Sabbatical

~downcountrylanes with this post is going to take some time off. I started this back in the winter, when business was r-e-a-l-l-y  s--l--o--w and it has brought me lots of fun and laughs and helped pass some hours. However, spring has gotten here and while business has picked up some, it's just that my time needs to be spent other places now. I need to totally pay attention to my business. I need to concentrate on the 42 or is it 43 things I really should be doing at home at night. Lawns, windows, painting, repairs....it's endless. I told Clare a few months back to stand in our front yard and do a slow 360 and ask what did she see. I told her all I saw was work in every single direction.

While I may not get to everything that is on the list, I believe that with one less distraction, I will be able to perhaps stand a better chance. The computer, for me, needs to be fun, not a distraction for a place to spend countless hours. My speed at doing things is not where it once was and things do take longer to accomplish. My new house is suddenly twenty-two years old and it is showing wear in so many places. I need to keep at them, even if it is one tiny thing a day.

So dcl is going to sleep for now. Don't fret. I'll be back! I have so many pics from around town, and things I could have fun with, I know I could go on for a long time. But I need to step back and get back to store and house stuff. So as to not leave you with the story about public toilets as my last listing, allow me to post a picture that I always find comfort in, that always gives me strength, to carry on through the good and the bad. 

Thanks for being along for the ride, and I guess I'll see ya around..................

From Cat's graduation @ Hotchkiss,back in June of 07...

Note to Town Fathers--Public Toilets

OK, I am really going to get away from Down Country Lanes normal, and just go for something way different. Sharon needs public toilets and they need them now! Just today people came to my store looking for help as they were doing laundry at the laundromat, and nature called. What were they to do? There is no place to send them...

For more than seventeen years, when I owned nutmeg pantry, I had to tell people I didn't have a public restroom. Tommy had one @ the Country Corner, but after about ten people ask to use it, and never spend a penny with you, well he did like anyone would have done. He put up the "For Patron's Only" sign. Trotta's did the same. Flip ahead to today, years later: xtramart still doesn't have one nor does anyone else at the "plaza" end of town that is open to the public without being a customer. Is that fair in this day and age? You know what it's like when you can't find a restroom. It's maddening, not to mention a few other things.

So, I am putting out this plea to the powers at be in Sharon. How about studying the possibility of a small building, like the one at the beach perhaps, or at the ball field. Perhaps it could be built behind xtramart, or in the plaza maybe, where it could tied into the town water and septic. It possibly could be locked during winter months, as travelers are much fewer then.

If not, maybe we as business people should start sending people to the town hall for their "needs". I doubt many would trek there, but they might. Of course, they couldn't go till 9, closed for lunch for an hour (huh?) and no Saturday or Sunday's.

Bet that might help spur some investigation.

"well hello yellow-brick road"

~Any good wine makers out there in the need of some dandelions for some wine producing? Up here on the hill, at the south end of Jackson, there is an outstanding crop this year. Both sides of the road are just filled with this little lawn-flower (a bit nasty if that is where it is). On the east side, the field was purchased and donated to the Land Trust a number of years back, and ever since a path gets mowed around the inside of the border(not sure by whom). Great for nice walk around of perhaps a horse ride as well. Yesterday, it really took on the yellow-brick road theme....

on reflection....

~ if you've been following along for the last few days, you know I spent a recent couple of mornings over at Fred Roy's swamp, checking out the beauty of nature. Friday evening, apparently some of the ugliness of nature happened at the town meeting here in Sharon at the town hall. I wasn't there, so some will say I shouldn't comment. This time, I'll follow their advice. I'll only say my hope is that politics doesn't get in the way of friendships here in our small town. There are so few of us here, whom really make up the "town" we love and call home. We certainly don't need a rif between friends over politics......... And I sure hope those whom may have had an agenda per se, that they leave it elsewhere the next meeting. Come with an open mind. Gain more knowledge. Make a educated decision, for the good of us all.

Jerry Mathers name sake

 Well, how many more parts of wildlife can I find at Roy's Marsh? Todays offering you have to look for a little bit, but he's there. I just missed a close-up of him on the dam, but did manage to catch this swim back to his house. Judging by the size of his house, I decided he's a transplant from New Amsterdam. His house is huge! I need to ride over after dark and see if all the lights are on. Then I'll know for sure if he's here from the city.............

Coming soon to a golf course near you.......

A new life is out and about at Fred Roy's marsh these days.. I think this was their first full day of swimming....(?)  Just the day before they were huddled under mom, not ready to be going anywhere. But, what a difference a day makes. Full steam ahead! 

Thought: Ever wonder how does something so greenish-yellow turns to black, brown and white?

Geese are a lot like people....

"are you coming with me or not?".............

"look over here...... no, look over here!"

The Sharon Classic (just 4 days late!)

What with the passing of my friend Pat last week, I am late getting to a story on the annual fund raising road race and walk put on by The Sharon Daycare Center. Another great turnout was there, both runners and walkers. Five miles is mapped out from the center of the green, down South Main, West Woods, Boland and back up 41 to the finish line in front of the town hall. The weather was great for the runners, with cool temps and low humidity at the start time of  a little after 10AM. As the next hour proceeded, the thin clouds burned off and it turned absolutely gorgeous in my mind. I walked the five in one hour and seven minutes and 36 seconds I think it was. I try to participate as often as I can, as it's roughly the annual anniversary of my heart surgery, now at 15 years! The walk is always very enjoyable and there are always many friends out there as well. John Perotti, local banker extraordinaire from The Salisbury Bank was there along with his two daughters and a grandchild and a family black lab as well. John and different family members have participated for years. If you weren't there or never have joined in, why not come join us next year! For the walkers, it's no race. It's the being there and enjoying Sharon and supporting the cause!

Sheetz.......... A recommendation!

Are you headed over to Pennsylvania? How about down to Maryland, West Virginia or Virginia? Ohio or North Carolina? This is a pure commercial plug for a company that I found in my travels which started almost eight years ago, back when we were out looking at colleges for Drew. Having been in the gas station and convenience store business for almost twenty years, I think I know a bit about what to look for in a c-store. Cleanliness, friendliness, fair pricing, both in the store and at the pumps, good food, the right mix of merchandise and just a feeling of comfort when you pull in from the road. 

Sheetz C-stores, to me, are the best. Period!

on having a best friend....

Jeannine Atkins I think, was, (next to Ed-her husband) Pat Cook's very best friend. Many years ago they met and worked together in Region One. Much time has gone bye and their lives took different paths, but their friendship only strengthened through time. Any time we were ever in Pat's company, Jeannine was always a part of the mix (though never there in body). How cool to have a best friend that they are always there with you, right in your shirt pocket so-to-speak? Jeannine, as I came to know her through Pat, was a remarkable friend to Pat. She and her husband Peter shared much with Pat and Ed. Dinners, trips, functions, work, play, laughs and tears. Jeannine was always there for Pat. She was there with camera in hand this past winter to celebrate Pat's 57th  on a sleigh ride in Lenox. How cool is that! I saw this photo at Pat's last week and it so shows, to me, who Pat was. Her beauty, style, thoughtfulness, the grace, the love for life and for her friends....I can see it all. I asked Jeannine if I could get a copy and she sent it today. Jeannine also has her own blog, and I just perused it and found a clip she did about Pat a few weeks back. Check it out. Incredible insight.

Thank you Jeannine for all that you, and Peter, have done. You truly were to her, what we all want in life. A real, best friend.

http://jeannineatkins.livejournal.com/71893.html

Thank You Pat Cook...

~ A very special friend died today after an extremely long battle with a horrible disease. I never met another person quite like Pat Cook, and feel sure I never will again. She was one very, very special person who touched many through her years of teaching students in area schools. Though our visits were never enough due to life getting in the way, they were always just the best. 

Her suffering here amongst us has ended and one of heavens angels has gone home. Thank you Pat for letting us be just a small part of your life, but always making us feel like we were the only one in yours..... 

My blog will be quiet for a few days in honor of our friend.