.
See Twain on page 32
Looking Back A Census on Horseback
Joyce M. Tice
The 2010 census will start with a mailing asking for your household information as of April 1. If you don’t respond to that, you’ll get a phone call. And if that doesn’t work, you’ll get a visit from a census taker. In the 1910 census a century ago, a census taker visited every household. The purpose is the same: to determine the number of congressional representatives for each state. Demographic data is collected as well to record changing lifestyles.
The rural 1910 census taker traveled to every home on horseback. The likelihood of a family being away was small: most families farmed. They worked at home and stayed at home most days except for brief trips to the nearest village to buy and sell goods. That was true for the census taker, too, who most likely had to do his own farm chores before starting off to count his neighbors. He probably did not travel the township on a rainy day, and even on a good day he was able to visit only six or seven households. In villages or cities the census taker could cover a few more homes than that in a day.
In 2010 it is not at all unusual for people to live alone. In 1910 that was rare. Older people lived with a child or a sibling, or, lacking that, they boarded with a family. Young people lived with their parents until they married even if they were employed. Many of the young people started out teaching in the rural schools. If their school was not within walking distance from their parents’ home, they boarded during the week with a family whose house was close to their school. Young married couples
often lived in a parent’s household for a year or two also.
In 1910 there was no such thing as a retired person. Even the most elderly male identified himself as a farmer, and, except for an occasional milliner, student, or seamstress, all women were identified as “keeping house.”
Martin Brennan was the census taker for Standing Stone Township in Bradford County. His 1910 diary is on my web site. On February 5 he went to Towanda to take the test for census taking. On March 23 he was notified that he had been appointed, and he was sworn in on March 25. Martin noted in his diary that he started the Standing Stone census on April 15. Unfortunately, just as we look forward to finding out a little more, he ceased recording in his diary.
The current census records where we live on the particular date of April 1. In early censuses, many people were double- or triple-counted as the census taker moved through the area over a period of a couple of weeks. A young person might be recorded in his or her own family, at the workplace, and visiting a relative. This would be understandable with a different census taker in a different unit, but often the same census taker would enumerate the same person on the same day in the same neighborhood. In one early census the same census taker counted the same family in two townships on the same day. The house was in Sullivan Township and the barn was in Rutland Township, so he enumerated the whole family in both.
Classified for seventy years, the census records are of great value to the historian or family researcher when released. We look forward to the release of the 1940 census this year.
Joyce M. Tice is the creator of the Tri-Counties Genealogy and History Web site (www.joycetice.com/ jmtindex.htm). She can be reached at lookingback@ mountainhomemag.com.
Martin Brennan of Standing Stone, shown here with his wife, Margaret, was a census taker in 1910.
OU T d O O RS
ECome Fly With Me
The art of feathers, fur, floss, and fooling.
By Larry Bordas
ach year at this time, just as winter starts to loosen its grip and the last of the snow gradually melts, no self-respecting trout fisherman needs a calendar to know that the annual ritual of the opening day of trout season is approaching and he anxiously waits for the last few weeks to pass until he can again stand in a clear mountain stream with rod and reel casting a fly to his old friend and adversary, the trout. But some fly fishermen do not have to wait till the opening day to enjoy another big part of fly-fishing, which is the constructing, or tying, of the flies.
Fly tying consists of attaching feathers, fur, floss and other natural and man-made material to a fish hook in a manner that will fool a fish into thinking it is one of the insects that are part of the fish’s diet. Fly tying came to North America with the early immigrants from Europe and copied the insects found over there, but fishermen soon discovered that the insects found on American streams were slightly different from their European cousins and modifications were needed for the fly to be effective.
So, America’s early tiers started creating their own flies and have been tying their own designs ever since. Many of the founding fathers of American fly-fishing and fly tying have their origins here in northeastern and north central Pennsylvania. Innovations in fly fishing equipment such as the modern bamboo fly rod, and fishing techniques such as the development of the dry fly and many more all can be traced back to Pennsylvania. The local influence on the sport of fly-fishing can still be seen today with the number of local nationally-renowned fly-fishing
authors and also at nearby Penn State, where ,in 1948, George Harvey started the first college course in fly-fishing. The history of fly-fishing also contains a number of ladies who have contributed to fly fishing, such as Dame Juliana Berners, a French-Nun who in 1496 wrote one of the earliest fly-fishing books. It is also reported that in 1858 Elizabeth Benjamin, a teenager living near Ralston, tied flies to match the insects she netted on Lycoming Creek and sold them to visiting sportsmen.
The valleys and streams of north central Pennsylvania have always been known for the beautiful scenery and terrific trout fishing and have been the destination for sportsmen since colonial days. Notable figures from the entertainment, sports, and political worlds have all found the relaxing effect of our green hills and sparkling streams. Many U.S. Presidents, from Presidents Grant and Eisenhower to George Bush, made the short trip from Washington, D.C. to apply their angling skills. President Jimmy Carter was especially noted for his regular visits to the area any time his schedule would allow.
Moving to an area with such a rich flyfishing history, it is easy to understand how I became interested in fly-fishing and particularly fly tying. Fly tying offers many different aspects and after a while you develop a tendency to narrow your focus to one or two areas. In my case, I have found a particular interest in the early history of our sport and have spent many hours researching old articles and books concerning the origin and development of the early flies.
One of the early flies I first became aware
of was conceived right here in the Pine Creek valley. The fly known by most Pine Creek fishermen as the “Green Ass McGee” was named for its green colored butt and the man who introduced it to Pine Creek.
Many of the old timers swear by the power of the Green Ass McGee to be irresistible to the local trout. I have experienced and remember many great days using the McGee on Pine Creek and other waters.
Fly-fishing and fly tying can be a lifelong activity that can be enjoyed by almost anyone. If you want to learn more about fly-fishing and fly tying you should contact your local chapter of Trout Unlimited or a local fly shop.
Larry Bordas is a fisherman, fly tier, and writer from Lycoming County. He has written for Fly Angler Online magazine and is a first-time contributor to Mountain Home
Right: Fly tier Larry Bordas learned his craft from books and other fishermen.
The Lunker Smoking Out Trout
Fred Metarko
Every April, on the first day of trout season, my brother, George, and I would head to the stream. Usually we started on the headwaters of the Genesee River in Gold, Pennsylvania. Fish were stocked in those waters in the fall. In the spring we often caught a nice limit of good-sized, healthy trout.
As the season continued, we had our good days and our not-so-good days. After work and dinner he would arrive at my house, and we would pick a stream to hit that evening. When we returned home with no fish or not even a bite George would say, “There are no fish in these streams. Why are we wasting our time fishing? I might as well sell all my gear and take up golf or something.” He would drop me off at my house and head on home, grumbling all the way. But the very next evening he would pull in the driveway and say, “Where do you think we should try tonight?”
to keep the bugs away,” he suggested.
The bugs were really getting to me, so I reluctantly accepted one of those little cigars. I lit it and instead of breathing the smoke in, I blew out. It worked. The smoke circled around my head and under the brim of my hat. The bugs stopped bothering me. I could concentrate on my fishing.
We fished past the park and headed up the left branch. Then the water started to move a little differently. The stones didn’t stay put when I went to step on them. My casts were not hitting their spot, sometimes not even the water. I was feeling dizzy and hanging onto the trees. George caught up to me and asked, “Are you okay? You don’t look too good; you look a little green.”
Some of the places we chose for our evening fishing sessions included Asaph Run, Stony Fork Creek, and Long Run.
One Sunday later in the season we were on Asaph Run. We started below the picnic area and had the place all to ourselves. Everything was going great until those pesky little bugs started to come out. They were relentless. They flew up my nose, in my ears, got behind my glasses and in my eyes, and crawled through my hair. I was spending more time scratching and itching than fishing. I said to my brother, “Man, I can’t take this, they’re driving me nuts.”
“They’re not bothering me,” he said as he took a puff of one of those small cigarette-sized cigars. He offered one to me. I refused, saying, “I don’t smoke.”
“You don’t need to smoke it, just keep it going
“The bugs left me alone but that little cigar sure got me. I’ve had it.” I moaned.
I was wearing a hat with a brim all the way around. The smoke had built up under the brim and I was inhaling it all the while we were fishing. I was actually smoking the cigar. We called it quits and headed home. That was one of my notso-good days. After spending a few days feeling yucky, I purchased some bug repellent.
George and I spent a good bit of time trout fishing. Then we got interested in bass fishing. We fixed up his boat, and I bought one. We had good and bad days on the boat too, but he never did end up selling all his stuff and taking up golf or something. He just showed up, and we kept fishing.
He passed away too soon. I’ve missed my brother and fishing partner.
The Lunker is a member of the Tioga County Bass Anglers (www.tiogacountybassanglers.com). Contact him at lunker@mountainhomemag.com.
The Lunker’s brother George.
In 1999, thirty-eight-year-old Diane Keeler was at a Bible camp, His Thousand Hills, in Wellsboro, with her twelve-year-old daughter, Erica. She was having fun with the children in her care and teaching them gymnastics. While demonstrating some moves, she bumped her head twice.
Diane was slightly afraid to go to sleep that night in case the bumps had caused a small concussion, but she was tired and let sleep come to her. When she woke up, there was a paramedic standing over her, saying, “Hi, Diane, I’m here to help you. You just had a seizure.” Keeler smirked. She thought it was a camp joke. Then she saw her daughter crying.
She was taken by ambulance to Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital where she was given some medicine and sent home. Keeler considered the seizure a fluke. “I just thought,” she says, “I had a seizure because I bumped my head. I had never had any problems with seizures before.” But a few days later, after she returned to her home in Jersey Shore, she had another seizure and ended up in critical care at Williamsport Hospital. Her inpatient doctor put her on the seizure medication Dilantin and scheduled an appointment to see her as an outpatient in a few weeks.
During that time, Diane kept having seizures and going back to the emergency room. When she went to her outpatient appointment, she was scared. As she explained her fears to her doctor, grateful for the appointment to make whatever was wrong right again, she suddenly noticed that the doctor was sitting back behind his desk
& S OUL
Inner Truth
When doctors doubted her seizures, Diane Keeler stood strong and kept the faith
By dawn Bilder
with his arms crossed. When she stopped talking, he said, “You can’t be having seizures. You’re on medication.” Keeler replied “No, I am. Just ask my husband.” The doctor’s dimeanor grew colder and he said, “You’re just faking for your husband’s attention. Go get yourself a black nightie.”
Keeler next made an appointment with a Geisinger doctor, who also didn’t believe her. He seemed to assume that she was only trying to push him to help her get disability money. Next she tried a Hershey doctor. He diagnosed her with “pseudo seizures,” which means that she believed she was having seizures, but the seizures didn’t exist.
Three years after she started having seizures, she saw a Wellsboro doctor, Dr. Daniel Britton. She had a seizure in front of him, and Britton made an appointment for her with Dr. Joyce Liporace, in Paoli, Pennsylvania. She is an epileptologist, a doctor who specializes in epilepsy. While being examined by Liporace, Keeler had another seizure. She heard Liporace ask her mother if this was what was going on at home, and her mother said yes. Liporace said, “That’s a seizure.” Keeler, hearing these words from a doctor, wanted to cry, but she couldn’t because she was still in the grip of the seizure. “I never thought,” Keeler says, “that I would be so happy to find out that I had a medical condition.”
The reason the other doctors didn’t believe Keeler is they had only run M.R.I. and CAT scan tests on her, which didn’t pick up any abnormalities in her brain. It was only when Liporace gave her a video E.E.G., which records electrical activity in the brain, that it was proven
she was having fifteen seizures per day. Now that a doctor believed her, Keeler thought she would be given the right medication and her life would go back to normal. But she was told she had epilepsy. And she understood that meant there would be no easy fix.
She began reaching out to people who also had epilepsy on the social networking website Myspace. She shared the helpful information she was getting from Liporace. “The Myspacers,” says Keeler, “were thanking me repeatedly because they said they learned more from my page than all their years with doctors.” So, she wrote a book, A Patient Friendly Resource for Epilepsy and Other Seizure Disorders, which would “walk through medical information and personal issues in an easy-to-understand format.”
After three surgeries, Keeler’s seizures are much more under control. “I haven’t had a seizure in almost a month,” she says. What’s her best advice? “There are 23 different types of seizures. You need to go to an epileptologist to get the right diagnosis and treatment.” Nighties not recommended.
The Better World Civility by the Sip
John & Lynne diamond-Nigh
The first time that I visited John’s studio, he served forth a cup of bargain-brand instant coffee. Any romance between us was suddenly on very thin ice. At once I took his coffee education in hand, knowing that if I was to have any sort of civilized courtship or fall the last degree into helpless love with this sawdust-dusted bohemian, the coffee would have to improve. Dramatically.
When I was very young, perhaps three or four, my mother, much given to Victorian decorum, often entertained a friend in the afternoon over coffee. Even then, as I still do today, I listened to my elders. Observing this, my mother purchased a miniature china coffee set for me. The coffee pot held, I suppose, a couple of tablespoons of coffee which I could pour through a spout as thin as a tulip stamen into a tiny cup, and, thus composed, I was set to audit that delightful communion we call chat.
people, this spring sunlight sprinkled through the chestnut leaves is but a part of the overall radiance of life.
That cup of coffee is a daily Eucharist, declaring that this is my place, this is my routine, these are my people, this spring sunlight sprinkled through the chestnut leaves is but a part of the overall radiance of life.
Sometimes when I can’t sleep in that city, I get up around two or three and walk along our street. There are several universities in the neighborhood and the cafes, at that wee hour, are still overflowing with Parisians, sipping their coffee, enjoying the night, talking earnestly about the world. The American writer Susan Sontag recalled her delight in discovering this Paris routine at the end of each day, of going the round of different cafes where you met your various conclaves of friends for coffee—a circuit that could take several hours. You learned the latest gossip, who was thinking and reading what, but most of all you entered the warmth of an incendiary fellowship—a rite of camaraderie and the intimate charm of a lively cafe in Corning or Seattle or Watkins Glen. As well as the taste, of course, of the coffee itself.
Coffee, of course, is like bread in its cultural diversity. Thick as mud in Greece; chicoryflavored (horror of horrors) in New Orleans; bewilderingly various in France. In Italy the arts of roasting and grinding are supreme, on par with the purest mysteries of the Vatican or the secret teashops of Beijing. Our favorite purveyor actually tailor-makes the cups from which to drink its perfectly tempered ambrosia.
And in France, perhaps, more outright conviviality is attached to a morning espresso than anywhere else in the world. There’s a cafe in Paris that we frequent, where taxi drivers and shop girls stop, flirt, sass, laugh, and in the blink of an eye run out the door. That cup of coffee is a daily Eucharist, declaring that this is my place, this is my routine, these are my
Ample poison is flowing through the veins of this nation—poisons of anger, greed, and cynicism, secreted day by day, drop by drop from talk radio, the internet, and cable TV. One can become an anger alcoholic. Blurry vision is the first symptom.
Perhaps the quickest and cheapest antidote to this poison is a strong cup of coffee. I’m not a chemist, but something in the chemical makeup of the drink softens animosity, restores fellowship, induces joy, and sharpens vision back to what it should be.
John writes about art and design at serialboxx.blogspot. com. Lynne’s website, aciviltongue.com, is dedicated to civility studies.
Yogamama Says The Space Chair
Kathleen Thompson
Ihave a Space Chair. Do you?
Everyone needs a Space Chair. Virginia Woolf claimed every woman needed a room of her own. I don’t really need a whole room; all I need is my Space Chair.
My Space Chair isn’t something I ordered from Brookstone. It doesn’t give me a Shiatsu massage. It doesn’t vibrate the tension out of me. It doesn’t have speakers built into the headrest.
My Space Chair has a lot of dog hair on it. I bought it at Pier 1 for $80. It’s a papasan chair— you know, one of those bowl-like chairs college kids buy for their first apartments. I bought the ottoman, too (always get the ottoman).
It’s in my bedroom. I sit in it to meditate. The dog likes to sleep on it at night, so before I go to bed I lay a beach towel on it for her. In the morning I take off the furry beach towel, and it magically transforms back into my Space Chair.
I call it a Space Chair because it’s the place I go to access “space consciousness.” Space consciousness is an Eckhart Tolle-ism. It’s short for that head-space you get into when you ask yourself, “Who is watching this messed up movie of me that’s running nonstop in my brain?”
The answer? I am.
And who, pray tell, is this “I am” who is watching? That is the question
the brain and blows up the movie. That’s the question that doesn’t have an answer. That’s the question that starts the experience.
And it is this experience that Tolle calls space consciousness.
So that’s why I call this pet-hair-infested chair from Pier 1 my Space Chair. It’s my teleportation device into space consciousness, and, as such, it’s the most magical piece of furniture in my house.
My friend Joan Tollifson, whom I used to sit Zen with a long time ago, has a chair in her house she calls a Bliss Chair. (She describes it in one of her books, Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is.)
It was her only piece of furniture for a long time when she moved to Chicago from New York. She placed this chair in front of her living room window and sat in it and just stared out the window. Eventually the staring morphed into the bliss state.
You see, it’s not really the furniture that brings on these altered states (though the shiatsu massage chair from Brookstone might), but it’s rather the ritual activities that are performed in these chairs.
Joan sits and stares and finds bliss. I put on headphones and listen to state-of-theart brainwave technology to access my space consciousness.
It’s all the same, and it’s all good.
Everybody needs a Space Chair, I think. Everybody needs a place to go and sit and ask the important question about who is responsible for this crappy head movie. And everybody needs the brain blow-up that results.
Call this experience Space, call it Bliss. Everybody, every day, needs to pull the plug.
Don’t you think?
Kathleen Thompson is the owner of Main Street Yoga in Mansfield, PA. Contact her at 570-660-5873, online at www.yogamansfield.com, or e-mail yogamama@ mountainhomemag.com.
A RTS & L EISURE
The Sweetheart of Syrup
Every year young women use their knowledge and charm to be crowned the Maple Sweetheart.
By Nicole hagan
Some pageant contestants wish for world peace—others wish for more maple syrup.
Ever since the first Potter-Tioga Maple Sweetheart Pageant in 1967, young high-school-aged women from across the two counties have competed to see who is the most maple-syrup savvy. And while Coudersport’s Roberta Ayers —the first Maple Sweetheart ever to be crowned—has long given up her syrup sovereignty, little (other than the sweethearts) has changed within this annual tradition.
The pageant takes place at the Potter-Tioga Maple Festival in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. Year after year, after the sap has been tapped from the local maple trees, a crowd of up to 10,000 people seep into the little Potter County town like syrup over a warm pancake. The maple celebration, a collaboration between the Coudersport Chamber of Commerce and the Maple Producers Association, includes a wide variety of events—syrup demonstrations, duck races, carnivals, food vendors, and live entertainment—that are satisfying enough to indulge the sweet-toothed kid in all of us.
“The festival really brings the town together” says Carol Jackson, Vice President of the Coudersport Chamber of Commerce. “I know people have been devastated in the past over losing their jobs and things like that, but this is an event where they can bring their children and have a good time without breaking the bank.”
Yet, of all the festivities, none is quite as near and dear to the local maple industry as the Maple Sweetheart Pageant.
“It gives the local girls a time to shine,” says Jackson. “Winning the competition is definitely something to be proud of.”
Unlike several other well-known pageants, the Maple Sweetheart Pageant is more than just glitz and glam. Kim Guthrie, the reigning Potter-Tioga Maple Sweetheart and winner of last year’s state Maple Sweetheart title, explains that it’s an educational contest that benefits Pennsylvania’s maple farmers.
“This pageant is important not only to give the girls a chance to learn more about the industry, but also to help promote the maple industry,” says Guthrie. “Not many people think of PA as a maple producing state, but we do produce a lot of syrup.”
While the election process is different for each candidate, most are nominated through their town or are chosen to compete by their fellow peers. Guthrie was elected to be a candidate through Mansfield High School.
“I simply had to answer a questionnaire about maple facts and then get chosen by my class,” says Guthrie.
Once they are elected, Maple Sweetheart candidates go on to compete at the local Potter-Tioga festival, where they are judged by a panel of individuals from the Maple Producers Association. Overall, there are around twelve or
thirteen schools that participate, although last year there were only eight contestants—four from Potter County and four from Tioga County.
“We are judged throughout the day on how we promote maple products and how we interact with the costomers and producers. Afterwards, we have to do a five to ten minute presentation on any aspect of the maple industry to the judges alone,” says Guthrie. “I did my presentation on the marketing of maple syrup. The judges really liked it because I talked about maple syrup being 100% natural and different ways to promote it.”
According to Guthrie, the judges look for charisma as well as a wealth of knowledge about the maple industry before choosing the Maple Sweetheart. “It requires a lot of studying and time, but it’s a fun competition even if you don’t win,” says Guthrie.
After winning at the local level, contestants go on to compete for the state Maple Sweetheart title where the victor receives $200 upon winning and $500 after finishing her reign. Alternates receive $100 for winning and $300 at the completion of their term.
“The state pageant is similar to the county one in the way we are judged, except our speech is given in front of seventy to eighty maple producers plus the judges,” says Guthrie. “It is so much fun, and if you win your name is known state-wide. It was very exciting for me. I am just a small-town Mansfield, PA, girl who knew nothing about maple syrup, and I went on to win the state title. It just shows how far hard work can take you.”
Throughout her reign, Guthrie has traveled to several events such as the PA Farm Show, PA Ag Progress Days, maple festivals across the state and local fairs and parades. “You basically do little gigs everywhere,” says Guthrie. “I love getting new experiences and getting to travel places. For example, this was my first year attending the Farm Show and it was amazing. I also did live interviews on TV and radio.”
Guthrie’s reign is coming to an end, however. As the weather warms up and the sap makes its final drip into the early weeks of April, even Mother Nature can tell you that it’s time to start again. This year’s 44th annual Potter-Tioga Maple Festival will take place Friday, April 30, through Saturday, May 1, with the crowning of the Maple Sweetheart scheduled for one o’clock on Saturday.
Kim Guthrie
2009 Pennsylvania Maple Sweetheart giving her winnning presentation.
F OO d & dRINK
Foraging for Spring Greens
Eatables from Nature’s Pantry: No Plowing, Planting, or Weeding Required
By Angela Cannon-Crothers
Our great-grandmothers knew that harvesting wild greens in early spring could rejuvenate bodies made sluggish and listless from the long winter. Before a time when vegetables and fruits from around the globe could be acquired so easily, the first greens of spring were like gold. For some of us, spring’s first wild edibles still call the body and soul to come out and forage. Their nutrient-rich leaves strengthen our bodies and lighten our hearts with the promise of a ripening season.
Wild Leeks (Allium trococcum)
Just as the first tree buds begin to swell and the first migratory birds return to please us with their songs, I venture out to the rich beech and maple woods beside my creek bottom to dig for wild leeks, or “ramps” as old-timers call them. Their smell usually greets me long before I spot them—other plants in the Allium family include onions and garlic, which well describe the odor of the vibrant green wild leek. Although their small bulb is edible yearround, they grow tougher as they age and are best dug in early spring. These plants serve as a spring delicacy for leek and potato soup, wild leek au gratin, or as a base for sautéing other root vegetables or freshly caught brook trout. The entire plant freezes well, so I always put a bag or two away for late season recipes.
resemble the top of a fiddle. I usually find these in wetter areas where the brown fronds of last year’s reproductive structures still stand. Fiddleheads should be gathered when six to ten inches tall but still tightly coiled, and broken off with plenty of tender stem. Papery brown filaments along the new growth can easily be peeled off by hand. It’s recommended that you soak the fiddleheads in salt water for twenty minutes or more for flavor and to chase out any bugs hiding inside! Steam fiddleheads for several minutes and serve with butter or white wine. They are also lovely over rice or cubed orange squash left over from the winter.
Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale)
It’s hard for some people to believe that elsewhere in the world, the ubiquitous dandelion is a delicacy. Early leaves—before the flowers are up—are tender, and the slightly bitter taste is actually part of their appeal. Dandelion leaves can be washed and used as a substitute for any “beans n’ greens” recipe. They are also used fresh, chopped in salads, or as a cooked green sautéed in oil and garlic.
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
other nuts, parmesan cheese, and olive oil in a food processor. This makes a great dip or topping for pasta or crunchy breads.
Nettles (Urtica dioica)
My favorite spring green is the nettle. This little plant gets a terrible reputation on account of the many little “stinging” hairs on its stem (not really a sting but sharp itch that dissipates after a few minutes). Its flavor and value as a wild food is superb, though. Collect nettles with gloves on or just carefully pinch off the tops. It’s a wonderful steamed green for fettuccini and wild mushroom dishes. I also use it as a pesto substitute. Use it generously wherever a recipe calls for spinach, to flavor lentil soups, or sprinkle it in meat loafs, sauces, and stews. Nettles are rich in minerals, vitamins, and chlorophyll and work great as a preventative remedy for the up-coming allergy season.
Fiddleheads (Matteucia struthiopleris) Right now you can also find another forager’s delight—fiddleheads of the bracken and ostrich fern. Their bright coiled tops, not yet open,
One of the plants I spend the most time trying to convince others to consume is garlic mustard. This wild green is non-native and spreads like wildfire—so gather as much as you like. Its leaves are lightly garlic flavored and, when young, work well as a flavorful addition to any salad. My favorite use is as a springtime pesto. Simply grind young leaves (rip out the entire plant first) with olive oil, pine nuts or
Whether you choose to forage the woods for gourmet greens or collect young dandelion leaves in your yard, remember three things. First, never gather anything you can’t identify. Second, don’t over-harvest an area. And finally, remember that the season for gathering many of these delectable and revitalizing early greens is fleeting. In the words of Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay:”
Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour.
Angela Cannon-Crothers is a freelance writer and outdoor educator living in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Finger Lakes Wine Review A Perfect Pear holly howell
As you travel through Finger Lakes wine country, you’ll find a stunning selection of wine styles. Amidst the amazing assortment, there are the indigenous grapes called Labrusca, which make fruity wines like Lake Niagara and Pink Catawba. There are the French-American Hybrid grapes that make lovely wines like Seyval Blanc and Baco Noir. And there are the European vinifera grapes, which make classic wines like Riesling and Pinot Noir.
You’ll also find a superb collection of fruit wines. These wines are made in the same fashion, with the juice coming from some fruit other than a grape. Too often overlooked, they are some of the most unique and delicious wines of the region. One of my favorites is this little gem from Goose Watch Winery in Romulus, New York (www. goosewatch.com). Made from 100% locally grown ripe Bartlett Pears, Goose Watch Bartlett Pear will surprise you with flavors that are almost more aromatic that a fresh pear itself. The nose is clean and crisp and reminds one of spicy poached pears in honey. On the palate the refreshing acidity balances the underlying sweetness and you’ll swear you are actually “drinking a pear”—a really, really good pear! It was a double gold medal winner at the Tasters Guild International, and it is a perfect partner to cheese platters, fruit salads, finger sandwiches, and picnic foods. And it can always be found on my Easter table as the ideal accompaniment to a baked ham dinner.
Goose Watch Winery has been open since 1997. The warm and welcoming tasting room is a restored century-old barn, which has a spectacular view of beautiful Cayuga Lake. Also within sight is one of the only commercial chestnut groves in the area. Goose Watch wines, along with the wines of their “sister winery,” Swedish Hill, are consistent award winners and perpetual palate pleasers. Stop in on your next Finger Lakes visit!
Certified sommelier Holly Howell teaches at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Seasonal Kitchen Cooking School. Contact her at wineanddine@ mountainhomemag.com.
Goose Watch Bartlett Pear Wine $11
YOUR CREDIT CARD STATEMENT
$3,000 00
New balance
Minimum payment due $90 00 Payment due date 4/20/10
Late Payment Warning: If we do not receive your minimum payment by the date listed above, you may have to pay a $35 00 late fee and your APRs may be increased up to the penalty APR of 28 99%
Minimum Payment Warning: If you make only the minimum payment each period, you will pay more in interest and it will take you longer to pay off your balance For example:
If you make no additional charges using this card and each month you pay
Only the minimum payment
$103 You will pay off the balance shown on this statement in about 11 years 3 years
*Based on a balance of $3,000 and an APR of 14 4%
And you will end up paying an estimated total of .
$4,745
$3,712 (Savings = $1,033)
OUCH!
CONSOLIDATE HIGH INTEREST DEBT WITH A HOME EQUITY LOAN
A Home Equity Loan can help you consolidate high interest debt at a much lower interest rate than most credit cards Plus, the interest you pay may be tax deductible.* Why take years to pay off those high interest credit cards when you could be debt-free in a fraction of the time, saving you hundreds - even thousands - of dollars in interest? Contact any branch office for more information or apply online at www cnbankpa com We make loans e-z!
Citizens & Northern Bank serves you from 24 convenient offices in Bradford, Cameron, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Sullivan and Tioga Counties Contact us toll-free at 1-800-726-2265 Visit us on the web at www cnbankpa com *Loans subject to credit approval See your tax advisor
hOME & REAL ESTATE Light Bulb!
Opening a lamp shop was one bright idea for the Fleming family
Story and Photos By Nicole hagan
Antiques are a lot like families: they change and evolve through the years while maintaining their roots in the past. They require nourishment, reaching their potential through a little bit of polish and a whole lot of love. And they come in all shapes and sizes—from the rosy-cheeked, retro lamps of the ’50s to the rough-edged, rugged lamps of the 1800s.
And Ann Fleming, owner of Fleming Antiques and Lamps, knows a little bit about family and history. Like the wirework in her antique lamps, these two concepts are deeply intertwined within the foundation of her shop—a family bond that dates back to its establishment in 1932.
When Fleming’s Aunt Lois opened the store more than eighty years ago, things were a little different. Lois began her business selling antiques in an alley in the small town of Catawissa, Pennsylvania. But with the help of her sister-in-law, Dorothy (Fleming’s mother), the business grew, and eventually its location was changed twice before settling down in Danville along new Route 11.
“The store began as a one-room business and has progressed into a threebuilding business. It’s no little shop,” says Fleming. “A little shop can’t survive anymore.”
Unlike its address, the shop’s family-oriented qualities have never changed. After Lois died, the store was passed on to Dorothy, who asked Fleming to come back to the business because she needed some extra help running the store.
“I didn’t think I’d go into business as an adult,” says Fleming. “I actually went to college to become a teacher, but my mother needed help when my aunt died. She asked me to take a semester off during my senior year, and I never left. I just couldn’t stand to see the family business die.”
The work came easily to Fleming, who had been exposed to the trade since she was a little girl. “I remember coming down off the school bus and going into the shop to polish silver. I would, unknowingly, soak in all of the information.”
Keeping the family tradition alive, Fleming helped her mother and Lois’s sister-in-law, Bobbi, run the store
until she took over the business herself in 1985.
Over the years and as good antiques became harder to find, Ann and the array of “family members” who help her—husband Harold; stepdaughter Delores; Jeanie, “a retired friend from down the road;” and Oreo the dog— have watched the store shift from a general antiques shop to a business that focuses mainly on antique lamps.
“In the ’50s people had Rayo lights and wanted them to be electric instead of kerosene. So instead of throwing their kerosene lamps out, they started coming to my Aunt Louise,” says Fleming. “She was very mechanical. She could tear a lamp apart and go about fixing it her own way. It eventually evolved into us restoring and repairing all kinds of lights.”
And like her aunt, Fleming has found that restoring antiques has become more than a just a job. “To me, it’s an art. It’s about making things that are pleasing to the eye and bring beauty to the world. I try to make each lamp a picture of beauty.”
In addition to lamp repair and restoration, the store has become well known for its selection of glass and fabric shades, supplying its customers with shades from ten different manufacturers—nine in the U.S. and one in China.
“The shade makes your light,” says Fleming. “We have a lot of variety, and there’s a lot of flexibility in price. We have affordable items, and we have some very high-end shade inventory. For instance, our Colorado lamp shade manufacturer makes hand-made frames that range from $600 to $2,000. But people will also come here with a $2 dollar lamp that they found at the Salvation Army and spend $150 on the shade. Everyone varies.”
But if you’re looking to buy an antique and not just repair or re-shade your family heirloom, much of Fleming’s store consists of antiques that range from the mid-1800s to about 1930. “To me, ‘new’ is anything after 1930,” says Ann. “The ’50s furniture and lamps are now becoming collectibles, though, and it’s surprising how some of them are worth more than the antiques.” In fact, some of her rarest lamps come from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.
Fleming’s customers—an eclectic collection of “youngsters, ninety-yearolds, locals, and people as far away as Hawaii”—are her number one priority. “At our store, you’ll always get someone who takes the time to understand what your problem is and work with you to make something you’ll love. With us, everything is individualized. We always tell our customers to bring their lamp with them if they’re looking to buy a new shade,” says Fleming. “Buying a shade without the lamp is like buying a hat without your head— you just can’t do it.”
This 3-panel system to can produce up to 70% of the domestic hot water for a family of 4. After the possible rebates and incentives, this installed system could end up costing as little as $7,300 And you will have the monthly energy savings for the life of the system Call us today to learn how Renewable Energy can work for you.
Someplace Like home Tangible Magic dave Milano
There is hardly a more utilitarian object than the good old three-legged stool. Each of its few parts is completely necessary; none could be replaced without loss of function. If you’re looking for a symbol of pure simplicity, the three-legged stool is tough to beat.
Finding genuinely simple devices is becoming gradually, distressingly more difficult in this neo-technological age. Intensely complicated modern devices—cell phones, remotes, credit card swipers, myriad monitors, detectors, and controllers—are burrowing into every corner of our lives, growing new features and operations and gradually but effectively knocking their simpler competitors into the historical dustbin. Today’s most mundane tasks, from adjusting the thermostat to stepping on the brakes, are intertwined with innumerable, complicated, mostly invisible contrivances. Digital cameras, microwave ovens, pagers … Who knows what’s going on in there?
The trend is, in my view, not good. Technology may seem at first to be a helpful friend (“Go ahead, press the button; it’s easy!”), but it has a dark side as well, one that may not be immediately evident. Little by little technological complexity is disconnecting us from the foundation of understanding that fosters independence. If we do not know how our machines work, if we must daily depend on mysterious, inscrutable devices, then we cannot be self-sufficient. We must submit to our machines. And what are we given to fill the hole left by our disappearing selfsufficiency? A vague and untested promise that our needs will be forever filled by more, and even better, technology. Well, I, for one, don’t trust this new god. I get the distinct feeling he’s in it for the short-term money.
For relief, I reach for simple tools and machines, sometimes of necessity, more often for the rare pleasure of handling a completely apprehensible device. Mary and I, for example,
still use a three-legged stool once or twice a day, in the milking room. In its rightful place at the back end of a cow, a milking stool fills one’s needs perfectly while gracefully and confidently defying improvements, shunning the addition of moving parts, electricity, or electronics.
Simple devices rank high on the value scale (Utility x Duration / Cost = Value). Stools are a prime example. A stool is easy to make, easy to repair, completely understandable without instruction or special knowledge, lasts for generations, and is as effective in its final days as its first. Compare that to a hard drive, or a bar code scanner, or an electric toothbrush.
Milking stools, brooms, pencils, hammers, cups, string—these simple things mercifully hang on here and there, bravely resisting upgrades and advancements, comforting the poor human who’s sick and tired of expensive replacement modules, weary and cross-eyed over instruction booklets, hungry for autonomy.
Give me a simple tool any day. Give me a paper clip, a spatula, a pair of scissors, or a shovel. Give me a bucket, the back end of a cow, and a good old three-legged stool.
Dave Milano is a former suburbanite turned parttime Tioga County farmer. You can contact him at someplacelikehome@mountainhomemag.com.
M ARKET P LACE
Shop Around the Corner Saving Soles, One Step at a Time
By Kay Barrett
While the famous shoemaker in the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale thrived with the help of tiny hands in the dead of night, elves have nothing to do with the success of Armenia Mountain Footwear in Troy, Pennsylvania. But the cozy shoe store on Canton Street has been custom fitting and repairing shoes for more than forty years, handing down the craft in a traditional way the Grimms would have appreciated.
Jack Kuiper of Troy bought the store in 1973, when it was located in downtown Troy. In 1983, Kuiper moved the store to the white two-story house on Canton Street where it now resides. Over 1,600 miles away in Colorado, Jack’s son, Clint, was following in his father’s footsteps of custom shoe fitting. Clint passed on the family trade to brotherin-law Kirt Casler, who was then a public school teacher.
Armenia Mountain Footwear carries popular brand names including Hush Puppies, Soft Spots, and Clarks for women and Redwing, Rocky, and Carolina for men. Other shoe brands include Sketchers, New Balance, and Nunn Bush, but Casler says that the brands they carry vary depending on public interest. “If we have a big enough call for a certain product, we place an order for the store. The Nunn Bush line is new, as well as the Baggalini purses. It all depends on demand, but we do place special orders. If we can find what a customer wants, we’ll order it,” Casler explains.
Shop: Armenia Mountain Footwear
Owners: Kirt and Jen Casler
Address: 480 Canton Street, Troy, PA
Phone: 570-297-3433
“I needed a change in careers, and I was looking for a way to get out of the public schools,” says Casler. He loved the business of shoe repair so much that he opened up his own repair shop in addition to his teaching career. Casler and his wife, Jen, resided in Colorado until 1989 when they moved back to the Troy area. Kirt and Jen both began helping in Jen’s father’s shoe store, and in 2001 they purchased Armenia Mountain Footwear from Kuiper, who is now semi-retired.
Although Armenia Mountain Footwear sells the same top brands as bigger chains, there is one aspect that sets them apart—customer service. “We custom-fit and customadjust every shoe. Our motto is ‘Anyone can sell shoes, we sell fit.’ We
Hours: Monday–Thursday 8a.m.–5p.m.; Friday 8a.m.–7p.m.; Saturday 8a.m.–3p.m.
“With the shop Jen and I have the freedom to make our own decisions, says Casler. “We do this as a team. Sink or swim, it’s our fault.” And with the recent Marcellus Shale boom, the Caslers are doing a fine job of staying afloat. “The gas people have been good to us, and they do a lot of local business,” Casler comments.
Like their larger department store counterparts,
take the time to measure and pad in order to find the perfect fit,” says Casler. “Probably 75% to 85% of our first-time customers are wearing the wrong shoe size. We often find that the reason most people have foot pain is because they are wearing shoes that don’t fit.”
Shoe repair is also sought after at Armenia Mountain Footwear. “We’ve done everything from a couple of stitches in a shoe to a complete rebuild. It really depends on how damaged the shoes are, but people love their shoes. Especially in this economy, we see more people coming in for just repairs. It costs half as much to repair a shoe as it does to buy a new pair,” says Casler.
Armenia Mountain Footwear’s understanding of their customers’ price ranges and footwear needs is what has kept the shop in business for so long. “It’s great to make a sale,” says Casler, “but getting that person to return time after time is what really counts.”
Kirt and Jen Casler of Armenia Mountain Footwear have made people’s feet a top priority.
man who has grown up in the Southwest and lived in the West and his language has a kind of energy and ordinariness about it that somehow or other spoke of America.
“Twain allowed us to talk the way we talk, with our New York City accents, with our Southern accents. He ushered in realism. To that extent, he was truly our first American author.”
And no one has better captured the unique rhythms of Twain’s speech than Holbrook, who earned a Tony Award for the New York production of Mark Twain Tonight! and an Emmy nomination for a TV special based on the show.
“There’s a lot of material in which he sticks his dagger mind into the heart of the truth and makes us stop and think for a while,” Holbrook said of Twain. “I learned that a long time ago, I think mostly back in the early 1960s, when I was traveling through the South with Mark Twain
“I was doing some very severe and pertinent material about racial injustice,” he continued. “In those days I did a number where Twain talks about the ‘Silent Lie.’ He uses American slavery as an example of how we can lie silently by remaining quiet in the face of a great injustice.
“It wouldn’t sound so shocking or unusual to hear that today, but in the sixties that was not an easy thing to get away with down South. If I wasn’t doing Mark Twain, with the wig and all that on, I could have been in trouble.
“But people listened to him, they simply listened to him, sometimes with very deep silence. I realized they were thinking about what he said. I also realized that you cannot change anybody’s mind, really.
“You can make them pause and think, maybe. Make them just think it over. The mantra of my show, almost, is a quote from him: ‘Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority it’s time to pause and reflect.’ If you make an audience pause and reflect, that is about the best achievement you can accomplish.”
Twain continued from page 10
Holbrook has been performing as Twain for over 55 in the stage production of Mark Twain Tonight!, which won him a Tony Award in 1966.
Editor, author, and frequent Mountain Home contributor Matt Connor lives in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.
Through August 2010
Art of Twain’s Era (Opening date TBA) Arnot Art Museum hosts a Twain-themed. (607)734-3697 235 Lake Street in Elmira, NY
July through December 2010
Tribute to Twain Tree
View this unique tree and Twain ornaments at The Christmas House 361 Maple Avenue, Elmira, NY www.christmas-house.com
August 21, 2010
Michelob Twin Tiers Jazz Fest in Twain Country This annual event will be dedicated to Mark Twain in 2010 Wisner Park, Church & Main Sts., Downtown Elmira www.TwinTiersJazz.org
August Date TBA Twain Fest at Wisner Farmer’s Market in Downtown Elmira! www.elmiradowntown.com
October 7, 14, 21, & 28, 2010 Fall Lecture Series on Mark Twain 7:00 pm.
Join us for a free lecture series at the Chemung Valley History Museum! www.chemungvalleymuseum.org
October 15 & 16, 2010
En Route: Mark Twain’s Travel Books. Symposium cost: $130. Public welcome. Dinner will be served. Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College (607) 735-1941 twaincenter@elmira.edu.
October 22 & 23, 2010
Ghost Walk! Woodlawn Cemetery 6:30 p.m., Tickets are $10.00 per person. www.chemungvalleymuseum.org
November 30, 2010
Mark Twain’s 175th Birthday Celebration Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College (607) 735-1941 twaincenter@elmira.edu.
November Date TBA
Birthday Celebration Dinner at Hill Top Restaurant www.Hill-Top-Inn.com
December 4, 2010
Holidays with the Clemens! 10 am - 2 pm www.chemungvalleymuseum.org
December 5, 2010
Holiday Home Tour in Twain’s Elmira www.nwna.com
