Livingston Manor, NY –The Board of Directors of Catskill Art Society (CAS) has appointed Bradley Diuguid as Executive Director, effective February 15, 2013. Originally from Monticello, NY, Diuguid is currently the Operations and Audience Services Manager for Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, MA, where he leads administration and business management for the arts education and presenting organization.
Gloria Shaver who, with her husband, ran the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery for years and lived in Turnwood until Alzheimer's struck and she was moved to the Roscoe Nursing Home died on Wednesday, January 23, 2013. She managed the Beaverkill Trout Club for years, too. She was an extraordinarily vital, caring, intelligent, fun, and effective woman, and her loss is a loss to the valley.
Funeral Monday, January 28 at 1:00pm at the Bryant Funeral Home in Livingston Manor.
No More Flour Power Flour Power Bakery and Cafe has closed
posted 01/17/13
This notice is written with a heavy heart, because
Flour Power Bakery is closing its doors.
Monday, December 31, was our last day.
It's been a long journey from our first farmers' market to now,
and there have been many magical days, wonderful events,
brunches, gallery openings, train shows, slot cars, breakfasts, lunches
and lots of baked goods and bread shared.
None of it would have been possible without you.
We are so thankful for the support of our customers,
our friends, and the community.
With your permission, we would like to keep in touch;
our contact information remains the same.
If you are holding a gift certificate, please let us know.
We are not sure what our next step will be,
but you all know J.R. loves to feed people.
Peace and Love for 2013.
The preceding notice was received by the FOBC Board on January 3. No explanation was offered for the closing.
Hoos Cleanup
posted 01/15/13
By looking at the foundation since it's a stone construction
and not poured that building would likely be pre-1920s.
Photo taken on January 11, 2012 by Suzanne Bevier.
Click on photo to enlarge.
If you would like to make a contribution to the Hoos Fund please click here for details>>.
New pictures of the fire itself by Robert Tuttle here>>
Directors of the Church in Process of buying the building
posted 12/16/12
The Board of Directors of the Church is in the process of purchasing the building from the United Methodist Conference. It will not make very much difference in our experience of the Church - we will continue to gather for Sunday services from Memorial Day through Labor Day; we will continue to have the Christmas Eve Sing, the summer Musicale, occasional presentations and events given by other community organizations throughout the year, weddings, funerals and baptisms.
The control of the Church will be with the local community rather than with the United Methodist Church. We have met with the President of the Methodist Conference and the District Superintendent, and they fully support our decision.
The fire inspectors with the dozer moving items around, Suburban propane also had a large truck parked out in front of the building on Pearl Street.
Perspective: The Historic Resource Survey
posted 12/11/12
The idea for an historic survey started about 15 years ago when we formed FOBC to protect the historic integrity of the Beaverkill Church. Since then we have talked a great deal about the numerous historic sites and buildings in our community and when we formed a committee, we found that there was a great deal of interest in researching historic sites with both foundations and residents.
Reconnaissance-Level HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY of the LOWER BEAVERKILL VALLEY
posted 12/06/12
The Beaverkill Area Neighborhood Association and the Roscoe Rockland Chamber of Commerce contracted with Larson Fisher Associates (LFA), a historic preservation planning
firm based in Woodstock New York, to conduct a reconnaissance-level historic resource survey of the lower Beaverkill Valley. The survey covered four distinct areas: the hamlet of Roscoe, the Rockland Flats, the Beaverkill neighborhood, and farms on Burnt Hill.
Today I received a call from the Verizon representative overseeing our local phone issues and she has informed me that major maintenance work has been done yesterday and today which hopefully will rectify the problems. It seems that moisture condensation causes contacts in the circuit box to fail and a heater system has been installed. I would ask that anybody who has further problems please contact me either by phone (201 394 5115) or email as I do have a direct conduit to those who have been assigned to help us.
In 2008 Margot McLean and I canvassed for Obama in Ohio, the tugboat state capable of pulling the big ship across. We ended up in Toledo, a place where we both felt very much at home. In 2012 we went back. [...]
But a lot had changed in four years. This election was not as flamboyantly historical as the last. It was its grown-up version, and in politics it's hard to grow up. The Obama headquarters had maybe a third of the volunteers that it had in the last campaign, an older group, drifting in before and after work. There was little of the electric intensity we remembered, but a grounded, dig-deep determination.
Many of you asked about what is being done in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Hoos Building in Livingston Manor. The following is from Sue Barnett on behalf of the The Community Center/Rockland Relief Fund.
Last week's fire destroyed an historic building and four businesses, and broke a lot of hearts. Three of the businesses had insurance, and they're all dealing with that now; we wish them all good luck and a speedy settlement.
But Moose-Be-Morning is not among those working out the details with their insurance providers, because Dawn had no insurance. In addition to losing everything she had for her business--convection oven, microwave, refrigerators, freezer, grill, coffee makers, cash register, tables and chairs, cookware and cutlery among them--she lost hundreds of dollars of food inventory specially bought for the busy hunting season; in addition to all that, she is still paying off the equipment that is now charred rubble in the pile that was once the Hoos building.
The Community Center is accepting tax-deductible donations to help Dawn get out from under this disaster. If you can help, please send what you can to the Livingston Manor Community Center's Rockland Relief Fund, PO Box 1096, Livingston Manor, NY 12758.
We continue to monitor the situation of the other victims of this fire; there are no immediate needs at this time, but we will keep you all posted as things develop. Thank you all so much for your kindnesses.
Explosion and Fire in the Manor on Nov 20 - 4 businesses destroyed
November 21, 2012 - reported by Patricia Adams
This is a first hand report and does not attempt to explain anything other than an immediate reaction.
I was taking something to the Livingston Manor Library on Tuesday, Nov. 20 and when I parked my car in the lot behind the library, I felt a jolt. I was convinced someone had hit me from behind, but when I looked around there was no one there. I walked round to the front of the library and saw Peggy running down the street towards the blinking light. When I called after her, she said, "Did you hear the explosion?"
We looked together to see smoke rising above the Sonoco Station and it became evident that something terrible was happening. The sirens went off at the fire station and we learned that the little coffee cafe "The Moose" was on fire. The engines were out of the firehouse as soon as the alarm went out, but the flames and black smoke were getting ahead of any sprays of water they could fire up.
The fire destroyed the entire building, the old Hoos Bakery building, now owned by the Foster family. Four businesses were destroyed; the Moose, Willow and Brown, Foster's Baseball shop and the Lazy Beagle restaurant. The fire companies, which came from all over the county, were there until late into the night. It looked like the explosion was from gas leaking and electricity was cut off in the Manor in fear of leaking gas and another explosion.
It was very lucky that no one was in any of those buildings and no one was hurt. And it was also lucky that the flames didn't jump over to Will's Hardware and beyond.
More information can be found on websites reporting on this terrible fire.
Weather Watch: SandyBY STEVE LEVINE
November 15, 2012
Good afternoon all. We were happy to see that Sandy (Oct 29) left our Catskill area without too many problems. l believe that our power was off for about a day and a half.
Our son Michael is an officer in the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) corps and two sites have been most helpful in showing weather conditions that you may want to know about. The first is the NOAA Doppler radar site which covers all the US but can be viewed for any local area.
This site can be even put into a "loop" mode which shows the directional movements in real time of inclement weather systems. The second is specifically for Lew Beach (yeah! our Lew Beach) and is quite detailed.
These are the sites that most network news services refer to when reporting and issuing weather advisories.
Verizon 8/5 - noT 24/7 BY STEVE LEVINE
November 14, 2012
An important issue that attention should be drawn to is our on again/off again phone service a la Verizon. It is no secret that our phone outages have been occurring with greater frequency in our area which is, for the most part, also not served by cell phone and has serious if not catastrophic implications if one needs to report emergencies (fire, medical, etc.....)
About a month ago and in some detail I reported our situation to the NY State Public Utilities Commission and for a while enjoyed some celebrity status while being contacted by a number of representatives from both the NYS PUC and Verizon. I am still receiving calls from a Verizon reps asking if service is satisfactory. I am certain that the phrase "serious liability issues" caught their attention.
One most interesting revelation is the fact that a replacement for the offending circuit box, the one on the Beaverkill Road just before the Covered Bridge Campsite road that keeps going out, is sitting in a service facility in Fallsburg, and due to some confusing issues has yet to be installed. I am not quite sure as to what they are.
I have had a number of calls from several Verizon service personnel that also are not quite sure why they have not yet had the "green light" to replace it. I am still waiting to hear some answers from those Verizon people that have been assigned to inform/placate me.
It is totally unacceptable that when informed of area outages, they usually don't send out repair crews until days later and never on weekends. Verizon claims to be a 24/7 company but when it comes to servicing our outages, it's 8/5.
When you live by a River byMermer Blakeslee
October 8, 2012
Mermer Blakeslee's new novel When You Live by a River has just been published by Narrative Library. It's a story about love, death, religion, and land which takes place in 1931 in rural New York beneath what is now a reservoir. It's available in any form you want from the Narrative store or Amazon or the Apple iBook store.
We saw this small black bear (possibly a cub, definitely juvenile) way upstream on the Beaverkill, not too far from Beaverkill Falls. It ran across the street as we were driving past and we stopped and got a video on the iPhone.
I used to live there!
June 19, 2012 - a letter to the editors from Roger Martin
Hi:
Just saw your website. I don't know if this is of interest, but
my family lived on the grounds of the castle when I was born
in April of 1941. My father, Eugene Martin would give
informal tours of the castle... I do remember being inside
at a very early age. I recall the marble floors, bathrooms,
etc. Oddly enough, I remember that there was an intercom
system and thought that unusual as it was the early 1940s.
My mother used to bathe me down from the castle in the
Beaverkil river. I loved the tall trees on the road up to the
castle. Dad was responsible for and indeed did, repair
those gothic windows. He was a cabinet maker and had
those types of skills. Thank you for your interesting website.
Dads version of how the castle came about was a little
different from what I read on your site, but generally that
is what I was told also. However, I was told that the castle
came over stone by stone from Scotland. ?? You have
great pictures on your website!
August 26, 2011 - youtube video by Tom Lawrence below.
Massive flooding in Beaverkill NY due to Hurricane Irene. Taken in the afternoon during the storm.
Nature Post: Obecny's Bear
posted August 20, 2011 - by Carl Obecny
While we haven’t actually seen the bear(s), one evening about 5-6 weeks ago, I forgot to bring in the bird feeders. What a mistake that was! Our feeders as well as the wrought iron holders took quite a beating. In addition, we have seen bear scat in several spots around our blueberries and red currant bushes. Just about all the blueberries, not fenced, were stripped clean this year and a few bushes have experienced some minor damage. We’re assuming the bear was the culprit. One bear even left us a little gift right on our front patio!
So, they are out there. Which I must say, I’m happy about.
Nature Post: Backyard Bears in Beaverkill!
posted August 12, 2011 - by Virginia Lawrence
On Tuesday, July 26, at about 11 in the morning, I was on the phone making a hotel reservation in Massachusetts. Roger and Liz were in the living room. Marina and Madeline had just gone down to spend the morning with the Adams grandchildren. Suddenly Liz started shouting at me to GET OFF THE PHONE.
I glanced out the window, and there at the top of the stone steps right beside our back porch was a massive black bear. I was so panicked that I couldn't remember how to call the Adams to warn them and the girls. I kept dialing the wrong number. Liz, meanwhile, raced out to the car and tore down the driveway to spread the alarm.
By the time I had finished struggling with the phone, the bear had vanished. Roger said it seemed to sense that we were there and hurried up to the top of the hill past the red chairs where it disappeared from view.
Of course we discussed its size. To me it looked massive and I guessed it to be about 400 pounds. Roger, however, felt it would be closer to 300 pounds. We did all note that it was shy and eager to leave us to our panic.
The next day I ran into John Adams who told me that the bear had come down the back side of the hill towards the Adams house, but that as soon as it caught sight of him in the driveway, it had rushed over the embankment into the road, and straight down to the picnic area beside the covered bridge. John followed and saw the bear check out the picnic tables before heading on over to the other side of the river, ambling in the direction of the main campsite. John mentioned that a much bigger bear has been spotted this summer on Reagan Road.
We then shared the story with Judy Rosen who passed it on to Rose Brown and Les Mattis. Les had his own bear story as it turned out. This summer he spotted a truly massive bear on his porch. The bear was on its hind legs playing with the bird feeder. Les, who is over 6-feet tall himself and has to stand on a chair to reach the feeder, estimated that the bear could reach up 8-9 feet, and that it might have weighed 500 pounds. He woke his grandson to come see the bear. The grandson, rubbing his sleepy eyes, declared the bear "cute."
A few days later in telling the story to Ross Francis, we learned that she, too, had seen a bear in the woods behind her house this summer, the biggest she has ever seen – 500 to 600 pounds she thought.
As a footnote: After the bear had appeared on his porch, Les called the authorities to see about having the bear trapped and moved to a less populated area. He was told that our area is, in fact, a preferred dumping ground for any bears they catch at the other end of the Catskills. Hmmm! Sounds like we may be in for more bear sightings.
Congregation Taken by Surprise
posted August 3, 2011 - by Virginia Lawrence from notes supplied by Stu Root
On the morning of Sunday, July 31, 2011, at the Beaverkill Methodist Church, choirmaster Stu Root, who was standing in for lay preacher Mary Hall laid up at home with a broken ankle, cut short his sermon about Jacob's wrestling match (Genesis, Chapter 33) to spring a surprise on the congregation. There was to be a wedding, and it was going to happen right then!
Lori Simpson Boomer and Bruce Boomer wished to renew their marriage vows in the church that had meant so much to Lori in her youth.
Lori is the granddaughter of Fred Rogers and Grace D. Rogers. The Rogers family lived for many years at the corner of Campsite Road where the Wiser-Adams family now resides. You may remember that the stained glass window at the back of the sanctuary is in memory of Grace Rogers, presented as a gift by Fred Rogers.
With Jacob's wrestling match curtailed, Lori and Bruce came to the front of the church where Lori introduced her mother, Mrs. Simpson, daughter of Fred and Grace, and a number of other family members. Mrs. Simpson gave a few words of thanks for being in our midst, and then read from Psalm 121:
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord.
Stand-in lay preacher, Stu Root, then read the vows scripted by Lori:
Lori and Bruce, more than twenty years ago you promised to love each other, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and in sickness and in health.
Now Lori and Bruce, please repeat after me:
Again I take you to be my partner in life…
I give to you my unending love and devotion…
And I promise to dream with you forever.
After repeating their vows Lori and Bruce exchanged rings provided by best man Bruce Simpson.
Bruce Simpson then read from Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11:
I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.
Last of all, the stand-in lay preacher closed the ceremony saying: Lori and Bruce you may now seal your promises with a kiss.
And they did.
Berry Brook Farm Open House
posted July 4, 2011
Mermer Blakeslee and Eric Hamerstrom's garden
hosted by the Garden Conservancy
Saturday, July 9, 2011
10:00am to 4:00pm
I think posts of sightings, no matter how episodic, anecdotal, and unscientific, are interesting and will become more and more so, and maybe even useful, over time. Here are some of my most recent ones:
Saw the same crowd of post adolescent, uber robust, frequent flier wannabe robins that visited Patricia at about the same date in September. Haven't seen this type of mob before. Also, no monarchs at all. The tiger swallowtails still show the flag.
Very oddly, no [or very few] Japanese beetles. Usually the grape vines are crawling with them. Reasonable sightings of turkeys; one flock of at least 13, two hens, no males. Not much coyote howling in Laraway Hollow, tho a pack must have made a kill around mid-day last Sunday as we were leaving, celebrating with the usual bloodcurdling shrieks and cries. Much woodchuck action, but this will take a full historic and analytic essay. Lady deer in usual numbers and frequency--they show at the top of the meadow around cocktail hour. Not trying to cadge an invitation I think, but they stare in a most wistful way. A group of five last week with one quite young--I hope not the coyote victim.
Bears. No sightings this year and no evidence of presence. Second hand, I'm told of several sightings and porch entries at the Lotz house on the banks of the Willowemoc across from the revivified Beaverkill Garage. Also have gotten more general word of unusual numbers of bears near the river on downstream towards Roscoe. Further to bears, I am glad that this venue has become available even tho I came up dry this year.
I have found that it is impossible to relate a bear story in this group. Hardly before even the briefest and most colorful tale can be completed, a distant look comes into the eye of the Beaverkill listener, and he or she is off their own bear story, obviously topping your own.
And indeed, if the listener has no bear story to claim, they will come up just as quickly with a second hand story of how their friend Blotz
managed to talk to a bear. The written word, however, foils them, and
I only regret that the ursines shunned me this year.
Weather Watch: Manor Flooded Again
October 1, 2010
Click here for a video report on the flooding in the Manor.
On September 19 a flock (at least 50) of robins landed in our yard at about 7 a.m. They kept busy pulling hapless worms out of the lawn ( I was surprised they could get them considering how dry it had been) for about an hour and then flew away. I assume they have flocked together for their trip south. I would love to hear about other flocks of birds passing through.
Our hummingbirds left around September 12. Also I only saw one Monarch Butterfly this year - and it was caught behind the window in our bathroom. Of course I let it out and he/she immediately headed south. Did anyone see Monarchs this year?
The heron is still here - has almost completely fished out our little pond.
Nature Post: A Wee Bird
Patricia Adams October 2, 2010
Louis Shawcross is the son of our cousin Neil Shawcross, who is a painter and many of the Friends bought paintings of Neil''s when we had a show for him up at the Gallery in Lew Beach a few years ago. Louis showed up at our door step, after hitch hiking from Vermont where he worked in a camp for children with disabilities.He had lost his wallet and passport so had no money or ID so stayed a month with us while he got things cleared up.I wrote about this incident to our family.
Thursday morning I was getting ready to leave to do my spots for WJFF and I saw Louis from my office window. He was walking slowing around under the apple tree looking at something in his hand. It looked like he was texting on his blackberry, but Louis doesn’t have a blackberry. I finished up what I had to do and then as I was leaving, I went out and asked him what he had.
“A wee bird,” he answered.
In his hands was a fledgling – and I could see it quivering.
“I think it’s going to die,” he said. “It’s just shaking all over. Those big blue birds (blue jays) must have injured it – they were diving at it in the grass. They were going to kill it.”
I’ve always heard that if you pick up a baby bird, the parents will not come back to it, and also, the little bird really did look like it was about to expire. But before I actually left, Louis said the bird had calmed down and he could feel its heart beat. The bird had a black cap above its eyes, and even to me, when he blinked his eyes, he looked a bit stronger.
I left, but Louis held that ‘wee bird’ for over 2 hours in his hand. Then when he felt the bird was strong again, he opened his hand and the bird flew to his shoulder and pooped. Louis checked the bird poop to see what it had been eating, so he could get it more berries. (choke cherries) Then he went upstairs and leaned out the window and let the bird go. That didn’t work too well, because first the bird flew back at him and hit the window. But Louis got it again and took it out on the lawn. Finally it hopped a bit and then flew into the lilac bush, where it still was when I got home in the evening. Louis could hear the bird and see the parents flying into the bush, but he couldn’t find the bird. He returned to the bush over and over and looked for it until the sun went down.
The next morning I had to go over to Ramsay and Ananda’s and I was in their living room with Violet and looked out the window- saw a movement – and there was the little bird! As I watched, the parents flew in and brought it food. Then I saw that they were Cedar Waxwings, who come through here in August – this must be why there is a baby bird so late in the season.
We watched Friday and Saturday – the bird flew first to a maple near the barn, the parents still bringing it food and then on Sunday flew away.
headlines & happenings
Mermer Blakeslee's new novel When You Live by a River has just been published by Narrative Library. It's a story about love, death, religion, and land which takes place in 1931 in rural New York beneath what is now a reservoir. It's available in any form you want from the Narrative store or Amazon or the Apple iBook store. 
