A CONVERSATION WITH: SAM EICHBLATT – September 2023
What makes Andes feel like a good place to be? It’s easy to makes friends here, Sam offers. Somewhat surprisingly, she meets more interesting people here than she did in the city. Perhaps it’s a like-minded approach to living; both the newcomers and the down-to-earth-locals have a sense of self-sufficiency, are comfortable with the raw and elemental character of our foothills, the changing seasons.
ALMOST MISSED OUT – September 2023
However, this year’s theme was “Living with our Landscape” and I knew that our place on this rocky steep hillside has many not usual ideas for people to consider. I relented, joined, and then set about fixing those steps and trying to catch up with the endless weeding.
FROM DINGLE HILL: UNEXPECTED BLESSINGS – September 2023
And now one of them blesses me by flying overhead! Looking up, I can see why some people think it could be a golden eagle. However, the rule of thumb is that any eagle you see in the Catskills between April and November is a bald eagle. Because the goldens spend Spring, Summer, and Fall in Canada.
FROM DINGLE HILL: BEWARE THE MENACING BEAUTIES – August 2023
Beware of Multiflora Rosa – highly invasive.
HUNTING TAVERN MUSEUM PROGRAMS DURING AUGUST – August 2023
A schedule of August happenings at The Hunting Tavern Museum.
MOUNTAINEER TRACKS – August 2023
As we bid farewell to the 2022-2023 school year and eagerly look forward to the upcoming school year,
BOOK REVIEW – Activities of Daily Living by Lisa Hsiao Chen – August 2023
Chosen one of the Best Books of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly, Vogue, and The New Yorker, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice, Activities of Daily Living is a debut novel that feels as if it’s written by a self-confident and experienced craftsman.
Juicy Summer Performance at Squid Farm – August 2023
Squid Farm is hosting an evening of music and dance in celebration of Andes Community Day.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM JULY TOWN BOARD MEETING – August 2023
Andes was awarded a $10,000 O’Connor Foundation grant to purchase two new AED (automated external defibrillator) units for the Town Hall and highway garage.
THE WAY WE WERE – August 2023
President Hardings death, Perch Lake as a resort, and other tid bits of the day.
ACS SCIENCE FAIR NOTICE – July 2023
Andes Central School held a very successful 2023 Science Fair for PreK-12th grade students on May 16, 2023.
THE BIG ANDES HOEDOWN – July 2023
A community fundraising square Dance announcement to benefit the Andes Food Pantry and the Andes Fire Department.
HUNTING TAVERN NEWS – July 2023
Our new exhibition, “Wish You Were Here: Real Photo Postcards of Andes” opens July 8 at the Hunting Tavern.
COMMUNITY DAY AUGUST 12 TOWN BOARD QUESTIONS USE OF BOHLMANN PARK FOR EDIBLE GARDEN – July 2023
Various town reports
BOOK REVIEW – THE GREAT FIRE BY SHIRLEY HAZZARD
Yet The Great Fire is a great read. It is the kind of book that you read leisurely, one that you appreciate for its wonderful prose—each descriptive sentence a small masterpiece.
OUR PLACE – July 2023
Our Place meets most Wednesdays at St. James Church, 55 Lake Delaware Drive, Delhi, from noon to 2:30 p.m
DELAWARE COUNTY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT TOUR – July 2023
Have you ever wondered if your recycling efforts make a difference? Take a tour of the Delaware County Solid waste Management Center in Walton – such an interesting and enlightening article.
THE WAY WE WERE – July 2023
One interesting tidbit from 100 years ago: After September 1, it will be unlawful for gypsies or others to tell fortunes in this state.
DELORES SOMELOFSKI – June 2023
Today, May 10, at the Shaver Hollow cemetery, I said last goodbyes to my friend Delores. She was a happy person, robust and young at heart. We were friends, which meant as much to me as the store does.
HOLD AND HAUL” SEPTIC SYSTEM AND A NEW ROAD TO ACCESS LANDLOCKED PROPERTY ON AGENDA – June 2023
Andrew Didio presented a client’s proposal regarding 391 Little Dingle Hill Road. They wish to build a septic system to service a new guest house on their property. This system would be a “hold and haul” system, as the hillside of the sector next to the guest house has a steep pitch that would not accommodate a leach field system.
ERIC VAN BENSCHOTEN JOINS THE PLANNING BOARD PROPOSAL TO ALLOW ATVs ON TOWN ROADS – June 2023
Privilege of the Floor: Chris Caiazza presented a proposal to allow all terrain vehicles (ATVs) legal access to drive on town roads. They are a club of ATV users and feel regulating ATV road privileges will be a safer alternative to current unregulated road use. The Town Board will check with their attorney and discuss the matter for further review. No decision was made regarding the proposal.
FROM DINGLE HILL: HOW MUCH OF THE WORLD AM I WILLING TO SACRIFICE TO DO A “GREEN” THING? – June 2023
I was planning to write about the pair of chickadees I saw, mating about 3 feet in front of me…then my plan changed. An article I saw in the Washington Post this morning stopped me cold.
HUNTING TAVERN NEWS – June 2023
The Hunting Tavern Museum is open every Saturday from 11-4 pm. Please join us for Patrice Lorenz’s show of her paintings inspired by the writings of John Burroughs, Roxbury-born naturalist. The Parthenia Davis Gift Shop is open also, with selections of Burroughs writings, as well as books on the Anti-Rent War, NYC Reservoirs and local history.
BOOK REVIEW – The Son by Jo Nesbo – June 2023
At first I thought that The Son fell into a separate category, that of sheer virtuosity. It’s no accident that it was chosen for the Black Lizard Vintage Crime Collection, which includes classics such as The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon.
THE ANDES ACADEMY OF ART – June 2023
The Andes Academy of Art, mostly emanating out of the Streamside Yoga Building at 506 Main Street, is the brainchild of Peter Mayer, Erwin Karl and William Duke. It offers 4 prongs of experience.
LIBRARY NOTES – June 2023
As I’ve previously mentioned in earlier editions of the Gazette, and as you may have heard via town meetings or the Reporter, we are in the planning stages of re-envisioning our library landscape to become an edible landscape that anyone can benefit from.
MOUNTAINEER TRACKS—Andes has A new principal – June 2023
Chris Aguirre and his wife own a small hops farm in Middlefield and have lived on and off in Otsego County and rural Alaska for 30 years.
THE WAY WE WERE – June 2023
When early in 1906, the State Department of Education ordered Andes to provide a new high school building the thoughts of the local school board naturally turned to the Collegiate Institute building and communication was opened with Mr. Hilton.
THE WAY WE WERE – February 2023
Death announcements, February temperature statistics and other interesting tid-bits.
BOOK REVIEW: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson – January 2023
A work of tremendous scope and ambition, this novel dares to imagine what it would take to protect the entire world from environmental collapse.
CATSKILLS CHARACTERS – December 2022
The mural in the library is coming along “slowly but slowly,” as my husband would say. It’s the Catskills, after all. No “New York minute” around here! Rip Van Winkle is just waking up in the scene after sleeping 20 years. Hopefully I won’t take that long!
LIVE-WIRE STUDENTS CREATE A LIVING FENCE – June 2022
By Buffy Calvert A living fence now surrounds the outdoor garden plots on Andes Central School grounds. For two weeks Ed McGee’s 7th and 8th grade science students and Sharon Tucker’s elementary art class have been hard at work removing sod and digging a trench 18 inches deep, extending the arc of the arbor previous…
GARDEN THERAPY: Perdy Persicarias – Fleeceflowers – June 2022
This article by Mel is all about “Fleeceblowers – or Persicarias”
BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTMENT ON BUSSEY HOLLOW ROAD APPROVED; POTENTIAL CATSKILL HARVEST CARBON-NEUTRAL GREENHOUSE SENT TO PUBLIC HEARING – June 2022
Town of Andes Planning Board Meeting
PUBLIC HEARING HELD ON PROPOSED TRANSIENT RENTALS LAW; POTENTIAL TOWN GAS STATION SITES STILL LOOK PROMISING – June 2022
Town of Andes Board Meeting
DEP POLICE GIVES HELICOPTER ORIENTATION TO ANDES FIRE DEPARTMENT – June 2022
The DEP Police showed their newest helicopter with its state-of-the-art technology to the Andes Fire Department and discuss ways the two organizations can work together in a state of emergency.
LIBRARY NOTES – June 2022
By Pamela West-Finkle Summer is here! Yay! We made it through another Catskill Mountain winter. I’ve heard that phrase and said it to myself every year. I am happy to announce we have an action-packed Summer! In celebration of our Summer Reading Program “Oceans of Possibilities” and the 100th Anniversary of our library, I plan…
BOOK REVIEW: Briefly noted – Earthly Remains by Donna Leon – June 2022
As the New York Times critic Marilyn Stasio has said: “Donna Leon can do no wrong . . . [Earthly Remains] is one of her best.”
THE WAY WE WERE – May 2022
How many of the older inhabitants remember the winter of 1873-4??? Read all about it.
OLD TOWN HIGHWAY GARAGE IS OFFERED FOR SALE VIA SEALED BIDS Audit shows $124,000 Increase in Town General Fund – March 2022
Hamlet sidewalks, streetlamps, frozen water lines, mechanical issue at transfer station, and much more.
THE WAY WE WERE – March 2022
Town clerk issues a marriage license but left without tying the know – and other mini stories.
MOUNTAINEER TRACKS – March 2022
The third quarter began on January 31st. I am pleased to report that nearly 75% of our 5-12 students were named to the Superintendent’s List, High Honor, or Honor Roll for the second quarter.
MUSINGS ON TENNIS – November 2018
Gino plays tennis on Andes’ courts, enjoys it, but realizes he doesn’t play like his 25-year-old self did.
LIBRARY NOTES – September 2023
The Garden Tour committee usually begins meeting and planning in the Spring. If you would like to be on next year’s tour or would like to serve on the committee, please reach out to the library or any one of the current committee members.
THE WAY WE WERE – September 2023
William Dickson, of Unadilla, who was a native of Andes, and who served in the Spanish-American war, has taken a position under civil service and has gone to Goshen, Orange county as instructor of floriculture in the Vocational School for ex-service men. In this school there are about 12 men who have been mutilated or gassed.